> I think [Irrippi Ontor as a Carmanian Vizier] was Nick's idea (or
> was it Loren? I'm not sure, as I believe I recall one of 'em also
> had yet another idea...
Having Irrippi Ontor be Carmanian (and not a barbarian or similar) seems logical from the sources - he worked for the Carmanian lords of Yuthuppa, after all.
When I started working over the Carmanian religion for Greg, two initial sources were that they had a hang-up about Truth (as the only Carmanians we knew about worshipped "Lhankor Mhy" (IO) and "Humakt" (YT), seen also in the Zero Wane History, and that their gods manifested in Light or Dark aspects. The whole structure of light/dark Dualism and their obsession with Truth against the Lie grew from this, and helped flesh them out as a quasi-"Persian" empire which preceded and conflicted with the Lunars (whether you see the latter as Greek, Hellenistic, Roman, Byzantine... there's always Persia in the wings).
As an originally Malkioni people, and given the details in PB:G, we knew there was a wizardly caste, class or estate in Carmania. Because I'm a fan of the Arabian Nights and pseudo-etymology, I decided that in Carmania this was the "vizier" caste. "Vizier", =
"Wizard": say them fast enough and you may even fool yourself!
Given that, a Carmanian "worshipper of Lhankor Mhy" naturally became a Carmanian Vizier, the chief adviser to the Satrap of Yuthuppa.
And then my friend Chris Gidlow wrote the "Seleric Verses" (cf. Tales #16 for the first four of these), in which Irrippi Ontor ("The Scholar") appears as a crabbed old astrologer with weird and delusional theories about comets, cycles, and young girls with red hair.
Yuthuppa is a centre for astrology, astronomy, and what Greg calls "celestialogy" (?), so it seemed only reasonable for my Irrippi Ontor to have specialised in the celestial sphere, and learned from the temple archives and Buserian sky-watchers. As a new and inquiring mind, approaching the Ancient Mysteries of Yuthuppa without the Buserians' preconceptions, it's possible that he made celestial discoveries there which later fed into the resurrection and subsequent ascent of the Red Goddess.
So I'd give Greg Stafford credit for IO being Carmanian, myself credit for IO being a Vizier, Chris Gidlow credit for IO being an astrologer, and Loren Miller credit for all the other fine and excellent things he has added to Carmania, on his homepage and on the Digest.
> In ToTRM#13 Mabodinarne, Valsatar and Goriant are all "generals
> of Arkat" who aided him in the First Age, but in the Genertela
> book, and the World's Greatest Tournament they are all credited
> for raiding Seshnela and taking firm hold of Ralios in the Second
> Age. How is this so?
What came after the First Age? The Second Age! Do you have to be immortal to have a career spanning both? No. The three generals named are likely to have been long-lived, and we know they were active in Arkat's settlement of Ralios/Safelster and foundation of the Dark Empire (*after* the Chaos Wars ended, thus in the Second Age by definition).
> Nice to see you back Simon! Even if you are going under the
> pseudonym of Nick Krass...
Nothing wrong with having another pseudoNick (or pseudoNikk) on the Digest, surely!
::::
Nick
::::
PS: Now off to the airport, see you all at the Con, back in action late on Tuesday...
Powered by hypermail