>Maybe it is a fact of life that powerful individual magic and city life
>don't combine well. Esrolia works because the female magic there is
>society-oriented. Orlanthi magics often are individual-oriented, or
>restricted to small groups which can form a consensus.
Sartar would be the best example of the combination of powerful individual magic and city life although I admit it was unusual.
Esrolia works because its queens are able to function harmoniously under the domination of a single ruler, be he the Only Old One or the Pharaoh. Bereft of such leadership (ie as is happening today), its unity breaks down to become squabbling statelets. I don't agree that Esrolian magic is society-orientated as opposed to standard Orlanthi individual orientated elsewhere. Rather the Esrolian Queens keep a tight grip on the disruptive male powers that make Orlanthi society elsewhere very turbulent, but other magics are not inhibited.
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