From: Peter Metcalfe (metcalph@hotmail.com)
Date: Tue 26 Aug 1997 - 18:33:41 EEST
Joerg mentioned that the Blues appeared to have dissappeared
from Peloria. A cause of this was that most tribes of pelorian
blues were really only people who painted themselves blue in
imitation of their overlords. The Green Pages Entekosiad
mentions that the Sailors of the Sweet Sea (I think, my library
is on the far side of the planet from Oxford) have blue lips and
tongues. IMO some of the coastal dwellers develop bluish skin
(think the Innsmouth look) as they grow older and retire beneath
the waves.
Jeff Richard, he say:
>On another subject - I fully agree with Dennis Hoover on the
>Alkothi kings. The Greek word "turannos" is associated with
>"a man, resentful at exclusion from power, who exploited the
>discontents and the military might of the citizens to seize
>personal power."
nitpick:
That only applies to the man who established the Tyranny in
a city. For a person like Hippias who followed in his father's
footsteps to become Tyrant of Athens, the association is
somewhat iffy...
>Importantly, a tyrant is a secular leader as opposed to a ceremonial
>ruler. In Glorantha, I expect tyrants in Safelster or in the Lunar
>Empire - - not in the radically traditionalist Shargash cult of
>Alkoth.
I agree about Tyrants not being appropiate for Alkoth.
Furthermore the Tyranny is a Pelorian Barbarian custom
and not a Dara Happan one. In the GRAY, Avivath refuses
to become a Tyrant like the Barbarians do. Instead the
Dara Happans have 'Overseers' who in the image of
Vantestos rule their lands on the behalf of Yelm. Any
cultic similarities between Overseers and Tyrants (such
as the three pronged crown and worship of Vantestos) is
dismissed as 'coincidence' by the Dara Happans.
Red/Green[/Black] Overseers sounds icky and besides the
title seems to be used by imperial bureacracy ie it
corresponds to governer, sultan or satrap rather than
being an indigeneous cultic post.
Another unexplained leadership custom that is known by
the Dara Happans is the Electors. Because of Antirius's
role in the leadership of the assemblies (and my hypothesis
on his relationship with Turos), I'm inclined to ascribe
the position with his cult. I do not believe that all
Antirian Runelords are called Electors as that sounds
silly. What I do believe is that a ruler who ruled by
being chosen from an assembly of citizens (according to
the rules of Antirius or Turos) called himself an Elector
in the Jenarong/Khordavu period. Many big cities are
exeptions to this rule. Raibanth select their rulers on
the basis of descent and membership in the cult of
Raibamus. Alkoth selects their rulers according to the
Shargash Cultic Laws.
OTOH Dara Happans _do_ have Kings. When Jenarong came
into Raibanth, he made peace with King Dinzered (sp?)
who was apparently ruling the city at the time. The
position seems to be preserved nowadays as the Patriach
of Raibanth. Admittedly Jenarong then slays the Tyrant
of Alkoth but I'd assume this is a Plentonian Slur on
the Red King on the grounds of the barbarian associations
of Tyrant.
- --Peter Metcalfe
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