I agree with Michael on limiting the schools influence and importance depending on the temple size. Nochet is the natural home for all of these schools, probably followed by Jonstown. Id say Pavis sages have other fish to fry with the Irippi Ontor incursion, the frontier environment, and the Big Rubble, so it wont be important there. As for clans and tribes, such debates are irrelevant to everyday life.
We should also bear in mind that this isnt what sages argue about all of the time. It might come to the fore on occasion and cause heated debate (and even noviciate riots), but most of the time itll just be a background theme. More mundane matters such as inter-library loans, book hoarding, plagiarism, beards vs. no beards, round earth vs. flat earth, political infighting over temple positions, and the like, would provide the everyday bread and butter of temple faction fighting.
Within Sartar I see great conflict (schools?) between the old traditional Hendreiki Lhankor Mhy of the clans and tribes, with their oral tradition, insularity, spiritualism, and back to basics views, and the recently installed Nochet Lhankor Mhy with their written tradition, great libraries, logic, and philosophising about the nature of truth.
I believe that the Nochet LM were brought into Sartar as part of Sartar Peacemakers followers. They effectively became/imposed the top hierarchy of the LM cult, and acted as the propagandists, spin-doctors and visionaries of Sartars unification of the tribes. Mirroring their own *unification* of the LM cult.
This explains why the clan Lhankor Mhy, the lawspeaker, seems such a different animal to a Grey Sage of the Jonstown Library - they come from two different traditions cobbled together.
The LM cult:
Lhankor Mhy in the clan: It is also likely that the jurors in the clan would be affiliated with, if not initiated into, Lhankor Mhy.
Tribal temples. Is the impression I should get here of clan and tribal LMs being separate and distinct? Tribal lawspeakers are radically different animals to clan lawspeakers? I dont thinks so. The differences are really just ones of scale. Thus to me the second mask appears rather artificial.
Actually, it probably comes down to your view of the relationship between tribes and clans. Are tribes strong hierarchical structures that dictate to their constituent clans? Or are they fairly loose alliances of strongly individual clans? I tend towards the latter view. Much of this comes down to how the king is chosen, which isnt the same across all of the Sartar tribes.
Urban temples. I think they are less widespread than the impression Michael gives. IMO in Sartar there are only two large temples with libraries, Jonstown and Boldhome. Other urban temples are probably more like shrines (or very small temples) perhaps attached to the local alchemists guild, the law courts, or some eccentric nobles book collection.
The sages at a temple have to fill some sort of social niche for the temple to prosper (adventurers provide a rather unreliable source of income). Cities are the most likely places since the local government will require sages, the local tribes will form a big enough catchment area for training and initiating prospective lawspeakers, traders will need scribes and accountants (whether from the temple or trained by the temple), and the general level population will generate income.
I don't see towns being large enough to support a temple unless there is some other pressing reason, such as a major archaeological site nearby or a holy place.
I wonder, does Jonstown have a university function which provides income for the temple? Presumably, its great rival would be Nochet, or Furthest.
Linneans: Of course, this is just a pale imitation of the fine doctrine of Baldrus the Black Reader of Nochet (Tales #8).
Martin Crim
> (Actually, I've got a couple points I'd disagree with on the spells, but I
> don't want to see your cult turn into a committee product).
Dont knock co-operative writing, its usually how the best ideas come out. Of course, it depends how big your committee is...
Oh, and a suggestion to Chieron (who was given short shrift by Martin): how about wiping out an alien race called the Crim in the next series of DS9?
All Hail the Bald Sisko!
David Hall
End of Glorantha Digest V2 #587
WWW material at http://hops.wharton.upenn.edu/~loren/rolegame.html
Powered by hypermail