Jane:
> I was thinking of very grim humour, the sort that you wince at
rather than
> laughing.
Donald:
> > - say Destor. Then it's easier for him to have
> > loyalties to others, I would suggest someone obscure so it
> > doesn't come to light easily.
So long as he can cry "Orlanth's Holy Trews!"
There is a tendency to somehow talk up the civilisation of Whitewall, but they really are a bunch of savages in the eyes all good 'n proper Lunars.
Perfect opportunity for a couple of ex-Lunar Army chaps to head south with a couple of horses packed with iron weapons, and set themselves up as kings of fabled "Volsaxistan". Broyan can be poor old Ootah. Of course, there'll be all this prattle about Orlanthi strength with blades, myth and magic, but nowt an ex-Lunar file leader can't deal with. I wonder what rune they can recognise to render kinship with the Volsaxi? [Before their mates turn up. And who is Saeed Jaffrey?]
But being serious...
The Demaratos figure (an exiled Spartan king of the Eurypontid line that was an occasional advisor to Xerxes) is resonant: the proud warrior who through feud and hatred is cast from his people and goes to the enemy, but still stands proud in his heritage and culture, his feud focused variably on a single figure, the leadership, a bloodline or an entire clan.
Such a figure speaks of the Heortling's strength (even proving it via feat of arms) and urges caution in the HQ when others urge arrogance and the surety of victory.
Who might have the gravitas and background to fulfill such a role in the Lunar camp? A king like Hroar (perhaps a little too Moonie)? Or Bosodos Bowbreaker? Or a figure separate, more closely attuned to Broyan and the Volsaxi, and defined for such a purpose.
And secondly...
What of the Demaratos in reverse? The refined, urbane Imperial soldier (I would suggest one that has not 'gone native') who through argument and deceit has gone over to the defenders? Either prior to the siege, or at some point during it, with events in the Lunar camp. Ultimately, he is a tragic figure, no doubt thoughtful and kind, but with a heavy doom: mistrusted by many of his new allies (except a key figure, perhaps), hated and sentenced to a slow death by his excomrades.
(In the 'Humanist Glorantha', characters like him are the true casualties of the siege, good men who, with their own principles forged in the Mortal World, attempt to rise above the clashings of myth and magic, yet are consumed utterly by the cruel Hero Wars)
With the ideological basis of the siege, reasons for such bear careful consideration. He (she) need not be a Sedenyite if this causes too much trouble for people, or perhaps deeply troubled Moonies who fear that Solar (Tatius)-led destruction and persecution is not what the Goddess intends. Destruction of a rogue element is the ultimate failure of Inclusion, after all.
Maddened philosophers or liberal, perceptive thinkers. Have extreme personal hatreds blinded them from the glow of the Goddess, or is it a case of the individual expressing the primacy of his own (and therefore 'right') mythic perspective over the sheepish destruction urged by men of unwise minds? And what deep personal chasm or journey has driven them to their act?
(Allusion can of course cover many bases)
Cheerio,
Stu.
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