Well, dang. I should've realized that myself. Though I suppose one could distinguish between "Ruler of (what would later be called) the Holy Country", and "Ruler of the Trolls of WWLBC the Holy Country". I could imagine that the OOO had more direct control over, say, *Heortland* than he did over the trolls. That is, the Great Mothers could always veto any of his actions, but they'd be far more likely to interfere with his actions over Uz than with his rule of the subject peoples.
One wonders... when the Pharaoh defeated the OOO, how much did he really affect the underlying power structure? Presumably the Trolls of the Holy Country went on being ruled the same way they always had, by the Great Mothers (perhaps through some new figurehead)--but their direct control over the other peoples was ended. But they'd be working to reverse things.
Hm... do you suppose they had anything to do with Jar-Eel's attack? Secret instigators? Hidden allies? Manipulators behind the scenes? (e.g. they might have staged a magical attack on the Pharaoh from Hell, just when Jar-Eel was attacking in the mundane world.)
The mind wobbles...
Oh, and another thought: The OOO could serve another purpose, by being the one who deals with the bound Lodril. A fire god is too useful a tool to throw away, but it would be magically disastrous to let the Great Mothers interact with him directly (and be contaminated by Death). Having an intermediary like the OOO would be the right approach--and he'd have to be very powerful to carry it off.
Or am I completely wrong about that?
--Andrew S.
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