Slontos -
The always wise, but often nit-picking Peter Metcalfe wrote:
>It [Slontos] was an Orlanthi (but not Heortling) Kingdom during the early
years of
>the first age (150 to 206 ST according to the Broken Council Guidebook)
This is my understanding as well. Although I used to believe that they were Haranding Orlanthi, I now suspect that the folk of Slontos belonged to yet another folk who learned of Orlanth and the Lightbringers from the missionaries of the Unity Council.
>The Guidebook mentions that it had become Malkioni by 355 ST
>but gives no details.
Of course, what exactly "become Malkioni" meant in those heady pre-God Learner days is anyone's question.
>It was apparently part of the Empire of Light as Arkat spent fifteen
>years fighting in Slontos (425-440 ST).
My understanding is that Slontos was definitely conquered by the Bright Empire in the years between 380-410. Many impressive and now-irrelevant campaigns and battles were waged in Slontos during the dramatic final stage of the First Age - irrelevant because the place is now largely underwater or ruined.
Knight Fort -
Another reliable source of Gloranthan gold, "Fightin' Joe" Baumgartner
wrote that:
>"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.
Unfortunately this time I must disagree with my learned Germanic comrade. I am thoroughly convinced that Palangio had nothing, yes absolutely nothing, to do with the foundation of Knight Fort. Not even a fortified camp.
EWF-
Finally, a few comments on the confused history of the EWF from 578 to
826. The learned Shannon Appel wrote:
>Small caveat: in 620 the EWF is solely a religious body, not a
>political one. The total political takeover is at the "Third Council"
>date given in _Griffin Mountain_ (826 ST).
To which, Peter wrote:
>The 'ruling religious and political body' is the description given by
>the Glorantha Book p22 for the foundation of the formal establishment
>of the EWF in 578 ST. In 700 ST, Hrestol Arganitus mentions that the
>Leftside Community of the Wyrmfriends 'have no government except the
>mystical Inner Brotherhood who are sequestered at Dragon's Eye' (KoS
>p182). Therefore the description of it as "solely" a religious body
>is incorrect.
Actually, I think both of you are correct. It is my belief that the
"political leaders" who embraced the draconic way in one sitting in 578
(as better described in the
Glorantha GM/History book) by the Hunting and Waltzing Bands were none
other than the High Council of the Kingdom of the Heortlings, which had
>been reestablished sometime between 430-450. A pyramid scheme, the EWF gave
>a tremendous amount of power to a small handful of people. Many priests were
>amongst the first people to learn the draconic way and thus were prominent in
>the EWF. However, most of the Heortling peoples were not privy to the
>higher mysteries of the draconic path and continued to follow their old ways
- - albeit as supporters of the EWF.
With the Heortling kingdom draconized (and its institutions fossilized and irrelevant), the tribes themselves eventually become little more than administrative taxing districts. However, the old symbols of authority continued - and it thus is possible to look at the EWF as a religious body rather than a political one.
The date mentioned in Griffin Mountain marks the stage when the draconic Wyrmsfriends seized complete political power and formed the Third Council - which strained old Orlanthi tribes nearly to extinction. At this point the EWF may have even threatened the clan organization with their draconic consciousness - indeed, even they threatened species organization! A great irony of the later wars between the EWF and Alakoring is that Drang the Storm Dragon was probably once an Orlanthi priest who had been an early supporter of the draconic way.
In the century following their political coup, the EWF leaders grew arrogant and proud. They had forgotten their people and sought only the company of dragons. They proved to have taken the role of the Evil Emperor and were cursed by the gods. The Two Years Winter marked the doom of the EWF. The great hero Alakoring Dragonbreaker defeated Drang the Storm Dragon and proved that Orlanth was not a dragon. He seized lands in Dragon Pass as his own and many believed that he sought to restore the Kingdom of the Heortlings. Had it not been for a cowardly Aldryami arrow, he assuredly could have.
Jeff
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