> How current is the thinking that Arkat ceased to act liken a Troll,
> and 'retired' to become a farmer and/or battle his demons, in a
> region of Ralios described on some old maps as "Arkat's Peace"?
I used the sentiment as the kernel for my theory that "Arkat didn't rule, he brooded". I find it difficult to accept that he retired to an actual farm and decided to interpret it as a metaphor for his frame of mind. A slight quibble all Cults of Terror says was that the region was known as Arkat's Peace (no maps involved) whereas it might have been more accurate to write that the *time* was known as Arkat's Peace.
> Secondly there was a tale in TOTRM 12 about Arkat's Three Generals,
> each of whom became something like a viceroy over a large portion of
> the Autarchy, whilst also setting the tone for a kind of Stygian
> Malkionism depending on the extent to which the believer could
> simultaneously follow Malkioni and 'pagan' practices.
The article was already old before it appeared in Tales #12 and has two flaws - the first being that the names of the generals are actually the generals who sacked Tanisor after the God Learners fell. The second more important flaw to my mind is the philosophies aren't all that exciting compared to the Carmanians for example.
Secondly given the secret society theme of post-Autarchy Safelster, there's really two sorts of religious intermixing - the ordinary which is similar to that practiced by the Carmanians, the Aeolians and the Trader Princes and the Occult which is practiced by the Arkati.
For the ordinary case, I think the pattern is that at the border of Tanisor, the people are pretty much orthodox Rokari. Further east and north there will appear to be strange innovations and practices appear with increasingly frequency until you reach the borders of the Orlanthi. There the people are mixing pagan practices with Malkioni much to the horror of LePain. The pattern is not uniform though, there will be enclaves of outright pagans and heretics quite close to Tanisor (although probably within the safety of the Sodal Marsh) while there will be Rokari pockets close to Lankst and Delela.
For the occult cases, I've taken the view the serious study of Arkati secrets starts at the border of the Dangim March and marks the true (spiritual) border between Safelster and Tanisor. On one side the pious Rokari abhor the practice of Arkatism while on the other, the pious Rokari see it as a necessary spiritual practice to protect the community from error just as Arkat protected Malkionism from the Deceiver. Some might even justify it as a reinterpretation of knighthood as practiced by the Hrestoli and the Castle Coast. Once you get to the other side of Safelster, people still practice Arkatism but don't justifying it in Malkioni terms because they are not familiar with its tenets.
--Peter Metcalfe
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