From: Joerg Baumgartner (joe@toppoint.de)
Date: Mon 29 Jul 1996 - 23:08:00 EEST
Hi, this is a draft of one of my upcoming web pages on Heortland. It is tied
to my Freca Tales for background info. I made most of this up based on some
core information I had on the Chaosium house campaign about Karse, and the
knowledge that the supplement "City of Carse" is based on the city of
Caernarfon in Gwynedd, Wales. I used some of that city's real world history
in explaining my version of Gloranthan Karse.
I fear "City of Carse" will have been out of print for some time, but it
might still be available as 2nd hand material. Try and get it. If you fail
to get it, get the Cadw - Welsh Historic Monuments publication on Caernarfon
Castle, ISBN 0 948329 42 4. While it lacks the characters and house
descriptions, it has a nice city map too, and contains a lot of otherwise
info. For a quick impression, take a look at the Palladium Book of (Weapons,
Armor and) Castles, which features this city as well. German speakers might
want to go for "Corrinis", which is essentially the same product as the
Chaosium one, but with different (more Gaelic and Scotch) names.
The city of Karse is ancient, but it hasn't always been the same.
The Karse, the wet lowland on both sides of the river mouth between
the Shadow Plateau and the white cliffs of Heortland, site of the city,
became important after the implosion of the Spike, when Sky River Titan
reversed his course and ran through Choralinthor's basin to answer Magasta's
call for assistance to seal off the Void. The site of his meeting the child
of Esrola and Faralinthor became an important place of communication. The
stretch of low-lying land along the lower River (*1)
gave its name both to the land and to the settlement that grew from the
survivors of the Unity Battle who gathered here. They traded the little
surplus they had against dearly needed assistance from others.
The earliest settlement lay on a hillock above the western bank, actually
some distance from the actual river, opposite a side bay fed by a stream
dropping from the white cliff through a narrow chasm. It was a typical
Vingkotling Caer (hillfort). The surrounding farming land and pasture was
enclosed by two parallel ditches and low ramparts running from the cliffside
to the waterfront. On the opposite bank of the river, on Watchtower hill,
hidden in a copse, a second, cruder hill-fort served as a hide-out for
the settlers.
The forts proved valuable during the Grey or Silver Age. After the events
described in the Sword and Helm saga, during the bitter time of the Hidden
Kings, the fortress at Karse offered a safe refuge to its inhabitants.
It was assaulted often, but never taken. Through the bad harvests of that
era the people still managed to remain fed, mostly by hunting the scarce
beasts around and beyond the shores of the Mirrorsea. The fisherfolk became
highly regarded in this time when most people just lived of roots and barely
digestible weeds.
When King Heort had returned with tidings from I Fought We Won, and
had undertaken the Lawstaff quest, the hardships of the Darkness lessened.
What followed was termed the Silver Age by later scholars. The people of
Karse definitely fared quite well in this time, when the first Waertagi
ships reached Kethaela, and dropped some of the Malkioni people around
its coasts where the drydocks and the supporting colonies were founded
(like Sog Harbour in southern Prax, supported by the God Forgot people
who followed the Malkioni lords and wizards after they had been left by
their gods, or Nochet at the mouth of the Lysos River, on the far side
of the Shadow Plateau). The harbour of Karse was deep and wide enough to
accomodate even city-ships, thanks to the rich waters of Lorion's river
(and his brothers') pouring down from the Sky River. The temple to Esrola
was built right next to the old fortress, and an Aldryami grove was planted
right next to it by the wisewomen of the Esrolvuli who knew the best ways
to keep the goddess as awake as possible throughout this age.
At this time, the settlement of Karse consisted out of several clusters
of buildings forming almost separate villages, but too close to each other
to be reckoned as such. The fisherfolk lived closest to the River, and
their homes were sometimes flooded when tidal waves ran into the river
mouth. A few matriarchs of Esrolvuli stock with their teeming families
lived right beside the temple to Esrola, which they tended. Other Heortlings
- - mostly of the Ogorvaltes - settled around the steads of their thanes, on
both banks of the river, or directly below the Caer. Around the market
no real nationalities were discernible, and people of different background
mingled freely here. A cave under the cliffside of the Shadow Plateau,
connected to the Obsidian Palace by tunnels, served as home to a few troll
traders, and as a hostel to other trolls visiting. Quite close to it some of
the farmers worshipping dark gods had their steads.
The Princes of Karse ruled over all these people from their hillfort.
They organized the law meetings, made their hirdmen protect the market
peace, and collected the tribute due to the Only Old One. They mustered
the host of Karse when the king of the Ogorvaltes called for war, or when
there were raiders to hold off.
When the Lightbringers returned at the Dawn, the Heortlings received
them and the sun with joy. The tribes left their hide-outs and reclaimed
the lands of Kerofinela, and began once again to grow the sacred grains
of the goddesses. Karse sat at the crossroads of the two major centres
of the Theyalan lands, and profited much from the traffic flowing through
it up and down the River.
The Waertagi and the Only Old One differed about certain rights, but
finally they settled their differences and divided the outer islands between
their interests, swearing allegiance and alliance instead. Karse grew out
of its ramparts, and many times the kings of the Ogorvaltes held court
and justice here. Traders from all over Esrola's scattered lands moved
here, and even Aldryami, Mostali and Uz set up habitats or at least hostels,
as did the lesser council peoples, too. Old Karse finally covered all the
land between the River and the cliffs, and was protected only by the (meanwhile
reinforced and heightened) ramparts running from the cliffs to the river.
After the defection of Kethaela from the Second Council, Nysalor's birth
and the military takeover, Palangio the Iron Vrok set up some strong Council
controlled garrison of Dara Happans in Karse. The garrison was a typical
Polaris/Shargash compromise: a rectangular structure inland from the temple
to Esrola, next to the ruined site of the original hillfort which had been
stormed and destroyed in the conquest, with the commander's house in the
centre and barracks symmetrically filling the space within the walls. This
structure attracted many of the farm houses which had to be rebuilt after
the conquest as well, and formed the main core of the city during the following
age. The last of the princes of Karse had fallen defending against the
Iron Vrok and his army, and instead some officer from distant Alkoth ruled
heavy-handedly over the settlement which grew, with dwarf aid, into a regular
city. Karse was one of the main garrisons and depots supplying what was
needed to keep up the siege of the Obsidian castle during Palangio's reign.
When Arkat landed, most of the garrison had been accompanying the Iron
Vrok on his siege of the Obsidian Castle, though, so the structure remained
mostly undamaged from the assault. Arkat reinstated the Only Old One as
the supreme ruler of the land. Karse became a tribal seat for the lower
River Valley, and controlled the land north of the Hendriki plateau all
the way up to Smithstone.
------------------------------
End of Glorantha Digest V3 #83
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