> 2) 'Western' languages all use the same written language. Presumably
> this means that it uses an ideographic script
I've seen this claim over and over again. I note that my spoken (well, read aloud) Latin would be hard to understand to both English-speakers and Romanic speakers. It gets worse when you take a text of mediaeval Latin with all the abbrevs.
I also see that dialects can differ from written language a lot. Perhaps the most curious case is the Swiss TV practice of subtitling the "Schwitzerduetsch" (Swiss German) interview partners, apparently even for their own use (I only get to see this in the common channel for the German-speaking countries). The deviance between written and spoken language is quite high.
> How tightly is this bound up with the system of
> Logic that existed before Time?
Are you hinting at the Runes?
IMO there would be a very concise grammar in the undiluted Western language, giving way to all kinds of breaches of rules in spoken rural Western.
> 3) Are all the Malkioni 'Holy Texts' in Western? Or are there some in
> later languages?
IMG keeping the Holy Texts in Western is sort of an interior benchmark for being an acceptable attendee at a Malkioni council. Quite probably the great schism between the orthodox (Akemite/Seshnegi) and the Stygian Malkioni involved a rendition of the texts into Safelstran Enerali.
> Is it important that the Holy Texts be kept in the original?
If you are using the Holy Texts for kabbalistic indexing tricks, sure it is.
> Are you not allowed to translate them the way Muslims aren't
> allowed to translate the Koran from Arabic? Is there a 'protestant'
> movement to bring the Truth to the peoples in languages they
> understand?
IMO that's very much part of the henotheist movement. In case of merging with a literate theist tradition, there would be holy texts in both languages. At least in both sets of antiquated languages.
Most of the Henotheists occur in the Barbarian Belt or in mixed colonies of "Orlanthi" and western settlers in northern Pamaltela, so IMO most henotheists are faced with a religiously rather well-informed "laity" of initiates (no such thing in Western religion, really) who might declare it their right to know the scriptures, in a language they know.
> 4) Where did all these ruddy Orlanthi come from anyway? Ygg's Isles?
No. The Ygglings are even less "Orlanthi" than most of the Fronelans.
> How did the Orlanthi get *there*? Mythologically and historically,
> Heortland seems to have been the core of Orlanth worship
> (although presumably KeroFinela was the GodTime core).
I still claim that the term "Heortland" included Kerofinela at the Dawn, especially since the country in Kethaela now bearing that name had few Orlanthi inhabitants at that time.
Most of the Barbarian Belt "Orlanthi" are unrelated to the Vingkotlings and their descendants, the Heortlings. In Maniria the Entruli peoples were Hsunchen-like Storm worshippers, in Ralios the Enerali horse-people and their other beast-people neighbours were Storm worshippers, and in southern Peloria the Talastari and Brolians were Storm worshippers not directly related to the Vingkotlings. IMO many of the Fronelan and Pelandan peoples are now labeled Orlanthi as well - the (extinct) Andams, the Tawari and Bisosae, and possibly the southern Rathori as well. I am tempted to count the Pendali (Basmoli) of Seshnela in the same group.
IMO most of the Genertelan Hsunchen are beast-totem barbarians "gone animal" during the Darkness, where others remained more civilized and became members of the Barbarian Belt. The easy conversions of Bemuri and Vustrian Enerali by the Theyalan missionaries or their Nysaloran successors into picturebook Orlanthi (ok, the GLs may have had a hand in this as well) seem to support this view. The only difference in the participants of the Battle of the Eleven Beasts in 1st Age Pelanda (or south of it) was mostly whether they had accepted the Orlanthification yet or not.
The Vingkotlings themselves weren't that far from Hsunchen during the Darkness. The Hidden Kings hid in the shapes of beasts, and look at King Heort's ancestry - a fine line of deer Hsunchen for a couple of generations, really.
> 5) Presumably all the Malkioni lands outside Loskalm represent the
> high water mark of Loskalmi Imperialism in the Second Age?
Jonatela at least is a more recent development. While it is quite possible that Jonat Bigbear did include remnants of the Loskalmi empire in his kingdom, he formed the kingdom which would be the base for the Jonating church of Malkionism.
I tend to regard the various churches of Malkionism in eastern Fronela not so much as different sects than as different state churches, similar to the various state churches in the Germanic post migration kingdoms headed by the king as highest religious authority - a custom lost when the Karolingans introduced "by god's mercy" as sovereignty claim, and regained only when Henry VIII saw a chance to solve several problems at once.
While I applaud the use of Slavic parallels for some Orlanthi cultures, I am fairly unhappy with the strong "modern" Russian parallels the authors of HtWW1 used for the Jonatings. The terms "Boyar" (and also "Cossack" for the Char-un) describe Reformation-age developments in Russia, a consequence of Rus and Mongol rule. I would have preferred the "Teutonic Knights vs. Balts" model, or yet better the formation of the Bohemian kingdom by a Frankish merchant in the 8th century.
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