>One thing to remember is that the High Council of Sartar scenario was
>written long before Vinga had been discovered. It is entirely possible that
>the titles of the High Council seats are not entirely accurate given what we
>know today.
Most certain on innacuracies in the scenario, an unfortunate effect of an evolving fictional creation. Segue to: This IS a fictional creation. Vinga was made up,and generally agreed to, not discovered.
>>Is no one buying my ploy of Vingans having a Thunder Brothers (Thunder
>>Sisters?) type subcult?
>
>I'm not buying it at this point. As far as I'm concerned, Vinga (as we know
>her in Sartar) is simply nothing more or less that a variant of Orlanth the
>Warrior that is exclusively accessible to women. Vinga and Orlanth Rex are
>the only aspects of Orlanth whose initiatory secrets are accessible to
>women. Outside of Saird, I doubt that they are too many variations on Vinga
>worship beyond the basic "Orlanth the Warrior" template - I mean let's face
>it, she just isn't that culturally significant.
Why must it be a subcult, allied or associate cults would be more appropriate.
Alex
>I realise there's probably an Important Issue here, such as which
>areas were worst affected by the Darkness, and which recovered the
>most rapidly, but how can one possibly hope to quantify such things,
>given the lack of numeric data of any sort?
Perhaps they are trying to come to a general concensus on the numeric data, thus creating it. Or are you of the opinion that we are not making it up as we go along?
Jeorg and Peter
>> If there are no lawspeakers to
>> mediate, then the outcome would be clan feuds which can fester
>> for ages. Given that these feuds happen in Orlanthi society
>> anyway, one wonders whether the lawspeakers are actually needed.
>
>Without lawspeakers to mediate, a clan would be eliminated, _and_ the
>feud would fester afterwards. Net difference: one clan per incident.
>
>Otherwise, imagine they would agitate for battle instead of discussing
>legal minutiae...
I've done some research on the Icelandic legal system which all this seems patterned after. First, it worked a lot better than you are giving it credit for, the sagas are by definition instances that it didn't work.
Also do the Orlanthi practise Holmgang? Holmgang is a very ritualized duel which, if done by the rules, is unlikely to produce a serious wounding. Actually, the position of the shieldbearer, essentially your Second, is the one most likely to be hurt badly.
Note that the Norse are much more likely to follow their own rules than the Orlanthi, particularly the Icelanders.
One last note on Hunter/Gatherer versus Farmer. FARMING IS NOT MORE TIME EFFICIENT FOR PROVIDING FOOD! A farmer spends considerably more of his time to feed himself and family. Current data is that a hunter gatherer spent on average 2 to 3 hours a day collecting food, a neolithic to iron age farmer spent 5 to do the same. The advantage of farming, is that the farmer could spend an extra few hours and produce a useable excess, and could store it as he was stationary. By the way, another protein supplement was also vermin. Rabbits, birds, etc that were killed to protect the crops. In some cultures, bugs and mice also, but this usually went to the very predatory chickens.
Allen
The line between genious and insanity is a fiction.
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