Peter raises a lot of ideas, some that I think are excellent, some that I am pretty sure are wrong - but he points in the right direct: there really should be some serious thought about *what* the Second Age folk should look like if you are running a game there.
One thing for certain: they shouldn't look the same as folk seven or eight centuries later.
A few quick comments (since Ian and I need to start work on the final draft of Coming Storm today):
> SAFELSTRANS
> For starters I would have the Seshnegi clothing scheme imposed on the
> Safelstrans as a deliberate attempt to civilize them. Anybody wearing
> the older autarchy fashions is liable for severe punishment. Some
> Safelstrans could evade the laws by dressing up as an Orlanthi
> fuzzie-wuzzie instead.
OK, that's the first problem - I doubt that the Orlanth cultists are viewed as "fuzzie-wuzzies." They are technologically comparable and tied to the cities of Lake Felster by centuries of alliance, trade, and cult. Think more the relationship between the Greek city-states and the tribal kingdoms of Macedonia and Thrace.
> The ancient Autarchy fashion was I feel based on the Dari Alliance which
> was a confederation of horsemen lording it over sedentary populations.
I'm not sure there was an "Autarchy" fashion. There certainly was not an Autarchy culture (Greg and I had quite a bit of discussion about the Autarchy last year).
But you are right that the lowlands of the Autarchy were the old lands of the Dari Alliance. Let's run with the Thracian analogy a little more. The uplander clans and tribes are more likely to be infantry, the lowland cities more likely to field cavalry.
> To make the Galanini as different from the Grazers and the Selerans, I
> base the Dari Alliance on the Manchu (with the big difference that the
> Galanini are dominating Malkioni and other peoples rather than
> Chinese). When Arkat takes over, he transforms the Galanini hordes into
> Arkati armies.
There weren't Galanini "hordes". They are the local horse herders who end up becoming largely sedentary. And they embraced plenty of Theyalan cults in the First Age as well as some Hrestoli philosophies, bits of Nyalorian mysticism and lots more. Under Arkat, they were encouraged and permitted to explore their own myths and cults. Heck for that matter, Arkat himself never "took over" or even claimed to be anyone's ruler. He just lived there, and the locals went to him for advice or to reconcile disputes. That's why it was called the Autarchy.
> So when the Seshnegi take over, one of the first things they do is to
> outlaw all Safelstran horsemen. They'll rely on their own horsepower
> for cavalry needs and for native infantry, they'll ensure their loyalty
> by having a seshnegi or an exotic squad fighting alongside every two
> native squads.
Easier said than done.
> So what type of weapons would the native Safelstrans fight with? We
> could look at the cult of Yelorna which is supposedly an offshoot from
> the Galanini there. They have two types of foot troops there - the
> shield maidens and the wanderers. There's also the Labrys which the
> Yelornans don't use.
I wouldn't rely much on the tiny Yelorna cult of Prax to figure out Second Age Safelster.
My own take on them in the second age is that each city fields a troop of cavalry and of foot, most armed and organized in "the old way," although in practice the cavalry look increasingly like Seshnelan heavy cavalry, and the foot are increasingly skirmishers who use bows, slings, and throwing spears.
> SESHNEGI
> The Seshnegi infantry will be basically clad in iron and wield iron
> weapons (both produced from the Iron Mountains). The iron protects them
> against enemy spells which means that every contest is basically one of
> numbers. Since Iron is the death metal and you were casting around for
> a stormtrooper analogy, you could call them deathtroopers. Their armour
> won't be completely iron - it could just be as simple as a leather coat
> with iron discs sown on. There won't be anything as fancy as a suit of
> mail as it would use too much iron and use too much labour to produce
> for little extra benefit. The average deathtrooper would have just
> enough iron to make him immune to spells and if he wants additional
> armour then he's likely to consider bronze addons.
The elite swordsmen of the Empire likely are armed with iron (the Deathmen of Laurmal or something similar), but not the bulk of troops. Even for the MSE, that's just too expensive.
> The Seshnegi cavalry can't wear iron armour as their horses aren't big
> enough to carry the extra weight needed to give them decent magical
> protection.
Since when did Gloranthan iron weigh more than bronze?
Jeff
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