> I didn't know that the "Victory Herald" died in the Carmanian
> March until you mentioned here.
Yep, he died in battle. That was Tavarstin's "self-sacrifice".
> But (though I don't know enough about French History) there is no
> Jeanne D'ark in the portion of FS and France suffered long even
> after they lost in Agincourt.
I may not have made myself sufficiently clear. It is *completely*
unnecessary to have any knowledge of the Hundred Years War to follow the
history of Carmania. There is no reworked "Joan of Arc" in my writings.
There is no intended parallel between Carmania/Dara Happa and
France/England, either way around. Twelfth century Peloria is profoundly
unlike fourteenth century Europe. You are reading *WAY* too much into an
off-the-cuff comment from Greg, not intended for publication. Back off, =
boy,
or I'll stop bothering to read your emails.
> If Kyoto is not appropriate...(Oh, but I wrote the memo for my =
personal
> use....) . Well, some Chinese Empire Capirals like Chang'Ang.
I don't know anything about this. I intended Carmania to have several
"capitals" / palace cities, to flesh out the history of various cities =
in
the West Reaches and give a better texture and architectural depth to =
the
country. (In part, this was because, after I'd identified "Dolebury" =
(Zero
Wane History) with "Burntwall" (Genertela Book), I wanted to have some
Carmanian royal sites still occupied towards the end of the Third =
Age...)
> I get a vague impression that Ancient Persians are Nomads (who wore
> pants) rather than the impression I got from Loren's and your work
> about the Army of Loskalm (Ten-Thousand) like heavy-armored riders
> like cataphracts of late Sassanian Army.
I can't answer for your impressions. As the Carmanians aren't intended =
to be
nomads (wearing pants or otherwise), but rather the descendents of a
heavily-armoured cavalry army from the feudal West, they may well be off
base.
> I don't know how far the image of "lowlander soft people of Pelanda
> and highland grim rock castles of Western Feudal Lords" is suited to
> any period of RW iranian image.
Here's the last paragraph from Herodotos' "Histories" (I'm nicking it =
from
the Gutenberg etext so it's rather archaic):
: 122. Now a forefather of this Arta=FFctes who was hung up, was that : Artembares who set forth to the Persians a proposal which they took up : and brought before Cyrus, being to this effect: "Seeing that Zeus : grants to the Persians leadership, and of all men to thee, O Cyrus, by : destroying Astyages, come, since the land we possess is small and also : rugged, let us change from it and inhabit another which is better: and : there are many near at hand, and many also at a greater distance, of : which if we take one, we shall have greater reverence and from more : men. It is reasonable too that men who are rulers should do such : things; for when will there ever be a fairer occasion than now, when : we are rulers of many nations and of the whole of Asia?" Cyrus, : hearing this and not being surprised at the proposal,[123] bade them : do so if they would; but he exhorted them and bade them prepare in : that case to be no longer rulers but subjects; "For," said he, "from : lands which are not rugged men who are not rugged are apt to come : forth, since it does not belong to the same land to bring forth fruits : of the earth which are admirable and also men who are good in war." So : the Persians acknowledged that he was right and departed from his : presence, having their opinion defeated by that of Cyrus; and they : chose rather to dwell on poor land and be rulers, than to sow crops in : a level plain and be slaves to others.
Hope this helps.
> Like your parallel between Eurotas and Cephissos equal Sparta =
(Martial,
> Land Army, Brushness, Oligarchy) and Athens (Civilized, Decadent,
> Democracy)...
What I was mentioning there was a rather funny rhetorical device I found =
in
Plutarch: an Athenian orator boasts at great length of how many times =
his
city's armies have repelled Spartan invaders from the Cephissos (a river =
in
Attica); then the Spartan he's showing off to says, "Funny: we've never
beaten the Athenians back from the Eurotas" (the river in Laconia).
The "joke" is that Spartan armies often attacked the Athenians in their
homeland; the Athenians never got close to Sparta. The parallel would be
that Carmanian armies attacked Dara Happa while Carmania itself was =
never
threatened by Dara Happans. When I was working on this, I used a more
"Classical" model for the Dara Happans (Golden Age Greek / Roman =
Republic),
with the expectation that Lunar culture would be the Hellenistic or =
Imperial
successor cultures (with their richer Orientalising and monarchical
tendencies). This was of course before the Glorious ReAscent etc. were
written.
> I don't intend to criticize Martin's idea about these analogies for
> I don't have ability to do so and I love his work. But... maybe I
> have vague misgivings that his Lunar is too Europeanized.... Maybe...
> Nick Brooke can help Martin greatly about the topic.
I greatly doubt it. I think you've arrived about seven years too late, =
and
without much knowledge of what's gone on in the meantime.
Cheers, Nick
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