> Coming to your request, I agree with the parallel between
> Safelster and Italian city-states. [snip] I know the subject
> rather well because I am Italian, though not a historian.
Knowledge of one's own cultural history generally permits a better understanding than a scholar's knowledge of cultures foreign to him. My knowledge of medieval Italy is colored by a lack of intimacy with the culture, alas, and is thus imperfect.
> Some of my backgroud stuff is archived in electronic format,
> though not the most recent or interesting material. If it may be
> of use to you let me know, I'll try to make it available somehow.
I would love to see what you have "gathered together". I plan on working out the secret societies (an integral part of my campaign) as well as fleshing out the socio-cultural details of the various city-states of Felster Lake. Also, David Dunham and I have discussed sharing information, as he has developed quite a bit of East Wilds and Naskorion material.
I am always interested in seeing how others have interpreted Safelster. It is perhaps one of the most interesting and unusual cultural regions in Glorantha, what with the thorough admixture of three very different religious philosophies (polytheism, henotheism, and monotheism) in a very small area.
> I have been running a long campaign in the Safelster region,
> namely in the County of Tiskos and neighborhood. Some of the
> stuff I have developed for it contradicts the (un)-official material
> which has appeared in TotRM # 13 and the HtWW1 sect writeups.
Interesting, as I plan to focus on roughly the same region. The Duchy of Estali is the locale I was preparing to detail, along with minor fleshing out of Tiskos, Azilos, Sentanos, Helby, Daran, and the remainder of the counties.
Most of the tension in my proposed campaign will revolve around the political and social intrigues of the two primary Arkati/Gbaji groups in Safelster, the Guild of Chaos Monks and the Order of the Blue Star (the idea for which came from the adept Lythande of "Thieves' World" fame).
IMC, the Guild is very important. It or the Order secretly control all the other Arkati groups throughout Malkiondom. Essentially, the Guild is the "Dark Side" of Arkat and the Order is the "Light Side". Ultimately, the two societies may have been Arkat's final creation, his last attempt to reconcile the warring sides of himself before he apotheosized and lost his Will to the Compromise.
> David Hall once tried to revise it as a subscription to Tales, but
> gave up soon because the paper was rather lengthy. He gave me
> some interesting hints, though.
That is quite a compliment on David's part! He obviously thought highly of your material if he was willing to commit so much of his free time, even if it did not see publication.
> Another well-fitting parallel between Italian mediaeval policy and
> Safelster is the struggle for independence between the first
> city-states and the Holy Roman Empire.
I agree. Of course, in the case of Safelster, Seshnela and the Ecclesiarchy are close allies of one another whereas the Hohenstaufens and the Pope were not. The allegiance of Guilmarn and Theoblanc is more reminiscent of Charlemagne and Pope Leo III than that of Frederick and Pope Alexander III.
> The Hoenstaufen Emperors claimed supremacy over the newly
> formed city-states, which had just developed a form of
> Republican government. Obviously the Italian cities were rather
> unsatisfied with paying tithes to a German emperor. Frederick
> the First invaded Italy and destroyed Milan, but eventually the
> cities formed a powerful League and defeated him at Legnano....
>
> A cunning Gloranthaphile can easily see the resemblance to the
> current claims of Guilmarn over Safelster.
You are quite correct. Frederick Barbarossa seems a perfect parallel to Guilmarn. I shall have to do more research on the early history of the northern Italian city-states. Felster lake as the Adriatic Sea works quite nicely.
> However, this all happened in the Middle Ages, not the Renaissance.
> The parallel with the latter period comes from the universally accepted
> supremacy of the merchant guilds in Safelster, but as far as I
> remember this started in Italy during the Middle Ages, too.
The guilds began in the chartered towns and cities of Carolingian France, but did not rise to power until the formation of the Italian city-states. The Hanseatic League was also a guild power, but it was formed much later (circa 1500).
> I have developed a Safelstran parallel to this, where in Rokari
> areas each major guild has a Malkioni Saint as his patron, while
> in Henotheist areas this role is taken over by a god of the Orlanth
> pantheon. In the latter case the guildmaster should be at least an
> Acolyte of the deity.
A nice means of handling the disparity. Of course, this would lead to out-and-out conflict between competing Rokari, Henotheist, and Stygian guilds, especially when more than one inhabit the same city. Most would try to court favoritism with the local rulers in order to gain advantage over their opponents, and thus we have the street-level intrigue we so desired.
> One point that makes the parallel not totally fitting is the fact that
> there has never been any religious struggle in and between the Italian
> city-states. To find a good Earth counterpart for the sects of
> Safelster, you must go to the Renaissance period, but in Germany.
> Here three different churches (Catholic, Lutheran and Reformed)
> struggled, sometimes even in arms, for supremacy, involving the
> Electors and Princes in the struggle. The religious geography of the
> HRE (i.e. Germany) during that period should be extremely similar to
> the current Safelster situation....
I concur. The religious turmoil of "modern-day" Safelster is best modeled after that of the Reformation. However, the past history of Safelstran religion would be better compared to Charlemagne's wars against paganism.
Michael Schwartz
gbaji_at_aol.com
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