Re: "Pavis" means something

From: Mike Dawson <mdawson_at_mac.com>
Date: Mon, 23 Oct 2000 11:15:20 -0400


on 10/21/00 2:45 PM, Carl Fink wrote:

> It suddenly occurred to me today: the word "pavis" means something.
> It refers to a shield that can be hand-carried, then placed on the
> ground to provide passive defense, often for archers.

Indeed. Not that I expect everyone to have a copy, but this is pointed out in Codex #1, with an illustration. Gigantic shields adapted to emergency shoring up of wall breaches, as well as shielding archers. If you look at the tops of the Great Walls of Pavis, there are no crenellations or other cover for archers. So archers had to bring their own to avoid being shot by the nomads.

I've also worked this into my draft of Pavis Keywords, with mention made of "Super-heavy infantry using gigantic shields."

In my Pavis campaign, I also make sardonic use of varied pronunciations of the word "Pavis." Every american I've spoken with who was not directly exposed to the old Chaosium crowd pronounces it PAA-viss, almost rhyming wth "lavish." Stafford and west coasties pronounce it PAY-viss, rhymes with "Davis." So I have the Old City and stuffy nobles use Pay-viss, while Orlanthi, nomads and carpetbaggers call it Paa-vis.

Oh, and in the real world (no idea about Australia) the shield of the same name is typically pronounced pa-VEES, almost rhyming with "Lease."

Sorry, I'm no good at Officially Correct Phonetic Spelling.

Here's the toss-off comment of the week for me: I think native Old Pavisites are some of the very best trollkillers in Glorantha. Simply argued--how else would they have survived? Comments?

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