The Vingkotlings are, or more precisely were, the Storm Age Orlanthi. Vingkot was a son of Orlanth and became the first human king, ruling over the peoples of Dragon Pass and protecting them from the remaining minions of the Evil Emperor, the darkness hordes, etc. He died trying to protect his folk from the ravages of the terrible Chaos Man.
Vingkot established his son Kodig as the next king of the Vingkotlings and his other sons (or sons-in-law) as the kings of their respective tribes. For the Vingkotlings, a king must be of Vingkot's bloodline - otherwise they cannot rule. This rite of kingship came to disasterous end when nearly all of the royal bloodline died fighting each other at the Sword and Helm Battle.
After this, the Vingkotlings, as a powerful culture, were no more. The miserable survivors eked out a bare living through the Darkness in their largely empty citadels, abandoned by their kings, their gods (except trusty but ever-weakening Elmal) and mercilessly hunted by chaos, uz and the dead.
Heort the Great changed all this. He travelled to the edge of the world, learned the secret of the Second Son and was victorious against the end of the world. He returned to his people and taught them the mystery of I Fought, We Won, separated the living from the dead and led all the races of Glorantha to victory in the Unity Battle against Chaos. He brought back the gods by offering sacrifice to Orlanth in the underworld. The grateful peoples of Dragon Pass - largely the surviving descendants of the Vingkotlings and the Star Tribes - elected him as their High King. They have been called the Heortlings ever since.
For the Heortlings, a king does not need to belong to any specific bloodline - - instead he is elected (or acclaimed, whatever) by his people. The person best suited for leadership is acknowledged as leader.
In the Second Age, many of the Heortling leaders learned wyrmish wisdom and created the Empire of the Wyrms' Friends to protect their interests. Eventually, the ancient Heortling tribes became little more than administrative and taxing districts and their once elected leaders became arrogant and inhuman. Still, they were supported by many of the local priests until the Ralian hero, Alakoring Dragonbreaker proved that Orlanth was no dragon. He demonstrated magic that brought the priests back to Orlanth and his followers formed new tribes that warred against the EWF. Many of these new tribes possessed Heortling tribal regalia but few traced their ancestry to the old Vingkotling and Star Tribe founders. Thus some scholars refer to these tribes as Alakoringite rather than Heortling.
Still the old Heortling traditions die hard and the concept of a Heortling kingdom still is powerful amongst the tribes and kingdoms of Aggar, Holay, Tarsh, Sartar and Heortland. These tribes and kingdoms exhibit a variety of kingship rites ranging from Vingkotling bloodline based like Tarsh and the House of Sartar, to Alakoringite like the tribes of Sartar, to Heortling elections like Aggar and Heortland.
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Jeff
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