> A moot was called and we discussed all practical alternatives. I had no
feeling
> of people "obeying" simply because I was chief. We were all in it together and
> there was little else to be done.
Yeah, but that's missing the point completely. Once your clan had decided to launch a surprise attack the day after harvest festival through a weapontake moot at which everyone had their say, did anyone who'd argued *against* such a course of action at the moot go off and inform the Orlevings of your plans?
Now, *THAT* would be a level of disloyalty to chief and clan just about equivalent to those disgruntled kids bopping off lone Lunars and effectively launching their clan into a war against the Empire when it has reached an agreed policy of non-provocation through weapontake votes. And it would *anger* the chief just as much: and *nobody* wants to do that (either he's a nice guy and gets sympathy, or else he's a hard case like yourself...).
> The few words of Sartarite published ("yin" = "cat", "argrath" =
> "liberator") aren't anything like either Celtic or Norse languages...
Hmmm... My own personal belief is that the name "Yinkin" is derived from that of the Chaosium's admirable Cat (and my fellow proof-reader) Jenkin, although Greg denied this to both of us (but Jenkin just purred), while "Argrath" is likely to be an import word taken from the Brithini name "Arkat" (NB: in the oldest of Greg's manuscripts, his name is given as "Argat").
In the last-draft Ms. for "King of Sartar" which I reviewed for Tales, "The Colymar Book" was given in the original as "Kolymarsbok" -- the decision to take *out* this rather tasty Icelandicism must have been one of the last editorial choices Greg made before releasing his work to the world.
But then again, in early Chaosium games, a distressing number of Sartarite characters were named in French... :-(
> The Lunar occupation of Sartar is to my mind obviously the Roman
> occupation of Britain.
You can also use Caesar's experiences in Gaul for fun and profit (and I'm not just talking Asterix, this time!). There are better sources, for a start.
> Early medieval Welsh law seems to be full of fascinating stuff: a good
> source to borrow things from.
Try the Laws of Hywel Dda (available from all good libraries) for more of this. Penguin Classics' "Celtic Miscellany" paperback includes excerpts from these in its "Humour and Satire" section:
: Whoever kills the cat that guards the king's barn, or steals it, its : head is to be set down on a clean level floor, and its tail is to be : held up, and then wheaten grains are to be poured around it until they : cover the tip of its tail. Any other cat is worth four legal pence... : In law, essential qualifications of a cat are that it should be perfect : of ear and eye and tail and teeth and claws, not singed by the fire; : and that it should kill mice and not eat its kittens, and should not be : caterwauling every full moon...
*Any* barbarian lawcode can be used as a source for barbarian laws: Salic Law, the Anglo-Saxon Laws, Lombard Law... all full of oddities which might have been designed to wrap scenarios around.
IMHO, Sartar (like many of the settlers of what became his kingdom) came from
Heortland. IMG, Heortland is like the Late Anglo-Saxon/Welsh frontier, recently
under the Norman yoke (but now, of course, marched across by Roman legions).
>From Western influence (over more than just its recent history: think Aeolian!)
it's been civilised longer than Sartar. "Ivanhoe" country, with castles &
page-boys & damsels &tc., not particularly Norse or barbaric (unless you count
Late Anglo-Saxons as one or the other). King Broyan the Wild would be like a
Welsh Border Prince, IMG, and Whitewall (like Maidens Castle) an extensive
Celtic hill-fortification, though perhaps with more architecture up top.
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