Re: Tadaaki's Questions

From: johnjmedway <jmedway_at_io.com>
Date: Tue, 23 Dec 1997 00:47:51 -0600


>Date: Sun, 21 Dec 1997 06:43:11 -0500
>From: Nick Brooke <Nick_Brooke_at_compuserve.com>
>Subject: Re: Tadaaki's Questions

- -..
>The Phalanxes seem to all be named for igneous rocks (not surprising,
>given the Lodrili influences in the region of their origin), so if
>you invent another one, bear this in mind. I'm sure you could find an
>Obsidian Phalanx (troll-fighters? troll fighters?? liberated Lunar
>trollkin???) if you looked hard enough...

Actually, only one is technically an "igneous _rock_" (my emphasis), and only two others are any other kind of "rock". Problem is that there just aren't enough cool-sounding igneous and metamorphic rocks ("Pumice Phalanx" or "Gneiss Phalanx" or "Schist Phalanx" anyone?).

Granite is igneous rock, and Marble is metamorphic (sedimentary rock reshaped by great heat) rock, and Slate is sedimentary. All of the other ones which I know of from printed sources are minerals and 5 of 'em are quartzes!

FWIW, here are the ones I believe in, and their locations and their origins:

Name	Location	Discussed in
- ----	--------	------------
Granite	Dragon Pass	WBRM/DP/Tarsh War
Marble	Pavis		WBRM/DP/Pavis
Jasper	Dragon Pass	WBRM/DP
Beryl	Dragon Pass	WBRM but not DP
Agate	Harandash	MOB in Lonely Lozenge Guide to Sog City
Onyx	Harandash	MOB in Lonely Lozenge Guide to Sog City
Quartz	?		Some scribblings of Greg's from long, long ago
Slate	?		Some scribblings of Greg's from long, long ago
Jade	*disbanded*	My own one for an Alkoth scenario. Made it out
			to be a bunch of Shargashi yahoos which the Red
			Army *officially* lists as disbanded.

Danny Bourne and I also contemplated Basalt (hey, that one is igneous) and Carnelian and Obsidian (black glass sounds good, and now is even more appealing with Nick's Troll-tinged suggestions). I'm not sure about slate, it sounds a bit girly, and it is sedimentary. But then it's better than mica, schist or gneiss.

>I can't recall any connection with the Ten Princes; this may be a
>myth. (But as I said the other day, my Fortunate Succession has gone
>walkabout).

Long ago there was discussion of a link of the 10 sacred phalanxes with the 10 cities of Dara Happa, one having been traditionally raised from each city, but I do not recall where that discussion went.

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