Ahhh, that's the kinda gold I was seeking mate... that's quite evocative Bryan, your descriptions certainly bring Esrolia to life.
One of the reasons I love Glorantha so much is that, despite it's fantasic nature, it seems to evoke a realism not found in many settings. For fantasy I always keep returning to GM in this setting, using either HQ rules or RQ rules for the mechanics.
It fits my interpretation of the place for sure, having the mediterrean flavour although I was thinking more frescos than tapestries, but I think I prefer the tapestry idea, just so I don't present the place as a complete Mycenaen rip-off, which it certainly isn't.
I think I remember seeing some pics somewhere of Holy Country soldiers wearing Egyptian-style head dresses - initially I thought that these were Esrolit, but now I think of them as soldiers from the The City of Wonders (when ruled by Belintar the Pharoah), as I picture the City of Wonders as a fantastic cross between Ancient Eygpt and Melinbone.
I picture the actual Esrolit much more Myceanean, well at least the women, as many of the artwork appear to be based on Minoan priestesses. I'm having trouble visualising how to present the males, as I don't think their dress is intended to be direct Mycenaen copies.
I found this pic of a Mycenaen chariot - I notice that the armour is not dissimilar to a pic of an Esrolit warrior I have seen in the Stafford Library book:
http://community.imaginefx.com/fxpose/jp_vieiras_portfolio/picture30729.aspx
Perhaps my Esrolit warriors may also have a large influence from the Hittites?:
http://media.photobucket.com/image/hittites%20pics%20osprey/Acidophilus-Bifidus/Civ/Hittite001.jpg
This pics about mid down the page seems to have some of the ideas I was after as well:
http://www.salimbeti.com/micenei/war.htm
Although, given their Theylan ancestry, there may be a few 'european barbarian' influences I need to throw in.
All good food for thought
cheers
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> --- In WorldofGlorantha_at_yahoogroups.com, "mankcam" <cma96352@> wrote:
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> > Hi everyone,
> >
> > I'm a new poster here, but I have been reasonably engaged with the forums on BRPCentral, Mongoose, and The Design Mechanism sites. I'm into RuneQuest and Glorantha (I have HeroQuest, but have got back to RQ, but I still tend to GM in Glorantha.
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> > I originally posted my query on the BRPCentral forums, and it was suggested that these yahoo messageboards may be the best place to get a good response.
> >
> > My query is this: "What is a good culture to use as an analogy for the People of Esrolia?"
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> > I don't have many resources which have artwork displaying Esrolit characters, so I'm not sure how they are intended to be depicted. In an earlier campaign I based them off the Mycenaens, with some Celtic/Gaulish touches here and there. I would like to bring Esrolia into my current 3rd Age Gloranthan campaign, but want to present the Esrolit in a fashion that is a more consistent interpretation of Esrolia of how the authors intended.
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> > I do have a pdf of 'Stafford Library - Esrolia: Land Of A Thousand Goddesses' by Greg Stafford & Jeff Richard; it is a great resource but not alot of artwork involved. The pic of a priestess resembles a Mycenaen/Minoan a little, so that's why I based some of the culture off Mycenae. I'm not sure if I'm going down a wrong tangent though. I don't know if any of the fanzines have fleshed Esrolia out more, so perhaps someone can shed some light on the Esrolit for me.
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> > Any ideas, anyone?
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> Jeff gave a ton of good information, all official at that! I'll anyway throw in a few thoughts from a random player, with no claims of these being in any way official.
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> The Esrolians are in no way Egyptians, but from an external point of view their role in the world is something like that of ancient egypt. They are seldom a military power of note, their focus is much more inwards than outwards, they are more populous (and in many ways more wealthy) than anyone around them, and perhaps key their concerns are not so much about who reigns over them but rather who rules on a practical level.
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> For most of their history they've accepted the reign of outsiders (The Only Old One, Belintar), they've at times had colonies of other cultures, but none of that has really impacted their culture in a major way. Their focus is the Earth Pantheon, agriculture, crafts, and the struggles between families for dominance. So long as outsiders don't disturb that, they tend not to care what the outsiders do so much.
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> And outsiders keep getting seduced by Esrolia. (you could imagine any 18th-19th century accounts of Europeans in India or China here). Even if you come from the Lunar Empire it is impressive.
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> The fertility of the fields supports a dense population in the countryside, yet still supports a huge urban population. The agricultural surplus is large enough to support large populations of crafters who have been competing against each other for centuries, developing greater and greater technique.
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> Although the country has been ravaged more than once, never was the destruction close to complete, so there is ancestral richness--stone building that have stood and been added to for centuries, finely carved furniture that is generations old, tapestries and rugs old enough to have mythic origins, a profusion of ceramics of all descriptions, jewelry wrought with more craftsmanship and subtelty than seen anywhere else in central Glorantha, etc.
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> Of course, it is also croweded compared to almost anywhere else, there is grinding poverty in places, people bound to miserable positions by ancestry, at times there are crushing taxes or tributes needed to pay off warlike outsiders, at times there are horrible slaughters of masses of poorly trained and equipped levies when outsiders invade (there are professional troops too, but few for the size of the population, but masses of people are never hard to gather).
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> It is also a place where taking an individual stand is seldom effective. In particular charismatic rabble-rousers are usually subtely shunted aside, isolated, or sent away (if they can't be brought into the power structure). This is not a warrior cutlure where being strong and daring bring wealth and renown, this is a place where wealth is mostly inherited, going more to those who have served the family (or at least the grandmothers) well.
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> Visually, it has been described in official publications that the classic Earth tribe structure is stone and square. I imagine that in the fairly warm climate of Esrolia that this would include a flat roof. (I don't know if brick replaces stone in places?) In this regard I think the buildings would look a lot like most ancient mediteranean ones. Courtyard gardens and window baskets would be common, and in general things would be verdant and lush, in a managed, tame, way.
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> Ernalda, besides being agricultural goddess, is also goddess of weaving and of pottery. In Esrolia I'm sure that this extends to more decorative textile and ceramic arts. So except for the poorest, clothes will feature braid, embroidery, and the like. Ceramics will go beyond functional to being works of art in many cases, with different regions and sub-cultures having their own competing specialties. Rugs and tapestries are taken seriously, and in the temples and wealthy homes these may be dazzling in their colours and artistry. Certainly both textile and ceramic will be infused with stories and myth, much like medieval Europe and for much of the same reason, to tell stories to an illiterate population.
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> Fine ceramics would show up in jewelry and in house decorations (disks and plaques). I don't know if they are glass workers, but at the least volcanic glass would find its way into decorative pieces (although using it may make certain statements about affiliations).
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> As I said, all of this is just my opions and extrapolations (other than the square, stone, buildings)
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