And of course, Thanks to Henk for his tireless service in running the Digest all this time. I hope his new job gives him time to occasionally contribute to the Gloranthan Digest. The Tribe is ever grateful.
SARTAR POPULATION WHOOPSIE - SEVEN TRIBES THAT AREN'T.
I liked the attempt at deriving at least notional figures for the
Sartarite tribes, but Alda Chur, Herongreen(?) and the Far Point tribes
(Princeros, Vantaros, Tovtaros, Bachad, Tres, Amad and Dinacoli) DON'T
BELONG TO SARTAR in the GCotHW 'ethnographic present' of 1621 ST. They
willingly reunited with Tarsh in 1613, with a little help from the
ambitious Harvar IronFist. (many Orlanthi are still being reminded how
'willing' they really are. The Far Point tribes originated from Tarsh,
were part of Tarsh until 1583, speak the Tarshite language and are once
again part of Tarsh. ('Cept the Dinacoli. They're Sartarite
duck-come-latelies who could see which way the wind was blowing in 1613).
Assuming that these cities and tribes are included in the Tarsh population of 360,000, we can up all the remaining Sartarite tribal populations by approximately one third.
As for the Far Point Tribes, I'd keep the figures as they are, or even drop them by 20 or 30%. Far Point is wild and rugged, with few towns or roads, and all the local tribes were originally exile disaffects and rebels.
(Yes I agree the figures don't make much sense. But since most Orlanthi
can't count very well, I don't really mind. I'm using the figures because
they're the best we've got till Greg changes his mind again.) Back to the
spreadsheet.
ESROLITE REVELATIONS I've really enjoyed the constructive and creative sharing of ideas on Esrolia; sometimes the Digest jest BUZZES along.
But the reasons for the Sartarite exodus? Hmmm. Was there a transition from matriarchy to patriarchy amongst the Quivini? Or is Esrolian social structure essentially the same as Sartar at the clan level i.e. the matriarchy manifests at the tribal and higher levels, with lots of indirect effects perculating back down?
We know the exodus was at least partially linked to the war between the
Pharaoh and the OOO, and that it was caused by 'newcomers'. New clans or
new ideas? Perhaps the Quivini retained their original Heortling
patriarchal bias in an increasingly matriarchal society, and increasing
isolation led to conflict and finally war. Or perhaps their original
matriarchal leanings weakened because of the lesser reliance on
agriculture as the Quivini moved north into the Dragon Pass wilderness.
(I'm positing similar changes amongst the Far Point tribes as hunting,
herding and
trapping become progressively more important. The golden fields of Tarsh
are a long way off).
RE: YESTERDAY Cultural relativism and the GodLearners AGAIN? I guess Greg was right about time being cyclic.
Cheers
John.
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