hi
YGWV, but I think its wrong on many ways to view the Gloranthan
learning of languages to the real world. Gloranthans have gods of
communication and literacy that are active. FWIW I think the
current discussion about the lack of written Heortling language puts
the Heortlings down to the literacy level of what I imagined the
Praxians to be. Maybe thats right, but its not how I have portrayed
them. As the author of Thunder Rebels I'd be interested to hear
John Hughes' impression, and of course a ruling from Greg would be
good. The presence of a written form of Heortling does not, I
think, detract from the presence of an oral tradition of the society
as a rule. Having said that I am far from an expert in these matters!
Regards
Rob
wrote:
> > I don't think most Lunar soldiers are initiates of 7M. Probably
> most
> > officers can read and write, in the Lunar provinces like Tarsh
> that
> > will be the commonest source.
>
> What is an "officer" in a Tarshite unit? Or for that matter, what
> is an "officer" in the armies of ancient Greece (or even
Macedon)?
> IMG, the leader of military bands is usually assisted by his
> household staff - which includes clerks. Fazzur can read. But
most
> of Fazzur's veteran soldiers are probably illiterate, including
> probably folk like Jorad Sideburn and Jomes the Wulf.
>
> > >This is a different script, remember? The assorted scratching
> types, yes,
> > >that's sacred to LM, and you wouldn't want to annoy him. But
> being able to
> > >read what the Lunars are writing? Especially when some helpful
> Lunar
> > >decides to communicate with their "subjects" in writintg,
because
> that would
> > >have worked at home? I don't see it being common, I don't see
> Sartar ever
> > >becoming a literate society, but more people able to read New
> Pelorian than
> > >their own language - yes. As Donald says, Lunar missionaries
will
> teach it,
> > >too. So both the very pro-Lunar and the very anti-Lunar will be
> learning it.
>
> I still doubt it - the Sartarites have a caste of literate folk,
the
> Lhankor Mhy sages. I suspect most Sartarites will go to them to
> have Lunar writings read, since they already go to them for
> everything else.
>
> > I'm thinking that clan chiefs will want to know whether the
> impressive
> > parchment shown by this foreigner is actually an imperial decree
> > demanding taxes or a report to some official in Glamour used by
an
> > unscruplous individual. So there's a big incentive for someone
in
> the
> > clan to learn to read - an incentive which didn't exist before.
>
> Again, most clan chiefs already have resource to Lhankor Mhy sages
> who do this sort of stuff without angering the Storm Tribe.
>
> > But the individuals who've learnt it will still be there, and if
> > the rebellion have been using it for convenience that may well
> > continue. Just like Dark Age Europe - Latin was the written
> > language because most literate people learnt it rather than their
> > native tongue.
>
> Yes, but Latin had been the written tongue of most of western
Europe
> for a very very long time.
>
> > Whether this happens in a single generation in
> > Sartar is questionable but certainly possible - most Africans
> > adopted a colonial language in the two or three generations
between
> > conquest at the end of the 19th Century and independance in the
> > mid 20th. Another possibility is that New Pelorian script is
> > used to write Sartarite. Of course there may be a religious
> inspired
> > backlash in Sartar against anything Lunar.
>
> I think the better example is the Persian experience in Macedon.
> Macedon was a Persian satrap for about a generation. Not many
> impressive bits of written Persian in any of the Macedonian
> archeological finds that I'm aware of.
>
> Jeff