Vinicius Marino Carvalho

@vinicius-marino

Writer | Historian | Post-doc, UNICAMP | ARISE, Middle Ages in Modern Games 🎮 Stair na hÉireann 🍀 Environmental History 🐈‍⬛ Cat dad | Gaeilge Meu romance: Blog: Newsletter:

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Vinicius Marino Carvalho@vinicius-marino· 25d

This is the culprit. The novel that made teenage Vinicius fall in love with Ireland, and later become a scholar of Irish history.

Cover of A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man by James Joyce

Vinicius Marino Carvalho@vinicius-marino· Jul 12

Extremely proud of our little group that made The Middle Ages in Modern Games a fixture at the IMC Leeds. Here's to more conferences and gaming adventures! #IMC2026

The crew from The Middle Ages in Modern Games. From left to right: Vinicius Marino Carvalho, Mariana Lopez, Blair Apgar, James Baillie and Robert Houghton. Tess Watterson is behind, joining the group photo remotely.

Vinicius Marino Carvalho@vinicius-marino· Jul 4

Lá breithe sona duit! This was my dear Puisín Glas, who sadly left us last year.

Photo of a light gray cat curled up and sleeping over a yellow blanket

Vinicius Marino Carvalho@vinicius-marino· Jun 7

My shodo lessons are getting harder. This one was particularly tricky. Mine was not quite 100%, but I'm proud of my effort.

A sheet of rice paper with Japanese writing on it. The kanji read as jitsuryoku. Next to it, the name Marino is written in katakana. The sheet sits on a writing mat under a paper weight to hold it in place. Two brushes have been placed next to the sheet.

Vinicius Marino Carvalho@vinicius-marino· May 11

You got to admire the audacity of @bithellgames.bsky.social's Amberspire. What is a silly hero's journey or world conquest run when you can *reform reality itself*? And this isn't an exceptional scenario. This is world in which time 'bends into unrecognizable shapes' every few turns!

Screenshot from the computer city builder Amberspire. A dialog box tells of an impending choice. The text says 'An entropic storm hit the city, fluctuating time and dissipating material objects. The threads of physics were pulled, fraying the tapestry of reality'.

The player has two choices. Number one is 'The storm was bravely weathered. Number two is 'It abruptly dissipated, and left no indication of its passing'.

A screenshot from computer city builder Amberspire. A dialog box warns of an impending event. It says 'A small entropic storm struck the city. The laws upon which existence rests were unravelling, reforming, and dissipating. New realities were created and destroyed, and time bent into unrecognizable shapes'.

The player has two choices. The first is 'It dispersed, leaving destruction in its wake'. The second is 'Reality reformed'.

Vinicius Marino Carvalho@vinicius-marino· May 11

Quote with the last four games you played

Vinicius Marino Carvalho@vinicius-marino· May 9

I already knew @bithellgames.bsky.social's Amberspire would be great because it has @hollynielsen.bsky.social's fingerprint on it. But I'm amazed at how *great* a city builder it is. This is peak game design. I'm particularly impressed by how it modelled environmental impact (as weather dice).

A screenshot of Amberspire. It is an isometric game depicting a budding city around a chasm. In the screenshot, a dialog box shows the details of one of the builldings, the furnace. It has a chance of producing metal and scrap, but can also trigger weather events, representing the building's enviromental impact

Vinicius Marino Carvalho@vinicius-marino· May 9

Not sure if I'm humbled by how much of my online activity is known or disgusted by the fact that whoever tracts me doesn't know 'ga' stands for Gaeilge. Tá díomá mhór orm, caitifidh mé a rá.

Your browser's primary language is English. It also carries Portuguese and ga and French and Spanish. This tells us not just what language you speak, if often where you were raised, where you have lived, or who you love with. This is transmkttsd in the header of every HTTP request. It has been doing this for as long as you have used this browser.

Vinicius Marino Carvalho@vinicius-marino· May 2

On this episode of Vinicius' calligraphy mishaps... First time using thin, rather than my usual noobie-grade rice paper. I felt like I had mittens on - the slightest touch of the brush made the ink blotch. It *did* blotch a little. But sensei liked it, so I'll give myself a rest (pun intended)!

Photograph of a sheet of rice paper with japanese characters painted on. The characters are read 'yasumu' - which means 'to rest' in Japanese'. A second, smaller column of Japanese character reads 'Marino'. This is my signature.

Vinicius Marino Carvalho@vinicius-marino· Apr 11

Battle scene from Fire Emblem: Shadow Dragon and the Blade of Light (1990)

Vinicius Marino Carvalho@vinicius-marino· Apr 10

Strike Gunner STG. I was around 5. I had just broken my leg & couldn't play outside. So my dad got me a console. He chose the game. Ironic, in a way: he had always been dead set against any glorification of violence & the military, but ended up giving me a vertical shooter of all things. 😅

Screenshot from Strike Gunner STG. It shows the player sprite, representing a fighter plane, attacking a humongous flying wing, the boss of the level. The enemy is on fire, and is shooting rockets at the player aircraft

Box art for the game Strike Gunner STG for the Super Nintendo. It shows two fighters flying into space, with the Earth behind them. Enemy aircraft are exploding around them.

Vinicius Marino Carvalho@vinicius-marino· Mar 28

Eu escrevi um livro sobre isso

Trecho de meu romance, A Trama do Mundo. O excerto diz: "Nós todos interpretamos personagens. Seja das nossas próprias histórias, seja daquelas que emprestamos dos outros. E nem sempre é fácil enxergar onde uma termina e a outra começa. Ou saber o que é mais cruel: viver sob um cabresto que outra pessoa nos impôs ou sob um que nós mesmos inventamos."

Trecho do meu romance A Trama do Mundo. Diz o excerto: — Você realmente pensa isso porque é um moleque no corpo de um velho. E eu temo pelo que vai sofrer quando a vida finalmente abrir seus olhos — retrucou Sadhbh. — Saber que, de todas as narrativas que poderíamos ter seguido, escolhemos justo aquela que nos leva a um precipício… É algo assustador de se pensar. É tão ruim quanto morrer. Pior que morrer, na verdade, pois tira o sentido da nossa própria morte. “Longo demais um sacrifício faz uma pedra do coração.”

Vinicius Marino Carvalho@vinicius-marino· Mar 6

Tried to strike a balance between 'formative' games & some of my recent darlings. I thought three Fire Emblems (out of nine games) would be a tad too much. So 'Genealogy of the Holy War' stands for both Jugdral games.

Collage showing the cover arts of nine of my favourite games. From left to right, the games are: Strike Gunner S.T.G., The Elder Scrolls: Morrowind, Heaven`s Vault, 1000xResist, The Legend of Zelda Majora's Mask, Mass Effect Trilogy, Knights of the Old Republic II, Fire Emblem: Genealogy of the Holy War, Fire Emblem: Three Houses

Vinicius Marino Carvalho@vinicius-marino· Feb 22

I just picked up a new hobby!

Photo of a page decorated with Japanese writing next to shodo tools, including brushes, paper weight, ink and ink pot. The characters written on the page are read as sansen or Yamagawa.

Vinicius Marino Carvalho@vinicius-marino· Feb 4

Perfeitamente colocado. E vale também para nós da academia. Estamos permitindo o câmbio das 'Humanidades' numa área que não obedece a considerações humanas. Mais do que 'robô', sinto que estamos virando o que Cory Doctorow chamou de 'centauro reverso': apêndices de carne e osso... 1/2

Excerto do quadrinho "A Arte Está no Processo" de Aline Valek e Laura Athayde. No centro da imagem há uma canoa, dentro da qual duas mulheres conversam relaxamente, apoiadas uma contra a outra. No topo, a seguinte frase: "parece que não virar um robô será o grande desafio do artista do futuro".

Vinicius Marino Carvalho@vinicius-marino· Jan 31

"El sexo [...] implica desnudez (y no me refiero solo a la falta de ropa, sino a la falta de defensas). Un acto sexual en la ficción [...] nos obliga a mirar a la cara a la vulnerabilidad del otro. Com o risco de me enfiar na história, essa foi minha intenção em "A Trama do Mundo".

Mami já beijara muitas pessoas ao longo da vida e sabia que poucas coisas diziam tanto sobre alguém quanto experimentar sua boca num momento de tesão. Os lábios de Nísia, porém, não diziam nada. Pelo contrário, pareciam tirar algo dela, como se beijá-la tivesse custado um naco de si, como se tivesse se tornado menos Mami meramente por tê-la beijado. Ela nunca experimentara coisa do tipo desde o dia em que beijara M@upin.

Vinicius Marino Carvalho@vinicius-marino· Jan 28

I'll be speaking at @imc-leeds.bsky.social, presenting some early thoughts behind my forthcoming (fingers crossed!) project "An Environmental History of Ireland, 1300-1600: Experientiality, Out-of-Syncness & More-Than-Human Entanglements" As always, very eager to meet colleagues! #IMC2026

Screenshot of the programme from the International Medieval Congress, Leeds. It reads:

Session: 1117 Title: MEDIEVAL ENVIRONMENTS, II: MORAL TOPOGRAPHIES AND ENGAGEMENTS WITH LANDSCAPES Sponsor: Medieval Ecocriticisms Organiser: Michael Bintley, Department of English, University of Southampton Moderator: Carl Phelpstead, School of English, Communication & Philosophy / Ysgol Saesneg, Cyfathrebu ac Athroniaeth, Cardiff University / Prifysgol Caerdydd 1117-a: How Ecological Were the 'Moral Ecologies' of Late Medieval Ireland? (Language: English) Vinicius Marino Carvalho, Departamento de História, Universidade Estadual de Campinas, São Paulo 1117-b: Henry of Huntingdon in Paradise: An Unlikely Pairing of Nature and Contempt of the World (Language: English) Harriet Strahl, Department of History, Durham University 1117-c: The Songs of Time: The Temporality of Birds in Early Celtic Nature Poetry (Language: English) River Atwood, Department of Early Irish (Sean-Ghaeilge), Maynooth University

Vinicius Marino Carvalho@vinicius-marino· Jan 26

Minha editora está dando um desconto de final de férias. Isto significa que vocês podem adquirir meu romance, 'A Trama do Mundo', por apenas R$56,00 até o dia 31/01! caravanagrupoeditorial.com.br/produto/a-tr...

Promo: 20% de desconto. Leitura de férias: 26 a 31 de Janeiro. Editora Caravana

Vinicius Marino Carvalho@vinicius-marino· Jan 21

This is me, by the way. This is a modified excerpt from my short story "Syrphid". I still haven't managed to find a publisher for it. So if you, like "Cecil", think it is gripping in its way, and would like to read the whole thing - or better yet, host it somewhere- let me know.😅

Screenshot of the videogame TR-49. It shows an entry labeled VM-40. The text reads: "They said the first hags had been molded from the peat. A capricious goddess had given them shape, and the needs of greedy men had fished them out of the bog. It was a lie, the bog knew. For the peat itself, laboriously accumulated since the days when giant elk roamed the land, before people understood that soil, stripped of its tree cover, would rather escape with the rain than stay...

Screenshot of the videogame TR-49. The text reads "gripping, in its way. The mood is reminiscent of AT-35"

Vinicius Marino Carvalho@vinicius-marino· Jan 20

A bem da verdade, Roth está falando de uma coisa muito mais séria. No meu livro, o alvo de Artur e Lota é hipocrisia moral do mundo nerd, que promove um consumismo falido em prol de uma marca (nunca de um criador humano) em troca da satisfação oca de "pagar de herói". Mas Roth vai além... 4/

No one is a hero for not watching a television show, nor are they a villain for continuing to watch.

Vinicius Marino Carvalho@vinicius-marino· Jan 20

Artur é um babaca, mas sua esposa, Lota, é mais convincente na crítica. Essa é ela - ou melhor, sua alter-ego de larp, Lohta - destilando seu veneno contra uma fandom patologicamente consumista, inautêntica, moralmente vazia, que (na sua opinião) vira as costas para artesãs como ela. 3/

— Volúveis — ela roncou como uma nuvem carregada. — Ou você não sabe o que essa palavra significa ou está sendo clemente. Elas são muito piores. Entre em qualquer caher ou vilarejo com um portão e um par de casas, mesmo naquela aldeia lá embaixo, e você encontrará fazedores de truques, milagreiros, farsantes que inventam todo tipo de história para lhe empurrar a carcaça de um bicho que nem sequer existe. A maioria desses cretinos nunca botou a cabeça para fora dos muros. Nunca passou a noite em claro esperando uma presa sair da toca. Para a corja que lhes dá dinheiro, não importa. Eles não precisam mais de nós. Só pensam em se divertir, escutar histórias absurdas, comprar chifres feitos de cera e dentes de pedra-sabão, para então esquecer o que ouviram, perder o que

Marino, Vinicius. A trama do mundo (pp. 425-426). Caravana Grupo Editorial. Edição do Kindle.

compraram, depois se divertir de novo, ouvindo as mesmas histórias, gastando seu ganha-pão com o mesmo lixo. É como se tivessem medo de crescer, então revivem o mesmo instante feito crianças no berço aplaudindo um sino de vento. E, para a ilusão não se dissipar, rosnam para quem lhes mostra a verdade. Como se o problema fosse nós e não os embusteiros que fizeram sua cabeça — um relâmpago brilhou através das janelas fechadas, então um novo trovão pontuou a tempestade. — É por isso que hoje estamos sozinhos. Atolados em um lamaçal. À espera de uma nova batalha pela qual ninguém nos pagará para ouvir.

Marino, Vinicius. A trama do mundo (p. 426). Caravana Grupo Editorial. Edição do Kindle.

Vinicius Marino Carvalho@vinicius-marino· Jan 20

Esse é o trecho em questão (na versão Kindle). www.amazon.com.br/trama-do-mun... O 'autor' do diálogo é Artur (nom de guerre 'Nahans'), um larper e maker amargurado, que não perdoa o público de convenções por ignorá-lo em favor de um entretenimento blockbuster, lisonjeiro e viciante. 2/

E eu me pergunto se ter um sujeito, uma… ideia rondando convenções não é uma resposta a isso. Não à gente, especificamente, mas a todo esse delírio coletivo — seus olhos brilhavam com uma esperança que beirava o receio. Nísia não soube dizer se tentava convencê-la ou convencer a si mesmo. — Nísia, e se a nerdice for uma doença, e o Homem Sem Máscara a cura?

Vinicius Marino Carvalho@vinicius-marino· Jan 20

Esse trecho do excelente artigo da @aftermath.site sobre a imoralidade intrínseca da fandom mexeu comigo: aftermath.site/star-trek-sk... A escolha de palavras é a mesma que usei em meu romance, 'A Trama do Mundo'. Mas parece que o Dylan Roth entendeu minha personagem melhor que eu: 🧵 1/

This is a disease, and if you’re reading this, you’ve probably got it. If not for a media franchise or a fictional character, then perhaps for a sports team. At some point in your youth, you imprinted on this amorphous thing, a ship of Theseus that you’ve continued to love even after its every component has been replaced. Everything about it has changed, except that it’s yours.

Vinicius Marino Carvalho@vinicius-marino· Jan 10

How to say you've been to Hokkaido without saying you've been to Hokkaido.

Two small super deformed figures of "Immortal" Sugimoto and Asirpa from the Anime Golden Kamuy. A keepsake showing a panel of the original manga is behind them

Vinicius Marino Carvalho@vinicius-marino· Jan 10

SHE IS GORGEOUS

A figure of Junnah, from the videogame Metaphor ReFantazio. She wears a 1960s-inspired minidress. Her long, blond hair swirls behind her.

Vinicius Marino Carvalho@vinicius-marino· Jan 10

I'm not a mecha fan, but setting this figure up was so much fun I'm dangerously close to becoming one

Figure of Rayearth, the mecha piloted by Hikaru Shidou, the protagonist of Magic Knight Rayearth

Vinicius Marino Carvalho@vinicius-marino· Jan 10

I can still scarcely believe I found these two!

Figures of Nana and Hachi from the anime/manga Nana.

Vinicius Marino Carvalho@vinicius-marino· Jan 10

The best girl and the best boy are finally reunited

Figures of Joker and Yoshizawa (AKA Violet) from the game Persona 5 Royal.

Vinicius Marino Carvalho@vinicius-marino· Jan 10

THEY DID FIT!

A selection of anime figures of different sizes on a glass table. Among the characters represented are Nana (from the eponymous manga Nana), Rayearth (from Magic Knight Rayearth), Yoshizawa from Persona 5 and Junnah from Metaphor: ReFantazio

Vinicius Marino Carvalho@vinicius-marino· Dec 31

Spent the last day of 2025 going to the most Vinicius museum to have ever existed.