Yes, this is much better than what I was thinking.
>
> There is no Dara Happan elements of the Lunar presence in Sartar circa
> Tarkalor's time. There was religious division among the Elmali between
> traditionalists and innovators. The innovators weren't actually saying
> let us adopt Dara Happan ways as Dara Happa was a mere place name
> hundreds of miles away.
OK, got it, no Dara Happan influence but how do you feel about how John Hughes has represented the development of solar worship in the Far Point?
Rather than putting words in his mouth I will quote him,
The Youfish ruin of Alda Chur is recolonised during the first wave of settlement, amidst events that create a fundamental and enduring division between city and stead, lowland and upland, Sun and Storm. As recounted in Taroskarla, Vantar Sun Vision, a son of the Ridgeleaper, discovers an enormous golden-domed temple midst the ruins of the ancient city. This temple is dedicated to various long-sleeping Blue Flame powers, and it incorporates many elements that Vantar identifies with the barbarian fire gods of his people. Vantar listens to the Powers of the temple, journeys to their places on the Other Side, is granted access to their gnosis, and over several decades, incorporates this knowledge into his own tribal traditions, He forges a distinctively Far Place cult of Yelmaltar, the Enduring Light.
The new cult incorporated elements from various barbarian traditions including Somel SunSpear, Yavor Lightning, Old Somak, and the volcanic blue flame, light-against-darkness and agricultural powers of the Alda Chur temple and its reawakened deity. Over the next several generations, the Light Enduring attracts many through its vitality and power, and through the growing riches of the new city it commands.
I really like this, does this conception of events around Alda-Chur seem to fall too far from the tree?
I mean it all sound conceivable, within the realm of possibility and all that. This is important to me because I am righting a fairly lengthy work of fiction that take place within the area and I would like to have my understanding of the backdrop conform as much as possible to convention
What they were struggling to come to terms with
> were the imposed constraints that Orlanth placed upon solar worship.
> Any tradition that argued otherwise, whether Esrolian, Draconic,
> Pelorian, Aldryami or even Teshnan were sources of inspiration for the
> Lunars.
I'm not sure I follow this,'they' means the Elmali? If so, the impression I get is that the Solar cults more or less dominate the lowlands while the Orlanthi dominate the Highlands. Are you thinking of the Tovtaros around the Iron Spike and such places? I am more concerned with the situation down on the Sharl in particular the Princeros and the situation in Alda Chur. It appears to me that the Orlanthi are not generally particularly dominate in this area.
>
> When Tarkalor was King, the Lunars were still trying to maintain a
> friendly king in Tarsh. Bagnot and the Bush Range weren't fully
> subjugated until the battle of Grizzly Peak in which Tarkalor was
> killed. They simply didn't have the resources to field covert ops
> to exploit religious division in a backward kingdom. And when the
> Yelmalio cult got established, the Lunars promptly imported it into
> their own lands.
>
> --Peter Metcalfe
>
Yes of course this bit about the contemporary situation for Tarkalor makes sense to me and clears up my thinking nicely. Obviously I had a shaky hold on the time telescope.
Chris Graves
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