Re: Re: Dragonrise arc

From: Jane Williams <janewilliams20_at_...>
Date: Mon, 16 Mar 2009 15:41:39 +0000 (GMT)

Our source of knowlegde on the USA education system.  he say:
> Definitely not true here. History comes in three flavors in high school:

How about junior school? I'm pretty sure that's when I learnt that the Egyptians had pyramids, and a bit more than that about the Romans. That was a while ago, but I know Romans are still taught at that level, I've lent re-enactment kit to junior school teachers so they can do some hands-on with the kids.

> 1.    2 years of world history, starting with cavemen and ending somewhere between WWII and the fall of the Berlin wall.

Not much depth, then?

> 2.    1 year of American history, starting with conquistadors, but without any European context

OK....

> 3.    An optional year of European history, which most people avoid like the plague
> because it's taught only as a college-level course by a teacher who really looooves history.

And, I would imagine, because it won't get you a job. I dropped history at age 13 for that reason (plus it being boring).

> I have to look it up on wikipedia to remember the difference between the English Revolution
> and the Glorious Revolution. I hope I got those names right.

I don't know, I'd have to look them up myself. Ah, "Glorious Revolution of 1688-1689" - school history for me stopped at about Cromwell. The "English revolution" seems to be another name for the English Civil War (which was neither English, civil, nor a war, I'm told).

> Correct. America formed from an empty, lightless void of history.
> It was like the big bang, or divine creation -- take your pick.

Oh dear :(

> When teaching history in Boston, do your history books take the side of the English or the Irish?

Surely a decent history book doesn't take sides at all?

> Jane, responding to Jeorg:
> > > The majority of Fazzur's command (as I envision it) are medium cavalry
> > > similar to that of the city confederation militias of Sartar,

> > (blinks) Cavalry? You see Sartarites as having that much cavalry, too?

> That was my reaction, too. I see the clan's and tribe's weaponthanes having horses, which they mainly use for
> patrol. I don't really see them fighting from horseback. They'd be dismounted, in the front of the shieldwall.

I see the weaponthanes as being perfectly capable of fighting on horseback, though not as good as specialists like the Pentans or Praxians (ok, they're riding things other than horses). I'm remembering that the Romans used Celtic cavalry. These are full-time warriors, and generalists rather than specialists. Also, Glorantha has discovered the stirrup rather earlier than in our history, and that makes life a lot easier.

> I also agree with whoever said that the garrison troops are likely to be hoplites. In the field, they'd use pikes. > On garrison duty, they'd have shield and short sword, much like the Roman legions.

Only the "short sword" will be a scimitar, since that's religiously correct.

> Since they are the heaviest infantry available, you would put them in places where they need to
> out-muscle the opponent head to head.

I'm a little surprised that that's what you want for street fighting, but that's not something I know much about. Definitely sword rather than spear, there, though.       

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