From: Joerg Baumgartner (joe@toppoint.de)
Date: Thu 10 Jul 1997 - 00:52:00 EEST
David Dunham in reply to me replying to I-forgot-who:
>>>I also believe the old body of the Pharoh is destroyed being too used up
>>>by the strains of god-hood but the idea of an elite bodyguard of zombie
>>>ex-Pharohs is a lovely one!
>> Certainly you mean the mummies of previous incaranations...
>I hope not. I don't see Esrolia as hot and/or dry enough to have natural
>mummification
Hot enough? Esrolia should have mediterranean climate, comparable to Spain
maybe. Should suffice.
Dry enough? Remember that mummies are protected from humidity by carefully
built cairns, sarcophagoes, etc. I'm fairly certain that the catacombs of
Necropolis are surprisingly dry, given their location right next to one of
the two major Esrolian rivers. You can do wonders with megalith
architecture, as the Newgrange cairn proves, so storage of mummies should be
easy. Preparation of mummies might require some artificial drying, but in
the land of pottery kilns are quite ordinary...
>(though I don't know what Belintar's homeland is like),
If we knew that, we'd be a lot wiser. Any information on Belintar's
whereabouts "before" he swam ashore at Sindpaper (an island variably claimed
to be part of the Rightarm Isles and Caladraland, probably where the two
Sixths join) is purely speculative.
>but in any case, I dislike the Egypt identification that seems to have spread
>thanks to the title of the Pharaoh.
Generally I agree to this sentiment, but a couple of such identifications
should be allowed. Not because of the title, but because of the role Esrolia
fulfills in the Genertelan "Mediterranean", i.e. corn chamber/river
valley/fellach population.
Zombies seem out of place. One reason is Belintar's subcult of Humakt
(swordmasters of Luck and Death, the guys with the lottery swords) which
would be horrified by the idea of pharaonic zombies but just might be able
to appreciate guardian ghosts inhabiting properly buried corpses (i.e.
mummies). Might. Wouldn't, most likely, and might as well behave as the
Shargashi in the Glamour zoo of Chaotics in Martin Lauries "Deville and the
Elevens".
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