On 13 May 2004 at 13:27, bethexton_at_... wrote:
> I'm not sure if you are familiar with the Syndic's ban, which is
> critical to understanding Fronela. Hence, here is my amateur summary
> (others here no doubt can and in fact may have expressed it more
> accurately and eloquently, but rather than sending you off hunting
> through the web....)
I've got a reasonable understanding of the Syndics ban (well, of its effect, not its meaning *grin*) from previous hunting through the web.
> Essentially a prince of Loksalm and companions managed to kill
> a "god" (why a god in sorcerous Loksalm? Not sure) at about the end
> of the second age (this was the end of the second age in Fronela,
> just like the closing and the DragonKill ended it elsewhere).
It seems almost all dating puts it around the late 15th century, which really doesn't make it Second Age. (As I understand Second Age). The Lunar Age had certainly started before the Ban came down (hence the isolation and evolution of the Arrolian Lunar Church). While it seems to be lifiting at the same time as the Closing of the seas, the parallel isn't very exact. (IMHO)
> Note that the progression from caste to caste made playing in Loksalm
> somewhat difficult in Runequest. The way the skill assignment and
> improvement system worked essentially meant you really had to spend
> quite a bit of time working on the farm to rise to the soldier caste,
> and everyone started off in the farmer caste (not all were literally
> farmers, but lacking farm skills they were even farther from rising
> to soldier). I think this may have contributed to the limited amount
> of fan material supporting Loksalm, it was just a difficult place to
> set many types of adventures. Under HQ rules, however, it would be
> far easier to handle I think, so hopefully those gifted in such
> things will start exploring it and writing about it.
Absolutely, looking at what Loksalm is, since presumably you are in some way following Hrestol's example of experiencing all the castes (at least as I read it), some of those are just not suited to adventuring in the old mode. HQ frees a lot of that up.
> When the syndics ban dropped from one region that had been
> unremarkable prior to the syndics ban, what it revealed was the
> Kingdom of War. Back in RQ3 days, the background here suggested that
> about 20% of the population was warriors, about 80% were serfs/slaves
> who were heavily magically tapped to be stupid and magically weak
> (and eventually just sucked dry and left dead). This is a little at
> odds with the description above, but frankly I don't think many
> people have been into the Kingdom of War and come out alive to
> actually give much of a description.
Ahh yes. Tapping. Something barely mentioned in one line of HQ. The very nasty sorcerous draining of life to power spells? How Vampiric.
> It is of course tempting to think of the Kingdom of War as the karmic
> balance to Loksalm, that as Loksalm made itself ever more virtuous,
> its cast off sins somehow came to rest in the Kingdom of War. But
> surely that can't be....
Depends on how virtuous you think Loksalm really is. So much of the West seems tied to formal ritual acceptance of the status quo. Is Loksalm social mobility just a paper overlay? Despite the best preaching from the pulpit, does it seem to end up that the same noble families end up on top anyway, progressing through the ranks faster while others toil so much longer as a farmer? ("Well," say the nobles, "It's just proof that good breeding shines through, isn't it? God doesn't make mistakes.")
The Kingdom of War certainly seems to break the Gloranthan standard of "nothing is straight good or evil", doesn't it?
LC
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