From: Nick Brooke (Nick_Brooke@btinternet.com)
Date: Thu 13 Apr 2000 - 09:07:28 EEST
I think Rathori raids into Arrolia are sorted out for the most part by
player character "Seven Samurai" types, not by a local rapid-reaction force
of heavy cavalry with specialist anti-bear armaments and training. When an
outlying village detects bear people prowling around the forest ("They
haven't come this near since the Great Winter!"), they tend to panic and
look for assistance. Or, alternatively, appease the bear people. ("Pooh
likes Honey").
I am certain the Char-Un and Rathori skirmish along their blasted border,
where the Rathorelan forest turns into the Erigian steppe. Too many trees
for the horsemen, too few for the bearmen -- fair odds for both. The main
driver is probably Char-Un aggression rather than Rathori covetousness, but
there is now a fair amount of revenge and prestige built into the equation.
(When the Russian Cossacks expanded east of the Urals, the local tribes
didn't just pack it in and leave, after all, despite their
military/organisational etc. disadvantages).
The last major organised Rathori expansionist military action was the White
Bear Empire, and what a cock-up that turned out to be. Not a good precedent
for wholesale societal transformation, IMO. I am sure Rathori mercenaries
serving the Kingdom of War will do all kinds of odd things; I am not so sure
that this makes them "typical Rathori".
:::: Email: <mailto:Nick_Brooke@btinternet.com>
Nick
:::: Website: <http://www.btinternet.com/~Nick_Brooke/>
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