Re: cultures; cavalry, schmavalry

From: David Dunham <dunham_at_pensee.com>
Date: Wed, 12 Mar 1997 11:52:03 -0800


Erik Sieurin wrote

> If I want to play Gloranthan Celts, I go to Ralios.

*sniff* I guess I've failed. Although I used "Pagan Shore" as a starting point, it's not my intent that East Ralios is just Celts in Glorantha (despite the fact that it fits surprisingly well, for example the cattle fixation because they're largely derived from First Age Bemuri). My intent is they're Celtic to a first order, just as Sartar is "landlocked Vikings" if you only have a few words to describe them.

I gladly welcome any contributions towards making the Delelans more unique.

> Bravo, Sharon

Since there's been confusion caused by his name before, I'll mention that Shannon Appel is male.

James Frusetta whines

> What hath my spiders done, that David Dunham hates them so?

I simply don't believe the trolls have the best cavalry in Glorantha, which I recall as your claim (now retracted).

> I'm assuming (and yes, I might well be wrong) that the presence of the 3
> taranulas suggests Cragspider has a fair number of these beasties lying
> around -- she might field, oh, 50 of them. Maybe. The might not be used in
> more than units of 3, but that unit of 3 (with accompanying light spider
> escort) is pretty darn effective. An elite unit of 3 might be pretty
> scary.

Yes, I underestimated the importance of Aranea near Skyfall Lake. But the riders are each 90%, and 1/3 are rune levels. This is a pretty elite bunch.

> Spiders
> provide a variety of useful little things for the overwhelmingly-infantry
> troll armies.

More like mounted nobility than cavalry.

> Or did you mean tarantulas (and other spiders, et al.) are like fish --
> you have a very small number of intelligent specimens?

That's my impression from the Aranea writeup. (And it's probably true for *all* Gloranthan species.)

> What else would you call it?
> Infantry: man on foot. Cavalry: man on mount. Just because it's got
> double the right number of legs means it's not cavalry? I don't follow you
> on this. What else would one categorize trolls so mounted as?

I'm not a huge expert on military terms, but "dragoons" and "cavalry" are different. Leaders and messengers likewise ride horses, but aren't cavalry. It's true that a few trolls fight from bug-back. If anybody on a mount is cavalry, OK, but that's not how I was using the term. I was thinking of military units, counters one could use in a game if you will.

But hey, this debate has been worth it if for no other reason than spawning Tarantulor.

David Dunham <mailto:dunham_at_pensee.com> Glorantha/RQ page: <http://www.pensee.com/dunham/glorantha.html> Imagination is more important than knowledge. -- Albert Einstein


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