I thought I would make a long debut on the Glorantha Digest by presenting my current interpretations of three subjects that I've been a-pondering for far too long in the great wilderness of the Pacific Northwest.
With none of my decade-old RQ gaming group having ever attended a RQ Convention and only recently becoming aware of the internet RQ discussions, I'm afraid we've developed in somewhat of a vacuum.
I'd like to bring up three subject areas:
1. What the hell is the Pharoah? What is/was the nature of his power? etc...
2. How culturally substantial is the Lunar rule over the provinces? Is it a
permanent cultural and religious change (ie. like the Islamic conquests of
the eighth century) or has it been more of a shallow tolerance of the
conqueror's gods that disappears the moment the Lunar officials have left
the region?
3. Those wacky second age empires: the EWF and the Empire of Sea and Land.
Well, here are some of my current theories regarding these questions:
The Masters of Luck and Death
Once a year in the Holy Country, a great sacrifice and a greater contest is held to renew the magic that holds the nations together. This is the great mystery of the Masters of Luck and Death.
At the start of the Sacred Time, the Pharoah or Man-God of Kethaela is sacrificed to the Great Goddess of Fertillity in Esrolia. His life-blood is spilled onto the fields to pay the price which the Goddess demands - the death of the sovereign to ensure fertillity. The death of the Pharoah is then mourned by the worshipful throngs.
After the mourning rites of the Pharoah, the contest known as the Masters of Luck and Death begins. Each of the Holy Country?s many nations sends a champion to the City of Wonders, where they pit their skills and brawn against one another until only one remains.
That one, the Master of Luck and Death, is then revealed to be none other than the Pharoah, who throws a feast across the land celebrating his victory over death. The conclusion of the feast is the conclusion of the Sacred Time.
Very generally speaking, the Kingdom of Tarsh has two contrasting cultural zones:
Centered upon the Kerofini clans at the base of Wintertop Mountain and extending in a semi-circle to the northwest and to the northeast, the Tarshite highlanders form the core of the Old Tarshite culture. A rural agrarian and pastoral populace, land is primarily held by the family-freeholders scattered throughout the hills.
The traditional clan chieftains were replaced by King-appointed earldorman two generations ago. In the hills, the King's authority is limited, even the earldormen require the acclamation of the assembled clan to be confirmed in his post. Most earldormen (or earls) maintain the loyalty
of their clans by generous distribution of gifts and by providing fair arbitration between feuding parties.
The highlander men mainly worship Orlanth Thunderous and his son, Barntar the Plowsman. Orlanth Thunderous worship is done without temples or shrines, but rather from atop the hills of Tarsh. Near Wintertop, Orlanth in
all his glory is worshipped, and the god's godi are greatly respected by the
Highlanders. Barntar, Elmal, Voriaf, and Odayla all have many shrines throughout the hills.
Centered upon the city of Furthest, the lowlanders of the Oslir River valley dominate Tarsh's politics and leadership. The large city of Furthest is economic, political and religious capital for the rich valley. Founded by
Hon-Eel the Artess, Furthest has successfully seduced Tarsh's ruling elite with the splendors of Pelorian civilization. The great Temple to the Reaching Moon is located within the Oslir River valley, extending the protection of the Lunar Glowline to the inhabitants of Tarsh.
The King and the hersir (royal supporters) own most of the land in the
lowlands. After Palashee Long-Axe was slain by Phargentes, the triumphant
King confiscated the lands of his opponents (in the lowlands - no reason to
bother with the highland scrabble) and gave much of it to his supporters.
The
hersir have largely managed to transmit this land to their sons, forming a
wealthy land-owning aristocracy.
Ernalda and Pelora are well-loved in the lowlands by the peasants and share-croppers who work the large estates, as is Barntar the Plowsman. The Seven Mothers are worshipped by the ambitious and by many retired soldiers. Many Lunar frontier cults such as Yara Arannis and Hon-Eel are worshipped within the city walls of Furthest. Both Issaries and his daughter, Etyries, are worshipped by Tarshite merchants in the lowlands. Despite the heavy imperial presence in Furthest, the Dara Happan pantheon has failed to win many native converts and continues to be confined to foreign administrators and officers.
EWF For several centuries, powerful humans possessing draconic knowledge and assistance dominated Dragon Pass and southern Peloria. It would be a mistake, however, to assume that draconic knowledge was wide-spread throughout the EWF.
In my humble opinion, the EWF as a wide-spread culture is a misnomer unintentionally perpetuated by scholars of the Lhankhor Mhy cult. EWF was actually a small cabal of Dragonlearners whose heroquest that taught Orlanth
the Left-Handed Path granted them an alliance with many local Theyalan tribes. Left-Handed Orlanth was worshipped by the local tribes as an aspect of Orlanth until Alakoring Dragonbreaker's heroquest renewed Orlanth Rex.
The EWF cabal was feared and revered by the local Theyalan tribesmen, founding cities for trade or for mystical reasons. Essential the EWF formed a small, closed, cosmopolitan ruling elite that justified its position through their draconic based power. Their association with the mysterious dragonnewts, who served as their advisors, their bodyguards and their teachers, ended up to be frought with peril as the later history of the EWF was to prove.
Alakoring's rise disrupted the alliance between the hill kingdoms and the EWF cabal. He turned the farmers and herders against the EWF by freeing Orlanth from the cabal and turning the god against the EWF. He gained the support of the hill kings and their Humakti thanes by showing them the booty
that could be gained by attacking the EWF cabal. Although he was eventually slain, Alakoring permanently severed the ties between the EWF and the Theyalan hill folk.
After Alakoring, the EWF cabal maintained their dominance through fear rather than through respect. This later, dark age of the EWF marked the rise
of fearsome heroes like Gork Trag the Half-Troll, or Delecti the Necromancer. The EWF cabal increasingly called upon their draconic powers to destroy potential rivals and to terrorize their former allies. Eventually the dragonnewts rebelled against this perversion of the Left-Handed Way and during the Long Night of the Utumna, slayed most of the cabal members.
With the near-destruction of the EWF, Pentan nomads filled the power vacuum left by the Empire's disappearance. Eventually, the One True Golden Horde, having gained the overlordship of the Pelorian lowlands, mustered an assault on the Dragon's Eye in an attempt to eliminate any possibility of anyone ever learning the Left-Handed Path again. This resulted in the disastrous DragonKill War.
Hopefully this will generate some response.
From the wilderness,
Jeff Richard
Jeff.Richard_at_metrokc.gov
End of Glorantha Digest V1 #34
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