In defence of Kallyr

From: Jane Williams <jane_at_williams.nildram.co.uk>
Date: Wed, 15 Apr 1998 19:59:10 +0000


Well, I have to try, don't I? Although with Joerg as opposition, this could be tricky.

> Well, I suppose that taking the crown of the Prince of Sartar involves
> a couple of hefty oaths to swear, including one to protect the Telmori
> and fulfil that ancient promise (at least by implication in the oath).
I suspect those oaths are taken right back at initiation into the ancestor section of the Cult of Sartar. For Kallyr, that would have been back in the late 1590s. I'm sure they're repeated at the crowning, but that's just public confirmation. (Incidentally, I think being an ancestor-subcult initiate is a prerequisite to being Prince, and I think initiation requires the Flame, which gave everyone but Kallyr real problems between 1602 and 1627! Proof of bloodline could be done by making the Flame flicker, but no new initiates until it was re-lit.)

Given that Kallyr had taken that oath, I think that was one reason why she tried to support the Telmori in 1613. Keeping her word would over-ride politics and strategy.

Oh, and I suspect she was one of the "rebels" who helped the Telmori against the Lunars in 1607. Just to add another time she lost a battle to the list :(

> Argrath's relation to Kallyr sounds similar to Tarkalor's relation to
> Jarolar - not quite as good pedigree

Nice analogy. But Tarkalor would have been a Sartar initiate. Argrath was not. (There's a thought - how did Jarosar die? "Fell to poison from a friend's hand." Hmmm.)

> Her popularity as a war leader has always mystified me. Kallyr has as
> bad a military record as Tatius the Bright ...
Actually, that's not quite fair. I agree that her strong point is getting people to follow her, not telling them what to do afterwards, but since in all documented cases she's delegated the strategy that isn't a problem.

Let's take a look at the battles, shall we?

1607 (if she was there): not the leader in any case, and hopelessly out-numbered.

  1. WFP suggested that far from being the undisputed leader, she was chair of a committee that couldn't stop squabbling. The CHDP version of events has the usual Denseros bias: remember by the time it was written, the Fazzurites were Argrath's allies.

Broyan's battles: we have no idea to what extent she took part in these, but some of them were pretty impressive. Probably Broyan's doing, but I'd hope she was at least watching and learning.

1625, Dangerford. The only account we have of this is from Denseros The Impartial, and he seems to have been impressed by her leadership if not the quality of her troops. Describing the Tarshites as "leaderless" is perhaps unfair: these weren't the troops who had been at the Dragon disaster, and to start with Fazzur himself was present.

Battle of Queens: look, she was dead for most of it! What do you expect from her? (And we won, anyway).

Sword Hill: it's a shame the only account we have is so very biased. Personally I think she wasn't there. She was in Boldhome, lighting the Flame. Like I say, she does know when to delegate.

Defeat of Gunda: if chasing off wolf-pirates is that easy, why is everyone so scared of them, then?

Defeated by Harrek (in seriously berserk mode): I think she had some excuse for that, myself.

And as a defender of Argrath, Joerg came up with a wonderful own goal.
> 1627 at the Battle of Queens (or, wrt his reputation, and unexpected
> Lunar teleportation abilities, let's hope he was absent and not leading
> the Lunars to Kallyr's hird).

I'd never thought of that - I just assumed the Lunars knew how to teleport. I don't think he could have been leading the ambush in person: but casting the spell.... yes, I like this idea! That's nearly as good as his setting Harrek on her later. Given a choice of honour or expediency, we all know which Argrath will go for. That's why he's such an effective King, after all.

Another thought on who ended up allied to who: didn't that Jomes Wulf chap have some land more or less in the middle of things? If the Telmori were on Kallyr's side, he wouldn't have been (even if she'd have allied with a Lunar: I suspect not). Could he have joined Argrath? The description of Argrath killing Telmori in the Saga (KoS27) is suspiciously similar to Jomes in 1607 (KoS143).

Oh, and did you all spot Argrath in 1627 (having just missed the Flame) asking Leika's permission to import a bunch of his supporters from Pavis to the Colymar lands? Was Leika swapping sides as the whim took her, or was she just very naive?

Jane Williams jane_at_williams.nildram.co.uk http://homepages.nildram.co.uk/~janewill/gloranth/


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