> I was reading in 'King of Sartar' that the Tarsh Temple of the
Reaching
> Moon's construction began in 1496 but the foundations were
destroyed in 1538
> by the Earthquake priestesses.
> When was the Tarsh TOTRM finally constructed and activated?
> Was it done before the battle of Grizzly Peak in 1582?
> If it was built before the battle was it a major factor in the
defeat of the
> Exiles with the extension of the Glowline?
I agree with Peter that it was rebuilt and made operational in the Phargentite era and thus in place for Grizzly Peak. Indeed, I would regard this as a key reason for the Lunar/Tarshite victory - and the use of Lunar magic helps explain why the ghosts and earth spirits of Grizzly Peak are still so angry and unquiet.
> And what was Bagnot like before the Lunars sacked it?
> Would it be a similar layout and structure to Sartarite cities?
> With old style City-rings with the local tribes as members?
As the traditional royal capital, Bagnot would have been ruled by the King through his Tonsrieve and the institutions of the Firstblood tribe. There will be a ring for the Bagnoting clan itself, but this will take second place to the royal institutions (as the King is both King of Tarsh and also Tribal King of the Firstbloods).
FWIW, Here is the longer version of the Bagnot write-up for Tarsh in Flames:
BAGNOT Bagnot is a city in decline. Once Tarsh's capital, it still resents the rise of Furthest and the new order for reasons of both purse and prestige. Once, it was a grand city, built largely in Heortish style – with longhouses, albeit clustered in distinctive Tarshite squares, worship-hills and a central bastion – but with the materials, craftsmanship and resources available to the King of Tarsh. Thus, over time thatched roofs were replaced with wood and tile, wooden walls with stone and corduroy paths became cobbled thoroughfares. Tarsh is rich, and the King is eager to buy away dissent, but nonetheless the evidence that this is no longer the capital are there to be seen. The Friends Quarter, once the home to over a thousand transient workers and migrants, is now all but empty. The Far Market, which once echoed to the sounds of slavemerchants buying manstock by the dozen, is now a tumbledown bazaar, where the odd captured runaway is auctioned between the dingy stalls selling plunder from Sartar and hand-me-down robes.
Thus, although it is still the tribal capital of Arim's Firstblood tribe, many within Bagnot, while happy to share in the wealth of the new Tarsh, harbour sympathies with the old days. There is a small but determined underground cadre who still worship Orlanth and unofficial contacts with the Exiles are also common. Efforts have been made to win over the populace, ranging from the tax concessions on the city's Low Market to the revival of the traditional First Stone Feast, in which slaves costumed as figures from Bagnot's history distribute meats, mead and sugared grapes in the Sundial Square. Nonetheless, dissidents continue to cause mischief, ranging from chalking scurrilous graffiti on the walls to murder and intimidation.
> Would have Arim's Necklace been the extent of the influence of the
Exiles in
> Bagnot, the last/first line of defence as it were?
I think Arim's Necklace is much older, perhaps of Illaro's era (1455- 1470), but maybe even pe-Yarandros. I don't see it as being a credible defenslive line, not least as many of the forts are completely ruined and/or plundered for their stone.
All the best
Mark
Mark Galeotti
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