>I wonder - is her compulsory Master Smith back in Sartar, or is he
>in WW? If any of his output is going to go anywhere other than the
>Lunars, he may be more use based here. The brewer will be in Sartar,
>though.
The Kheldon tribe is fairly big, I expect she has at least two Master Smiths. The minimum is for a small tribe - say three or four small clans who can't support a smith each. Bigger clans will have one of their own.
>Yes, I was thinking of misfortune that isn't down to squabbles
>between clans, and doesn't have a legal argument. More the "we
>got mugged by trolls" sort of level. Or Lunars, of course.
>Outside WW, so it isn't Broyan's problem.
I doubt that's her problem anyway, if a warband gets into fights and loses they're more likely to avoid admitting the fact than appeal for help. If they were farmers it would be her problem.
>I'd guess that she'd hire a good lawspeaker for both sides and then stand
>back. Try to find compromise no-lose solutions, perhaps. But she's never
>going to satisfy everyone in a situation like that. And how many spare
>wandering lawspeakers are there, anyway? Wait till the next time Minaryth
>drops in, and ask him for a favour?
>
>Oh. No. Wait for the next group of PCs who include a lawspeaker.....
I'd put the number of wandering lawspeakers as very low and they'll have problems if they don't know the Volsaxi tribal preceedents, which will be slightly different from Kheldon or Colymar ones.
>> I don't see Starkval as an inspirational cult, rather he's
>> the fyrd leader who spends his time checking equipment,
>> organising drills and making sure everyone knows their
>> place and what they're supposed to be doing. If anything
>> he imparts a quiet confidence that if everyone does what
>> he's told them they will win.
>
>That sounds more Elmal to me, but we're along the right lines.
I was thinking rather Humatki without the death fixation but yes, there are overlaps.
>> Well he has to cope with his king emulating Vingkot so another
>> hero will be at least one too many.
>
>All that flashy showing off.... And it makes the youngsters in the
>fyrd want to run round being heroic instead of useful, too!
They aren't his problem, once he's got them past the stage where he can knock them down with one hand behind his back they're allowed to join the warband. His problem is all the people who'd rather be doing something else.
>> That missing explanation is going to be the key - something
>> goes horribly wrong because Broyan didn't know it.
>
>Sounds promising, doesn't it?
>
>And that perhaps brings us on to another area of strategy in WW.
>Information. We touched on this earlier, with that comment about
>when they were still treating it as cattle-raiding. If you're off
>to raid some cattle, you start off with a lot of boasting in the
>mead-hall about what you're going to do, with who, where, and when.
>Do that in WW, and surprise, surprise, the Lunars are waiting for
>you. But sneaking out *without* boasting and ritually asking
>permission as per the myths is dishonourable and bad luck.
>
>Kallyr's been doing guerilla warfare for years, she knows better
>than to do that sort of thing. But total secrecy and small groups
>is fine out in the open, raids in the Far Place or in Sartar, it
>won't work so well in the more confined arena of WW.
She's also got to get them away from the idea that you ride back to WW with the loot and have a celebration. Instead you disappear into the hills, bury or flog your loot and do it all again.
>By 1620, I think we need to assume that WW is riddled with Lunar
>agents. And the Lunar camp is of course riddled with Orlanthi
>agents. In fact, they're playing counter-intelligence games,
>double-bluffs, triple agents, all sorts of fun!
>
>To what extent do they move towards total secrecy and a
>need-to-know attitude? How fast? How much do they over-do it?
>How many people object?
With newcomers arriving throughout the first part of 1620 I think the dishonourable argument gets repeated for a long time. By the end of the year though the secrecy problem is down to people drinking too much and talking. At this point it becomes a matter of who can be trusted with information.
>I'd expect you'd end up with one person at the centre coordinating
>all sorts of different raids where the warbands don't know about
>each other - and if that central command point makes a mistake,
>vanishes back to Sartar, or just gets taken out temporarily, things
>will go horribly wrong and probably result in "friendly fire". It's
>the sort of job Kallyr would be very good at - but when she hands
>over to whoever does it when she isn't there, what vital information
>gets missed out?
Does she even hand over properly? or does she just go off leaving everyone in the dark?
Bear in mind that a guerilla army doesn't do much co-ordination between groups, there aren't enough groups for friendly fire to be a significant risk. The risk of communicating plans to a central figure is far greater. So only a general idea of who's operating where will be known to her.
I think the problem is more likely to be a guerilla band sends Kallyr a message which needs her to tell Broyan something - maybe arrange for the WW garrison to do something. Kallyr's not there and no one else knows what to do about it so nothing gets done.
-- Donald Oddy http://www.grove.demon.co.uk/
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