RIGHTEOUS WIND Here's the Questlines 1 summary of the Righteous Wind and Harvar Ironfist:
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In 1583, after the disastrous Battle of Grizzly Peak and the siege of Alda Chur, the Sartar King Terasarin's son, Sarotar, married the Princess of the Far Point and brought the tribes of the Alda-Churi into the Kingdom of Sartar.
In 1602, Lunar armies invaded both Sartar and Far Point. The North was decimated by years of murder and bloody fighting. Though they controlled the towns and stockades, the Lunar hold on the wilderness steads was always tenuous. When nearly 3,000 Lunar infantry were trapped and killed in the wilderness at Ghost Gors (1607), the invaders abandoned military force as their prime strategy of assimilation.
Four years after the Lunar conquest of the Far Point, many Orlanthi priests and godi began to agitate against the Lunar occupiers, advocating their violent expulsion. There were already many established Lunar and Tarshite families in the tribes of the region (from earlier links to Tarsh) and there arose many lawsuits and feuds which disrupted the whole of the north for five years. In 1611 many tribal moots broke up into civil disorder, torn apart by the rival antagonists. Orlanthi leaders declared the Righteous Wind.
Some now claim that this bloody kinstrife was deliberately provoked by Lunar agitators. Certainly the Vantaros prince Harvar Ironfist was well placed to take advantage of the situation, using the confusion and bloodshed as an excuse to seize total power. With Lunar backing, he declared himself Duke of the Alda-Churi and Lord Protector of the Light, taking the holy city of Alda Chur by fire and sword. The main Orlanthi opposition was destroyed when Harvar's forces, led by wind-walking Gagarthi housecarls, took them by surprise and treachery at Gamla's Leap. Most of the Alda-Churi tribes then purged their ranks of the most vocal and powerful Orlanthi and Elmali worshippers. Survivors sought exile in neighbouring Prax and Sartar, with many taking refuge in the lands of the Torkani.
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So who is Ironfist's god? Clearly he has strong solar affiliations - his tribe is 'yelmalian' and he has taken the title of Lord Protector of the Light. (Yelmalio is a specific god and cult, while yelmalio is also a title, 'Son of the Sun' and can refer to any number of Solar Gods worshipped in the southern Empire. Obviously, he also has strong Lunar affiliations, and under his rule he encouraged the building of a Lunar War Temple in Alda Chur.
However, there are puzzles as well. His key use of Gagarthi bandits *might* merely be opportunistic, or it may hint at some deeper purpose. There are rumours that he has a private god called the Bigger Wind. There are also rumours and signs (those new golden fleeced sheep!) that he is travelling the Lokamayadon path, and ultimately hopes to install himself as a living god of the Far Place.
These rumours may be confirmed or dispelled by Thunder Rebels. I'm waiting just as anxiously as the next person :).
Cheers
John
nysalor_at_... John Hughes
... a flying arrow, a crashing wave, night old ice,
a coiled snake, a bride's bed talk, a broken sword, the play of bears, a king's son.
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