Donald Oddy:
> >4. (The best) FW was actually a Sartari own goal.
> >They attempted to interrupt the Kalikos Icebreaker
> >ceremonies to starve the Lunar Heatlands, and blew it
> >badly. Reallly, really badly. Therefore no skalds,
> >Lawspeakers, chroniclers or bards were allowed to
> >mention it, on pain of death. Then, what few
> >surreptitious records were made vanish during the Era
> >of Illiteracy. This makes good sense, considering the
> >Orlanthi do control the weather.
> >
> > In this context, "Ashart dies of heat." is
> >actually a reverse code for "Ashart dies of cold."
>
> This makes a lot of sense if Argrath was involved in the
> mistake. However I'm not sure where the magical resources
> would come from to do it. Most Sartarite resources are
> committed to Broyan and defending Whitewall at this point.
> Could be that Argrath tried with totally inadequate
> resources and found himself facing a several mastery deficit
> against the Lunars. Success/success turning into
> Fumble/Critical - just as well the Lunar weren't trying
> to kill him.
Argrath did the Kalikos-stuffing Quest later on when he met Valind's
son on Valind's Glacier, fought the questors, sacked Kalikos' Castle
and brought snow to the whole of Peloria until summer. This seemed
to be a surprise to Argarth, as he didn't expect to meet Valindsson
or the Kalikos Questors, it seems very opportunistic to me, which
would suggest that he hadn't had experience of the anti-Kalikos
Quest. He was searching for a weapon against Sheng Seleris and this
stopped the horses moving for a couple of seasons.
Also, King of Sartar mentions that long winter as something
extraordinary, but doesn't mention the Year-Long Fimbulwinter. Nor
does it mention the lack of breath. It does mention Bryan's flight
from Whitewall and his subsequent re-appearance at Bullford, which
marked the beginning of the revival of the Orlanthi's fortunes after
the fall of Whitewall.
So, it looks as though the Fimbulwinter has been invented post-King
of Sartar and slotted into the timeline. Which is no bad thing.
See Ya
Simon