Re: Pavis Cultists Abroad, City God Cults

From: Joerg Baumgartner <joe_at_toppoint.de>
Date: Thu, 12 Aug 2004 16:30:02 +0200 (CEST)

Mike Dawson in HQ-rules about reasons for Pavis devotees abroad:

> There's money to be made! As another writer pointed out, when Sartar
> goes to war with the Empire, they're going to need lots of everything
> from weapons and armor to fortifications and rice from Kralorela and
> Teshnos. (You can't keep the Sartarite army in the field very long if
> they have to go back home and plow or harvest, so the Prince of Sartar
> is going to have to import a LOT of food.)

While it is a nice idea to have Pavisites in the east attempting to establish caravans carrying food across the Wastes, basically turning murderous bison riders into bulk cargo handlers (none of the other Beast Riders would be able to transport as much on their generally weaker beasts), I find this highly impractical, considering

1. the distance for overland transport, and the possibility of sea transport (at least part of the war period)
2. the proximity of one of the world's greatest exporter of food, Esrolia, with water transportation available right next to his heartlands (and another, Lowland Tarsh, under conquest)
3. the scarcity of food (and desperate measures against this scarcity) in Pavis
4. the difficulty in civilizing the Beast Riders
5. the ongoing (but secret) project to return Genert's Garden (and grow the food there).

That said, this makes this an entirely worthy quest to send player heroes on. Who said that the sponsor of a hero band needs to have a sane or achievable goal? There are bands in Kethaela trying to get the Pharaoh back, for laughs.

The discussion had a couple of other highlights, such as linking Jaldon's magic to eat through the wall to the fact that he was familiar with the statues out in the Waste. Maybe the use of organstones was what made the wall edible to Jaldon?

A group of fearful Pavisites might well fund an expedition there to find out about this weakness, and get a countermeasure. Or, even better, another (not necessarily faceless) huge statue to fight off nomads and/or giants. (And trolls in the bargain.)

Somebody else suggested a EWF subcult of Pavis sending members (with magic working outside of Pavis) off to Dragon Pass to gather information (and likely allies against nomad pressure). Involvement in the Dragonrise, or checking the lay of the land after it...

There was also a suggestion of a pan-city god network (presumably for predominantly theist cities).

While I doubt that this would work with this example, I was reminded of the fact that the Middle Ages saw many German cities founded in former Slavic territories. These cities were grouped after the city laws they applied (IIRC, besides Luebeck there was Soest as a major example). Looking further back, we find Greek and Phoenician colonies classified after their home cities, probably also in terms of laws and rites.

One might expect citizens (City God worshippers) of Sartar's cities to be able to participate in other Sartarite cities on a functional level. Dara Happan cities might also be grouped in Raibanthi, Yuthuppan and possibly Alkothi law (and rites). In the case of Pelandan cities, I'd be tempted to treat the city gods' cults as subcults of Ket-Turos for initiates (and as common religion for the rest).

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