>> Humakt doesn't ride a horse in his mythology so it's a bit of a stretch >> to make him a god of cataphracts.
> Most of the Humakt information we have is from an Orlanthi, and
> specifically Heortling, context. That context could never include
> cataphracts, so the absence is not significant.
But the Orlanthi have mounted warriors yet Humakt does not appear as such. Ergo the absence is significant IMO.
In addition the Humakti Army, the Thousand Humakti, was formed under Arkat when he was a Humakti fighting in Slontos. Given that he had been trained as a Knight in Seshnela, the lack of cavalry traditions in the Storm Tribe Humakti writeup is telling to me.
Humakt also fights with a sword specifically which is rather unsuited to Cataphract charges. Cataphracts fight with a lance. So unless you were making all Carmanian Humakti worshippers of Kargan Tor which is also a bit of a fudge, he still doesn't fit.
> I think we agree that the Carmanians introduced cataphracti to
> Oroninela, and that before their advent most soldiers in Oroninela were
> infantry (and specifically hoplites).
Most soldiers after the Carmanian incursion are still infantry. Even in the RW middle ages, the ratio of knights to foot was on the order of 1:4 at least.
Secondly when the Ten Thousand left Fronela, the leadership and knights were monotheist worshippers of Irensavel. While they did have pagan troops, they would have been associated with the less exalted foot troops. Since Humakt is a god, he is more likely to be associated with infantry traditions as the other pagan fighting gods.
> An old source, so perhaps now Gregged. If Humakt is *the* Carmanian war
> god, and cataphrati are *the* distinctive military force of the
> Carmanian army (which, as you point out, will have Pelandan and other
> infantry too) it would be odd for Humakt to not be the cataphracti god.
I don't see it as odd. The Carmanian army is more than just cataphracti. Humakt is the God of War and Battle in general and the cataphract can have a specific god without there being any contradiction. First prayers are offered to the God of Battles then to the Gods of the specific troops.
> I believe the Entekosiad and The Glorious ReAscent of Yelm contain no
> mentions of Humakt.
Humakt would have been known by the Storm Worshipping Andam Horde and by the Tawari (sone of whom had fought with the horde).
> > I'm tempted to make this Syranthir himself.
> I'm not keen on inventing a new deity just for this purpose.
He's not new being old as the Hills (in terms of published Greg Sources) and existing personages have been made gods before (cf Kastok). That said there are a couple of criticisms that can be made of my suggestion (which why I said I was tempted). First off, he was ignored until the time of Nadar the Avenger, which seems odd for the premier cavalry deity. Secondly he would be a saint while the Carmanians would be worshipping local gods to avoid the Lie.
Other options are Kastok who fights with decent cavalry _before_ the Carmanians arrive (which seems odd) and Kargzant (who doesn't quite fit in with the bad-ass image of Carmanian Cataphracts).
The only other horse-people I can think of are the Galanni of Ralios (who have three riding sons - Uton, Fornao and Korion). Galanni traditions could have migrated over the Nidan Mountains (since Talor had fought in Ralios) to be part of the Ten Thousand when they moved westward.
> Peter suggests Syranthir. Would Carmanos be better, being more important
> in the existing mythology?
He's a lord rather than a hazar is the main problem.
--Peter Metcalfe
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