Re: City

From: ian_hammond_cooper_at_...
Date: Thu, 14 Jun 2001 16:30:37 -0000

> Hello, Please, could anybody lead me to sources of information on
> Orlanthi's cities, especially their construction and their
> social organization.

I think there is a distinction between orlanthis forts and towns, which are more overgrown villages and cities - so I've divided the answer appropriately.

Forts

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There is an article on hill forts on the Issaries web site and there was some debate on what they would be like, so you could search this group.

The RQIII supplement Dorastor, Land of Doom included Hazard Fort, which if you can find it is a good primer for Orlanthi forts/towns. The major terrestial analog appear to be Viking towns like Jorvik (York) and Hedeby (both of which you should be able to track down info on the Internet on for inspiration) though I would feel free to draw on Celtic/Gallic influences if you want to.

The material in Thunder Rebels on Orlanthi steads is applicable for construction methods, building style. To help you narrow it down, at Jorvik buildings were smaller than the longhouses in TR - look for something like 12-20 feet wide and 30'-50' long, built of wattle and daub, and had cellars and lofts.

I have recently written up Clearwine for a scenario - the map from that that *might* appear on the web site at some point. If hill forts are of interest to you, contact me off list and I'll pass on some notes on the town and a map as it appeared in our game.

Cities

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New Pavis is an Orlanthi city - though quite unique in many respects - and is covered by the Pavis and Big Rubble reprint and some current work being done by Ian Thompson et al. This has the most information on 'city' organisation as opposed to the clan based organisation of Hazard Fort - though how much Dorasor mirrored the structure and organisation of cities in Sartar when he founded Pavis is something you'll have to decide for yourself.

The contruction materials in Pavis however are very much influenced by climate - I would use materials and buildings far closer to those described for hillforts above in Sartar.

Fan supplements covered cities in Heroes of Wisdom - Jonstown - and Home of the Bold (I think) - Boldhome (which is also described in KoS). Ingo did have some copies of the former at one point.

Searching the Glorantha digest for 'urban orlanthi' will turn up some useful speculation. The digest has been a bit quiet of late so you might well get replies there if you wanted to discuss people's ideas on the topic.

Ian Cooper