Hello folks,
Patrik Sandberg here...
Lee R Insley wrote:
> Does anyone have a write-up of the Sartar landscape, villages,
culture, etc. =20
> A friend of mine once told me that the basis for Sartar was
along the lines of
> the Germans in Roman times. From my knowledge of the Germans,
it appears
> to me
> that Sartar is more like Gaul than Germany. I say this for
two reasons:
>=20
> 1) Gauls was more civilized than Germany. Germany had no
large towns
> or trading centers before the Romans got there. Gaul,
however, had
> such places.
> 2) Germany was never fully subjugated by Rome. Gaul was.
In general, I agree with you here. But I would like to stress
the following:
- -When thinking in earthly analogues, the cultural and art flavor
doesn't necessarily have to be the same as the poitical one:
that is your 1) and 2) don't have to go hand in hand.
- -More importantly, IMHO Orlanthi culture should always be a
tight and (almost) non-diffusable _mixture_ of Celtic, Viking,
Ango-Saxian, Germanic (and maybe others as well) stuff. On the
other hand iI seems to me that people tend to lean more heavily
on the analogue they are most familiar with. Me, for myself,
once read "Njal's Saga" at the same time as reading King of
Sartar, and naturally my Sartar has a strong viking "feel". But!
obviously, without the most, clich=E9-like stuff, like viking
long-ships (those are for the Wolf pirates), thralls hanging in
the trees, the "bloots", hammers of Thor.
So, in miniscule detail my vision of Sartar includes:
- -A physical landscape which is a blend of the Scottish Highlands
and Iceland for the hills and mountains; the fertile areas
around lake Malaren in Sweden for the valleys. (For details on
flora, fauna and weather, John Hughes notes from the Far Point
region is helpful. They were on the Digest some years ago. I can
e-mail them to you if you send me a notice.)
- -Boldhome looks like it does in the Boldhome guide; the other
cities I picture as Lutetia looks like in Asterix. (There you
got Gaul.) But sometimes the temples look like Norwegian
staff-churches filtered through Gloranthan fantasy
weirdness...And an Ernalda temple (both in the cities and among
the hill clans) can be a squat stonebuilding with Mycenean
influences, and statues reminicent of clay ones depicting Frey
and Freya, and patterns decorating the walls being a perfect
mix-up between Celtic swirls and viking figures taken from
nordic Rune-stones.
- -If the Orlanthi holy place is a hill-top, then there are often
standing stones which are elongated like "menhirs", but also
sculpted and carved like Celtic "men with gaping mouths" and lot
of Gloranthan Runes. (The picture of a wooden statue of Orlanth
in GoG is based on a picture of one I. Bilibine, depicitng the
_slavic_ god "Svantevit".) On the other hand, if the holy place
is situated in the woods, I have no problem with this
description from "The Iron Hand of Mars", by Lindsey Davis,
wherein the hero visits barbaric Germania:
"It just seemed like any other clearing when we first went in.
It must have been generations old /.../ this place had a special
atmosphere. There was a smell of moss and misery./.../ Ahead of
us leaned a grotesque statue in rotting, roughhewn wood /.../ He
loomed up like a huge gnarled oak trunk, beaded with livid
orange mould and rooted in decay. He had three primitive faces,
with four staring Celtic almond-shaped eyes distributed among
them. Atop him the wide antlers of some massive elk draped
themselves as if trying to embrace the sky. Before the god stood
basic turf altar where the priests came to make their
sacrifice."
- -Clusters of steads, situated in the valleys is part
viking-Birka, part saxon long-house (others prefer the celtic
round house), again with extra details from the staff-churches.
A Kings Hall might be extravagantely complex, layer clustered
upon layer and with a central hall 30 meters high from floor to
roof, maybe with a central trunk from an old tree (like king
Hrothgars Hall in Beowulf). The households living up in the
highlands I give houses as the Stong complex on Iceland. (Lower
house - it is much more windy up there.)
- -The tattoes on both men and womens bodies are in celtic pattern
(the woad-magic of Orlanth is clearly from the Celtic well).
But, IMG there are no naked, screaming picts of celts - I just
don't like the image. I prefer my Orlanthi fyrd to wear leather
armor, or mail for the rich ones. (Mail, incidentally, seems to
be a celtic invention which the romans adopted during the riegn
of Augustus.) Also, IMG the Sartarites don't wear kilts (I
suppose the Brits will sob now). But they do play bagpipe!
- -For an Orlanthi moot or Orlanthi justice, apart from the Report
on the Orlanthi in KoS, read Icelandic sagas. For the, oh so
popular, sport/economic system of cattle-raiding - look for
celtic/irish sources.
- -To understand a Humakti (and also realize why everybody stear
clear of them) think of an Odinic berserker, permanently "high"
on fly agaric, tuned down by some Samuraian warrior code ethics,
and add a touch or two of sombre Gun-slingers of the Wild
West...
- -For tribal kings which dissappear during hunts, or stroll into
hillside openings and then vanish from the world - look up
Mabinogion or other celtic sagas.
etc, etc. I think that you should avoid, if at all possible, to
stick with just one analogue. And above all - don't forget the
never-to-be-found "analogue" of Gloranthan weirdness and feeling
of High fantasy, which is there as well.
What it all comes down to, in the end, is a matter of taste, I
suppose. But the above-written is how I have handled both the
Talastar, Skanthi, Aggarian and Sartarite Orlanthis. (I would
stick to it quite much if I went down to Heortland as well. I'm
not particularily fond of the Medeival pot this area often seems
to be. On the other hand again, the step between a viking
culture and medeival Norman ain't that great so I suppose I can
reconcile the differences...)
Cheers,
Patrik Sandberg
kaselov.sandberg_at_swipnet.se