> > But horses aren't kept in yurts, are they? And if they run away,
> > then the Rathori can fire into the herd and expect to hit a couple.
>Which will then mean that the Rathori have to somehow carry a dead
>horse (or take the time to strip it) while being chased across the
>steppe by many really mad horse-nomads.
What mad horse-nomads? They've chased away the nearest nomads and have plenty of time before any reprisals can reach them. Unless you assume that CharUn are always on full military alert at any one time and instant ready reaction forces.
> > Perhaps you have forgotten what the eastern Rathori do not have
> > metal weapons and the CharUn do? The Praxians do raid the
> > Orlanthi and other people for those necessities.
>But the Orlanthi are not nomads and the Praxians are. The discussion was
>foot bound technologocially moronic barbarians raiding war-hardened horse
>nomads.
The horse nomads still have metal weapons which would be well worth acquiring.
> > The CharUn have a higher
> > technology than the Rathori as can be seen in their clothing
> > (worked leather and crude hides). Hence CharUn leather goods will
> > have value in Rathori society.
>Are you serious?!
Yes.
>Even the Inuit and the Lapps know how to work leather - they
>use stones and their teeth. Are you trying to tell us that the Rathori can't?
No. Read it again. The CharUn clothing is of much better quality than the Rathori.
>That would place them somewhere below the neanderthal in the brains
>department and deserving of extinction.
Or merely neolithic.
> > The
> > Pentans will have similar living arrangements and thus to suggest
> > the Pentans can toss everything and ride away at all times is just
> > plain silly.
>Steve did not say "everything", he said "money" and "wealth". What is
>wealth to a Char Un pure-horse nomad?
What do CharUn perceptions of wealth matter to the Rathori? What the Rathori is interested in is something that he can use or looks pretty regardless of its value to the CharUn.
>Horses, metal, sons, weapons. I do not see any of
>these being unable to be tossed on a horse and moved immediately.
But leaving camp in a damn hurry, are you sure that you will get _all_ of them? How many times have you gone on holiday and found that you had forgotten something?
> > You have obviously forgotten that these mustangs were descended from
> > Spanish horses that had been bred to take a rider for something like
> > two thousand years. The CharUn horses are not in the same position
> > as they are bred for things meat food, milk, draft and carriage.
> > Under such circumstances, you will tend to get a diversification of
> > specialized types just like you do for _cattle_.
>Are you saying that the Pentans have not been riding their horses for 2,000
>years?
No. I'm saying that the CharUn use their horses for purposes other than riding, considering that they think cattle are polluting. I even explicitly made an comparison with _cattle_ to aid comprehension.
> >How are you defining small? If the Arrolians keep the Dara Happan
> > >standards then from the 120,000 population they could easily have
> > >5,000 or more soldiers (plus the ragged peasants and city dwellers).
>Peter also asked why a clan would travel together. Isn't that the
>reason and definition of a clan? The group of people (family?) that
>you hang out with, travel with, fight with.
No, it is not. The Maori clans (hapu) here historically inhabited several forts (pa) and it was a rare impoverished hapu that only inhabited one pa. They were grouped together in larger tribes (iwi).
For pastoral nomads, the pressure of grazing for their herds requires them to be spread out over a distance and so they would split up into several sub herds at varying distances from each other. The Pentans do have a rank of leader as well as chief and the former will be well-equipped to handle the duties of leading the subtribe.
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