> In magic, re-enactment is important. So, if a similar case has come up
> in
> the past, and the decision was seen to have been correct, or at least
> to
> have had no negative consequences, then coming to the same decision may
> well be seen as a safe option, especially in a clan that values
> tradition.
It's a good point. The existence of heroquesting, with its focus on performing the same actions over and over again, might well make Gloranthan society more conservative than the RW ancient world.
Gary R Switzer says:
> Maybe your typical Issaries merchants keeps two sets of books?
> One is the pre-Sartar knotted string kind designed to boggle your
> average non-Hero level Lunar Tax Collector and the other is the
> "real" set of books in Trade Talk for actual business.
Again, why keep any books at all? Perhaps there is a need for inventory (we left the tula with 36 cows....), but it's not like Heortlings are dealing with tremendously complex economic arrangements. It's more likely to be: "we take our goods to the twice-a-season market at [local town/village/tula here]. With any luck, we'll be able to trade for cattle; the ring says we need more, and they've sent an Uldra initiate along to help. The Blackwater clan is friendly with us, and I always let Mord Ivarsson, their trader, get first crack at our pins. In return, Mord gifts me an extra barrel of apples each market. I promised Thora I'd bring home some cloth, and the Chalana Arroy godtalker wants some marshweed, whatever that is...." And so on. Maybe there's an Issarion feat "Keep Clan's orders in order." Anyway, it's hard for the Lunars to tax this sort of thing except as "one cow or the equivalent per wagon of goods." Furthermore, I don't imagine that Heortlings deal in contracts too much, and certainly not the elaborate financial arrangements that are common in the modern world. There's some loans (Enclosure #2 had an article on cattle loans), but they are probably customary deals, and they would always be well supplied with witnesses. Of course, this makes working out financial information on your clanmates pathetically easy -- it's essentially public knowledge.
> Peter Larson weighs in as well:
>
> >Anyway, in a non-literate society, who's going to believe your
> >scratching? "It says here you owe me a cow." "Oh yeah, my
> >brother and I say we don't. And so does our clan."
>
> Another good reason for an Issaries merchant to hire a Humakti
> guard to back up your record keeping: "Snori Hagarson, you owe
> me one cow." "True!" (sez the Humakti) "Oh, *that* cow, erm..."
See? Truth magic makes contracts less necessary. And violence is always an option....
David Dunham says to
me:
> > There's also the question of whether the death of the FHQ
> > "dethrones" the reigning King
>
> I don't believe so. The Luminous Stallion King and the FHQ aren't
> linked in this way.
The "King" in my statement meant the KoDP, not the Grazer king. Sorry for being vague. Although you'd think the KoDP would have an advantage in getting allies among the Grazers (and the Beastmen and the Dragonewts).
> Doing this [LSK becoming KoDP] would make them back into Emperors of Dara
Happa (well, of
> Dragon Pass), and that won't get them back to the Sky World. In fact,
> it might be a dangerous step, since we all know that all peoples
> banded together to throw them out of Peloria -- and the horse folk
> are less numerous this time.
As good a reason for a taboo as any I can imagine.... It also shows how tricky rituals can be. Imagine if a Heortling tribal-king ritual accidentally copied a Dara Happan Imperial rite -- you'd be crowning an Evil Emperor!
> I've yet to see Durnsa on a map, though I figured it was in the Empire.
Anyone? Where is Durnsa?
Peter Larsen
Powered by hypermail