Re: The cities of Sartar: income, troops.

From: donald_at_i4b7-HJUonmp3dr36Fh1HOHbQ6Xrr1kgaCxy96XkGJkhd6hOoWEcfkTGCKKdso8bGej7Y
Date: Fri, 27 Apr 2007 12:59:25 GMT


In message <f0s631+cpfe_at_eGroups.com> "valkoharja" writes:
>Here's another thing I've been working on.
>
>The guild model that RQ-2 sources talk about seems somewhat at odds
>with the rest of Sartar. I've started to think that it's more likely
>certain clans, or more precicely certain bloodlines within the clans
>would be the closest one gets to guilds.

This has been discussed before. I think on the Glorantha digest but it might have been the HQ Yahoo group as well. The conclusion was that in the cities the clan/bloodline model has broken down somewhat and although a bloodline often dominates a particular craft guild it is possible for people from other bloodlines and clans to join that guild.

>There may well be a bloodline that mostly lives inside the city (along
>a certain street) and who do 90% of the skilled leather work in the
>city. In a city, and the surrounding areas it propably makes sense to
>trade for good shoes and saddles from these professionals, rather than
>making them yourselves.
>
>In a similar way the cities make possible larger scale production that
>isn't feasible on the clan, or even tribe, level. Making significant
>amounts of parchment or candles, for instance.

And also create the demand for them. Rural Sartar will regard candles and parchment as luxuries. For the most part they will rise at dawn and go to be at dusk. OK in the winter you sit up drinking after dark but the fire provides enough light for that. Most people aren't literate so what do you want parchment for? If you want to send tell someone something you go to see them or send a verbal message with a relative. I can see taking messages to other steads being a very common activity for the young adults.

>As I understand it, the cities were an important part of income for
>the princes of Sartar. As warlords, I doubt their "revenue" directly
>from the 24 tribes of Sartar was all that significant.
>
> ***
>
>I've also been wondering on what sorts of troops the cities made
>possible. Were they the source of significan amounts of professional
>huscarls (parhaps in the form of Humakt temples and the like),
>cavalry, archers or parhaps all the above?

The cities are all controlled by tribal confederations. Wilmskirk, for example, is run by the Locaem, Kultain, Balmyr and Sambari tribes. The city will be the gathering place for the tribes' warriors and fyrds but generally won't have any special troops. There are a few major Humatki temples in Sartar but not as many as one per city. I get the impression that there are two or three Humatki Battalions each with a settled base somewhere in Sartar but these may not be in cities. In addition there's a Vingan temple somewhere in the Quivini mountains and several Uroxi warbands with no fixed base.

The board game Dragon Pass has an order of battle which lists all the units available during the Hero Wars. In 1602 few of the special units are available and because it works on a thousand man infantry unit the smaller warbands are lost in more general groups.

-- 
Donald Oddy
http://www.grove.demon.co.uk/

           

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