EWF and the Orlanthi

From: Richard, Jeff <Jeff.Richard_at_metrokc.gov>
Date: Thu, 07 Aug 1997 09:43:58 -0700


David Weihe responded to my comment about the anti-EWF attitudes held by the Third Age southern Orlanthi tribes:

>At least in your Glorantha, they don't. I have a feeling that they look
>back fondly on *any* time that they were strong after the Lunars start
>invading (let alone after they take over), especially in the city/trade
>related parts of society (ducks, traders, universities, regimental
>Humakti, etc). Certainly Argrath couldn't use EWF magics without >*someone*
giving him backup, implying that some of the hostility that you >claim had died away.

I think this is a fundamental misinterpretation of Heortling culture - the Sartarites don't look "back fondly" on the times that the evil EWF "oppressed the folk of Orlanth", they look back fondly on the times that the Kings of Sartar "sided with us against our enemies". The EWF are preserved in song and saga as "bad guys", just as Lokamayadon (arguably one of the greatest Orlanthi heroes ever) is considered a chaotic traitor.

The Lunar occupation has not changed the basics of Heortling culture - why should it? Most of the so-called "Lunars" are just northern Orlanthi tribesmen - Jomes Wulf (an Orlanthi from Aggar), Fazzur Wideread (an Orlanthi from Tarsh), the Tarshite soldiers and the Aggari mercenaries are all northern Orlanthi - not foreigners like Euglyptus the Fat or Tatius the Bright. The Sartarites do not represent all of "Orlanthi" culture, rather just a small traditionalist offshoot who hold the views they do as a result of their largely isolated history during most of the Third Age.

>Actually, it looks more like an indication of the problems that occur when
>Heortlings and Dara Happans get together. The EWF was going along fine,
>until it annexed the Dara Happans.

Uhh, yeah. The EWF didn't exactly "annex" the Dara Happans. Further, I suspect that the decision to introduce the Dragon Emperor to Dara Happa was at the point when many of the Heortlings began to identify their own EWF leaders as "the Evil Emperor". The Heortlings own sagas are laden with the theme that their kingdoms and councils are bound to fall apart - - the first and most spectacular example is the destruction of the Royal House of the Vingkotlings in the Sword and Helm Saga (see Enclosure for more details).

>Likewise, the World Council was going along fine until they join up with the
>Dara Happan Empire. Next thing you know, the Council breaks into
civil war >over the God Project, and recreates a Chaos God to "heal" the world.

Are you SURE that Osentalka was a Chaos God?

>Clearly, DH magics or social views are poison to Orlanthi society, which
>otherwise CAN unify without problems.

Again - the Heortlings do not believe this to be so. Most Orlanthi cultures are intensely clan-based, which means that any social organization beyond the clan tend to be unstable over the long haul. Left to their own devices, the Heortlings will cheerfully tear each other apart in internecine clan conflicts. It is only the presence of an outside threat that they are willing to put aside their traditional feuds to cooperate.

If you do believe that the Heortlings can unify without problems, I invite you to play in any of the OrlanthiLARPS coming to a GloranthaCon near you. I'm sure that the participants in Fall of the House of Malan will give you plenty of examples of cooperative interclan activities.

>Argrath shouldn't have bothered vivisecting the Red Moon, he should have
>staged a Final Solution to The Dara Happan Problem. :-)

For the Sartarites and the other Summer Tribes, the Dara Happans are an irrelevance - the bigger problem is each other or the Winter Tribes (Tarsh, Aggar and Holay).

Jeff


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