> I'd think him not being at all Westernised would be a given -- so
> traditionalist they're almost throwbacks, if I might rep-- eh, quote
> myself, that's how I see the Volsaxi (and to a perhaps lesser extent,
> -ar).
Rather than use terms like "throwbacks" (which I don't think really make sense when talking about the Heortlings - throwbacks to when?), I prefer to think that the Volsaxi are a Hendreiki tribe that have "consciously" rejected sorcery, the Pharaoh and the Andrinic reforms. This can be described as "traditionalist" - but I'm sure if we compared 12th century post-Dragonkill Volsaxi to our early 17th century Volsaxi, we'd find plenty of changes.
> > The entire Vingkot kingship thingee suggests that the Volsaxi have
pretty
> > powerful kings by Heortling standards - real clout, real power,
almost
> > certainly king for life barring big boo-boos, and even hereditary
or
> > restricted bloodline election - all in contrast to the seven years,
> > challenged at any time, ability-alone election, limited-power
Heorling norm.
> Which kingship, exactly? I suppose I was picturing the 'federal'
> kingship as being for life (at least as practiced by Broyan), but
would
> the Volsaxi tribal kingship be for life also? (Formally so, or de
> facto?) The others point I certainly agree on for both.
Fair point. Here's my current thought: Volsaxi tribal kingship is
limited only to members of the royal clan. We still don't have a name
for them - it kind of depends on how old this system is:
If we trace it back to the Dawn, then the royal clan should probably
also be called the Volsaxi (or the Darvolsaxi) - how ever, I don't think
that the Volsaxi tribal kingship is the same as it was at the Dawn;
If we trace it back to the establishment of the Hendreiki, then the
royal clan can be named something like the Drini or Dovari;
If we trace it back the post-Dragonkill, the royal clan should probably
be the Royal Volsaxi (or Darvolsaxi);
And if we trace it back to Hardrard the Green, then the royal clan
should probably be the Hardrardi.
My own recommendation is that the current form of Volsaxi tribal kingship comes from either the post-Gbaji era (where Vingkot's trollfighting powers would come in handy) or the turbulent post-Dragonkill era (where you would need very strong kings to deal with the refugees). This reestablishment of the Volsaxi as a strong tribe of the Hendreiki gave the Volsaxi a strong identity (and set of traditions) with which to resist the Pharaoh and the Andrinic reforms.
Jeff
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