Telmori: They Ain't *That* Bad/The Telmori Foundling

From: Clay Luther <claycle_at_...>
Date: Tue, 11 Jul 2000 14:42:29 -0500


A few weeks ago, I posted a question to hw-rules about a possible Telmori foundling amoung the Torkani which caused resulted in some rather strong anti-Telmori statements.

However, researching the Torkani and Telmori tribes of Sartar (in KoS), it seems that the Telmori are not *that* bad. I will attempt to support this hypothesis.

Yes, before Sartar, the Telmori were basically at war with the eastern Orlanthi tribes. They crossed the Creek and drove the Torkani into the foothills of the Indigo Mountains, taking possession of Torkan's Vale, where they've remained until today.

But Sartar offered to make peace with the Telmori if the affected tribes
(the Cincina, Culbrea, and Maboder) would help him afterwards. To make
the peace, Sartar presented the Telmori with Ostling Four-Wolf, who "offered hope of the curse being broken (KoS 134)". The Telmori accepted Ostling as their new chief and became good allies of the Sartar Dynasty
(though they still had uneasy relations with their neighbors).

After Sartar, the Telmori changed their habits somewhat. They stayed within (or at least were never seen leaving) the hunting grounds (the Dogbone and Wolf Hills) Sartar granted to them. Apparently, they became fairly benign neighbors since they "never again took humans or livestock from the other tribes (KoS 135)", though they did sometimes range far when hunting.

Additionally, a Telmori hero, Kostajor, rescued Prince Jarosar from the Battle of Dwarf Ford. His presence at the battle implies that the Telmori joined the other tribes to help the Aldachuri against the Lunars
(1565, KoS 139).

However, when the Lunars obliterated the royal family in the early 1600s, the Telmori reverted to their old habits. They began raiding neighboring tribes (one assumes, the Cincina, the Torkani, the Culbrea, and the Aranwyth), igniting the old feuds. But, interestingly, the Telmori attacked and annihilated the Maboder tribe, who were Lunar allies. The Lunars decided to punish the Telmori, and were aided by plenty of Orlanthi who held a grudge against the wolf-men -- and presumably would not have aided the Lunars otherwise. However, "many [Orlanthi] outlaws and rebels helped the Telmori, too (KoS 143)". The Telmori were defeated, nonetheless, and accepted Lunar terms. [I think it is a testament to the Telmori's strength that 1) they could eliminate the most powerful members of the Maboder and 2) they were not completely annihilated by the Lunar response.]

In 1613, Telmori outlaws sided with "the most powerful of the Quivini tribes (KoS 145)" to forge the Ring of Sartar with Kallyr Starbrow. Furthermore, the Telmori followed Kallyr faithfully throughout her rebellion and were amoung her most ardent followers when she was crowned in 1625 (KoS 154).

In conclusion, I think that the Sartar Telmori are inconvenient neighbors at worst and powerful, desirable allies at best.

---

Now, about the Foundling.  I somewhat agreed with some posters that the
Telmori foundling -- if indeed it was Telmori -- would probably have
been killed.  Alternatively, I imagine if it had not been killed by the
Torkani clansmen, it might have been stolen back or killed by the
Telmori themselves.  So, having a Telmori foundling seemed like a big
stretch.

However, I have a very rough idea of how to satisfy the problem of the
Telmori Foundling.  The Foundling is Telmori and he is also Human, the
side-effect of a failed Heroquest performed by Jostanor, a Telmori
hero.  Jostanor's Quest was an attempt to find the place where Sartar
had found Ostling Four-Wolf and to leave his wolf-self there. Jostanor
succeeded in finding Ostling's Mother, but could not convince her to
accept his wolf-self. When she chased Jostanor out of her cave, he left
his wolf-self there anyway. But, now he could not perfectly return and
became trapped, died, and gave birth to the Foundling -- a mortal
reflection of his pure human self. Likewise, his wolf-self was born as
well in a seperate body. Both selves were not aware of each other, but
eventually found each other and became inseperable. The Telmori know
that Jostanor's Quest failed, but also that Jostanor still managed to
seperate his selves (at the cost of his life). They are looking for both
of him now.

--
Clay
claycle_at_...

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