A few quick comments:
>> Boldhome is a big city of 10,000 souls.
>Small enough for full integration (but let's not get carried away !!)
>into City politics to be generally feasible. Not to say that everyone
>has lots of political clout; but many people have a little.
Boldhome, at 10,000 people, is a big city. Bigger than many tribes - with less opportunity for most folk to participate in local civic affairs. Those that can do through their clan, their guild or directly through connection with Sartar's Household.
One thing that I have been speculating about is the comparative disadvantage that folk who have moved into cities from elsewhere have with respect to the local rural population. Orlanthi law and politics are grounded on extensive kinship (and constructive kinship) arrangements. Thus, a resident of Jonstown who is a member of a nearby Malani clan can call upon his kin to defend/avenge him. A resident of Jonstown who is a member of a far distant Torkani clan is at a comparative disadvantage.
Many of the residents of Sartarite cities are not members of nearby clans. They are skilled craftsmen from afar, stickpickers who have left their luckless rural lives, etc. As a result, they do not have an accessible kinship group that can support them legally or politically.
In order to cope with this problem, the Sartarite guilds were formed. They represent a form of constructive kinship where fellow guild members function as kin. Mess with a member of the Jonstown crafters' guild and you mess with the lot of them. Guilds insist on their right to protect their members and discipline their own miscreants.
Membership in a Sartarite guild, is thus much more than economic. Legal protection and social community comes long before mere price-setting (although there certainly is that!). Membership in a guild can be equated to membership in a clan - giving the guild great power over its members and even greater power over its prospective members.
Joerg and Peter write:
>>Practically all Sartarite princes (descended from Saronil) were road
>>builders. Now roads don't remain in shape all by themselves, there is
>>bound to be some frost damage to the road cover in typical Sartarite
>>weather. Who keeps the roads in good working order?
>Given that road building is stongly associated with the King, I'd
>suggest that the regular worship of Sartar helps to keep the roads
>and the City Walls in good working shape. With the demise of Sartar's
>worship since the Lunar Conquest, the Lunars are busy drafting people
>left, right and centre to keep the roads in good working order.
Yeah, I think Peter is right - the roads built by the House of Sartar were maintained by the magic of that House. Sure, periodically that needed to be supplemented by work crews (say, after a flood washed out a portion of the road), but I think the roads of Sartar were a physical manifestation of the ties that Sartar himself forged between the tribes and cities of his lands.
Now that Sartar has been conquered, the roads must be maintained by physical exertions alone. Making matters worse, the repairs made by the Lunar work crews are not as effective as the old magically maintained roads. One more complaint about Lunar occupation.
Jeff
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