I agree with Sandy and others that for MGF reasons, gazzam/dinosaurs should join cows, ducks and emus (emus?) as domesticated aminals of Dara Happa.
Perhaps they are quite rare, having been virtually wiped out in earlier ages.
In fact, just like elephants in some parts of SE Asia, gazzam in the wild might be all but extinct. (Elephants can serve as a good RW analogue and can dispel some the concerns about bloody huge creatures existing in cultivated areas that have been raised.)
I'm sure that some of the Satraps use their gazzam as ceremonial beasts
(all dressed up and painted like in India!), but their use in war
might be antiquated. As Sandy suggests, local DH units might have some
trained gazzam, but they are more likely to be used as heavy haulers,
rather than war-beasts. Centuries of domesticisity has bred them to be slow,
dull and placid. The rare wild gazzam would be considered very a serious
menac
e though.
Dennis Hoover, whose new PC is a Lunar who survived but lost in a Dart Competition (there's a tale in this!) asks about the great Lunar families.
I don't have much, but here's what I have:
Just briefly, 'Strangers in Prax' features the Lunar Coder Princess Anderida of Raibanth, (great-great grand-daughter of Moonson, no less!), whose husband died in a Dart War. Her aunt is the reigning Sultana of Raibanth.
SiP also features Count Julan, another member of Lunar high society, though unconnected to a great family. Both are good friends of the Satrap of Doblian, Vorn the Good (replacing his quarter-brother Belim the Livid, who unexpectedly abdicated and later committed suicide by apparently spontaneously combusting). Gotta be a plot or two in that...
Also, Jaxarte Whyded (see Sun County and various issues of Tales) is a member of the Lunar aristocracy: you can also meet his disreputable older brother Goslem in Tales #4. I once had Jaxarte's kid sister Marion as a character in a RQ campaign and drew up a complex and suitably decadent family tree of the whole Whyded clan. This was a fun campaign, in which the PCs all belonged to the same noble family (the Whydeds are a related branch) who had lost out big in a Dart War and were trying to get back into power. We had the Bat visit town and everything!
Martin says:
> Council of Florence. The emperor convened it purely for political
> purposes but couldn't make most of his bishops attend, and the one
> bishop who did attend wouldn't sign the final communique'. I couldn't
> have come up with a better example of what I've been arguing.
Then you're arguing the same case as me! Originally, you said that you didn't think a council like HtWwO's 7th Council of Malkion was likely, created more as a convenience for the freeform than an accurate reflection of what might 'really' happen. However, as we both now seem to agree, Oecumenical Councils both in Glorantha and in real world history have always been about more than just theology, often prompting attendance from far and wide by churches, factions and individuals with all manner of person, political and theological objectives.
The 7th Council was fortunate in that a very wide swathe of Malkioni showed up, for a variety of good reasons (see the Sog Uni Guide). If what happened at this council - both times the freeform was played - is true, it is highly likely that the Rokari would refuse to attend an 8th Council, if one was called in the near future.
Well, I'm off on school camp for a week - tally ho!
MOB
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