Re: Alone Again (naturally..)

From: John Hughes <nysalor_at_...>
Date: Thu, 28 Feb 2002 12:14:03 -0800


Bryan:

> OK, so according to Barbarian Adventures, the three tribes around
> Alone all moved there recently (post righteous wind getting crushed).

No. The Bachad and Amad are well established. The Tres is a new tribe formed from defiant clans; so its people have all been around for a while, they just had to move further into the gors to escape Harvar's golden spears. The Bachad and Amad are notionally 'slave tribes' while the Tres remain clearly defiant.

I suspect that 'slave tribe" is more a description of how Harvar deals with them - the law of the golden spear - rather than a reflection of their actual living status. The clans may not regard themselves as slaves at all, though any dealings through Alone get heavily taxed, the Overtribe Ring is heavily stacked, and the Tribal king has an uncommon amount of toadying to do to Harvar. And Gargarthi roam as they will - though the steads defend themselves as always. Isolation has always been the key to survival in the Far Place, and I don't see any great change.

The Tres is comprised almost entirely of defiant clansfolk who moved into the deep gors bordering Dagori Inkarth. Some in the Bachad and Amad are tired of years of ceaseless fighting, and have accepted an accommodation with Harvar's forces. While the concept of 'slave tribe' is a useful one, there's going to be a tremendous amount of variation from tribe to tribe into the actual hardship, and I suspect the subservience and restrictions imposed upon the Bachad and Amad are relatively minor compared to say, the Kheldon.

The Questlines timeline has the Tres, Bachad and Amad tribes existing from about 1492. The Tres information is incorrect, based on new revelations in BA. Offhand I do not recall whence my date came, though it was a very turbulent period for Tarsh, and the stream of Old Tarsh loyalists into the Far Place may well have prompted independent steads and clans to formally constitute tribes for self-defence). (It is a very significant date for the Sartarites). I would need to go back through KOS and other sources, which I don't have with me right now.

The Tres are a recent tribe, though its people have been around quite a while. The Bachad and Amad are well established - there was nothing to stop individual clans heading east after the initial settlement (the enemies around what would later become Alone can't have been any worse than on Snakepipe's edge), but may have been isolated steads and clans before formally becoming a tribe.

John


nysalor_at_...                              John Hughes
Questlines: http://home.iprimus.com.au/pipnjim/questlines/

Far Point, dark and broken, is full of wolf packs. An ancient wind sweeps down the gors,
 broo howl about the gallt,
the dark deer bellows across the frozen heights.

The hail is fierce upon the roof.
The storm wild lashes - God is angry!
The land-spirits mock at the groans
 echoing through the walls of the palisade.

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