>That's all very true but free time doesn't necessarily equal the sort of
>culture and mindset you need to drill in unit in order to enable you to
>operate as a unit armed with 16-18 foot poles.
To which Peter Metcalfe replied:
>I'm just pointing out that they _could_ have had the culture and
>mindset, just as the Esrolians can have a fighting matriachy even
>though we have no examples of such in earth history. Most hunter
>- -gatherers AFAIK tend to hang out in remote regions after being
>kicked around by pastoralists and/or sedentaries. The Agimori are
>anomalous in that they've been hanging around in Prax since the
>Dawn.
A very valid position. Putting things in a fantasy environment always allows for things that never happened in the RW (that we know of). I suppose the Agimori could have picked up pikes from the Sun County folk, but I still feel they don't need pikes to fight the Praxians.
Peter suggested in reply to my postulating that the Agimori would have been unable to gather together enough warriors in one spot to drill (due to the carrying capability of the land) .
>Unless they went to an oasis or somesuch, I suppose. This is
>what the Doraddi (although they don't use pike phalanxes) in
>Jolar do.
Hmmm, interesting suggestion. That is a possibility, however I don't think oasi present any advantges to Agimori. Sure they attract game (if there aren't any pesky Oasis Folk around) but who needs the water?:-> An oasis small enough not to house Oasis folk might be too small to attract much game. This would negate it's advantages as a gathering spot for training. I would think that the Agimori pretty much ignore the Oasis folk since they have a cultural disdain for slaves and slavery (unlike all their neighbours). Besides it's just another thing (the oasis) to fight with the Praxians over so who needs the headaches?
Peter again:
>I do think the Men-and-a-half phalanxes/impis are
>very static and they can't march in formation. They're only
>useful against charging nomadic cavalry and skirmishers are
>another matter. Even then, I think the Agimori are braindead
>to use the Impis against the Rhino Riders.
I agree with both points. They would be pretty static when defending
against nomads. It'd be pointless to try and face a rhino charge.
The Agimori are probably brave enough to scatter before the charge
(without breaking), turn and try and kill the riders. I can't imagine a
Rhino
charge amounts to many animals so they may be able to open ranks
to let them pass through.
On a completely and totally unrelated note I was wondering whether one of the Carmanian savants out there could answer a question for me. In modern day Carmania they are very dedicated to the ideal of a personal balance between Light and Dark are they not? My impression on ancient Carmania, taken from reading materials on Loren Miller and Nick Brooke's web pages was that the ancient Carmanians were not dedicated to this ideal but rather alternated between being (as it were) darkness aligned or light aligned. Is this perception accurate? Especially in regards to the period just before the Dragon Kill war.
Thanks,
Oliver D. Bernuetz
bernuetz.oliver_at_cbsc.ic.gc.ca
www.geocities.com/TimesSquare/realm/5545
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