I'm pretty sure that the name "Malkonwal" was brought to southern Heortland by the Seshnegi Rokari mercenaries of Richard the Tiger- In my version of Malkioni myth and history (cf. my homepage for more, URL below), Malkonwal was the City of the Prophet, filling in for a combination of Zion, the New Jerusalem, and/or Augustine's "City of God": a perfectly-ruled, perfectly-peopled city under the rule of a philosopher/prophet, where everyone acts always in accordance with the Laws of the Creator, and where Sin and Death are unknown. Naturally, such perfection could not last in this imperfect world, and the Holy City of Malkonwal transcended into Solace in Glory when the Great Prophet Malkion redeemed the world: its inhabitants, its structures, its wonders, all gone.
There would therefore be at least three "sites" for a place called Malkonwal. One, apparently, is on Brithos (the "original", if you like): various early Stafford mss. give this as the name of a city or duchy or similar on that island, and I don't see any reason to abandon this. The second would be a vacant site somewhere in old Seshnela (somewhere in Seshneg, to be precise), perhaps later made into the High Temple of the Serpent Kings or some such. And the =
third is a purely spiritual location: a "Hidden Castle" (to use an old RQing term), or an ideal to which all Malkioni societies can aspire.
The Rokari are zealous expansionists: Richard the Tiger-Hearted's followers include persecuting priests, inquisitors, and the like. If they are striving to set up a perfect Malkioni society in the south of Heortland, whyever not call it "Malkonwal" -- just as a radical group in the real world might claim to be establishing "Zion", or "The New Jerusalem", or "The Kingdom of Heaven on Earth"? Seems perfectly natural to me, and with no need to "prove" that you're on the same site as the original: you're just trying to replicate it, in a way no previous state has managed, through your own superior piety and devotion to the Invisible God.
That's my take, anyway. I doubt the Pharaoh "appears" Malkioni to his Malkioni subjects: they're scattered through the Sixths (in the port-cities of Esrolia, the urban centres of southern Heortland, the islands of God Forgot), not dominant within any Sixth. So in Esrolia he appears Earthy, in Heortland Stormy, and in God Forgot his sovereignty is purely atheist/materialist (as the people who God Forgot are *not* pious Malkioni believers in any normal sense: see Peter Metcalfe's old postings about Leonardo for some flavour of their beliefs).
Just my 2p,
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Nick <http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/Nick_Brooke/>
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End of The Glorantha Digest V5 #50
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