> I had written a myth to explain cattle-herding cats, but it didn't quite
> work. Nick Brooke turned it on its head and made it a myth explaining
> why cats DON'T herd animals (and, by extension, why Orlanthi keep dogs
> for that purpose).
The story of "Yinkin the Shepherd" is one of the few things available on my homepage, at <http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/Nick_Brooke>. When I upload the next version I'll make sure to include a credit for Martin, as I'd never have written it without his impetus.
> Glorantha has no magic. It has stuff _called_ magic, but almost all of
> it is religious ceremonies and prayers, or at least divinely sanctioned.
Are there no shamans or sorcerers in your Glorantha, Martin? I agree with the spirit of your post, but I think you're overstating your case.
> I am working on a campaign which will be set in Fronela, with the
> characters starting life as Loskalmi. Since there is little published
> information on the campaign area, I've been piecing together what has
> been published...
May I recommend my write-up of the New Hrestoli Idealist Church of Loskalm, which appeared in issue #13 of "Tales of the Reaching Moon", probably available from your local Megacorp rep? It's fuller than the earlier version available from <ftp.csua.berkeley.edu> in the <pub/runequest/malkioni> directory, and includes RuneQuest rules for all social classes. It also makes clear the existence and duties of the Soldier class you allude to (between Farmer and Knight).
> [Loskalmi] Nobles tend towards understated displays of station,
> following the example set by King Gundreken. Except when in the
> company of dignitaries of other lands, he typically wears plain,
> unadorned doe-skin tunic and trousers, with perhaps a linen cloak.
Here I disagree with you. I think they tend towards *overstated* displays, especially when appearing in public. The King has to look like an Ideal Monarch; his Grand Knights and Grand Wizards have to look like exemplars of Chivalry and Sorcery. This lavish spectacle inspires the people of Loskalm as they follow their Ideal rulers.
Now, of course, this doesn't mean the King and nobles *like* dressing up in robes whose cost would feed a peasant family for three years. Maybe they are more ascetic in private. But they are doing what's best for the State. A nobleman might piously say that he isn't so much *displaying* his own station as trying to make himself look worthy of it: he is living up to an Ideal.
I think this because one of the best complaints to level against Loskalmi Idealism is that it's all outward show. In this spirit, there may well be festivals celebrating the brotherhood and unity of all Loskalmi folk, when everyone from the King down to the Farmers specifically dresses in Loskalmi ethnic costume (lederhosen?? ;-) and celebrates their equality. But I am heavily sold on the panoply, pageantry and spectacle of Loskalmi public events (like the Queen's revels in Moorcock's "Gloriana"): magnificent public appearances to reinforce a positive popular view of the establishment.
We Loskalmi *despise* the Jonatelans, who don't dress up splendidly and engage in these public rituals, but rather go grunting around in iron and furs and locking themselves up in castles away from the view of their downtrodden populace. How's *that* going to inspire and enthuse the people, eh? Let's liberate them now!
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