> > "A select few [women] are trained as knights, but until now
> > they have never been allowed to fight in battle and are instead
> > used to rescue the fallen."
> Glorantha: Intro p77 >>
> > The "until now" indicates the order is much older than "very new".
>
>I think it indicates the precise opposite.
Why? "but until now" only qualifies the statement that they have never been allowed to fight, not that they are trained as knights. The last clause indicates what they were used as. If it had been intended as a new order, then I would have written something like "An order of female knights was recently created to rescue the fallen from the battlefield..."
>What it does, of course, show is that women who rescued the fallen
>from the battlefield are not a new thing - - but I wouldn't really
>define that as a 'warrior' myself.
I didn't write "warrior", I said "knights". The order (or something like it) has existed for a while but only recently has it been been permitted to fight in battle.
My personal interpretation* of this is that when they were sent to rescue the fallen, they went equipped with arms, horse and armour. They could fight to defend themselves in pursuit of their primary purpose. _Now_ one sees female knights ready to do direct battle with the enemy.
>But [Gunda] isn't going to be in SK anyway, so it matters not
>whether I'm wrong...
Pity. I found writing her bio to be most useful in hinting at Loskalm's dark side.
*well, really my intent, but I'm not going to insist on this being the only possible interpretation as the passage is rather vague.
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