It is perfectly possible to have a large, effective, organized army in which each man is an individualist courageous warrior who obeys his leaders only because he _wants_ to do so, who fights alongside his brothers only because he loves them.
The ancient Greeks were amazingly lazy and undisciplined by Roman (or modern) military standards, but they were able to kick ass at times. The French and German Knights of the High Middle Ages were individualistic as all get-out, and known to trample their own troops at times to get into the fight. They were also undisciplined and disobedient to their officers. But they could fight, and effectively, too. The Gauls that nearly beat Caesar a number of times were the same way. The Germans victorious at Teutoburgerwald destroyed three legions. Even the American Civil War armies (to bring it up to modern times) were composed of soldiers who at times refused to attack when they thought it was stupid and who actually _elected_ their own officers. For that matter, the Viet Cong weren't exactly draftees.
When you get a big band of self-motivated individuals together to fight a common enemy, it looks a lot like a mass of trained soldiers.
The Troll
>So Glorantha isn't Earth? So we can have hippos in a Northern
>European climate but I can't have gay Humakti?
Who ever said you can't have gay Humakti? All that was claimed is that being accused of enjoying the passive end of anal sex is considered a serious insult among most Orlanthi. Don't be so sensitive. Instituting happy acceptance of homosexuality among all Gloranthan cultures is more like forcing all PCs to ride hippos instead of horses. It doesn't ring true.
Loren Miller
>I don't know anybody who eats plants and primates only, and who
>thinks that other categories are ethically objectionable.
This statement suddenly reminded me of the story, "The Picture in the House", by H. P. Lovecraft. Thanks, Loren. I now believe that there ought to be a group somewhere (small in number) who adheres to the philosophy of the elderly man said tale.
>If Syranthir and the Carmanians left Loskalm to avoid the Return to
>Rightness fanatics who were casting down all gods but the Invisible
>God, then their understanding of the Creator must be pre-IG. They
>are a purer strain of old-style Hrestoli than any others we have,
>with the possible exception of Arkati and Stygians.
Probably purer than Arkat, who went more heavily into henotheism than anyone before him.
>They also took the four caste system though Nick has revealed that
>they left their Farmer caste behind. [I'd like to know how they
>justified that, by the way. Don't rulers have an obligation to
>protect and rule their peasantry?]
Four possibilities:
First answer: "Wicked rulers don't." Second answer: they were taken by surprise, and couldn'tround up all the peasants. The knights, organized into regiments, and the lords and wizards, residing at castles, were easier to gather together and take with them.
Third answer: they tried to take the peasants, but in the Long March, the peasants died, and only the strongest survived.
Fourth answer: they _did_ take the peasants, and in the new land, the Farmers gradually learned to worship Dendara etc. instead of Malkionism, and now Malkionism is completely dead among that caste.
>How did the proto-Carmanians worship all their gods, though? How did
>they worship the other gods?
With perfectly ordinary cults drawn into their Malkionism. They may have worshiped them as Saints, or (more likely) as outright cults. The Carmanians no doubt believe(d) that these lesser gods only apply for one's lifespen. After life, Solace in Glory takes over. But to help you survive in this world, the other gods are useful.
It's really just a philosophical overview, laid atop the pre-existing religions, in which such religions are more or less cynically used for power. The Lunar Way is a parallel in that it also is an overview.
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