> The major weirdness is that Prax and Sun County are part of the Seleran
Empire.
It is a little weird, but it is very consistent with the canon. We know that Praxians went with Pentans in the conquest of Kralorela. I think that's actually the key. From a practical perspective, horses can't survive well in the wastes, so Sheng's claim of dominion over the Praxians is free of content -- there's nothing there that he wants other than help getting to Kralorela and Tehnos. But he also can't stand anyone not submitting to him, so he has to claim dominion.
I think what it really meant was that Sheng persuaded a Greatest Khan to lead huge numbers of Praxians under Sheng's leadership. That would probably be enough for Sheng; for Praxian's, the Greatest Khan's authority ends just outside bowshot. I'm sure there was skull-duggery behind getting a Greatest Khan to go along. This is about 100 years after the Praxians drove Pure Horse Tribe out of Prax, so the Praxians are relatively free of their hang-up with horses. And some Praxians would leap at the opportunity to repay the Dragon People for the Battle of Lost Hope. I can see Sheng sending evil spirits to kill off one or more Greatest Khans until he finds one who really hates Kralorelans. There's probably some magical proof involved about how the giants and the dragons hate each other, so the giants want us to raid the dragon people. Sheng is pretty successful at everything he does, so this seems pretty trivial compared to other things he accomplished.
I'm not certain how to think about Sun County. Generally, I think of the entire period of 1328 to 1420 as being a period of Praxian dominion. If Sheng believes that he rules the Praxians, and the Praxians rule Sun County, then Sheng also rules Sun County. Now that I know that there were Teshnans at the mouth of the River of Cradles, I suspect that they moved into Sun County and that they could be some of the outlanders in question, if they are not simply Praxians. But if there were simultaneous references to horses in Sun County, that would make me think Pentans. Ultimately, though, even if Sheng had every heard of Sun County, I just can't see Sheng caring about such a piddly little oasis on the far side of an inhospitable desert. If his Praxian allies say it is theirs, but their sunny oasis people rebel every once in a while, that is their problem, not his.
Drawing the two themes together, and assuming a date of 1356 for the Pentan-Praxian invasion of Kralorela, I'd note that Kokostang succeeded Golungan as Sun Count in 1352; and that Belonni succeeds Kokostang in 1358. This might reflect factional fighting. Kokostang could be either the Greatest Khan or his placeman. Belonni would probably be on the other side of the argument. There are lots of other possibilities there.
> There was also a manifestation of Jaldon toothmaker at this time which may have
>been Seleran related.
I'm missing this one. Source?
> I wouldn't have liked to be the first person to explain to Sheng that there was
>this pissant
> little spell called the Closing which made naval invasions slightly
impossible.
lol
Chris
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