>I just noticed something interesting in Troll Cults Book: "In the Second
>Age, the Only Old One became an ally of the Empire of the Wyrms Friends,
>and the Argan Argar cult spread to Pamaltela." I'd forgotten that AA was
>worshipped ("in places as diverse as Fonrit..."), but I'm curious as to how
>it spread. I'd thought that Pamaltela was more of a God Learner (or to be
>more precise, Six-Legged Empire) province. Did the EWF get there too? If
>so, it would appear that the Jrusteli controlled the west (Umathela) and
>the EWF had more influence in the middle and perhaps east.
The Only Old One is known to have built a fleet of black ships before the Closing totaled it according to the RuneQuest Companion. I know some of you will probably point out that the source itself states these fleets were founded after the destruction of the EWF. To which I say, nyah! The writer of the article is extremely sloppy (for instance he calls the leader of Caladraland a 'president' and gets the date of the Dragonkill wrong by 20 years!) and so 'correcting' a few further facts in the article would not go amiss.
Now that's the special pleading out of the way, onto the more reliable stuff. As far as the EWF maritime expeditions go, who knows what they could have done. Although Sea Dragons are passe IMO because the Waertagi already have them.
As for the Only Old One's association with the EWF, there is 'a secret power organization' called the Night Dragon Society in Uz Lore. Then 'Even Gbaji and Yelm could not conquer Night and the cult of Argan Argar managed to keep its spirits flying between outposts of Trolldom'. Assuming these two statements refer to the same thing (an _if_, I realize), we would have an explanation of why the OOO allied himself with the EWF and how the cult of Argan Argar spread into Pamaltela: they were contacted by Night Dragon cultists voyaging to the Tarmo mountains. From there, it made its way into Fonrit by slow diffusion (although how exactly it took place, I'll be damned if I knew). This could also explain the curious mention in RQ4 draft in which a mention is made of a kingdom in the Pamaltelan Mountains that uses Dragon Magic.
The big problem with the above is that the Tarmo Trolls are not organized into anything larger than clans (as Argan Argar tends to be an Empire God - witness the Shadowlands and Halikiv) _and_ Argan Argar is not a major god amongst them. We would have to postulate some sort of catastrophe which tore apart the cult and disrupted the kingdom leaving behind a few fragments.
As for Pamaltela, the best that can be stated with certainty is that the God Learners controlled Umathela (under the auspices of the Lord of the World's Knowledge), the Elf Empire of Errinoru controlled the Jungle and parts of Taluk Mormadak whereas the Six-Legged Empire controls the plains of Jolar (but did not expand into either Tarien or Kothar for unknown reasons). Kimos is virtually unconquerable and uncolonizable.
I know of no EWF-controlled places - although Errinoru did circumnavigate the Homeward Ocean and may have sailed into the Mirrorsea and brought back EWF cultists with him (albeit I do not think he would have brought back Uz). If they founded an enclave of dragon magics, it would be in Elamle and be a degenerate version since they would have forgotten how to speak Auld Wyrmish. I assume an overgrown temples deep in the jungle with fearsome savages worshipping something like Quetzcoatl the feathered serpent, would be appropiate.
Fonrit is troublesome. The first mention comes from the RQ3 rules Book V, which states that 'In Pamaltela, the early Artmali Empire was crushed and its territories incorporated into the sea-borne Jrusteli Empire.' This implies that the God Learners warred with Fonrit as that is the only population of the Artmali on coastal Pamaltela. These Artmali might have had some naval empire (as their ships were quite good - yachts and dhows) and I assume they would have controlled/colonized parts of Jrustela, the Kumanku Isles and the Loral Isles as those places were later part of the God Learner Empire. It can't have controlled Teleos as that wasn't subdued until the God Learners came. The 'early' probably refers to its claims of extreme antiquity as there is no 'latter' Artmali Empire AFAIK. Bear in mind that this empire was a successor state to the original civilization of the Artmali and worshipped Jraktal at this time.
The date of this empire's conquest is unknown as for it to have been conquered by the God Learners, it would have to have survived the onslaught of Garangordos. Therefore I place it on either Afadjann or the three 'guya' isles to give them some reasonable explaination for surviving. But did the God Learners conquer Fonrit itself?
The Fonrit writeup itself implies the major second age power in Fonrit was the Sorcerers of Kalabar (who tortured the Gods of Pamaltela). I don't think they are God Learners or else they would have been listed as part of Svagard's empire when he was crowned. Garangordos is mentioned as appearing when the God Learners first came and when they were destroyed but the dating of those events is vague.
Another data point in the Fonrit writeup which states that Garguna has 'often been ruled by the warlords of Vralos'. Since the Vralans have been conquered by the Fonritans more often in the historical record far more often than vice versa - this appears to refer to the conquest of Fonrit by an abberant sect of the Cult of Silence and possibly (otherwise unmentioned) border conflicts between Fonrit and God Learner Umathela.
A God Learner Fleet was destroyed in 1072 ST by the Invisible Fleet in the Koraru bay. Since the Closing was in effect at this time, it is my opinion that the God Learner Fleet was operating out a city in that region. The best candidate is the City of Goan which would explain the linkage between the God Learners and the Six-legged Empire.
So while the God Learners did control at least two cities of Fonrit (and perhaps a couple more along the coastline), it seems to me that much of Fonrit was independant, although some cities certainly were kind of friends to the Jrusteli - think of the Arab states in Spain and the Middle East that allied with the Crusaders. But there's little to suggest that the EWF controlled any of those ports.
That's enough historical speculation from me for now.
Powered by hypermail