More Feathers to the Horsequeens

From: Joerg Baumgartner <joe_at_toppoint.de>
Date: Sun, 28 Jan 2001 14:47:44 +0000


Peter Larsen

> Joerg Baumgartner says:

>>The queens' biography in KoS (p.227) doesn't give any dates, but in
>>Tarkalor's case we know that his queen was at Grizzly Peak. Grazer 
>>sources aren't too clear whether she really died there.

> She can't have lived (or reigned) all that much longer; her
> successor, Splendid Among the Proud, is apparently well
> established by the sack of Boldhome in 1602.

That's 20 years after Grizzly Peak, ample time to reach this influence. She worked with Penraltan the Gold, who succeeded Sartar-friendly Jardanreal (who had allied with Tarkalor).

> It's even possible that her reign is already over by then
> (p228 just says her daughters got booty from the conquest).
> Splendid Among the Proud can't reign much past 1602, or Moirades
> is KoDP for only a couple of years (considering the application
> process takes two or three years). Unless, of course, he remains
> KoDP until the mid-1620s.

I suppose that Moirades became King of Dragon Pass sometime around 1605. The Tarshites still were able to summon dragonewt allies for the storm of Karse, which IMO is one of the benefits of being KoDP: you can ally with the 'newts. Try without this authority, and have your emissaries eaten...

>>The reign of Moirades' FHQ seems to have ended by 1614, when 
>>the Grazers start a campain of summer raids into Tarsh culminating 
>>in two massive but mostly futile reprisals in 1615.

> The FHQ seems to have only limited control over the Grazers.
> There's also the question of whether the death of the FHQ
> "dethrones" the reigning King and whether it's immediate or the
> power fades without a partner for the rituals.

Apparently the power lingers on, but it is very hard to say from the few "facts" we have. When Argrath summoned the dragons at his utuma ritual, he was King of Saird.

>>It is unclear whether subsequent Great 
>>Marriages between FHQs and Kings of Dragon Pass repeated
>>the two-year contests.

> There must be some sort of contest or ritual. I suspect that the
> outcome of the various year contests determines who gets the most
> out of the marriage. Of course, it remains unclear exactly what
> the benefits of being KoDP are, or what the FHQ gets out of the
> deal. I have failed to find any Grazer candidates for KoDP; are
> they disqualified? Seems unfair for the first human resettlers,
> but maybe it counts as incest or something similar.

How so? The Grazers have the best deal, ever since Sartar they are guaranteed participation in that rite. Unlike the male parties, who usually hail from Sartar, Tarsh and the Holy Country.

>>Likewise Moirades' two children by the FHQ cannot be Pharandros 
>>and Estal Donge if her claims to be the daughter of a Sylilan 
>>noblewoman are correct.

> Or Estal Donge was the mother of Pharandros, and there are two
> more of Moirades's kids out there.

IMO there definitely are two children of Moirades living among the Grazers. I wonder whether they survived Jandetin's rise to power, though - - the man isn't called "the Avenger" for nothing. The only prior case known to me is that of Saraskos, son of Tarkalor, who apparently grew up into manhood despite a full turn in Grazer allegiance from Sartar to Tarsh.

I also wonder whose side he fought on in 1602...

> Or Estal Donge was lying about her origins, or she was
> raised in the Empire. KoS only says she was "from the city of
> Durnsa" (p147).

IMO both Lunar children of Moirades received an education in the Empire. Pharandros is more friendly with the imperial tendencies of the Phargantites than with the provincial tendencies of the Fazzurites. IMO he wants to be Satrap of Tarsh and Dragon Pass, and regain control over the lands his grandfather Phargentes ruled, i.e. the rest of the provinces.


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