(Which reminds me. Did you realise we have a Glorantha PBeM club? URL in the sig.)
Anyway, back to the Kheldon. I did some research into their clans and history myself a while back, and while the end result isn't of course "official", it did get into print. Nothing in Guy's stuff contradicts it as far as I can see: in fact, it fits together very well. Direct link is here:
http://homepages.nildram.co.uk/~janewill/gloranth/kallyr/clantrib.htm
I won't repeat it all here, it's too big. Email me if you don't have web access.
Right. Kheldon in 1570: good, my history doesn't go back that far. The BlackRock clan: taken from the Companions list, presumably? Insterid Fire Eyes and Randella Offirsdotter. (Who I suspect of being Yelornans, BTW. At least, they have Fire connections.)
The Uroxi stuff sounds like fun. Do you have a name for that clan as yet? The Heran clan is a name with few connections: could this be them?
Harvest festival: yes, sounds good to me. I think you'll find those tribes that are part of a City Ring also have city festivals, with contests between the tribes. (At least, I have a partly-written story set in the Swenstown Festival in 1596). Don't know if this helps you at all.
The Peace clan of the tribe..... What you described here is an extreme case of the clan I came up with for Kallyr. It may well be the same clan: I can't imagine there would be two like this around. Their specialised deity is Chalana Arroy, so the other clans tend to protect rather than raid them. They're matriarchal. And the tribal king(s) from about 1590 onwards are from there (at least, from a bloodline that started there). For various reasons, they get wiped by the Lunars in 1602, but that needn't concern your story.
And I never named them. If you have, please can I borrow the name?
I had the clan chief in the 1690s (Enerin Ironeye, Kallyr's mum) as an ex-Vingan, but she could have been an exception to the norm.
Looking back through the "history" I came up with, it seems to fit your story rather well. In 1570, Ferena the Herbalist would have been very much around: may have been clan chief, or at least on the clan ring. Her daughter Enerin is 8 (and probably a pest), her son Ferenan (the future tribal king) is 18. He might be a potential ally for your PCs, in fact.
The only objection you raised is one I don't see at all.
> what sort of Orlanthi man would agree to being an underhusband? How
> tenable is the system if men aren't assured of passing down property
> to their sons, and everything remains in the hands of the women?
So what sort of woman would agree to being an under-wife? Why would they agree to a system where they aren't assured of passing down property to their daughters....? It works the same way.
Actually, remove the requirement for them to be underhusbands, just make sure the children stay in the clan, and I don't see a problem. Most wives in standard clans aren't underwives, after all.
Jane Williams jane_at_williams.nildram.co.uk http://homepages.nildram.co.uk/~janewill/gloranth/pbem/
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