I don't think that Broyan is "aiming for rule over the entire Holy Country" - are you basing this on the reference to Broyan being King of Kethaela in the Annotated Argrath Saga? Frankly, I don't think that Broyan has any interest in the Holy Country per se - definitely Heortland and maybe Esrolia, probably not the Shadow Plateau. Definitely not Caladraland, the Islands or God Forgot. However, following the Battle of Iceland, I think that Broyan is generally recognized as High King of the Hendriki (and of Heortland). As a result, he meets the qualifications for ruler of a Sixth and can enter the City of Wonders.
However, I think that Broyan is aiming to restore the Hendreiki - in order to resist the Lunars. The parallels are too obvious, the geography and context are right, and - oh yes - he's the leader of the Larnsti.
> >But if that restoration is his desire then he must be aware
> >that Hendriek's heir is found amongst the Larnsti, so Broyan must
> >become one of the Lanrsti (i.e. join their hero band) to qualify.
> The Larnsti isn't a heroband but fully fledged worship of Larnste.
Let's talk about the Larsnti for a moment. They exist in precisely three published sources: (1) G:IHW, (2) OiD; and (3) DP:LoT. Of these three, OiD is the most important.
So what does G:IHW say?
--- "When Ezkankekko lived, the Hendreiki were a clannish folk with a king who protected their freedom. The king was chosen from among the Larnsti, a magical brotherhood of wanderers Hendreik founded. When the Pharaoh came, he proved that King Andrin was an unjust ruler and slew him, whereupon the Hendreiki disintegrated. The Larnsti were unable to contact their founder Hendreik and whenever they tried to appoint a king, he was killed. Civil war ravaged Heortland and many clans fled to Dragon Pass to avoid the fighting. Finally the Pharaoh admitted his error and brought King Andrin back to life in a grand epic, restoring peace to the Hendreiki..." "King Andrin reformed the Hendreiki. This had been done twice before and so was not new. He apportioned Heortland into Marches and appointed Barons over them and four Earls to oversee the barons. Since these nobles wielded Henreik's Freedom, his successors would be found among them and not the Larnsti. THe silence of the Larnsti was worrying enough but the king then announced that sheriffs, schools in Larnsti magics, would replace the clan chiefs. The clans were perplexed - on one hand it struck at their clan traditions, which the God Learners had never done, but on the other they were unwilling to do without the blessings of the Larnsti. They changed and were glad that the working of the sheriffs was quiet and unobtrusive, like that of the Larnsti. Yet with hindsight, the sheriffs were not fully-fledged Larnsti for they could only change the clans in one way - by adopting Malkioni ways...." "By royal decree, the sheriff himself is forbidden to serve in the army, even though he is a knight. One of his tasks is to prevent the land from falling into anarchy when the army is away. This provides Heortland with some modicum of order despite the recent conquest. One further protection formerly enjoyed by the Hendreiki is almost gone: the ancient Spirit of Hendreik that has protected them from conquest." "As Orlanthi, the Hendreiki worship Orlanth and Ernalda as the king and queen of the gods. In addition, the old regime worshipped Free Hendreik as the god of liberty who ensured the freedom of everyone in Heortland so that they would never be conquered. They even bought slaves and manumitted from their owners so that the presence of an unfree person would not pollute their land." "Hendreik's secret lay in that he was a worshipper of Larnste, the god of motion. By remaining unfettered in thought and deed, no one could ever subdue his people. Although Hendreik embodied freedom, the Larnsti were not restricted in the mysteries of the god they chose to study.... Because of [Larnste's] wound, the god and his followers who once traveled throughout the entire world now cannot leave Heortland. Only one man, Sartar, managed to negate this curse - but once he left Heortland he could never return." ---- This passage contains quite a bit of information for us. (1) The Larnsti are a magical brotherhood founded by Hendreik so that his people would never be conquered. This is strongly paralleled with Broyan the Last Free King. They are a heroband. (2) The Larnsti are not restricted in the mysteries of the god they chose to study - they worship freedom and liberty. They are likely initiates of Orlanth as well - in fact I see now reason why Free Hendreik is not a subcult of Orlanth who then provides access to Larnst. (3) King Andrin replaced the true Larnsti with Larnsti-lite. The sheriffs have weakened the Spirit of Hendreik. (4) The Larnsti - and Broyan - cannot leave Heortland (which includes the lands of the Volsaxar Confederation of the Bacofi, Curtali, Sylangi, and Volsaxi - and once upon a time the Kultain). Fortunately the Battle of Iceland occurs in "Heortland". This is a big reason why Broyan is not more directly involved in Sartar's liberation. The true Larnsti - like the Spirit of Hendreik - are almost gone. IMO, Broyan revives them and the Spirit of Hendreik. This is an important element of Broyansaga at Whitewall. This may happen during the siege. ---- Proceeding on to source number two, OiD. From that we know that: "Broyan is fated to be the Last High King of Heortland. He will die in 1625, so we recommend that the narrator reserve his personal hero band (the 25 members of the Larnsti) as an exemplar rather than as an option for player characters to join. Even if the narrator does allow player heroes to join, attaining this high honor is very difficult, and any player hero will have to work up to joining the household of the High King." Broyan is "Leader of the Larnsti 5M2" We also know that a "Typical Larnst Warrior" has as keywords - "Warrior 7M2", "Escape 19 M2" and uses spear and javelins. From OiD, I think it is safe to extrapolate that the Larnsti are Broyan's personal heroband and that there are "25 members of the Larnsti" left. Most Larnsti have no Sartar-like changing magics, - instead they are each the near-equivalent of a clan champion and have an Escape ability (which is presumably a magical affinity). This makes me believe that the Spirit of Hendreik is the main source of cool Larnsti magic. The Spirit of Hendreik is the Guardian of the Larnsti. --- Final source - DP:LoT. In the glossary, Larnsti are described as "A magical brotherhood in Heortland that works to liberate the people." We also have the following: "Gollanstead: Gollan was the Larnsti that stayed at home while his family traveled. Now, thousands of years after his death, his descendents live here and his sons still live in the stead that wanders this region." This is easy to work in. There is a magical stead that wanders this region - sacred to the Larnsti - that is inhabited by the "sons of Gollan". DP:LoT reinforces the idea that the Larnsti are a magical heroband that work to liberate the people.
> Look at Sartar's powers for an example of what Larnsti magic
> is like (break a tree into water, create flying fish, turn assassins
into
> termites, jinx shaman's drumbeat of power on KoS p133 alone).
No - look at Sartar's power for an example of what Larnste magic is like. Sartar was not the run of the mill Larnsti.
> Looking at Broyan's stats, his magic is Vingkot and nothing
> else.
He is leader of the Larnsti. Period.
> Broyan may be a worshipper of Hendreik Freeman as part
> of a political movement among the Larnsti but I doubt that all
> Larnsti share this belief.
On the contrary, I think that Hendreik Freeman is the Guardian of the Larnsti. Jeff [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
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