Has anyone noticed that the Digest has entered those spring-time (at least for those of us in the northern hemisphere) doldrums? Perhaps it is the lingering after-effects of the Son of Fergus' briefly-lived Empire of Words.
In the interest of keeping up my part of the Digest, I thought I would forward a description of bits and pieces of Whitewall circa 1617 - mainly the clan halls of the Volsaxi and the King's Palace.
The great Volsaxi hillfort of Whitewall protects three settlements within its great walls, each with its own sense of identity and community. It is in the first of these, the Volsaxi settlements of the Inner and Middle Ring that most of action of my campaign centers on. Here the Volsaxi clans maintain their halls, the Orlanthi priesthood reside and the King of the Volsaxi feasts his great household of warriors. To support these chieftains, priests and warriors, craftsmen and bondi provide goods and services to their patrons. It is this community that the Volsaxi think of when they speak of Whitewall.
However there are two other settlements in Whitewall. Troll Town is the ghetto for the Kitori uzko who still remain in Whitewall after the sixty years of Volsaxi occupation. Argan Argar merchants peddle goods from the Troll Woods and the Shadow Plateau, and the dark gods of the Uzko are propitated in obscene and brutal rites. Feared and mistrusted, Troll Town is a reminder of the evil days when the Kitori were the overlords of the Marzeel river clans. Since the return of the Etori clan to Whitewall, many old Etori halls near Troll Town have been quietly reoccupied.
The other settlement is that of the foreigners and clan-less folk who reside in the Outer Ring. Tanners, sheep-shearers, and patron-less crafters maintain their workplaces and homes here, distrusted and often despised by the Volsaxi chieftains, priests and warriors. Nonetheless they are protected by the King, who forced the Kurtali warrior Korkandros Shield-Breaker to pay wereguild to the family of Ordvan the Tanner after Korkandros drunkenly killed Ordvan.
Throughout most of the year, the two non-Volsaxi settlements in Whitewall actually outnumber the permanent Volsaxi residents (the household of the King, the priests of Orlanth and their retainiers and clients). However during Fire Season and around the seasonal holy days to Orlanth, the Volsaxi population in the city swells. This is most obvious at the yearly "nation-in-arms" tribal moot during Movement Week of Fire Season, when warriors, thanes and chieftains from all of the Volsaxi clans gather in Whitewall for a week-long celebration and market. That week is known for the trading opportunities offered to the local crafters and to the danger posed by well over a thousand drunk and armed clan warriors staggering around the town.
Clan Halls:
Located in the middle circle lining the inner wall are where many local clans maintain their halls inside the walls of Whitewall. It is there that the Volsaxi clan chieftains reside when they travel to the oppidum, with their retinue of bodyguards and their clan's warrior elite. Other halls house the priests and runelords of Orlanth, along with their family, retainers and supporters, who so dominate the Volsaxi confederation. These houses are constructed on drystone foundations with wooden walls and thatched or shingled roofs. They are usually circular with a central hearth under a hole in the roof to let the smoke out. The chief and his men gather around the fire, sitting in circle to eat from the cauldron held over the flames.
Gathered around the clan hall are several other buildings serving the clan's purposes. A stable for prized livestock (cattle and horses), poor huts for the bondi who serve the clan's leaders (shared by pigs and chickens), and, occasionaly, huts for the crafters patronized by the clan.
The King's Palace:
The Hall of the Volsaxi King is more spacious than the clan halls and serves a dual purpose as a dwelling place and meeting hall. A rectangular building with the hearth in the middle, it has stone walls and a high wooden roof. Elaborate woodcarvings decorate the beams supporting the roof with depictions of the gods and of the feats of heroes. There are no steps into the hall, only a stone ramp which can be easily climbed by a horse. Neither are there any corridors. The adjacent rooms open directly onto the great hall. The hall itself is richly decorated to show the magnificence of the King and of the Volsaxi. The grand assemblies of Volsaxi chiefs, thanes and gesithmen at which important decisions are made are held in this hall. On entering the hall, warriors put their weapons down by the walls. They also hang their trophies on the walls, displaying them like museum pieces.
The King, his household (his immediate family, his huscarls and his servants) and his companions (the King's gesithmen) all reside in this great hall. Some poets have recently taken to calling it the House of the Three Kings, because the King of the Volsaxi/Laingali (Broyan), the King of the Kitori (Jutora) and the King of the Kheldon (Kallyr) all live or have lived within the hall.
Several other buildings are associated to the King's Hall. The King's stable for the horses of his household (and where many of the bondi who serve the King sleep) is a long wooden hall with a thatched roof. Several circular huts house the families of the King's client crafters including his redsmiths (who knows some of the secrets of working iron), the hut of Torin Etori the Lawspeaker, and the small and poor huts where the other servants of the King reside. Next to the great hall are the four long wooden halls where the King's huscarls reside. Nearby another stone-walled hall, formerly the Hall of the Bretwalda and the Six Friendly Kings, has been taken over by the King's household.
The area around the King's Palace is usually bustling with activity - the noise of redsmiths working metal, bondi stockpiling grain or slaughtering livestock to feed the King's household, gesithmen drinking and arguing, various guests seeking a meeting with the King, impressed clansmen bearing gifts for the Volsaxi King, and so forth.
Religion and Whitewall:
Whitewall is first and foremost the site of a Great Temple to Orlanth, King of the Gods. All of the three major aspects of Orlanth is worshipped here. as is the cult of the Four Weapons. The Storm Voices and Wind Lords of Orlanth residing here number over two score. The High Storm Voice of Whitewall is a figure of much spiritual reverence for the local tribes, and occasionally individual priests have rivalled the Warlord in importance. Although Old Wind is a more important destination for Orlanthi pilgrims, Whitewall is the destination of many traditionalist Orlanth-worshippers in Heortland.
Temples and shrines are maintained to all of the Lightbringers and to the members of the Storm Tribe. Unlike most Sartarite cities, the shrine to Urox is located in the Inner Ring of Whitewall, next to the great Ring of Orlanth.
Humakt is also a popular god in Whitewall. The Volsaxi Humakt temple founded by Argalant emphasizes the cult as the patron of the Volsaxi huscarls. The temple is rarely used as a mercenary hiring hall and the current Humaktson, Angengeot, considers the temple to be in the service of the Volsaxi King.
Well enough of this for now.
Yours truly,
Jeff Richard
------------------------------
End of Glorantha Digest V1 #234
WWW material at http://hops.wharton.upenn.edu/~loren/rolegame.html
Powered by hypermail