> males"? Or is there some Glorantha thing going on here that I'm not
aware
> of?
You are confusing the fyrd and the war band, I think. Every able bodies man (or more specifically every initiated male under a certain age who is not in one of the exempted professions) is expected to be part of the fyrd. To this end they should have a spear, shield, and hard-hat, meet minimum standards of fitness, come to the wapentake (spelling?) once a year, etc.
However, There is also the clan war band. These are the folk who are obliged to regularly practice and drill, patrol the tula, guard the chief, form the short-call, and generally make like thugs ;-) In Thunder Rebels, Orlanth Adventurous followers are specifically required to be part of the clan war-band. I think followers of other various war-like gods are also so required (I think it is explicit for Vinga, not sure about the rest but i think it would assumed).
The war band is not exactly a standing army. A lot of these guys will have non-warrior professions, although many of them will be warriors. At the very least they function something like the army reserve in many modern countries, not full time warriors (i.e. weaponthanes) but trained, reasonably equipped, and ready on short notice.
What the war band does have is its own wyter. After all, when they go raiding, the clan wyter doesn't protect them. As the war band is smaller than the clan, the war band wyter is weaker. When the fyrd is called up, they are temporarily added to the band, and can call upon the wyter, but I would think that they would not strengthen it in such a short commitment? Upon this logic, the clan with the larger war band has an advantage when fighting outside of either clan's territory (i.e. away from the clan wyters).
--Bryan
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