RE: Orlanthi gates

From: simon.miller_at_...
Date: Fri, 30 Jul 2004 00:31:33 +0100

...
>I envisage that gate to be like a medieval fortress gate - great thick
>planks of wood fastened together with huge metal nails. Metal's copper
>rather than iron though as befits the earth magic used to strengthen
>the gate. One problem is that Ernalda doesn't seem to have much magic
>useful in this situation - only Kadone and Ernferalda have anything
>vaguely suitable. Followers of Orstan the carpenter can have the
>secret awaken wood which creates a daimon to protect from damage but
>it looks as if Tarkalor got someone from outside when he was building
>it - dwarves?
>
>I think different runes would be on different parts, depending on the
>person who added the magic and its precise purpose.
>
>--
>Donald Oddy

I was wondering how runes might be depicted on wooden gates. If runes were carved directly into the wood this might weaken the gates; perhaps runes might be depicted by the use of flat-headed nails hammered into the gates, possibly in rune metals appropriate to the rune depicted.

As for runes, these might be protective, or might possibly be runes associated with the King that ordered the gate constructed?

I would imagine there would be a massive timber beam on the inside to lock the gate into place, also probably magical. And somewhere near the main gate, a sally port.

Simon
simon.miller_at_...

_____From me_at_privacy.net Fri 30 Jul 00:33:13 2004 From: "Stewart Stansfield" <stu_stansfield_at_...>

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Hi Donald & folks,

Donald:
> Have you any source for this idea that the Corps are administrative
> bodies rather than appointments for a particular campaign?

I'd posit ILH-1, based upon my readings and remembrances (sadly it's a wee bit late to phone my mate and check with him now, tho'!) of the structure of the Army and the Ordenviru, though that's a shot (and probably misfire) in the dark...

Other than that, there are the unpublished works of Martin Laurie. I obviously can't post Martin's work in detail here, but I pray he'll forgive me a little disclosure. Please e-mail Martin if you're really interested, Donald, for he's the best source. For example:

"The [Heartland Corps] is an administrative organisation with control over recruiting, training and efficiency. It is never fielded as a unit in itself, instead the units of the corps are drawn on to form the various armies..."

Martin also speaks in the same document on the nature of the Ordenviru, stating that it consists in part of the "Generals of the Heartland Corps, Cavalry Corps, Imperial Bodyguard, Hunter Corps, Anirestyu Corps and Garrison Army."

> I can see the necessity of corps commanders on campaign - a general
> doesn't have time to command all regiments individually. However
> administering a number of units with home cities spread across the
> empire doesn't seem to make much sense - the Cavalry Corps being
> the most extreme example with Rinliddi winged lancers, Carmenian
> Cataphracts and Char-un all being administered together. It makes
> more sense to me that regiments are adminstered locally by the city
> they're raised in although if they are posted away from home for a
> long time they start recruiting locally and changing their nature.

I fully agree that representatiives of the 'full generals' that command the Corps and sit on the Ordenviru will find most efficacious duties on campaign! There is also no better way to assure the *proper* and most efficient use of the forces of a Corps than to have some plenipotentiary of the corps in question present. Similarly such officers make natural deputies to the Warlord in their given sphere.

A Warlord's life is not complete unless he has some 'sub-general' from the Cavalry Corps railing about the constant inadequacy and waste of resources that accompany the Heartland Corps' dragoons, when his *proper cavalry* can more than cope with any task at hand.

As to the varying traditions in the Cavalry Corps, you are completely correct: it is a highly disparate force, yet any concepts of unity are entwined in its peculiar history and current developments (especially the growth of the dragoon arm in the Heartland Corps, and the 'threat' that bodes). I can't do this justice, I'm afraid, and Martin -- especially with his wholly understandable Kastokian fetish! -- is by far the best man to speak with on such matters.

Cheerio,

Stu.

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