If you see any issues of Codex for sale, pick them up too. All will be relevant to your Ralios or Sartar campaigns.
>Now the Ralios questions. I was thinking of starting a campaign in the
>Eastern Wilds of Ralios. I have read the section in the Genertella Book on
>Ralios and have a few questions (I have just read it once so I may have
>missed something).
>
>1. I get no real sense of relations between the Orlanthi in the Hills and
>the civilized folks in the City States. Does anyone have some insight into
>this?
I posted my opinions on the Orlanthi of the east wilds a couple issues ago. Currently, they are losing to the Malkioni through military conquest and/or conversion. Some clans are migrating east to avoid the Malkioni, but then they bump into trolls or werewolves, so what can you do? Maybe heroquest for some help...
>2. There does not seem to be a real "enemy" in the region like the Lunars
>for Prax/Dragon Pass or the Kingdom of War for the Janube river cities.
>Does Ralios have anyone that fits that niche?
Trolls in the east, werewolves in the north, and Dragonewts.
>3. Do the Orlanthi of Ralios have any contact with Orlanthi outside their
>region?
Very little, and what there is is likely to be through spirits and/or worship. Note, however, that there are two fairly different groups of Orlanthi in Ralios, the Northern and the Eastern.
>4. Is there any Malkioni influence in the East Wilds Orlanthi culture?
See above.
>Now the Herotland/Holy Country questions:
>
>1. How heavy is the Malkioni influence on the territory?
How heavy do you want it to be? There's obviously a range of opinion from light to pervasive, with nothing (to be my knowledge) indicating an official answer. The most comprehensive discussion is in the RQ Companion, and it certainly doesn't leave one with the impression that everyone is going to church and quoting Malkion's laws. Also, there may be regional variations, so I'd suggest you suit yourself.
>2. Is sorcery common in the Herotland?
You can find sorcerors in many cities, IMO.
>3. I have read that the Solanthi have a Malkioni aristocracy in an Orlanthi
>population. How exactly can Malkioni and Divine Cults mix?
Nick had some excellent posts on the Trader Princes, a bit farther to the west, that explains "how exactly" to my satisfaction. Imagine it as being like early Christianized Europe, with a nominally converted ruling class and more and more pagan elements in the religion as you drift down the social pyramid.
>4. When the Cults book shows a Malkioni influence in the Holy Country what
>exactly does that mean?
They've been exposed to the concepts of Malkionism; many people accept that the Invisible God is the Creator; but most prefer the faith of their fathers.
>Bonus Question:
>
>In Strangers in Prax it says that the Sorcerer Arlatern (or something like
>that) is probably the first sorcerer the players have ever seen. If
>Malkioni influence ends in the Herotland wouldn't it stand to reason that
>most Sartarites and many Praxians would have encountered sorcery?
I playtested that scenario, so I know that Mike's opinion was that most Sartarites and many Praxians would NOT have encountered sorcery. I'd tend to agree. Sorcerors in those lands would travel as incognito as possible, unless they were attached to the Lunar army, in which case they would be hidden from the populace and its primitive prejudices. Of course, "encountered sorcery" and "met a sorceror" are two different things, and many folks explain bad events by reference to black magic. An analogy: "Atheism" was a term of abuse from Roman times on, but very few people met avowed atheists, at least until the 19th century.
All IMHO; YGMV; de gustibus non disputandem est.
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