Andrew Joelson:
>> ...the fairly general consensus that the Fort was actually built in the God
>> Learner period, ...
> Um, wouldn't that put it smack dab in the middle of the EWF? Who had quite
>amicable relation with the Praxians? (As in, whole tribes belonged to the
>EWF?)
Not at all. Prax was generally hostile towards the EWF, look at the early
history of Pavis. The Wyrms Friends had been constantly plagued by Praxian
raids, so they called in the Pentan Pure Horse Tribe, and had them send the
Praxians packing. It took the Praxians until 1250 to rid themselves of that
problem completely, and they never ever forgave this affront.
The Praxians (including Pure Horse nomads) had been raiding the Third Council and the shattered remnants of the EWF after 1042 whenever they felt strong enough, or insulted enough.
Quite generally, any settled population living next to (but independent from) a nomad population will sooner or later get into conflict with it. 6000 years of experience along the Danube river tell...
In Robcradle, the Jrusteli had allied with the Pure Horse people. This would quite naturally make them another favourite target for the Praxians of the less fertile parts, including Orani's Mistake (which is not suitable for horses without an oasis as base).
As far as I know, there was only one successful attempt to live in peace with Praxians - accomplished by Khordavu and his heirs, who gave their Praxian immigrants lots of oases to hold and plunder. (Of these, the Sables also had their empty plains on the Hungry Plateau, whereas the Bisons were acculturated. I dont' know about High Llama or Impala immigrants to Dara Happa, but won't rule them out. There were no Morokanth in Dara Happa after Argentium Thriile, and probably neither in that campaign; after all, the Council had hired cavalry.
> Perhaps it dates to the period between the Broken Council and the EWF? Or
>maybe Palangio the Iron Vrok built it to keep out the nomads? Some of them
>hired out as mercs to the Council, but surely not all the tribes were friendly?
If some of them hired out as mercs to the Council, others would have hired out against it...
The location of the fort has one simple and all-important reason: it is the last watering hole within the somewhat fertile southern rim of Prax, and the ideal staging area for flexible-response counterraids against raiders. Plus it denies them this oasis as a base for their raids.
All in all, very much the same reasons why Phargentes conquered Elkoi apply to the location of Knight Fort. If you want to keep the Praxians in their plain, give them a target to attack within their own range, and keep them out of your own. Make sure this target can survive the attacks.
So, the oasis of Knight Fort would have seen fortifications whenever some settled people lived within a day's ride east of it. Whichever later fortress-builder came here took the ruins of the predecessor as a quarry, and might even have continued to use the foundations.
Regarding the origin of the God Forgot peoples: I don't believe that the populace there, at the dawn, was all Brithini-descended. However, there was an important portion of the populace which had immigrated recently (i.e. during the Silver Age) from the West after Malkion had disappeared. After 6 centuries or so, probably 70% or more of the populace would have some Brithini ancestors.
I hope that Tradetalk 3 will be available soon - it will contain a Darkness and First Age history of the Kingdom of Night, by Shannon Appel, which has some details on this.
Powered by hypermail