>>That's the Army of Tarsh without Fazzur's troops, IMO (and IMG). >>Basically, a contribution to the Cavalry Corps for the conquest of >>Dragon Pass, units created by Fazzur for the kind of Blitzkrieg >>actions he led into Volsaxar when Euglyptus botched the invasion of Esrolia in 1605.
>>In Dragon Pass terms, I am thinking of 3 to 6 units equal to the >>mounted Sartar city militia.
> Which is a heck of a lot of cavalry to raise out of nowhere. It is
> not as if Tarsh has a culture of horsemen.
It does have a history of daring cavalry charges - compare the history of Yarandros (contemporary and friend of Derek Pol Joni).
I don't necessarily limit the riders Fazzur recruited to Tarsh, either - if he brought in people from his other estates in Saird/Sylila, along with horses, he still could have offered the veterans small holdings in his Tarshite estates.
>>> It looks like we need to define the associations involved - the ones >>> for the Assiday family, the Tarsh Royal Family and Fazzur's family. >>> Then we can make sense of the politics. I've got a few ideas for >>> the Assiday's. >>Great. I see Fazzur having connections to Jillaro, for horse->>breeding, and having several leagues of manufacturers both in >>Sylila and Tarsh working to equip his forces.
> OK, I'll see what I can get down in useful form.
These ideas predate what I have learned since about Lunar leagues, but meshes nicely with those.
>>> I'm assuming that any road marked on the map is adequate for wagons. >>> I'm not sure which are the royal highways.
>>Duck Point to Wilmskirk, Wilmskirk to Roadend, Wilmskirk to Boldhom, >>Boldhome to Swenstown, Boldhome to Jonstown, Jonstown to Dangerford, >>Dangerford to Ironspike, Ironspike to Alone, Ironspike to Aldachur
> The map in DP doesn't show any roads to Ironspike. The road goes as
> far as Heron Green with roads from there to Alone and Aldachur.
True. I meant Heron Green. The Far Point is not really my home turf...
> I would have expected a road southwards as well. At least from
> Wilmskirk to Roadend. Looks about right for the border between
> Sartar and Volsaxiland.
Yes, forgot that one. Built by Tarkalor, and possibly continued all the way to Whitewall, but fell into disrepair when the Volsaxi tribes chose not to follow Terasarin.
> If there's a significant difference between the royal highways
> and other major roads then the Lunars are going to have problems
> getting supplies to WW. Unless they've improved that road.
Royal highways are paved. Other roads are strips of open land where tracks avoid the worst mud - mediaeval rather than Roman roads.
>>My impression of backcountry Sartar is one of no wagon traffic for >>transporting goods, or even taxes.
> Well taxes are going to be either silver coin or cattle, probably
> a mixture and with other goods as well. The total taxes paid by a
> typical clan is 500 cows or 10,000 Lunars. So even if the clan
> gathers everything in one place and sends it to the tribe at one
> time it's barely going to be a full wagon load. And you don't keep
> a wagon for one use a year without ritual reasons.
Yes. Wagons will be used for traffic across the Pass, but not for trade between clans or even tribes.
>>> I would expect a missionary post at tribal level. With number of >>> guards depending on how friendly the tribe is. There's only a >>> couple of dozen tribes. >>That missionary post at every tribe would be there if the leadership >>wasn't interested in showing the bloody followers of Umatum their >>proper place ground into the dust. With Dara Happan management, I >>wonder why the population wasn't simply enslaved wholesale and>>shipped off to toil in the Redlands, or be used up for >>entertainment as well as ritual purposes in Imperial games.
> Not enough military resources to round everyone up. In any case
> it would flood the slave markets.
Ah, different economic interests in the Heartlands, that might be a good explanation. And the tax and rebel slave contingents make for a steady supply of Sartarites to the Heartland slave auctions.
> I expect some Dara Happen has created a plan for the pacification
> of Sartar based on that idea. Opposing it are the missionaries
> and the traders. It isn't just a matter of who is in charge but
> who is on the ground doing the work and when you get different
> groups working at cross purposes generally not much happens.
Sure. In addition to that, I see the Royal House of Tarsh as a major player much closer to the action, with as big a stake as any Dara Happan league may have.
>>The Lunars appear to believe that the tribes are more strongly >>tied to the cities than they do in reality - after all, in their >>culture the tribes would be extensions of the cities. That's where >>most of the missionary activity will be.
> Most I can see, but every friendly tribal chief will want an
> advisor or two. If they aren't friendly the Lunars need someone
> there to guide them the right way.
> In any case from MGF we need them there - if they are all hidden
> away in the cities many PCs will never encounter them.
Sure, gaming styles differ. My players were used to go to the cities quite often, so there was no issue with no Lunars being encountered.
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