From: Joerg Baumgartner (joe@sartar.toppoint.de)
Date: Thu 02 Dec 1993 - 14:48:02 EET
Sandy says that although everyone is drifting into the future, he
doesn't regard this as forward time travel. Well, how about these
incidents:
The Rathori bear people of Fronela went to sleep in 1499 (when the Ban struck), and awoke in (up to now) three waves (beginning in 1594, when among others Harrek awoke).
Snodal went to Altinela in 1443, and returned five years later in 1483.
(sic!)
The Golden Horse Tribe went into the Black Net after the Battle of Alavan Argay (1250 ST, KoS 192f), whence one half of them were drawn by Derik Pol Joni in 1420 (Kos 120, 131f).
This latter incident leads to some questions:
Goran Tar, leader of the united Bison, Sable and Impala forces, a Bison Rider, granted the Golden Horse People one night to make their decision, and placed them "under the Black Net". Is this an Artifact? A ritual spell (somehow connected to Arachne Solara?)?
On KoS 120 it is stated that Derik Pol Joni traveled the Horse Path (a heroquest path, I assume) "until he discovered and brought back the Black Net. With it he pulled in his followers from the dream". If these were indeed the remnants of the Paxian Golden Horse Tribe, how did Derik convert one of the most strongly Traditionalist Pentan horse tribes into accepting cattle as herd beasts?
The easy answer might be that he didn't, and that the Pol Joni consist of two groups united by their leaders only: Theyalan mounted cattle herders, and Pure Horse tribesmen tolerating the cattle herders, maybe over the years slowly merging with these.
There is another tribe in Prax which descended from the Pure Horse people: The Zebra riders whch were founded by Joraz Kyrem after his victory against the nomads and Thog in 877. In the Pavis Common Knowledge booklet on p.13 is described how Joraz created the War Zebras using the finest stallions and mares of his horse rider followers to magically crossbreed them with the zebras of the plains. (This is "blamed" in part to EWF magic and upbringing of Joraz, and his inspiration through Issaries' creation of mules.)
It might be significant that the remnant of the Zebra people lived among the Pol Joni whence Dorasar the Founder called them back to Pavis.
Only after their chieftain Olgkarth had taken over Zebra Fort inside the Rubble, the Zebra Riders revived their Issaries traditions and began acting as neutral emissaries between the tribes. "No message is all black or all white", remember?
Does anybody know more about the Zebras and Pol Joni than these sources tell us?
Re horses in Prax:
John Medway asked whether horse riders were attacked by Praxians on
sight, ad somebody proposed that they did, if chances were right. '
like to point at the last episode of the Borderlands Campaign, Into
Giantland, where the travelling party riddes horses through vulture
country into the Hidden Greens, and has to win a greeting contest to be
admitted as one of several groups camping at that oasis, the rest being
Praxians. Although the Praxians cheat the newcomers in their choice of
contests (such as a head butting contest between the mounts, proposed
by a Bison rider), they don't attack outrightly. Having a five to one
superiority, this indicates their hatred doesn't go that far. Otherwise
they'd simply bar them entry, and watch them die of thirst.
(Or does each oasis have its guardian spirit which gets annoyed when
its blessings are deneid to outsiders without giving them a chance to
earn them?)
--
-- Joerg Baumgartner joe@sartar.toppoint.de
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