>The Trader Princes and New Coast are distinctive and separate groups.
>Dormal's Opening of the Oceans was an economic disaster for the Trader
>Princes, [...]
I actually understood the New Coasts as having been incited to rebel from the Trader Princes by the Pharaoh, in an attempt at empire building and cutting out the extortionate Trader Princes. The Maldros, in particular, were taught Volcano magics so they harness the might of Pelushi to resist the Solanthi.
>Recent developments: some Trader Princes have been raided by Greymane
>and others, and now supply weapons as tribute, which the Wenelians use
>against Esrolia and the port cities of the New Coast...
I think the Trader Princes to have largely disappeared as a result of the Opening and attendant economic traumas. Only Bastis and Dital still have a "malkioni aristocracy" whereas Nimistor and the Solanthi valley now seem to be totally Orlanthi.
>The Trader Princes are not really a Malkioni thing. They are a really
>adaptable batch of entrepeneurs (well, decendants of them) who initially
>came from the west through Pralorela, with knights and castles. But I am
>sure they have adopted Issaries as their trade god, [...]
The Trader Princes would have arrived from Safelster in the period when the Stygians had just sacked Tanisor. Thus it is safe to assume that the Trader Princes are Stygians who worship God "by the wrong methods", i.e. by worship of other gods. The only caveat that I have is that such people do not look like the Trader PC in "Hut of Darkness" scenario ToTRM#8
Given this I think they initially professed the worship of Issaries when they arrived and this helped them gain the acceptance of the local orlanthi. Plus their castles acted as neutral ground for feuding clans.
>Also, some of the local Orlanthi
>have adapted to be "local Trader Princes" or whatever.
Although I doubt this applies to Greymane, his predeccessor could have been such a Prince and Greymane could have renounced the traditions in favour of a more militant policy.
>Their initial castles slipped along the edge of the tribal and the
>elvish territories. (This is very nice. It puts them into "scary
>country" -- places the Wenelians wouldn't choose to live, without
>the recent population pressures, but where weird Aldryami stuff is
>happening in the forests at their back).
Another reason why I thought the Trader Princes were so popular was that they had secret magics from Stygian occultism that they could wield against such enemies. Some would be potent in killing inhumans while others would be useful in making friends with them.
>The tribes during the Closing were all pretty weak and
>decentralised. All the tribes, however, pretty much ran
>north-south along the rivers (and still do).
Clans, Master Brooke, clans. Although the Orlanthi do see themselves as belonging to a nation centred on the local river valley, central authority (of sorts) was provided by the Trader Princes, rather than by tribal kings IMO.
>(NB: Sir Ethilrist was in the region with the White Horse Troop about a
>century ago -- cf. GB p.71, "Mislari Mountains".
I would amend this to Black Horse Troop and scrub the reference about him being a mere heroic captain.
>Handra, formerly a town of upper
>Slontos, was now a wreck, half awash amid the New Fens, and eking out a
>fragile living from marsh goods and a sporadic pilgrim trade.
There's problems with Broos in the fens and I think Ramalia has something to do with their origin. Hence Handra would have been a fort by the Count of Bastis and his rule survives due to Handra's need for mercenaries and a customary due that Handra pays to him.
End of The Glorantha Digest V7 #227
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