>And what's wrong with "Barbarian Town" anyway? Someone - presumbly the
>Gloranthan who drew the map (some round-shouldered Lunar sage in his far-off
>ivory tower?) - called it "Barbarian Town", possibly because
>he knew there was a settlement there and that "barbarians" lived in it, and
>he had to call it something, otherwise there'd be a big empty gap on his
>map and he'd have to put in yet another hydra or elephant to fill it. The
>actual inhabitants might have another name for their town, maybe not: after
>all, the RW is littered with numbingly prosaic names for all sorts of
>places.
Seems to me that most place-names in Prax are pretty simple and to the point which nicely fits my view of How Praxians Talk, though I suspect that a more literal translation of "Barbarian Town" from the Praxian might be "Enemy Town" or "Not-Waha Big Camp" or somesuch. Satarites are a bit more varied in their place-naming practices, but you still wind up with names like "Alone" and "Two Ridges."
I have no desire to get involved in the current firefight in the Digest, but I will point out that no matter how "Tekumelian" you make the background of any RPG virtually all communication will be in the language (English, Dutch, German, Japanese, etc) the players and gm speak, so feel free to tinker around the edges of your Glorantha to suit you and your player's style and I'll do likewise with mine.
Gary R Switzer
Aero Hobbies
Oh, MOB, I have a story that shows what source your round-shouldered Lunar sage might be working from. :)
From the unpublished memoirs of Marberus of Jillaro, late of the Furthest Corps...
"At this time [7/37] Appius Luxius directed his agent at Nochet, in Esrolia, to buy, not only the most accurate information about the strengths of the Praxian barbarians, but also the engraved copperplates from which the great map of the Library had been printed. In spite of the vast difficulties in the transport of this heavy mass of metal, the treason was so well arranged, and so handsomely paid for, that these plates were abstracted from the archives of the Great Library and carried into the Empire without their disappearance being discovered either by the Pharaoh or by our own customs officials. As soon as the plates reached Glamour, the War Office, after substituting Pelorian for Theyalan characters in the names of places and rivers, had this fine map copied, and the Emperor ordered a copy to be sent to all the generals and commanders of light cavalry regiments. Thus I received one, which I succeeded, with some difficulty, in saving during all my later campaigns, as it forms a large roll of vellum. The map contained all of the barbarian lands of the south; even Teshnos and Ramalia, which considerably amused those who received it. Very few brought theirs back, but I have got mine."
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