The recent thread on the Genertelan Art of War has brought to mind an old discussion in my old RQ group about the possible knowledge skill War Lore -- essentially, we had been discussing whether or not anyone in Glorantha actually _practiced_ the Art of War, in the sense of an analytical study of war-fighting, rather than simply the use of a series of (largely inherited) techniques or tactics. Some of us felt, frex, that the Orlanthi didn't really practice an Art of War, being commited to a culture of individual heroism and individual strength of arms more akin to a picturesque conception of Viking-Celtic cutlure or even knighthood in the Middle Ages. This also seemed true about Seshnela and Loskalm (and to a lesser extent Ralios, though the city-states seemes an ideal place for the introduction of the Genertelan equivalent of Machiavelli's _Art of War_, perhaps written by some Count's advisor), with the Lunar and Kralorelan Empires being the only clear candidates for military cultures with a studied theory of warfare.
The practice of some sort of theory of warfighting seems to be complicated by the connection between martial activities and godly cults, in that some cults appear to be dedicated to specific kinds of war or battle techniques not out of a broader theory of how wars should be conducted but out of quasi-religious ritual. Does the cult of Yelmalio, frex, practice hoplite and phalanx techniques akin to those of the ancient Greeks out of religious tradition, or rather out of some studied theory of warfare? I have to admit to leaning towards a predominantly cultic explanation, though the agrarian nature of Yelmalian society does have its parallels to Victor Hanson's theories about the rise of hoplite tactics. The Kingdom of War, as another query point, seems most often described not so much as a culture dedicated to the study of the Art of War, but as the land of a hundred war gods (each of which, presumably, has its own ritualistic approach to the conduct of war and, perhaps more specifically, battle).
Anyway, I was hoping that Sandy, et al, might include some comments about which Genertelan cultures actually practice an Art of War in their next posts (i.e., who would get War Lore and who wouldn't?).
Thanks,
Mark
End of Glorantha Digest V2 #157
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