> I think all of them. Here is a key bit about the siege from
> OiD that I think we missed:
>
> "At an isolated clan rite high in the Storm Mountains, King
> Broyan and his closest companions appear upon ice-covered ponies
and ask
> to participate as foreigners in the rite. The Bullflood Clan
agrees to
> let them, and the rites conclude exactly as they do elsewhere.
Until
> the end. Broyan adds one line which he has brought forth from the
Old
> Wind Prophet:
>
> "This is the Great Darkness, prepare for the fight."
>
> His words cause a chill breath to shiver from everyone's
wracked
> body. Though no one realizes it at first, those chilly breaths
hale
> together to the clan healer, who is suddenly well. Magic works!
She
> has a complete choice: heal all her people a little, her chieftain
> completely, or the vistor? She heals the many people. They then
heal
> everyone else a little bit. That pleases Broyan.
>
> "WE HAVE FOOLED THE RED GODDESS AGAIN. NO ONE WAS IN
WHITEWALL
> FOR ALL THOSE MONTHS. WE LIVED IN ICE REFUGE, A STEAD HALL ATOP
> STORMWALK. THE OLD WIND PROPHET SPOKE TO US THERE. WE ALL
REMEMBER
> THIS MESSAGE." (For more information on Ice Refuge, see Storm
Tribe,
> pg. 129).
>
> John - I think we need to change the timetable and some of
our
> assumptions. I think Whitewall may have been empty for much of
1621!
> Maybe even since Sacred Time!
I must disagree with this (relatively strongly). To me it sounds
like good Orlanthi propaganda. "Nope, we didn't just get our arses
handed to us on a plate and don't worry about the fact that you have
no magic and find it difficult to breath, 'cause we just thumbed our
noses at the lunars. They took the city we've been trying
desperately to defend for the last 3 years, but its OK -we weren't
there. So there!"
It also shortcircuts any number of good stories. Where is the
drama, the sense of impending doom and the last minute efforts to
get out before the lunar axe falls?
It also doesn't square with what we know of the final timetable of
lunar assaults - "the besieged eat eagle meat that night."
But mostly it isn't MGF...
Yak