>Full agreement here. The Hsunchen have been in a long decline because
>for the past fourteen centuries or so, the material underpinnings of
>their framework for constructive the world (the Hsunchen myth-language)
>has been undermined by other cultures and myth-languages. See David
>Dunham's homepage on the Ralian Bemuri ("Moo-Quest") for a first hand
>account.
Undermining the myth-language? A Shamen is just as powerful as the Sorcerer or the Priest. I would have thought it was the capacity of other cultures to outnumber the hsunchen by means of agricultural technology in a given region (ten farmers for every one hunter-gather is the ratio I've heard). Given that the wicked farmers have evil geniuses among them who invent things like iron weaponry, mounted warriors, decent armour and forts, the long term prognosis of the dominance of the hunter-gatherer Hsunchen is not good. Only the Telmori have attempted to even the odds by turning themselves into werewolves. (Of course now everybody wants to kill them so the move may not have been all that smart). The other Hsunchen live in regions which are remote from civilized areas (Upland Fronela) or in rough areas which the farmers do not see as desirable (Shan Shan Mountains).
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