Me> > If you mean that anybody can become a chief even
> > if he was a stickpicker, then that is true for all Orlanthi
>Not true for Tarsh which elects by bloodline (or maybe even for the
>Kingdom of Sartar) and I don't think it was true for the
>Vingkotlings.
That's the tribal kingship. I'm talking about the election of the _clan chief_, which is elective in all Orlanthi communities.
>So Jeff seems to think that the Vingkotling candidates must come from a
>noble bloodline,
It's been that way since Player's Book: Genertela in which Kings can come from certain bloodlines but in which anybody can become a chief or tribal king.
>Presumably this was a matter of necessity - with the old blood line wiped
>out Heort had to introduce a new system for electing leaders.
Heort actually had a valid genealogical descent from Orlanth. He introduced the new system because he didn't much care for the sanctity of the Bloodline.
>Also note that the same conflict caused the Esrolians to split off into
>matriachal lines.
They split off because most of their men were killed and they had had it up to their necks with stupid men's wars.
>"These tribes and kingdoms exhibit a variety of kingship rites ranging from
>Vingkotling bloodline based like Tarsh and the House of Sartar, to
>Alakoringite like the tribes of Sartar, to >Heortling elections like Aggar
>and Heortland."
>Agreed Jeff does seem to take the line that Alakoring's changes were not to
>move back to a hereditary bloodline, but to reassert the powers of the
>tribal kings over the priests who had led the tribes down the dragon path.
Jeff's quoted passage implies no such thing. But rather than go through tedious exegesis of what people actually mused on digests past (And this really isn't the forum for it), can you find a single passage that said Alakoring tried to overthrow the Priests? KoS takes the opposite view in that it implies the Priests who were the core of the conservative opposition.
>"The difference between Heortling, Harmast's Heortling (priest-
>dominated) and Alakoring's Heortling (king-dominated, small-
>tribish) election of kings still isn't quite clear."
Contrary to Joerg's statement, the Alakorings have quite big tribes and I've never been convinced of his theory that Harmast's society was priest-ridden. Furthermore the Alakorings are not Heortlings.
>So this would suggest that alakoring is a qualifier that can be
>applied to people's of the Dragon pass area regardless of whether
>they are heortling, Vingkotling or Star tribe.
This suggestion is wrong. Alakoring as stated in the Glorantha Intro is properly applied to the Tarshites, the Aggari and the Lanksti (among others). To dispel appearances that I'm quoting my own words, it was Greg who labelled them Alakoring.
>What are the distinctions
>between these peoples in election of kingship and what are the
>distinctions elsewhere.
Kingship (as in Prince of Sartar or King of Tarsh) is an aloof concept to most Orlanthi. The Rexes are OTOH are elected by the clan chiefs or the tribal ring according to commonly agreed customs (for which see King of Dragon Pass).
>What differences in base culture customs
>would an Orlanthi notice in travelling through Maniria.
There's only two types of Orlanthi in Maniria. The Heortlings are adequately described while one should draw inspiration for the Wenelians from Tacitus's Germania.
--Peter Metcalfe
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