Hey, don;t worry about "starting an argument" - this is just debate, and a fun one at that.
> 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!
I am rather tickled by the idea of a mass storming of the Hill of Gold! In a way, Yelmalians probably *do* do this - not in the sense of projecting 4000 phalangists onto the heroplane, but in terms of structured communal support for the heroes actually doing the quest. This is functionally little different from the clan gathering to support Orlanthi heroquesters, but is probably rather more formal and organised.
> 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.
I am betraying my own anti-solar prejudices here, but I tend to think as the Yelmalians as good anal-retentive purity types, who precisely glory in sticking to their traditions. There will be some variation, not least depending on whether they are respected local powers or beleagered aliens, but I think SDTs would be strikingly homogeneous. They aren't stupid, of course, and this is where native auxilaries and the like would be used an a major conflict to ensure that they could operate most effectively in the local terrain.
But the use of the spear and phalanx is not just a 'this works for us here and now' situational decision, it is a central part of their mythic rationale and religious tradition. I think that this is easy to forget - in the Real World, if the US Army decided it made sense to equip all its troops with Kalashnikovs, that might cause grumbling, practical problems, etc, but it is essentially a functional choice. The odds that US soldiers would start drinking vodka, reading Pushkin or voting Communist as a result would be pretty slim. In Glorantha, though, there is a direct link between a society's mode of organisation, its language, its artefacts, and its religious faith.
OK, I'll get off my soapbox now ;-)
A final point, there will be powerful and effective Yelmalians, the sort who can and do go to the Hill of Gold alone. But if we are talking about modes of social organisation and war-fighting techniques of the society *as a whole*, Yelmalians are much more geared to large-unit, organised and hiererchical methods than, say, Elmal who is a recogniseably Orlanthi deity (ie individualist).
But all this is, of course, just IMO.
All the best
Mark
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