Re: Casinotown

From: jorganos <joe_at_ro8voko_XW8T8FYgmruM4QRFCZ7Qd94j6YelLR2LIUXfbFgFDhmC7mt7n3053JYBd8-lDvCP>
Date: Fri, 12 Aug 2011 18:36:40 -0000

>
> > Peter, that bit in Glorantha: Introduction to the Hero Wars (149) where "the Pharaoh broke the bank of Casino Town and God Forgot has since been one of the six lands of Kethaela" is one of yours? It always worked beautifully IMG, since he is the paramount Master of "Luck" and Death, after all.
>
> FWIW, I suspect Casino Town dates to after Belintar's arrival. It was not present in the Second Age (and does not appear anywhere in the History of the Heortling Peoples). I'm not sure the origin of it, but it might be something actually founded by Belintar himself.

If presence in the History of the Heortling People is a criterion, there was no Karse after the Dawn. Neither the people of God Forgot nor the Pelaskite fisherfolk are Heortling Peoples, so their omission is quite in keeping with the book's focus. (I mean, the city of Karse doesn't even get a number of inhabitants on the cover map, but the fisherman village of Sklar one estuary further south does...)

Personally, I suspect Casino Town dates back to the Dawn Age. I wouldn't be surprised if contact with the Gold Wheel Dancers brought about the first casino. A spinning coin may just inspire early games of chance for cash.

Whether you go there for games of chance or not, I suspect that Casino Town is a good place to change magical loot into cash, or vice versa. In that regard, it may have been a place where participants of the Iron War may have gone after their turn of service (those who gave temporal oaths).