RE: Sun Domers, Aggar and Tarsh

From: Michael Doolittle <mdoolitt_at_...>
Date: Wed, 01 Aug 2001 23:26:23 -0400

Mark Galeotti said:

>Where you have Sun Dome Temples, then you can assume that there will
>be whole communities which have accepted the Yelmalian style of
>social organisation, which means a full militia, Sun County style. I
>don't mean to suggest that this applies to Aggar as a whole, just the
>immediate cultural hinterland and lands of the temples. Phalanxes
>require a critical mass of trained troops to operate effectively.

>But if you go to an Orlanthi village and just make the Elmali
Yelmalians and expect them to be phalangists, this just doesn't work.
>A village might have a half-dozen Elmali weaponthanes at most. Still,
>that's enough, in effect, to have two on watch round the clock (or
>one with down-time, illness, duty off guarding the local merchant,
>etc). But a six-man phalanx is not exactly viable - put them in a
>conventional Orlanthi high-manoeuvre skirmish and they are sitting
>durulz.

Mark

I actually agree with most of your points. But you seem to be saying that Yelmalions can _only_ fight effectibely as part of a "phalanx". I was merely questioning that, for two reasons:

1. Yelmalions go on the "Hill of Gold" HQ. I don't think they perform the quest as part of a 4,000 man lock-step unit, though I'm willing to be corrected!
2. The SDTs in Aggar have been possibly been around since the time of Balazar. If that is so, it seems odd, IMO, that they wouldn't adapt some of their methods to better suit local conditions. Even the cult write-up in Masks of Pavis says that "several other Sun Dome Temples exist throughout southern Peloria, but all have separate traditions.

Good gaming
Mike D

  -----Original Message-----
  From: Mark Galeotti [mailto:hia15_at_...]   Sent: Wednesday, August 01, 2001 5:49 AM   To: HeroWars_at_yahoogroups.com
  Subject: Sun Domers, Aggar and Tarsh

  > Mike Doolittle:
  > >The
  > >terrain seems unsuitable for an Alexandrian-style phalanx to me.

  Perhaps
  > >these temples are those that have developed different traditions   from the on
  > >in Prax?

  "Quick Draw Pete" has, as ever, replied well and pretty fully to this   before I'd even read the original post! I'd just add one other point.   It's not simply a question of whether the local terrain is suited to   phalanxes (which need not be armoured - Sun County types may be   lobsters, by if we go back to the classical model, by the time of the   Peloponnesian War, hoplites were largely unarmoured), but social   organisation.

  Where you have Sun Dome Temples, then you can assume that there will   be whole communities which have accepted the Yelmalian style of   social organisation, which means a full militia, Sun County style. I   don't mean to suggest that this applies to Aggar as a whole, just the   immediate cultural hinterland and lands of the temples. Phalanxes   require a critical mass of trained troops to operate effectively.

  But if you go to an Orlanthi village and just make the Elmali   Yelmalians and expect them to be phalangists, this just doesn't work.   A village might have a half-dozen Elmali weaponthanes at most. Still,   that's enough, in effect, to have two on watch round the clock (or   one with down-time, illness, duty off guarding the local merchant,   etc). But a six-man phalanx is not exactly viable - put them in a   conventional Orlanthi high-manoeuvre skirmish and they are sitting   durulz.

  So, it's a question of what works for local needs. Around SDTs, where   there is that critical mass, you have militias. In the river valley   communities of Tarsh, where militias (and mercenaries) are beginning   to supplant the traditional notion of the fyrd, there is again a role   for Yelmalians, not least because they have much less of a day-to-day   cattle raider/trolls from the hills/etc problem, and the main role of   these forces is muster in time of war. However, go to the fringes,   where there is much more banditry, raiding, etc, then the cultural   niche is much more suited to Elmal. And anyway, they are more likely   to be the sort who would spit on Yelmalio precisely because Furthest   approves of him!

  Mark