Mr. Metcalfe also says:
>Probably Dorasa, Tesarin's mother. No reason why she can't have
>been a queen.
Is there detailed information on what, exactly, the FHQ and KoDP do? There's a marriage, but it doesn't seem to interfere with other marriages on either side. Anyone have any idea of the actual benefits, powers, responsibilities, etc.?
>It depends on the Hero and his culture. Scholars have read and
>write (they are separate skills), but most others do not.
So why are these skills separate? It seems a needless level of complexity in a game that pretty much keeps it simple.
David Cake says:
>I tend to think that
>they [non LM lawspeakers] are also literate - if nothing else, they would
want to compete with the Lhankor Mhy lawspeakers by also being able to
learn from
>ancient precedents and such, so it would at least be a common skill.
Not if the ancient precedents are part of the oral record. A lawspeaker will be able to recite from memory all fixed laws of the culture, tribe, clan, and (in the case of Sartar) nation. All important permutations and interpretations will also be available, in more detail as the situation gets more local. Jurors will also know much of this.
> Also, I would presume that the Issaries cult teaches at least
>minimal Tradetalk literacy, enough for simple record keeping and
>contracts. Of course, many Issaries cultists might travel far enough
>afield to pick up other languages as well.
Each merchant is likely to have his or her own system, possibly passed down to apprentices. Beads on thongs are more likely than ledgers. Contracts are probably oral, and not engaged in too much outside of tribal groups and traditional trading partners. You also get witnesses to important contracts outside your tribe.
> I think that some areas might be moving towards some of these
>things among their literate classes, such as the upper echelons of
>Glamour (filled with religious functionaries and bureaucrats), or
>among the Kralorelan mandarins.
Kralorela is the only part of Glorantha where I imagine a wide semi-literate society. Assuming that Kralorelan is like Chinese (oh, why not), I suspect that even the lower classes recognize dozens of characters and combinations (Mandarin, Emperor, Good Fortune, Danger, Official Displeasure, East, Do Not Enter, Tax Collector, Inn, Shoemaker, General, Dragon, etc.). They probably don't have any sense of written grammer, but can "read" signs. Books, of course, are utterly beyond anyone but the educated classes. All in my opinion, of course.
Peter Larsen
End of The Glorantha Digest V8 #244
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