>This may be digest-fodder--but I assumed that even then, the Dara Happans
>were still advanced and civilized. They were ruled by barbarians, like China
>being ruled by Mongols--but they were still Dara Happans. (The Chinese
>didn't burn down all their cities and start drinking mare's milk when the
>Mongols conquered them.)
>
>So at the dawn, weren't the Orlanthi a "barbarian people in the shadow of a
>civilized empire that was ruled by barbarians"? And perhaps "shadow" is the
>wrong word. When the DHs were weak, they presumably didn't exert much
>influence over Dragon Pass, to say nothing of Heortland--but the Orlanthis
>would still be aware that there are all those snotty-nosed ponces way up
>north who have writing and money and silk robes and all of that.
Barbarians tend to adopt those things which are useful to them. The Vikings used silver coins as currency, adopted from the Romans but they weren't standardised (and devalued) the way the Romans did. The coin was valued for its weight in silver.
In the case of standard distances, what use are they? and how do you measure them?
>(Hey, *do* the Dara Happans have silk? I assume the Kralorelans do. Is the
>technology widespread? No, never mind, I'm sure that's Digest stuff...)
Whatever suits your game, personally I think the Lunars import some from Kralorea but the Dara Happens regard it as a sign of degeneracy. "No man would be seen in that stuff in the old days." The Rinliddi on the other hand adore it.
-- Donald Oddy http://www.grove.demon.co.uk/
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