> Look at what's happening to the Orlanthi in Dragon Pass
> now that they've had extensive contact with a potent
> outside community i.e., the Lunar Empire.
Even worse, what happened when they had contact with *one* interloper from the Holy Country, i.e., King Sartar, who completely transformed the lifestyle of the Quivini tribes. ("For the worse..." we sometimes mutter in Greydog Village).
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Lee writes, rather confusingly:
> I interpreted it as the Sun County Sun Dome. My thinking
> was ... because a lot of published Glorantha stuff has cult
> write-ups and such that are biased towards the area that
> they are focusing on - and don't necessarily hold when you
> go to other areas.
So that, for example, a lot of published Glorantha stuff has, e.g. origin stories for forms of warfare that are biased towards the area that they are focusing on and don't necessarily hold when you go to other areas? Hmmm. Have to think about this one.
> Is there evidence that this tactic was invented and/or used
> in some other Sun Dome (or elsewhere)?
No, the only evidence is the statement in our (pro-Yelmalion) source that the Sun Dome Templars invented the tactic. Now, in the boardgame "Dragon Pass", the Sun Domers get a defensive bonus which Lunar phalanxes don't; hence my assumption that they have a different formation -- the Macedonian pike-block phalanx (Sun Dome) rather than the classic hoplite line (the lesser phalanxes). You could argue a mythic case based upon flexibility vs. rigidity: the Lunars employ a looser, more readily varied formation (Fox), while the Templars stick to the stages of the Sacred Pike Drill and hold on whatever comes (Hedgehog). And, of course, the Lunars have native and auxiliary cavalry, missile troops, skirmishers and the like, while the Sun Domers must usually rely on their militia (if defending at home) or employers (if fighting away).
> If so, how did it come to use in Prax? Maybe they brought
> it with them?
Gee, it's almost too obvious, isn't it... Bunch of famous mercenaries, credited in Dragon Pass with *inventing* the most advanced form of warfare yet discovered, hired by the rulers of Pavis to march out to Prax and settle nearby -- maybe, just maybe, they brought the techniques of hoplite warfare with them?
> Also, do you (or anyone) know what the Lunar origin story
> is for the use of hoplites? I would be interested to hear it.
You can find the story of Daxdarius, founder of hoplite warfare and the Pelandan Empire, in Greg Stafford's recent book The Entekosiad. (He's mentioned in passing in our article on the Oronin Valley in Tales #16). There's over a page of *slightly* dodgy origin stories for spear-armed warfare in Chris Gidlow's essay on "The Lunar Way of War", in Tarsh War -- these give credit to many of the Solar gods, including Lodril, Hastatus, Polaris, the Star Captains, and Yelmalio. (I say these are dodgy because they're written by a Tarshite general and not some topless-tower academic type. They're good stories for teaching to the rankers, perhaps less mythologically "pure"). And the Cult of the Granite Phalanx writeup in Tales #12 has an origin story for the Phalanxes of the Lunar Army. (There may be material on the Dara Happan Phalanxes in the Fortunate Succession, but I don't have my copy handy just now).
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Nick
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