First, however, a few comments and proposals:
Jeff Richard in v05.n396
>I am thoroughly convinced that Knight Fort was NOT built by Palangio.
>The Bright Empire was building military-religious fortresses of a type
>VERY DIFFERENT from Knight Fort.
I agree. "Modern" Knight Fort would have only a very few traces of Palangio's fortified camp left within its substance, most probably some chambers in the foundation of the central keep, and a fair number of bricks with DHan style Lodril stamps used and reused in certain sections. Exactly the stuff bored Lhankor Mhy sages would write about. For fun, there could be one piece of Brithini Iron Statuary in an obscure niche deep down in the fort, which would give us a good reason why any Sage would investigate the origins of the fort... It could even serve a purpose, for instance create a zone of negation of magics.
In my vision of the Holy Country, extremely few buildings from Palangio's reign would have survived. Probably the best (though not necessarily least dangerous) places to study his architecture could be Axe Hall on the Shadow Plateau and the castrum at Old Karse below its eastern cliffs.
>Personally, I'd date Knight Fort to the period of Jrusteli dominance.
If Palangio had any sort of fortification at the oasis, I suppose that the Hendriki kings might have occupied and modified that for a while. By the time the God Learners arrived in strength in Kethaela, the fort most probably was abandoned or in severe disrepair.
The Jrusteli had gathered a _lot_ of experience in contemporary siege warfare in their conquests of the Malkioni world - it appears that they had to weed out resistance in all Malkioni countries, even though the Ralian war was the most concentrated action.
If Krak Des Chevaliers is accepted as the model of Knight Fort, we might postulate a couple of stages of the fortification. The Krak is situated on and around a plinth rising about 15 metres out of the surrounding terrain, which could be slightly hilly. A similar rocky outcrop next to a watering hole on the edge of the chaparral would be a logical place for any military camp.
If you want a picture and map of Krak Des Chevaliers, try the Palladium Book of Weapons, Armour and Castles (p.193), or "The Crusades and the Holy Land" by Georges Tate (p.168). I suppose any decent book on European-built castles would include the Krak...
I think we can take it as a given that the art of warfare changed during the course of Glorantha's 16 centuries of history. While the basic principle - large numbers of men-at-arms with a variety of hand-to-hand and in some cases missile weapons, plus miscellaneous forms of magic assisting in combat - - remained true, I am fairly certain that there were certain developments (or shifts in prominence of armament and tactics) which influenced the way battles were fought, and fortifications were built.
True, the Praxian art of warfare did not undergo that many changes - there is only a limited set of tactics the beast riders can employ. They could (and probably did) use widely different forms of magic, though - check Nomad Gods for a plethora of different gods (or greater spirits) which could be employed against the castle and its defenders. The castle would always have been designed to withstand Praxian nomad raids, and to serve as a sallying point for the mobile part of the garrison to harrass the enemy's troops. However, the nature of these mobile forces changed a lot during the fort's history.
If aboriginal Malkioni (the Ingareens of Shannon's History of the Kingdom of Night) were the first people to fortify the oasis, we could expect a Horali style advanced position there.
Which leads us to the question how the Horali are organized. Genertela Book tells us they don't ride horses (or other beasts), but are trained in any form of combat. Usually a Zzabur sorcerer accompanies a platoon of Horali, led by a Talar caste commander, and provided for by Dromar servants who put up tents, dig ditches and prepare meals. While it is possible that any of these castes' representants include females, it is quite unlikely.
If (again) there was a Brithini-style outpost here, it would most likely have been a stronghouse atop the plinth, with traps around it, since a Brithini platoon consists of maybe a dozen fighters per sorcerer (who has to maintain control of his spells for the company in advance) and noble.
Cults of Prax mentions 35 S.T. as the arrival of the first Theyalan warrior cult (stated to be Humakt) in Prax. If this was a Heortling cult, Knight Fort would have been quite out of the way...
When Palangio ruled Kethaela, he set up a ring of fortifications around Shadow Plateau, and probably at the entries to other sources of trouble as well. His hoplite plus skirmisher style troops would have to be present in greater numbers than hypothetical Brithini-style predecessors, so he would have installed a small Pelorian fortified field camp there, probably a century of hoplites. If located atop that plinth mentioned for the Krak, a rest garrison of 20 men should have been able to fend off even determined foes a hundred time that numerous. His solar priests could have used platforms open to the sun for their magics.
After Palangio's defeat against Arkat, it is possible that the Hendriki or Arkat himself posted some Orlanthi forces at Knight Fort. If so, I think that they would have been similar to the Romano-British forces of the Age of Arthur, inheriting military organisation and fortifications but not quite mastering them. From that to disrepair and abandonment wouldn't have been a long way.
The Jrusteli keep would have been different from a part-Seshnegi refurbishment of Palangio's castrum. Their castle would at least have encompassed the area of the Inner Ward of the Krak, probably already including the fortified ramp up to the Ward, but possibly lacking the outer ward around the base of the Plinth. However, if they installed a mounted troop here, the outer ward probably becomes necessary as grazing area, at least during sieges.
With the fall of the Machine City, the Jrusteli surely would have abandoned Knight Fort - probably already earlier during that siege, for lack of provisions. The most likely next occupation could have been that by the Merchant Prince venture boldly seeking to secure the spice route to Teshnos through the Wastes, as proposed by Stephen Martin (in v05.n384 and v05.n392). While their life as guardians may have sustained them for a while, I strongly suspect that the garrison soon would have spread across the farmsteads and ranches of the Marcher Barons rather than keeeping the grand keep intact.
IMG the Hendriki king of Heortland conquered Refuge around 1370. He might have taken an interest in the castle, and provided finances and support to the garrison, causing a temporary return to strength in Knight Fort.
With the Lunar conquest of Pavis County, the Pharaoh took a personal interest in the Praxian affairs, and may have pushed the re-fitting of the castle with mercenaries around 1610. The Seshnegi mercenaries arriving in 1615 might have brought the battlements up to the latest state of the art.
Shannon Appel in v05.n397:
>Unless things have swapped around the Kethaela history is actually in
>Tradetalk #4. But, yes, it does talk about the Ingareens of God
>Forgot. Definitely from the West originally, and I'm not sure they'd
>have that much mixing with other groups: they remained hidden for an
>extended amount of time, and the nearest lands (modern Heortland) were
>chaos waste.
The term "chaos waste" sounds a bit exaggerated to me - there were Heortlings living just outside of Snake Pipe Hollow at the same time. Sure, there was the occasional outbreak of masses of chaotics from the Footprint, but overall the Heortland plateau was a pleasant land, more so than the curse-free parts of Dorastor. IMO the wind children used it as hunting ground free of nomad warriors defending the herds...
An ancient map of the region showed a tribe called Gansavuli living in the southern part of Heortland. The name sounds like a late Vingkotling star tribe. Since Stormwalk Mountain is the most sacred place to the Heortling Storm Bulls of the region, I find it likely that a small Orlanthi populace may have lived in the south.
Michael Raaterova:
>Jeff, Knight Fort can be all of those things and more too. It doesn't have
>to be a *single* thing - it has been used by lots of groups and people over
>the years, all of whom can claim the rightful ancestry and origins of
>Knight Fort.
Amen to that.
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