Pol Joni and Moonbroth

From: MOB <mrmob_at_ozemail.com.au>
Date: Mon, 23 Aug 1999 10:31:31 +1000


G'day all,

Moonbroth

Nick asked a historic trivia question:

>BTW, a historic trivia question: who was the commanding Lunar general at the
>Battle of Moonbroth?

Like Nick, I also can't see any reason why it wasn't Sor-Eel. I like the way Sor-Eel's falling out with Fazzur resulted him taking the governorship and Fazzur sent in disgrace back to an ignominious position in Tarsh. Using devious methods to get rid of his uppity second-in-command might have been a cunning achievement politically, but of course it proved to be something of a Phyrric victory for Sor-Eel: back in Tarsh, Fazzur makes a remarkable rise and uses his new authority to ensure the ambitious Sor-Eel is instead left to rot as governor of a troublesome, unimportant backwater, cut out of the main game.

Note it says of the occupation forces in the Pavis "Common Knowledge" Book that "the original invading army was much larger than the present remainder... the area has been so peaceful of late that it seems likely that [some of the remaining] troops will be sent home, if and when the army command remembers they are here." I don't think this is bureaucratic incompetance, but rather Fazzur deliberately, officially 'forgetting' his former commander.

>Maybe the 1607 invasion was all Sor-Eel's idea, after all? Finding out for
>certain who planned that military fiasco could be a fun revenge motive ("My
>daddy was killed in the Dead Place, so that fat-headed fool could become
>Count of Prax...").

I like this a lot: obviously, it was only after Sor-Eel appointed the brilliant Fazzur as his second that things started to go right! Despite the victories that followed, jealousy reared its ugly head, and arguments over how to best administer the new occupied city were the final straw ("Yes, yes, my presumptuous Fazzur, I own you might be a genius on the battlefield, but do not presume to lecure me on the finer points of civic administration...") Fazzur gets his marching orders, Sor-Eel get the governorship and glory he's craved for years. He sees this a stepping stone for much bigger and brighter things back home. Unfortunately for him, seven years later, everyone's forgotten Sor-Eel's glorious conquest and he's still stuck way out in Pavis.



Pol Joni

Someone wrote:
>>>Do most of the Pol Joni ride horses, or are there a lot of
>>>followers on foot or in wagons?

Someone else countered:
>>Wagons require wood which there is damned little of in Prax.

Kevin Rose then said:
>There also isn't a lot of wood in Mongolia , yet the Mongols traveled in
>carts. And while there may be a shortage of wood in Prax, they are
>perfectly able to go into the surrounding areas where wood isn't so
>rare.

Likewise, the Sun Domers of Prax are said to use pikes, great long wooden poles up to 3-4 meters long (and their fabled giant spear-thrower at Harpoon, bolts up to *25 meters* long). These certainly don't come from the local environment either!

In my recent article 'The Men with the Golden Gun' (available in 'Ye Booke of Tentacles II'), I suggest that the wood originates from the redwood forests around Leaping Place Lake at the headwaters of the Zola Fel. It is a difficult and dangerous journey floating them downstream through the troll-infested Desolation Hills, Pavis County and the Big Rubble to the Lands of the Sun, but a necessary one that is undertaken regularly (if you're looking for something to keep your PCs amused...)

Cheers,

MOB



MICHAEL O'BRIEN
Department of Mathematics and Statistics, Faculty of Education, University of Melbourne
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