> I am fairly sure that the Jrusteli did not really notice the Gbaji
> wars. They seem to have been caught up in developments of their own
> instead...
While I fully agree that the island of Jrustela "sat out" the Gbaji wars, don't forget the arrival of the fall-out from the succession war after the death of Nralar the Old: that's mainstream post-Nysalorian Seshnegi political (inc. religious, one may assume) leaders, plus "a large segment" of the population (cf. Wyrms Footprints p.25), who we know made a big difference to the Jrusteli worldview and outlook.
Most notably, it was *after* this that the thirteen Jrusteli colonies confederated, became an expansionist, naval, imperial, anti-Stygian power, and strove to "liberate" Seshnela from "barbaric" overlords...
While I agree with Joerg's quibbles about whether "Arkati Illumination" is or is not identical to "Nysalor Illumination", the fact remains that the two look exactly the same to both Arkati (St. Arkat's Blessing) and Illuminates (special ability to recognise other Illuminates), while our sources explicitly raise the spectre of Arkat's own Illumination.
> I 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.
I concur. I interpret the RQ Companion account of Dawn Age Theyalan missionaries as saying that they set off from Kethaela, travelled west through Maniria, and made their first converts in Slontos. This allows me to have my "not very Lightbringerised" barbarians in Wenelia. The passage in question is:
: Parties from Kethaela set off westward into the lands of the Entruli : and the Pralori with mixed success. These peoples were famed for : their hatred and warfare. It was only when King Lalmor set off with : his tribe, the Vathmai, and reached Slontos in 115 that the Light- : bringers' knowledge was firmly entrenched into the culture of the : region.
As you'll see, it's unclear what's meant by "the region". Given my own desires, I find it easy to interpret this as "Slontos" rather than "the whole region west from Kethaela, including those belligerent and hostile Entruli and Pralori who hadn't previously embraced the Lightbringers' message." But YGMV. Clearly the inhabitants of Slontos were not Lightbringer worshippers before 115 ST, whatever the passage means.
::::
Nick
::::
Powered by hypermail