I mean, in all fairness it's a competent essay and I was interested in what he had to say (as a fellow ancient historian), but what has it added to our understanding of Glorantha? Not a lot. For my part, I *prefer* using the more prejudiced, racist, romantic historians (whether ancient or recent) as key sources for the *attitudes* present in Gloranthan societies today ("WE are indomitable; THEY are effete and decadent"). In Glorantha, historical and archaeological MYTHS are more important than the "archaeological facts" Dominic spends time deriding. Still, at least my weltanschauung was illuminated.
The post on barbarian warfare was more immediately useful, perhaps. Best observation was that Sartarites who can beat Lunars in battle aren't really all that barbaric any more: players of Dragon Pass will note how, in order to "beat 'em", Argrath pretty much "joined 'em" -- his new institutions of the Free Army and Magical Union parallelling the Lunars' professional fighting force and College of Magic.
I'm sorry if I'm picking on Dominic's articles, but they really do feel too rooted in the modern historical discipline to be very useful in Glorantha: more concerned with what we *don't* know about the past than with how we can pick up sources (OK, maybe they're often incorrect, intellectually and morally dubious sources) and use them in our games and world-building for fun and profit.
<http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/Nick_Brooke/>
The forthcoming Convulsion 3D programme book is a Gloranthan fiction extravaganza, with previously unpublished stories by Greg Stafford, Sandy Petersen, Ken Rolston, MOB, Chris Gidlow, Mike Hagen and myself. A few spare copies will eventually be available for sale to people who can't make it to the convention, which is taking place the weekend after next (19-21 July) in Leicester, England (Guests of Honour: Greg, Sandy, Ken, MOB). Any last minute bookings, ring David Hall *NOW* on 01753 523 169 for details.
Comparing the eventual Lunar ban on roaming gangs of Storm Bullies - crude antisocial thuggish murderers - to the Nazi genocidal policies towards the Jews, Gypsies, homosexuals and other defenceless and inoffensive groups is hardly fair.
Many Ducks rose up in armed rebellion against the Empire: OK, they were scapegoats, but they were also largely guilty. As Pam has pointed out, the rebels would have got far shorter shrift from the Bull Shahs of Carmania, who were of course barbarian in origin. Look at the Lunars' leniency towards rebels after the uprising (source: Wyrms Footprints or King of Sartar) if you want to see an enlightened policy towards the perpetrators of civil unrest.
Sure, you can be an Orlanthi. I am, most of the time I play RQ. But I don't want to be an Orlanthi who has to lie about his opponents, dishonourably ambush them, assist drug traffickers and murderers and terrorists, pretend they're all chaotic "unpersons", and endanger the lives of my family and friends with reckless abandon by doing so. I want to play a Real Person, not a skirmish wargaming 25mm figure with numbers attached.
Further to the Carmanian Houses, I intended the Dune parallels when I first discovered them. Think of the Atreides vs. Harkonnen vendetta as a Dart Competition, replace the technology/psychology with Lunar sorcery, and we have a good model for what the graduates of the Lunar College of Magic get up to: spending most of their time defending their own noble employers against both predictable and exotic attacks, and some of their time trying to devise ways through "impenetrable" defenses (subverting, sidestepping and reflecting the defending sorceries in the best Lunar traditions).
The Genertela Book's Lunar Empire chapter has something on the size of Pelorian rural clans: extending out to six generations or so, which is a pretty hefty agglomeration (if I've remember it right).
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