From: Joerg Baumgartner (joe@sartar.toppoint.de)
Date: Thu 02 Dec 1993 - 14:25:21 EET
Carl Fink in X-RQ-ID: 2500
> Have you seen the _Vikings_ pack? In some ways it's the best RPG
>supplement for starting new players I've ever read. Note that the Ygg's
>Isles were added to Glorantha specifically to let people play the
>Vikings scenarios.
Does anyone on this list have specific details about the Islands other than those in Tales 10? Or more specifically, does any existing information contradict my parallels between historical northern Norway and Ygg's Islands?
Aside: Just like other people on this list, I'm interested in expanding
"official" Glorantha via this medium. I am in the lucky position to
have access to an organization which has the specific aim to further
RuneQuestand related matters (Glorantha) which can be used for further
distribution of this stuff. So I'll ask some FAQs again:
- Can we produce "official" Gloranthan material (need we get Greg
Stafford's okay for each and any thing, is there "one true way")
- How may we distribute the material on the net, outside the net, and
what about the copyright problems?
- Who would participate in collecting a "complete" encyclopaedia for
Glorantha. (I've started collecting the printed material and
reorganizing it for personal use. I quote literally, and I give the
full bibliographical data for the sources, as is fine with scientific
publications. How about copyright regulations for FRP material? Do I
infringe any with occasional literal quotes, or with a massed
accumulation of these?) How would one distribute this? I have thought
about Windows Help-textfiles. I don't use a Windows-system, but I
realize that it is most universally available and would be a sound
basis. A UNIX-version would be fine too, I'd personally like to see a
version for Atari ST, and Mac and AMIGA-users for their own system, but
with Windows we can reach the greatest number, I'd expect. This file
might be sold like other software, and the holders of the copyrights
might get their share out of that. Regular updates ought to be
available. Any takers for this project? I'm volunteering as one of the
editors and writers, in fact I've done quite a bit already.
Aside off.
A question to everyone out there: I'm curently planning to do a Vikings issue in Free INT 7 and still haven't got enough material (except I write all of it myself). Would some kind souls out there share their experiences with me via email?
I still am convinced that RuneQuest-Glorantha and RuneQuest-Aternate Earth can go hand in hand, if we apply the right twists to the Alternate Earth setting and pronounce the similarities between Glorantha and Earth correctly. The Wolf Pirates at Three Step Islands remind me strongly of the Great Army the Vikings had gathered in the southern North Sea around 880-890. With or without Harrek as leader, they wreak havoc all along the Rozgali Sea coast from Nolos to Corflu.
Yggs Islands: several questions
The Wolf Pirates article in TotRM 10 made clear several facts about the islanders, but led me to new questions.
Ygg's Islands and the Closing:
It is quite clear that sea traffic to Loskalm was interrupted by this,
whereas boat traffic between the islands was still possible. If the
settlements there resemble the Haalogaland Vikings (e.g. those on the
Lofot Islands, in Troms, and at the coasts of Finnmark) just a little
bit, being cut off the import of grain must have been a hard blow to
the islands' economy. I'd imagine that before the closing, they
exported timber (from Winterwood), fish, seal fur, whale oil, and furs
traded from Uncoling and Pralori Hsunchen along the rims of Winterwood
and Valinds Glacier.
From the Map in Genertela Book, p.16, it is apparent that travel
between Ygg's Islands and Winterwood wasn't necessarily closed, since
the Islands marked off an inner body of water. This might have reached
well into the bay north of Agria, which would still have allowed
shipments of goods. Without military importance for a fleet, timber
might have become less asked for in Loskalm, though.
The area seems to have been enclosed in one piece during the 83 years of the Ban (1500-1583). Thus, trade with the Hsunchen hunter had become impossible, but the Winterwood shores settled by the Ygglinga still was intact.
My experiences with living in Haalogaland (which I did 1991-1992 for a year) and my reading of local history and archaeology of that area convince me of the necessity of Ygglinga and certain Hsunchen tribes coexisting on the Islands. The Ygglinga are mostly farmer-fishermen (as per the Vikings occupation) or farmers, while the Hsunchen inhabitants take the role of the coastal "Fins" (actually Laps, or in their own language, Sami), which are either of Uncoling (reindeer), Pralori (elk, indicating hunting and fishing) or Rathori (bear, heavy emphasis on hunting) stock. These Hsunchen would be fairly civilized (similar to the Rathori of Rathorela or the people of Thrice Blessed), keeping herds of domestic beasts (reindeer, traded sheep or cattle, perhaps even some domestic elk), and speializing in a lot of crafts, such as boat building (the "Fins" were renowned in Norway for their fast and durable longships), clothmaking (the colourful local dresses), tanning, rope-making (from whale- and seal-hide), fur-curing, bone-, horn- and woodcutting, and of course for their shamanic magic. The Ygglinga would control all trade with the outside (at least before the Loskalmi ventures after 1583) and tax the Hsunchen settlements as well. The Hsunchen on their part thrived with their way of life, subsided with traded agricultural produce from the Ygglinga (and further south), and as middle-men to their inland brethren who traded only via them.
An additional factor would be the Vronkali (green elves) from Winterwood, who seem to be fairly friendly to the Hsunchen and Ygglinga on their northern and western borders (where they help keeping the trolls off), and the trolls on Valind's glacier in the north. The elves could take a similar role as the Fins in Norway, only that they sit in a position of power and cannot be taxed. The trolls could replace the Skraelings (Eskimos) encountered in the Greenland settlements as well as the (few but in story-telling important) berserk troops described as troll-descendants, either a danger to cope with, or another primitive clans-people to trade and war with.
Harrek's easy acceptance among the Ygglinga could be seen as a sign of the Ygglingas' familiarity with Hsunchen, although this argument is not too strong in light of Harrek's civilization encounters (Timms, Lunar Empire, see below).
I'm going to write an article for Free INT describing the coexistence of Haalogaland "Vikings" and Fins (in German, though), and I'll include a section how this might be played out in Glorantha, Ygg' Islands and Wnterwood. I might try to translate that into Germish (heavily German accented English) and present it here, although I'd prefer some native speaker to translate it. The Gloranthized version might be interesting for the Tales or RQ Adventures?
Harrek the Wolf Pirate:
I found a solution for the seeming discrepancy between Harrek's
timeline (he served in Jonatela before 1616) and the general Fronelan
timeline: Timms was freed along with the Janubian city-states, but was
a former part of Jonatela. Thus the berserk's time in "Jonatela" might
sactualy have been in Timms, where the Lunar nobility also is more
likely to take notice of exceptional characters for their dart
competitions.
Enough ramblings. Reactions, please!
--
-- Joerg Baumgartner joe@sartar.toppoint.de
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