Garhound - Horses in Prax

From: Andreas Mueller <am1_at_informatik.uni-ulm.de>
Date: Tue, 21 Mar 2000 18:44:03 +0100


Thanks for all the wonderful replies and suggestions I received so far. Special
thanks to Ian for his wonderful campaign-outline. But there's something I don't understand. Bob Stancliff wrote

> Horses are used in Garhound because the writer assumes that
the Scritian
> Orlanthi use horses (valid), which includes Garhounders, and that the
> nomads have not been able to destroy them yet. Sun County has
probably
> started using horses again since New Pavis was built, though they are
> probably reserved for the military elite troops at the moment.
Remember
> that Yelmalioans can learn Kuschille Horse Archery if they have access
to
> horses. They would want this to happen.

I agree that Yelmalions would like to have horses again. On the other hand, I made it
a point in my campaign, that a sensible traveller through Prax _or_ the Wastes
wouldn't ride on horses. At Pimpers Block there's apart from trading slaves a whole
economy thriving on travellers to and from Prax by exchanging Zebras to Horses and
vice versa (charging a minor ;-) fee of approximately 30-50%). I can't recall where I've read that horses weren't thriving in Prax climate and that
this was also a major reason for Sun County to abandon horse-farming. I'm aware that
this stands in contrast to the fact of Pol Joni in Prax _and_ the Wastes, but maybe
their horse magic is stronger than Yelmalios (Or, shame on me, are the Pol Jonis
Yelmalions? They are Yelmist, aren't they?). All in all, I view most riders of non-nomadic origin riding zebras, since they
resemble horses the most and they can use their riding skills at full value (ugly
rules-lawyer-reason, isn't it). Due to the close relationship between zebras and
horses, I wouldn't expect a normal Orlanthi to discriminate between them - - Yelmalions
are something different, no dispute.
I think, that the spread of horses in Prax is frequently asked. Is there any FAQ of
the Digest around?

Then two other things striked me:
1. Hasn't been Yelm the first husband of Ernalda and Yelmalio one of their sons?
Shouldn't be a Yelm-initiate also a valid contestant?

2. If it's bad luck, to get somebody out of the contest (the homicide subplot asks
the players to protect Jarst Daro from that wonderful Babeester Gor Runemistress
because getting him out of the contest (probably by severe injuries ;-) would result
in a blight), why should Sor-Eel bother about making the wrong person win?
Assassination or abduction of any contestant would have the same result. IMHO this
plays no role, also the winning of a lunar Yelm-cultist, Yelmalion, Orlanthi and so
on makes no difference because of the cult he is affiliated with, but due to the
personality he represents. Making Myrrhyn Calmstorm win, would result in a blight,
although he is an Orlanth-Initiate in acceptable standing because he is enlighted and
probably tainted by chaos in some way. The winning Pol Joni in history was a
non-chaotic Stormbull. It resulted in a blight, because he was already married
several times. So reasons for a blight are the winner being chaotic, a thief,
dishonourable, bigamist, murderer and so on. A honourable Yelmalion being winner on
the other hand would result in an as bountiful harvest as the winning of a devout
Orlanthi would mean. Maybe the quality of the output in terms of crop-percentages (I
hope that's the right word, I mean percentages of Wheat, Maize, Barley, Rye ...)
differ, but the result is the same.

I hope I am right with this and don't bore everybody to death.

Cheers,

Andreas


End of The Glorantha Digest V7 #479


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