>> Is Casinotown ruled by these Brithini too, or is it an independent city-state? (It could also be somewhere in between the two I suppose).
>> Also what sort of people make up the city's population, and in approximately what proportions?
> The governance of God Forgot is quite obscure and not helped by shifting sources over the ages (for example Refuge is said to be in God Forgot according to the Genertela Book but now is part and parcel of Heortland).
Refuge might be a special case since there seems to be a "Brithini" city government despite the change of overlords.
There is no official material about Refuge, but the city bears a lot of resemblance to the city in the Thieves World pack published by Chaosium. There is an excellent French article how to adapt that publication to (RQ3-) Glorantha.
> The presence of a single city labelled Talar Hold suggests a unified government under the Talar of God Forgot.
Picking up your idea with the runic associations, this is where the Mastery Rune resides...
> I suspect that before Steelfall, the old rulers would have resided in Zistorela.
If the old rulers were the Ingareens, why should they have moved just because they accepted a new overlord? If they retained enough Brithini-isms, nobody of the Unity Army would have enjoyed staying in their neighborhood (where there may have been aftereffects of the Tap spells used by their sorcerers, and the possibility to become subject to one) any more than remaining at the front.
> What's left unsaid is what happened to the population in the territory that was conquered by the New Unity Army. The Esvulari helped the New Unity Army and so would have been appointed tax-collectors and the like over the conquered God Forgotten. When the New Unity Army fell apart, the Esvulari would have been in a strong position to become the rulers of God Forgot.
Basically, the Machine War created the equivalent of WW1's Verdun. Any population that might have resided near the combat zone would have been evacuated, most likely pressed into service. The use of uneducated slaves to move and point technological weapons has been perfected by Isidilian, and I don't think that the Zistorites would have restrained from copying that method (though probably using different weapons than blackpowder cannon).
> Fast forward to the Pharaonic Takeover. The God Forgotten are made a separate sixth while the Esvulari are counted as part of Heortland. If the Esvulari were ruling God Forgot at the time then it's difficult to how they became Pharaonic supporters. Ergo they must have lost control of God Forgot before that time.
The way I see this, the quasi-Brithini magically remained the lords of God Forgot, and only the extent of the border was under dispute at this time. The Esvulari remained second class citizens under either regime until Belintar gave them the freedom to act for themselves.
> When the Hendriki are in their expansionist phase after the fall of the EWF, they easily win tribute from Esvular and are far more concerned with the conquest of Esrolia. They seem to have lost that tribute after the Dragonkill for Finelanth (circa 1160 ST) is described as raiding Esvular.
> Around 1190 ST, Esvular is strong under the leadership of Delesus and the threat is put down with great difficulty.
That fire-breathing brass horse sounds like either an artifact from the Machine Ruins or an invention of Leonardo (or, if he is not that old, some previous master in that tradition of mecha-sorcery Leonardo inherited). Delesus "was from the southern clan called the New Fern," which sounds like he lived real close to the ruins.
> Finally in 1267 ST, the Hendriki are besieging Refuge and destroy its walls. So it seems to me that the conquest of Refuge marks the end of Esvulari hegemony over God Forgot.
So the ceremonial power of those Brithini-lookalikes became real again?
All of this time, including the Adjusted Lands episode, these kings operated under Ezkankekko as overlord over the Shadowlands. It doesn't look like one could not accept two or three different authorities at the same time - which is what I think the Esvulari did.
> The one thing I sense from all this is that the Esvulari (or the
Hendriki) must not like living in God Forgot. It isn't a matter of the climate because God Forgot isn't very far from Heortland. Even if central government had collapsed, under normal circumstances power would have devolved to the local lords, who would have been Esvulari. That they are not indicates that there's either something strange with the people and/or something strange in the magical landscape that makes normal residence impossible for outsiders. I should qualify this by saying God Forgot in general is inhospitable to outsiders but there are certain magical points that are tolerable (Zistorela, Casino Town)
It might simply be a strong presence of hard-to-control Essences which makes the theists and animists unhappy. Spectres from the Iron Wars might be another problem, as well as places that have been tapped dead during that conflict (or in the course of survival through the Darkness). Maybe that gray atmosphere attributed to Arolanit can be found here as well.
> In the Middle Sea Empire, it was stated that God Forgot was under the influence of the Connectivists who examined the connections between the runes. In my opinion the magical landscape of God Forgot is dotted with runic locations and that Casino Town marks the site of the Rune of Luck.
Makes a lot of sense, also in the light of Belintar's runic magic. Weak or well-balanced elemental forces, and strong other runes (power runes well balanced, too, I suspect, although with strong points).
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