walls and raiding and walls again.

From: Steve Lieb <steve_at_necadon.com>
Date: Tue, 11 Apr 2000 17:08:37 -0500


Subject: Fortifications & raiding
>
> Steve comments:
> > Yes, however the cost of constructing and maintaining fortifications -
even
> > a palisade wall - was prohibitive and thus made them uncommon in the
real
> > world until the relative wealthiness of the middle ages.

And Martin:
> Have to disagree here Steve. To give an example, Jericho was a seriously
> fortified city, long before Joshua showed up with his band.
[snipped a bunch of very useful and accurate observations]
>
> The permuations are endless and are along a spectrum rather than in
clearly
> defined boxes of possiblity.
>

Martin, you make really good points. Which leaves me head scratching why, IMO, it appears that for a great deal of time, "raiding" like we're talking about seems to have been a relatively successful lifestyle (at least, Caesar's Gallic Wars, the history of the attempted settlements of the balkans up until say 1200 or so (just to pick a number, I think you get my point), the history of the pre-crusader muslim kingdoms bordering "wild" areas in the mideast, etc) for quite some time for quite a large number of people?

I'm mainly using the raids of "barbarian tribes" against the 'civilized roman provinces' as my model, just because I'm most familiar with them, but it really seems like the barbarians were a threat for a long time over a huge geographical area? I don't have a problem with any of the points you made & I snipped, I just wonder then why all these communities that were under relatively long-term constant threat of raiding (and also very much like the Anglo coastal settlements vis a vis the Vikings) didn't simply pop up walls and end the threat?

I truly don't know. It just seems that raiding MUST have somehow been a decent method of supplementing a culture/society's existence, and not totally pointless? Therfore I hold that it must be a useful lifestyle in Glorantha, mainly because I like the idea of "bear raiders" in terms of MGF!

BTW, not to start another totally seperate thread, but can anyone explain to me why there are so seemingly few fortifications in Glorantha? I mean sure, there are some, but they seem FAR more common RW than Glorantha? Is there a reason? Am I misperceiving this? M&B structures almost litter England, hillforts were all over dark ages europe, and of course castles seem to have sprung up just about at every useful chokepoint in the Old World.

Granted, magic is extant, but I think we seem to pretty frequently on this list seem to accept that "offensive magic = defensive magic" and they cancel each other out. Is that not the case here? Is magic more advantageous to attackers than defenders in this circumstance?


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