>Why are you so certain that most of the Ralians did not recognize
>some aspect of the missionary song?
Because the missionary song is an Orlanthi rite, its success depends on the contacted society maintaining some elements of its Orlanthi past and its maintenance among people who were never Orlanthi or who had been hostile to Orlanth during the Gods War makes as much sense as Central Asian nomads preserving the Catholic Catechism in their tribal rites.
Look at the maps of prehistory in Thunder Rebels and Arcane Lore. On p148 of TR (the Late Vingkotling Age) which shows the nascent Skyreach Mountains beyond which is Ralios, there are only three polities shown - the beasts of Seravus, the elves of Greatwood and the Dwarves of Nida. No Orlanthi. The nearest Orlanthi lands are Talastar on the other side of the Sky Reach, the Andins to the north and the reclaimed lands to the south (which is now Wenelia and Slontos)
On the western continent of the flood age (Arcane Lore p78), there are beasts and Helerings in the area corresponding to Ralios. The Beasts are hostile to the Orlanthi and the Helerings are foes of the Orlanthi at this time.
Looking at the Ice Age map in Arcane Lore p105, the whole place is labelled Deadwood and there is a huge chaos rune there while to the south are the Basmoli, another non-Orlanthi people.
The last piece of evidence is Mastakos's Eight Steps in KoS p72. The first step is Halikiv which is unsurprisingly full of trolls.
The second step might be the mountain range that lies between Halikiv and Corolaland.
The Third Step is Wonderwood which no Orlanthi are reported nor do any live now.
The next location is the Pit in which the Iron Man uprooted the Green Elf Tree. This is possibly Keanos, in which Orlanthi do live now but Mastakos doesn't see any then.
The fourth step where the animals are dancing is probably somewhere around Helby or Estali. The pipes, I connect to the Enchanter (Thunder Rebels p149).
The next step is Hrelar Amali where Flamal was killed. No Orlanthi. With the final step, we leave Ralios to the Outpost of Logic whose inhabitants are recognizably Malkioni.
To sum, it all there is scant evidence
>I rather strongly suspect that
>most of the Ralian bands recognized at least a stanza or two.
Why should they? Thats like expecting the native americans to recognize some parts of the old testament in the original hebrew. That a few Ralian bands out of the multitude there might recognize a stanza or two is a possibility on account of their Orlanthi past but the argument that _most_ did is a non-starter IMO.
--Peter Metcalfe
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