Black Oaks.

From: Alex Ferguson <abf_at_cs.ucc.ie>
Date: Wed, 23 Aug 2000 00:34:27 +0100 (BST)


> Alex:
> Off the top of my head, a different reconcilation of this would be
> that the Black Oak clan were displaced from their former territory
> by the Kheldon, and said throne is a trophy thereof... (Whether
> it was already a throne, or whether the b*stards chopped a live oak
> down for this purpose...)

> Jeff again:

> It is also possible that the Black Oaks of the Kheldon and the clan of Mabodh
> were once the same, but diverged at some date (about 1400?-- perhaps the
> Mabodh clan took the throne because they were the elder lineage).

That would work for my purposes too, and sounds pretty decent. I think I may need to do some remedial geography on who was where, when... (Glorantha needs lots of 4-dimensional maps, I reckon.)

> In any
> rate, the throne is obviously a part of the clan or tribal regalia and thus
> less likely to be simply spoils unless the feud was legendary... after all it
> symbolizes the queenship.

I don't quite see the obviously and the after all, but fair enough. Tribal 'traditions' have to come from some place, and making 'em up on the spot is as good a method as any, mind you.

> [The stone of Scone is a good example of a spoil
> integrated into a piece of regalia; but the Kings of England after Edward I
> did not claim to be such by sitting on the stone -as the Kings of Scots did].

As near as damnit, though: it's incorporated into the coronation throne... (Admittedly I don't recall off the top of my head what the pre-Union practice was.) Sounds a lot more like an example than a counterexample  to me, I must say.

> Most likely the Black Oak throne is a lightning blasted oak log.

I was picturing as a good deal less man-portable: if not a living tree, then a huge-sized stump, still well-rooted. The lightningblasted  seems a given, on Coolness grounds.

Cheers,
Alex.


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