> I need some confirmation that my interpetation of the "professional"
> warrior classes in Orlanthi society are correct. So here goes:
>
> Each chief has his own 4 Storms as a personal bodyguard and all
these
> are weaponthanes.
> In addition he has a bunch of other weaponthanes, depending on how
> many he can maintain.
> Now each weaponthane has his own 4 Storms of warriors.
A couple of things here:
- I think the four storms are more of a model than a fixed
structure. In other words, if you have four or more thanes that tend
to accompany you, you will call four of them your four storms. Even
if you don't have that many, you will probably describe them by the
names of the storms. In fact, a chief's "four storms" when it comes
to war may well be the clan champion as his sword, the head of the
fyrd as his shield, the huntthane or other leader of the skirmishers
as his shield, and the senior healer as his back-boy. Of them only
the shield is likely to belong under the weaponthane keyword (the
champion having that key word, the others following other
proffesions).
- The regular warriors are probably not supported by the chief.
Rather, they would be martial young men from good families who can
afford the weapons, armor, and training of a warrior. In good time
some may become weapon thanes, others may become god talkers, others
will become heads of hearths, and others will become raven food. I
think that the warrior key word is often a temporary one, lasting a
few to several years. These young men would vie for places as the
weaponthanes storms, since that is how they get recognition. In some
cases the warrior may have potentially greater access to wealth than
the weaponthane that he follows, and may use his family's generosity
to help cement his place (of course, then the chief may get jealous,
feeling that the family is trying to subvert the loyalty of the
weaponthane....).
Again, each weaponthane may have more or less than four warriors
under his wings, but will tend to use the four storms appelation for
them. I think that this model, for all of its mythic significance,
doesn't always mesh well with current Heortling tactics however, so I
don't expect that the warriors are actually used in those four roles
in combat too often.
Regards;
Bryan