For example, orlanthi are obviously thought to be most appealing by
those who perhaps are more susceptible to ideas of 'celticness' (despite
the fact that such ideas represent more than anything the beliefs of the
likes of Stukely or Camden, antiquarians from long ago....). On the other
hand, people that are drawn to Lunars are those who believe in the value
of civilisation (one would imagine most orlanthi supporters will deride
this belief, although will be unable to make their orlanthi heroes
speculate on such matters, because orlanthi philosophy isn't that
developed yet!). Lunar-supporting roleplayers also often appear to
follow, or at least have been acquainted with, post-structuralist or
postmodernist philosophy, whereas i suspect many orlanthi folk have
been deriding such ideas, and asserting the importance of objectivity 'in
the last instance...' I also suspect most lunar-lovers are fond of a more
subtle mode of roleplaying, perhaps more contemplative.
Orlanthi-roleplayers will sneer 'lunar sneaky creeps, they make my skin
crawl,' and wax lyrical about their daub huts and periodical inter-clan
squabbling.
Obviously, i am aware many people will be exempt from these
generalisations. I've tried to be as objective and neutral as possible
(look..i know its all futile), so as to avoid making one side or the
other appear to be the 'bad guys.' I suspect the reality is, as in
history, there are no bad or good guys, and that existence, and our petty
squabbles illuminate the absurdity of our existence.
The dig about my 'economic roleplaying' posts some time ago was a cheap shot - okay, okay...i know i was wrong, i admitted it later....
With respect to the so-called 'glorious eventual triumph' of the orlanthi, when they finally boot the lunars out of the barbarian belt...as i said earlier, i don't really think the orlanthi as such exist anymore. The cultures we once knew as 'orlanthi' were probably most likely 'pseudo-lunar' by that point - i cannot fail to see how most orlanthi would not accept the relative luxury of lunar lifestyles. Romans were amazed when, in early trading contacts with british iron age chiefs, they accepted as little as one small amphora of wine per slave handed over (the british have never been able to haggle). Seriously though, even though i have no evidence as such for this, i see the eventual liberation of sartar as nothing more as the rebellion of a lunarised periphery....i can't imagine how the orlanthi rabble could have otherwise won (obviously they had quite substantial magical 'equalisers' too...). I can see that late third age 'barbarian belt' landscape filled with little villas, small towns, and roads....and a lesser number of traditional 'orlanthi' dwellings...ie. there was no 'mass migration' - instead, the indigenous tribes became lunarised and accepted lunar beliefs, lifestyle, with a distinctive orlanthi twist, of course ('symbolic entrainment' its called for all you fans of silly jargon out there).
A good example of this,
except applied to the supposed saxon invasion of England, is explored in
Nick Higham's 'Rome, Britain and the Anglo-Saxons' (1992 i think). He
quite convincingly demonstrates that what probably happened was that a
tiny saxon elite were invited in as mercenaries, then after the collapse
of the roman economic system, the bewildered natives begin to live like
'saxons' instead. This is because many english saxon artefacts or houses
(when you can find them, ahem) were done in a distinctive indigenous
style, unlike that of germany/jutland. Theres only been two boats found
in the whole of britain too (at Snape- a little canoe, and the big boat
at sutton hoo, of course)....i think good old Bede was telling fibs. I
was talking to this anglo saxon archaeologist (i couldn't avoid it, he
forced himself on me), and he was telling me that only one single
artefact of definitive jutish origin has been found in the whole south of
england....I don't know the refs, but it does appear that the idea of
mass migrations of peoples is somewhat dubious.
I've always imagined the orlanthi, in sartar at least, as most resembling the early saxons in east yorkshire. Its been a while since i studied the data, so its more of a flavour than a taste....They always seemed more technologically and socially alike (in dorastor, the sartar exiles were living in longhouses too). Obviously, though, the orlanthi are different in quite sustantial ways, too....the most obvious is their extensive use of magic, and its immediacy in their society. I suppose we could burble on about this for ages (so i'll stop).
By the way, one typical example of the orlanthi=celt 'theme' is the cover of one of the early issues of 'Codex' (i can't remember which one). It has these (i assume) orlanthi warriors scowling at the reader. Underneath this is a line of ogham writing (scratches along a central line, often on stone or wood). It is a common misconception that these were iron age in origin (the 'Slaine' comic strip in 2000AD makes this error too). In fact, they originated some time in the early 'Early Christian Period' in Ireland (erm, AD 400-800 i seem to remember). We know this from excavating stone crosses which have them on (unless iron age people could time travel, of course).
I was concerned about the whole issue of real world parallels, because i feel that one of the things that makes glorantha a superior roleplaying game is that it avoids many of the typical anachronisms you get in other games. Hence, probably RW uniformitarian assumtions ought to be avoided whenever possible (in published supplements at least!). You see, one of the great things about morokanths, for example, is that they provoke arguments that do not happen in other games. They don't resemble anything in the RW (not wholly, at least), and many 'humanocentric' assumptions are inapplicable. They look a little like walking tapirs too, and smoke pipes, but thats another thing.... Dominic.
P.S. Morokanth pipe smoking - now theres a subject that is crying out for attention on the digest.
End of Glorantha Digest V3 #26
WWW material at http://hops.wharton.upenn.edu/~loren/rolegame.html
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