>> Of course that leads us to another question, just what sort of
>>influence did the God Learners have on the illiterate clansmen of the
hills?
>>Certainly they warped the minds of the poor benighted scholars of Nochet
and
>>the cities with their cosmopolitan and relativistic ways but what of the
>>hillsmen farmers? Just because a foreign culture has a dramatic impact on
>>the beliefs of literate and urbane scholars doesn't mean that it has a
>>corresponding influence on the traditionalist agrarians who make up the
>>majority of the population.
The Mighty Mister Metcalfe responded:
>You forget Taxes, Hostages, Foreign Soldiers out to 'suppress banditry',
>and Bureacracy. A perfect tie-in with the traditions of the Evil
Emperor...
True enough. Certainly the Heortlings would interpret the evil atheist Zistorians who were corrupting the islands to the south as an embodiment of the Evil Emperor, as might the Kerofinelan Heortlings during the decay of the EWF view the EWF in the same mythic tradition. Does this mean that up until the fifteenth century and extensive contact with the Lunar Army, the Heortlings of Sartar and Heortland would be more likely to envision an atheist sorceror as the Evil Emperor than a Dara Happan Emperor?
However, this still doesn't quite answer my original question: what sort of influence did the God Learners have on the mythic beliefs of the illiterate clansmen of the hills in lands not under their occupation (eg. Heortland)? For that matter, what sort of influence did they have on the mythic beliefs of the MAJORITY of the POPULACE (not scholastic, not urban-dwelling folk) in the theistic lands that they did occupy (eg. Esrolia)? Perhaps these are questions best directed towards Sandy Peterson and Nick Brook?
BONUS QUESTION: What goddesses were involved with the Goddess Switch?
Yours truly,
Jeff Richard
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