That's the problem with Timelines - two events can be placed side-by-side but are nearly 80 years apart. We see them as being contemporary, but to the people involved there are generations involved. The EWF ended in the time of the grandfathers of the participants in the Dragonkill.
> When the EWF leadership was assassinated in 1042, many of the
> dragon magics learned by the EWF ceased functioning. The immediate
> effect was drastic: Cities built with this magic began to crumble,
> the strange draconic crops (and all the harvests) turned into
> putrid slime just as if they had been carried out of the EWF, and
> the draconic husbandry fell ill and perished. The clans' magic that
> had been turned into draconic worship was lost.
Those clans who had turned to worshipping draconic versions of their own gods would probably have gone back to their old worship and might even have become more fanatical in their worship. Some, however, would have tried to stick with draconic ways and would have left their clans.
> It isn't absolutely clear what side-effects these assassinations
> had and how the ability to speak Auld Wyrmish was affected. The
> loss of the "favourable terrain" effect of the dragon dream had
> gone, and even with split tongues (and possibly, split braiins)
> only basics of Auld Wyrmish could be applied.
I'm not sure about that. According to Orlanthi mythology, Eurmal taught men to speak Auld Wyrmish and he wasn't affected by the end of the EWF. The Gift Carriers took back the EWF secrets, but did that include Auld Wyrmish? I think that those who could already speak it would have kept the ability, but that anyone trying to learn it would be unable to do so as the ritual to split the brains/tongues would no longer have worked.
> Not all dragon magic was affected, primarily those magics that
> built upon the chain of veneration within the pyramid scheme
> channeled through the draconic leaders fell apart.
Absolutely. This scheme needed people at the top to exist and to send magic back down to the worshippers. Once they went, the power could still be sent up the chain but couldn't be turned back and sent back down as easily.
> The rare cases of true draconic mystics and the individually
> acquired transformative spells of the Path of Immanent Mastery
> still may have had their powers, though in much weakened form
> since the terrain had become unfavourable.
I'd disagree with this. Delecti was around some 78 years after the end of the EWF. There is a description of one of the Dragon Ring answering The Call and transforming to a dragon, which I have always taken as him joining in the Dragonkill. The Path of Immanent Mastery is Jrusteli in origin and came from Kralorela, so wouldn't have been affected by the end of the EWF.
> This may have allowed the people of the EWF to maintain their
> defenses for some time, and to aquire some non-draconic
> seedstock and herds after famine had claimed many of their numbers.
The EWF didn't just rely on draconic crops and livestock. The people always had their old crops and animals and I can't see them having been abandoned.
Sure, individual powerful people in the EWF would have carried on and would even have tried to continue the legacy of the EWF.
> The immediate effect of the collapse must have been worse than
> the effect of the Irish potato famine. I would expect a death
> toll of about 40% of the Dragon Pass population, and another 30%
> of emigrees moving out of the region. I'm convinced that Enfrew's
> settlement of Suchara Vale (then a narrow strip on the Creek-Stream
> River) fell into this time, and that there was a huge influx of
> refugees into Nochet and Esrolia. Even Pavis may have seen
> refugees, despite its troubles with Jaldon's hordes.
I agree that many people would have emigrated at this time, but not necessarily for the reasons given. There was instability in the region. Those who had been suppressed had risen up again. However, it took the True Golden Horde many years to throw off their masters and to organise themselves sufficiently to attack the old EWF.
> Some might even taken to the Remakers to survive this catastrophe
> in any way, e.g. as pain centaurs.
Possibly, but I would have thought that this was a local affair.
> Few clans would have survived this emigration intact, so there
> would be few collective clan memories of participation in the EWF.
I wouldn't have thought that whole clans would have emigrated. Clans would have split into those who stayed to worship the Old Ways, those who left and carried on with the draconic ways and those who emigrated . Such split clans wouldn't have carried the clan lore and many things would have been lost. They would have carried some information and might have brought back worship of heroes and ancestors to their new tribes.
When the True Golden Horde came a-plundering, more clans might have fled southwards towards Heortland and northwards towards Tarsh. They might well have brought more of their clan knowledge.
See Ya
Simon
Powered by hypermail