More Pelaskite wackiness

From: Jeff Richard <RichJ_at_foster.com>
Date: Thu, 30 Sep 2004 12:37:07 -0700

OK, let me make one thing clear - I think there is a difference between the folk of the Right (and for that matter Left) Arms and the coastal fisherfolk of Heortland and Esrolia. All may be called "Pelaskites" but I think the folk in Heortland are variant Heortlings (who worship Pelaskos) and the folk in Esrolia are variant Esrolians (who worship Pelaskos). The Islanders are their own folk with their own culture.

Karse was, at the time of the Dawn, Islander Pelaskite. Maybe the original home of that culture, maybe not. Don't know when the Arms were settled. Simon clearly knows a lot more about that than I do. The old settlement was abandoned and during the EWF, a new settlement was founded. I think that new settlement was probably Heortling - with a Pelaskos cult. After the Closing, Karse ceased to be a significant settlement - but with the Resettlement, the Pharaoh encouraged people to settle once again in Karse to provide a route for goods from Sartar across the Mirrorsea. I suspect the settlers were folk from Heortland, Esrolia (Nochet) and the Islands, making Karse a cosmopolitan little emporium. =20

Although I'm sure it has a little fishing fleet, I think Karse gets most of its food from the Suchara Vale (probably by purchase from the local farmers). Some of the local fishers are no doubt Islanders, others are from coastal Esrolia or Heortland. They probably all worship Pelaskos and are probably all called "Pelaskites". But I don't think that they form a separate culture - the Islander fisherfolk are still recognizably Islander, the Esrolian fisherfolk are still recognizably Esrolian, and the Heortlander fishers (probably the biggest group) are recognizably Heortlings.

Joerg: But someone (probably not Pelaskos but a Silver Age hero) organized Pelaskite worship and otherworld activities after IFWW and the Compromise. It is possible that Heort visited Old Karse on his "dividing the living from the dead" tour, but I doubt he reached the Islands site (protected by the Mirrorsea Ludoch). It is possible that Hantrafal was along and showed how to worship through sacrifice. I am less convinced that Heort would have interfered with marriage customs etc.

I don't think the Islanders are Heortlings. Or necessarily even Orlanthi - they are whatever Simon says they are. But I think most Heortlending coastal fisherfolk are probably Heortlings.

>And the first "Theyalans" to reach Old Karse were most likely Argan
Argar traders sent by the OOO, back in the Gray Age.

I'd say they were probably folk living up the River - Garanvuli or other Heortlings. The Heortlings and the Esrolvuli populations increased much faster than the non-Theyalans. A lot of folk that survived the Dawn ended up being assimilated into the larger agrarian population.

Joerg:There is a society where every man is a fisherman as much as every Heortling man is a farmer. This is different from coastal Heortlings or Esrolians worshipping Pelaskos rather than Poverri as the fourth provider.

Yeah, but I don't think that society has been predominant in Karse for a very long time.

Jeff

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