Jeff

Because at the end of the day a spear is easier to make.

Again, who is to say Kallyr was responsible for the Dragonrise or even had any idea that would happen? She was part of it, but so were a lot of other people. Including Argrath. And many others. It is entirely possible that Tatius the Bright was the main person responsible.

I think a strong argument could be made that it was Broyan who did the heavy lifting with the rebellion (Kallyr's rebellion failed and had terrible consequences), and with Broyan's death and Argrath's reversal when he tried to attack the New Lunar Temple in Fire Season, the rewards more or less fell into Kallyr's lap.

Because it added very little to gameplay and was a stumbling block for many players.

Except you also spent the night there. And "inn" is a perfectly good translation - "tabernae" were places required by law to provide hospitality. Sartar has plenty of these places - and they were not a gradual evolution, they were introduced by King Sartar as part of his road system. They caught on, more were built by his heirs, and by tribes and temples that sought to capitalise on the growing trade.

Correct. As an aside, caravanserai and inns were well known to the ancient Greeks and Romans. I strongly recommend Lionel Casson's "Travel in the Ancient World" for background. Inns may be a "medieval trope" in your mind, but they were a trope that long predates the medieval period. For example, the Tres Tabernaem,an inn along the Appian Way, is mentioned in Acts as where St. Paul met with a band of Roman Christians along the way to Rome. Or the inn at Bovillae where Cicero's rival Clodius was murdered.

Most of Sartar's inns were never steads. They were purpose-built by the Prince, by temples, by tribes, or by other entities or individuals to cater to the burgeoning caravan trade, merchants and other travellers. Geo's is a cult which was given specific rights by Sartar and the tribes. Some inns are associated with temples, others are supported by the local tribal council, and I even know of one or two that were founded by adventurous individuals. Most are in the cities, but there are at least a score outside of the cities.

Issaries' Runes were always Movement and Harmony. His worshipers claim that together they form the Issaries or Communication Rune, although few others acknowledge that. In HQG, I used that as one of the possible Runes, but when we wrote RQG we were much more deliberate and careful about how we established character Rune associations. Thus characters might have Movement and Harmony, but not "Issaries" as a rune. Jeff

This is now definitely off-topic. If we want to discuss Hommlet, start a thread elsewhere.

There are inns throughout Sartar - these are caravanserai that cater to travellers, particularly the caravans that ply Sartar's fine roads. These are part of the setting since WBRM. If you have no kin in the city, that's where you go for lodging, food, etc.

This is why Leika could not light the Flame. Sartar's magic lets the Prince use Orlanth Rex magic on any member of any tribe of Sartar, any citizen of any of the cities of Sartar, and all those traveling on the royal roads of Sartar. That's POWERFUL leadership magic, and includes Command Priests and Command Worshipers, as well as Detect Honor. But the magic comes from Sartar as an ancestor. So if you are not descended from Sartar, you need to find something other than the Cult of Sartar to unify the tribes. Which is going to be as big of an undertaking as what Sartar did in the first place.

YGMV, but the position of high priest of Sartar - that's the Orlanth Rex for all the tribes of Sartar, aka the Prince of Sartar - is restricted to members of Sartar's lineage. Kallyr's grandfather was a son of Jarolar who died at the Battle of Dwarf Ford in 1557. Argrath's lineage is even more distant - his grandmother was the Triceratops Queen, who was in turn the granddaughter of Onelisin the Cat Witch, the famed daughter of Prince Saronil, and the subject of many songs and stories. These genealogies are going to be pretty well-known. Lots of Colymar knew Maniski and Yanioth Two Sight. Many more knew Arene the Triceratops Queen, whose herd of dinosaurs destroyed the village of Janastan in the Moaning Valley.

Ignore them Brother Erikwal. Preach in the cities to the literate, the educated, the well-traveled, and the curious. To those who chafe against the life of sheep and wheat. To those who need answers more than just what the Air and the Earth have always provided. The Issaries traders and Lhankor Mhy scribes are not our enemies or foes - aid them, show them that we give material support and spiritual relief.

Like everyone, it is always other people's God Learnerism they object to, not their own.

The world is broken - we can all see it. The Old Gods fight mindlessly, their ancient feuds plague us with floods, famines, and other disasters. But the Seven Mothers gave birth to a chance of a new world, a healed world. One that does not need to endlessly refight old battles. A world of Time, where mortals can be Gods.

All very true. One gloss - in many Western societies, the Dronars and even the Horali are often thinly disguised conquered people who "Malkionized" many of their customs. You see this with the Seshnelan Martial Beasts, etc. Carmanos set up an empire that managed to combine Malkioni, Humakti, Storm Bull cultists, Spolites, and Dara Happans into a powerful war machine. It hit its cultural height in the late Second Age, and in the Third Age it conquered most of Peloria, but was senselessly brutal, gratuitously cruel, and plainly unjust. Raban the Beast would have made a perfectly normal later Carmanian satrap.

Yes. Please start a new thread if that is what you want to discuss.

It is worth noticing that Orlanth disapproves of slavery and does not allow his temples or his Rune masters to own slaves.

It is called "Ernalda". In Esrolia the queens hold their office by virtue of being high priestesses of the main cult.

There is not an Ernalda Rex cult.

I suspect it literally would be something like "The Battle of the (female) Kings", all compressed into a single world, as the battle was unusual in that so many (Kallyr, Leika, Amalda, Ivarra) female tribal rulers led the fight. Later generations might even have a little cult of the Four (female) Kings.

Yep.

Yes, because in English it is really tough to refer to a female king - it really doesn't linguistically work. However, the Orlanthi would use the word "king" for female Orlanth Rex rulers and not "queen".

It actually has to be - there was not a God Time Red Moon, so it is very had to have a Rune Spell hurl meteors of Moon Rock down on the earth. It needed to be a spirit magic spell and that had the added bonus that it could get manipulated by Lunar magic.

Even tougher than that - it is only available to illuminated Red Goddess initiates who join the Crater Makers!