> Greg:
>
>> I don't know of a culture that would have combat as an ability in
>> their Keyword.
> As with the Heortlings and 'farming', this seems at odds with the
> published books. Officially, the following cultural keywords all have
> combat as an ability:
Wow, impressive.
I've never been one to NOT admit an error when I've made one. I'd like
to comment on this list in some detail.
> Heortlings (if male)
The Heortling men should have this. They ae a rural, "barbarian"
culture wherein every free man of the clan is expected to take up arms
in defense of his land.
Since the starting level is 17, I can accept this as the militia
skill. (It seems a bit high to me, really, but I can addept it for
simplicity's sake.)
> Dara Happa
I don' see Combat as a skill on page 40. I see cudgel and dagger, but these are more like brawling that real combat, to me. Yea, they are still 17 like that Sartar militiaman. OK by me, nonetheless. A militiaman with a spear and shield might have some sort of weapon advantage against a man with a dager or cudel. YGWV.
> Grazers (if male)
> Tarsh/Lunar Provinces
Same as the Heortlings. These are barbarian warrior societies. That is, as long as the footslaves aren't counted among the Grazers. WE know they are disarmed and not trained.
> Rinliddi
> Sylila
> Darjiin
> Arirae
> Pelanda
> Carmania
> Rightarm Islands
> Haragala
> Maslo
It seems wrong that those cultures have any combat skill, except maybe
a brawling one. Those are NOT warrior societies, and they are not
generally armed or expected to fight. Perhaps peasant levies, but
peasant leviews are notoriously poor quality soldiers anyway,
whichmakes my point.
I don't think they ought to have combat skills.
> Eol
The people of Eol, again, live under hostile conditions and need combat skills to survive.
> Kastoks
Again, hostile territory, probably aceptable.
> Malki Coast (if male)
Is this Pamaltela?
> In fact, it would be shorter to list those that don't! Now, one might
> argue that these somehow don't count, but I'm not really seeing how that
> would be. It might be that they aren't supposed to be the case (for one
> thing, if taken literally, this implies that even Dara Happan women have
> keyword-level skills in fighting, which seems a bit unlikely), but it is
> what we've got to work with right now. I tend to ignore them myself in
> most cases, as it happens, but I wouldn't be surprised if others don't.
I would hope that others do.
I am also surprised that only the Heortlings and Bison Fokk seem to have had any gender differences in their Homeland write ups.
Issaries, Inc.
c/o Greg Stafford
1942 Channing Ave, #204
Berkeley, CA 94704 USA
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