As a philodwarf (sp?) I have watched with great interest the KoW
thread, specially as one of the few things most people agree about is the
dwarven involvement.
Besides the obvious appeal of cannons, disorder kegs and big
explosions, the dwarven manipulation as the hidden hand behind the KoW has many
advantages:
- The MRE problem is solved. Quicksilver dwarfs can make canned rations
that never spoil. The fact that they taste awful is part of ordinary life in
any army. Who needs peasants? Just wait the next Jolanti shipment of two
megatons of MRE. Of course the dwarfs exploit the inner areas of the KoW for
raw materials, but you do not need peasants for that.
- The Origin. Most great events in Gloranthan history-myth have several
origins depending on who is telling. Why the actions of a puny human will cause
the Ban? It could be a controlled dwarven experiment to see the behaviour of
isolated humans, and how far you can manipulate them. That is why there is a
whole variety of societies leaving the Ban. Charg is still in the finishing
process. The KoW is the most promising group for depopulating Fronela.
- The prophecies. The dwarfs have declared that the Hero Wars is a way
to bring under control the population of Genertela. However there are no
visible actions to achieve this. The KoW fits the bill.
- The society. The ideal of the KoW is a bit similar to an Iron Dwarf,
a killing machine without remorse or fear. Also the incomplete dwarven
comprension of human gods could bring the mixture of religions and magic that
characterizes the KoW.
- LDoaH. What if LDoaH is a dwarven construct, an iron skeleton with
flesh shaped with Form/set Flesh. He could be programmed to DiamondIrondwarf
level, and would need lots of MPs to run (Tapping peasants, anyone?). The
shotgun and the shades are optional, but you know who would play the role. The
Zoria incident could mean that the programming begins to fail. And do not
forget he survived (barely) a meeting with Harrek.
Of course with this approach you know why the KoW has all the iron plate
armor they want, hellish swords, etc. without any need to keep slaves. A War
Machine indeed.
Jose, working to make the longest thread even longer.
> o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o Centre de Recherche Paul Pascal o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o
> o Jose Ramos Net: Ramos_at_crpp.u-bordeaux.fr o
> o CRPP, CNRS-Universite de Bordeaux-I Tel: +33 56.84.56.11 o
> o Avenue A. Schweitzer, F_33600 France Fax: +33 56.84.56.00 o
> o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o