Me>> If -ket is a Pendali word then it can't be used as a Malkioni
>> word for any settlements that predate the Seshnegi assimilation
>> of the Pendali (or at least their territory), a post-dawn
>> occurence at any rate.
>Definitely. [...] Local names can change over
>time, and the "vic" in the Germanic names of York would correspond to a
>Malkioni "-ket" which may have come with the Waertagi and their
>passengers.
But Nochet City was called such in the time of the Big Man who lived _before_ the dawn. So it can't be derived from - -ket. Your York example fails to convince on the grounds that the name changes were marked by changes in control (Romans, Romano-Brits, Saxons, Vikings etc). Yet Nochet has always been in the hands of the Esrolian Queens as far as we know. I'm not in favour of introducing linguistic changes for gloranthan toponyms every couple of hundred years.
>> At the start of the Darkness, the place was known to be
>> the site of Alkana, where Esrola's favourite temple was,
>> which suggests Orlanthi origins rather than Malkioni.
>This also suggests a place name tied to Alkana - until the
>Waertagi and Malkioni came and set up a port,
Why is there this presumption that the local Orlanthi or even the local Rightarm folk are not intelligent enough their own ports? Nochet is not a mere settlement, it contains the favourite temple of Esrolia and would qualify as the Esrolian capital.
>> The Waertagi were around before this in the time of the Big Man
>> but since one of his feats is to have thrown their dragonship
>> (and the Waertagi only had 50-odd at the dawn) onto the Shadow
>> Plateau where the trolls ate it, I think this counts as a major
>> strategic defeat for the Waertagi then.
>Definitely. Apparently it took some time for them to overcome this
>hostility, possibly by Seshnegi force of arms under Boltror (of whose
>travels little is known in Seshnela).
Overcoming hostility through force of arms? Please. If there was a major war between the Seshengi and the Only Old One, we would learn of it through the Holy Country article in the RQ Companion. Boltror was a traveler, not a conquerer and he is known only for having an eastern wife (who might have easily come from Teshnos or Kralorela as well as Esrolia according to Greg).
>The only mention in the Seshnegi
>Book of Kings tells that the Seshnegi navy blockading the Pendali ports
>was raised to 500 ships during Boltror's absence.
I'm far from convinced that these numbers are accurate considering that a) they come from an obselescent source, b) the Seshnegi were nowhere numerous enough to field 500 ships in the first century after the Dawn and c) the Waertagi would never let them that many ships, even if they had the crown prince as a hostage.
>With his special familiarity with earth rites
>Boltror would have been the ideal agent for the Waertagi to gain a
>foothold, nay, anchorage, in the Nochet (whatever the name then may have
>been) trade.
But they didn't gain an anchorage in Nochet. They are simply stated to have allied the local merfolk, something completely different, and that the OOO was happy with that.
>Note that all of this is just a might have been. I'll be as happy if
>anybody comes up with a better derivation of the name.
I simply think Nochet is the Goddess of the City.
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