From: Sandy Petersen (sandyp@idcube.idsoftware.com)
Date: Wed 10 Aug 1994 - 07:40:16 EEST
Peter Whitelaw:
>the God Learners infiltrated Fonrit with the establishment of
>Kalabar in 679 ST... Kalabar did not itself fall until 11xx ST I'm
>sorry I'm hazy on the date) at the hands of Soseko the Firelord
>making it the last of the God Learner places to fall. (I dunno
>about the six legged empire).
The Six Legged Empire was no longer true God Learners by the time it fell. But I'm hazy about when it fell anyway. BUT, in any case the God Learners did not rule Fonrit, just one city.
Fonrit's culture, while certainly influenced by the God Learners, was not formed and shaped by it, and I don't believe that the God Learners successfully forced any gods upon it, with the possible exception of Issaries.
>I believe that the God Learners institutionalised the worship of
>Ompalam in Fonrit. They needed an aerial diety to be worshipped but
>did not want Orlanth shitstirring with his ideas of freedom. thus
>they introduced Worlath.
I disagree with this. I do not think the God Learners had anything to do with Ompalam's introduction. Such a useful god would have been spread elsewhere by the God Learners if it was one of Their Own, and we'd see traces of it elsewhere. But there none. This is an indigenous god if ever I saw one. In fact, it's rather puzzling that they didn't attempt to spread it further. (Well, they tried to spread it to the Pamaltelan savannah with the Six Leggers.) Perhaps there was a big study project in Kalabar, and they didn't want to chance a large-scale experiment with Ompalam until the study was finished.
>Presumably Arkat became Humakt's son by [adoption]? After all >the
>Brithini insist that his father was a barbarian warrior, nobody
>special.
Of course, to the Brithini, Humakt IS just a barbarian warrior, nobody special.
I don't think that the God Learners renamed the suns in Ralios and Fonrit -- these two areas were among the LEAST influenced by the God Learners of anywhere in Glorantha.
re: Malkioni nobility
In other words, Ian Gorlick's concern about the Malkioni instability is perfectly correct -- the nobility, if it gets weak, or is perceived as unstable, or unstable, or heretical, etc. is in fact in grievous danger of being deposed. This was also true in Earthly history. While Louis XIV was an absolute monarch, with both popular sentimenet and authority backing him up, he was constantly taking actions to maintain his supremacy, cutting down any group that might possibly disagree with him before they could get too strong. This applies to most other strong rulers, too. The Divine Right of Kings to rule extended only as far as their arm and political savvy could reach, and I believe that the Divine Investiture of a Rokari noble is similar. In the long run, this is a good thing, because it means that if the noble caste gets too enfeebled or decadent, fresh blood gets injected and these sad sacks are out on the street (or dead). Vive le revolucione! (sp?)
The nobles are not so helpless that they are vulnerable to every whim of a popular captain-at-arms. I'm sure that they seek allies among the various power groups, try to cultivate politically-important members of other castes, hand out offices with an eye towards satisfying the rapacity of potential enemies, etc. Also, BOM mentions that they are seen as legitimate, and that this enhances their position. This is true, too.
BOM badmouths doves:
>Doves are violent, territorial, bad-tempered, vicious creatures.
>Ever watch them in action?
This is a bit of an exaggeration. I've watched 'em in action. They are quite affectionate towards their mates, and are not particularly violent. They eat only things that are incapable of fighting back, and when one dove violates another's territory and is assaulted, the trespasser generally flies away at high speed.
I've handled many a dove and neither been pecked nor clawed. They're quite mild-mannered compared to, say, hamsters or geckos.
Certainly if you put two unmated doves in a cage together one will kill the other. But this is true of most animals that rely on flight to save themselves -- they have no inhibitions about killing other members of their own species because such inhibitions aren't generally needed. A dove's powers of escape are so exceptional, and its weapons so feeble, that there's no point in bothering to give it an instinctual reluctance to kill other doves.
The attacks on doves and hummingbirds as "unsuitable" for CA familiars because they're so "aggressive" is laughable. By these standards NO life-form will end up acceptable, since no life-form is wholly pacifistic, just as no life-form is utterly crazed with aggression (though some come close). For that matter many butterflies are territorial, and I've seen them fight and drive off potential rivals. So have you -- the common sight of two butterflies flittering around one another as they cruise off in some direction is often two males fighting. Sometimes it's a male and female courting, though. And sometimes it's a male checking out another male in hopes it's a female. It's hard to say with butterflies, since their most aggressive actions are somewhat impaired by their lack of offensive capacity. But when you see an elderly butterfly with tattered wings, those wings are often tattered from fights, not predator attacks.
The scale is relative. A dove is territorial, and will drive off rivals, and will peck to death an unfriendly rival if penned together. On the other hand, doves are a hell of a lot milder than weasels, shrews, cape buffalo, or monitor lizards.
I had to spout off. It was so ludicrous seeing people point out the "dark side of hummingbirds" et al that I just couldn't stand it. And yes, hummingbirds are highly obnoxious to others of their species, though I've never seen one injure or kill another -- just berserkly drive them off.
BOM
>I'm assuming that Prax is like the US praries.
Prax is not as fertile as the U.S. Prairies. It's more like the more reasonable parts of the Great Basin (the Wastes is like the other parts of the Great Basin). I don't think you get 2-3 meter grass except in Summer Fertile Ground.
I agree that the fuel is dried animal dung (which is mostly grass anyway). However, I'm sure that the Praxians use dried grass as tinder. Incidentally, it would seem clear that the Morocanth are short on fuel, since their own animals' dung isn't particularly good for this purpose, nor is their own. Good thing they prefer the river bottoms where there are occasional trees.
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