I liked Peter Metcalfe's idea of a practically minded Hrestolianism
which discriminates in favour of the "haves" while still paying
lip-service to the possibility of progression for the have nots.
It reminded me in some ways of the Borgias with their somewhat
flexible attitudes to what constituted priesthood - "it's OK to lead the
pope's armies in battle as long as you wear a tonsure, Cesare my
son...."
To stick to the strictly mechanistic approach to progression we can
always assume that the "examination for knighthood" is biased
towards the skills rarely available to the peasant farmer (i.e. the
Farmer caste member whose ancestors have always been Farmer
caste). Thus although the peasant may struggle to 90% in Animal
Lore by the age of 30, the squire has already reached Animal
Lore (warhorses and how to look after them so they will give of their
best in battle or tournament) 90% by the age of 20. Similarly Craft
(Farming) is no use if the examiner wants to see proof of your ability
at formal calligraphy.
Assume a similar allowance for corruption at the transitions from
Knight to Wizard and Wizard to Lord, and you have your son into
the power-holding clique. Now you can use your political influence
to get him into a position of importance. You don't need feudal
land holdings to establish a dynasty.
The co-operation of the lower classes? Needed up to a point,
but only if they are constantly subject to idealist Hrestolian teachings
in church. I would picture Loskalm (if it is Hrestolian enough to
warrant being regarded as culturally distinct - which I think it is)
as being a theological battleground between the idealists who
want a true meritocracy and the realists who want to recognize
vested interests.
Note I use the terms "idealist" and "realist" to describe wings of the
Hrestoli movement, not in the Hrestoli =3D Idealist / Rokari =3D Realist
sense.
Last minute thought as to a real-world analogue for Loskalm -
Bohemia at the time of the Hussite Wars?
Richard Crawley
End of Glorantha Digest V1 #302
WWW material at http://hops.wharton.upenn.edu/~loren/rolegame.html