>On the Rathori, I find them (a depicted in the Genertelan Player's Book)
>peculiar for a number of reasons; they have Kite Shields and Longbows as
>cultural weapons,
Plus battle axes. Put alongside the Kite Shields and one wonders where they get the metal from. The obvious solution is the Uncolings (as third-eye blue middlemen) but they do not use axes and their shield is much smaller.
>a lot of them (27%!) are herders (of what I do not know,
>especially as they must not 'bind beasts to work as a slave')??
Reindeer is possible but they would run into trouble with the Uncolings over that. I'm more inclined to think that these "herders" are actually hunters that follow free herds of Mastodons (perhaps a forest subspecies?), considering that their human brothers are almost extinct.
>I also think
>it is odd that they have full time entertainers. On the face of it they are
>rather high tech hsunchen.
Considering that the Ban divided the Rathori, like Gaul, into three parts, I'm thinking that these divisions mark technological as well as cultural boundaries.
The root Rathori use fighting claws and spears. They are the first awakeners and inhabit central Rathorela for Harrek, who was one of them, entered the Lunar Empire from the Janube Valley. They are traditionalists and have nasty conflicts with the Western Rathori.
The Western Rathori (perhaps the Neechen of the RQC fame?) trade wood with the Uncolings, Zoria etc. In return they gain axes, which they use to chop down more trees and have recently developed their distinctive shield. Many of them survive by following herds of mastodons and they will soon evolve the Shield wall. Because their new ways are superior, they are busy muscling into the lands of the central Rathori.
The Eastern Rathori are closest to the Erigian Exiles and use longbows the most. They are the last to wake up and are less objectionable to the Rathori traditionalists. Because of their strange elvish magics, they have many exotic practices such as their tree fields which they harvest for edible tree bark (and which are quickly regrown through elf magic.
>On Longbows, a weapon only they and dragonewts use (AFAIK), I don't
>see a why elves would have shown the Rathori how to use a weapon
>that they themselves did not use.
It's not as usual as it appears. I was basing the Rathori longbow upon a similar idea in Greg's "Wolf Pirate" article in ToTRM#10. There the Yggites fight on the Elvish Gallegases (against the Loskalmi) and see how those boats are made. They then use these secrets to manufacture the first Longboats, which the Elves still do not use.
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