From: ngl28@rz.uni-kiel.d400.de
Date: Thu 28 Oct 1993 - 21:42:11 EET
G. Fried in X-RQ-ID: 2106
>This makes me wonder: why aren't there more cities in Glorantha with
>the same meaningful status as, say, a Sparta or an Athens? Pavis
>comes to mind, but it is an anomaly, and pretty much decadent at this
>point.
Other unique cities close to Sartar:
Nochet: a metropolis, one out of maybe two dozens on Glorantha
Refuge: something like Sog City in small, Brithini ruling a normal populace (BTW again: if anybody on this list knows the French magazine article about Refuge, how much Y (truth) is in it?)
Casino Town: Anyone want to go to Vegas? (Is this identical with Talar Hold, on the same Island in God Forgot?)
Whitewall: A traditional hillfort developed into a sizable city, probably with influences from the EWF-time
Karse: a very modern castle-cum-city (the old Midkemia-Press product rereleased once by Chaosium: taken from the street-plan of Caernarfon, Gwynedd, Wales), probably built by EWF and GL traders to accommodate exchange of goods. (In the second age the Dragon River, today known as Creek-Stream-River, went east of Shadow Plateau; onlz when Belintar slew the darkness monster the Only Old One sent against him it was redirected into the Lysos River.)
Jonstown: a small city with a university of far-stretching renown
Last not Least:
Boldhome: Have a look at the Home-of-the-Bold booklet at RQ-Con!
>In Glorantha, nations and tribes adopt gods as their
>'founders' and protectors, but not cities, at least as autonomous
>political units.
You want city-states? Go to Ralios or into the Janube Valley. Look at the Dara Happan Tripolis for an Attic League (before Alexander, err, the Red Goddess came).
And show me a city without its city-god! There is a city in Fonrit whose city-god is ranked higher than Yelm and various other notable deities by the inhabitants.
>Where are the parallels to the classical model of
>the city as THE most important thing in life, with temples devoted to
>the gods of the city (the Parthenon!), and the duties of citizenship
>including military service, voting in the Assembly, serving in the
>Council of Elders or Magistracy or Juries?
The Janube River Valley cities do fit that bill quite well, IMO. Their patron deities may get worship elsewhere as well, but then so did Athena and various other Greek city patron deities.
>Or do I need to read the
>Glorantha book more carefully?
I keep rereading it, and I always find something new to ask, e.g. the timeline of the Harrek-Box which conflicts with the timeline in the general description. Any offers for this problem yet?
>In any case, despite the illustations
>in RQ2 and RuneMasters and other Chaosium/AH products, Prax is NOTHING like
>ancient Greece. (Though I will always have an abiding affection for
>those Luise Perrene illos!)
I couldn't help thinking of Mesopotamia when I saw all those Zikkurat- formed temples (Sun County's Sun Dome Temples, Ivory Plinth (in RQ2- Companion), the symbol for Horn Gate on the Nomad Gods map). But of course artists and designers need to fall back to known concepts sooner or later - I am trying to emulate as much Anglosaxon and Celtic material for my view of the Orlanthi as possible.
Joerg Baumgartner
ngl28@rz.uni-kiel.d400.de
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