metcalph

Me favourite stylistic error is on p42 where in the space of four paragraphs, Kallyr is twice described as a Prince and once as a Queen. The effect is so jarring that I think it was intentional and reflects Amstalli having a senior moment.

p440 - Under Monk Header "Kraloreli culture" should be "Kralori culture"

p18 Table - Moirades is described as a Prince of Sartar. This should be King of Tarsh.

I'm sure the Dwarves can make bronze chainmail.

Just to be clear, you are referring to the Codex Ivesti p194-197?

I saw that too but there is an Erontree forest between Seshnela and Fronela so it may not be a mistake.

p2 (Credits page), under Thanks to: Replace "Metcalf" with "Metcalfe"

Men of the Sea is not canonical. There are other ways peoples can resemble each other beside skin colour (hair, eyes, facial bones etc)

I don't think so. The practice has been specifically stated as being new to the Lunars in the past (although checking it up on the Guide the statements seems to be more nuanced). If both sides were doing it in the Gbaji Wars, then the practice would have been well-known practice in subsequent ages (God Learners, EWF etc), making the lunar empire's supposed superiority superfluous.

I was speaking of the troll spirits being sent against the good guys Broken Council at the Battle of Night and Day. What the Trolls have gotten up to since then is unknown but they have had the benefit of Arkat and Cragspider so who knows what they can do with their spirits these nights.

I would have said "could have" as its primarily a conjecture.

The actual statement is Not all of its inhabitants but a significant number (who probably went to sleep during the Great Darkness).

Do they? Because the Guide makes only two Sendeven aiding them in mythical times and does not mention their appearance at Oenriko Rock and other places. They maintained a strong naval tradition but they didn't build a large fleet until after the opening (Guide p145). Look at this way, in 1582 (two years after the opening) there was a naval engagement between the Holy Country and Alatan that involved nearly a hundred ships. The Vadeli Empire has been extant for four years, with the resources of Fonrit and Umathela when it encountered the Maslo and fought a naval war that lasted for a further five or six years before Oenriko Rock. Even if the Vadeli were having spots of bother within their empire, that's quite a mismatch. Foreign fashions is cheap to transport. All it requires is a chest of clothing and the local tailors can pick up the slack (with authentic clothing commanding a premium). A further example of foreign influence might be Hoom Jhis's title of Dynast. It's used in Vormain (Guide p539) and may be the eastern isles equivalent of King. Since the Eastern Islanders were visiting the place as early as the Dawn, their fashions among other things would be longstanding.

I think the original Farnwith culture was exterminated (Guide p602) and that the surviving elf-haters fled to miserable enclaves in Elamle. When Errinoru's Empire collapsed, they resettled Onlaks rather than labour to support the struggling Novarooplians.

Wealth <> population. It is described as such in the map on p470 of the Guide. Perhaps Yanchi is meant instead. You keep talking about cultural development when I'm talking about wealth. Cultural development is something nobody can agree upon (is the Doraddi more culturally developed than the Heortling?) Wealth is something that can be measured. Flanch is a country that had a fleet that was able to defeat the Vadeli Empire. Clearly the Maslo isn't a backwater and given its low population compared to Fonrit and even the Eastern Isles, must be doing well on another front. Hence I'm disinclined to see only Westel as a wealthy port in a backwater and feel that the other ports of Flanch and Elmale must be doing well financially.

Maslo has two regional trade centres (Westel and Charth) and has a trading settlement on Teleos. The Flanchi war against the Elves is to me one of a stalemate more than anything else. Yanchi is overrun every summer but is described as an important and prosperous port while the other city have a variety of methods to avoid being overrun (caves, salt). Elamle has problems with the spawn of the mother of monsters but to describe their cities as regularly overrun is I think too much. So Maslo is wealthy. You suggest that because there has been little time since the Opening, they can't have developed a cosmopolitan culture. My thinking is because they have so much wealth (compared to the closing days) they are willing to spend big in acquiring foreign fashions.

Being a wealthy and cosmopolitian culture, I would suggest a mixture of styles with Fonritan, Vithelan and Holy Country clothing.

Sheng wasn't involved in the Battle of Night and Day. Individual spirits may have fought (such as the Ram Steed of Lokamayadon) or the spirits that the trolls sent against the invaders. Most of the action was taking by the Gods (Kyger Litor, Nysalor and Daysenervus) rather than the spirits. The troll use of spirits differs from the use of spirits in Dragon Pass/Nomad Gods in one way - the Trolls were using spirits to attack line-of-sight whereas the Lunar College of Magic and the Sartarite Magical Union were using them to attack foes at a distance. Not so much "go forth and smite this city" but "go forth and smite the Bush Rangers guarding the cross-roads five hexes distant". This, I suggest, is the new innovation that makes the magical units possible. Not the mere massing of magicians together but installing them the capacity to target specific locations from a sight unseen but still within smiting distance. It's possible that Sheng could have done this. It's also possible that he could have learned from the early Lunars or that the current Lunars could have learned from him. It's also possible that the Praxians could have learned from him. The biggest detail would be to convey the sense of instructions that the spirits can understand while avoiding mathematical navigation instructions. Instructing spirits to travel along the four directions is fine. Instructing them to attack a specific enemy is fine. The best method IMO would be to develop scrying magics or soothsaying to systemically map where the enemy is and what they look like. There should still be potential for confusion or deceptive tactics. A massed spirit attack could be evaded through a scapegoat or a decoy: For example an instruction to attack the Crimson Bat could be evaded by the Lunars creating a large image of a bat, staining it red and watch with laughter as the spirits descend upon it to little effect.

We weren't talking about Yanafal within the Seven Mothers, we were talking about Yanafal Tarnils as a stand alone cult. And I didn't say it was a sheep cult, I said he had access to ram magics. Your memory notwithstanding, I have made this suggestion in the past. And given the only official source of Yanafal Tarnils by himself happens to be the somewhat desperate shortform in ILH-2, the silence on his ram magics in the official source is not that persuasive. Y'know if you didn't like the idea then the wiser thing to do would have been to ignore it rather than wasting time with hyperbolic dismissals.

There has never been a complete description of the cult of Yanafal Tarnils anywhere. At best there has been shortform descriptions of varying quality. So the argument from silence hardly applies. I hence find the suggestion that a major epithet of Yanafal Tarnils should be interpreted allegorically to be rather odd given that pretty much the epithets for the other seven mothers are not.

I think the Ram Magic is not from Yuthuppa but Carmanian in origin as the Bull Shahs were ruling at the time. Hence actual ram magic seems appropriate. Another possibility which just occurred to me is the worship of the Iron Ram.

For the average Fonritan Slaving-owning plutocrat, it's quite useful. For the impoverished hero, not so much.

One of the two governments that rebelled against the Middle Sea Empire was the God Learner Government in Kareeshtu who survived for quite a while so they wouldn't have been in the habit of casting off the old regime. I think Shekel would be a better word to use (because it's an actual bronze age word meaning a bushel of wheat or somesuch). Later it became associated with coins in Tyre, Carthage and Judea. For Gold measures, there's always the talent. Jeff wasn't saying that the Fonritans call their coins Imperials. He was saying that the Fonritan silver coinage was derived from the Silver Imperials of the Middle Sea Empire.

Practically the only additional tidbits are: 1) He was known as "Ram and Warrior". Expected some ram-related war magic and ram helmets. 2) He was one of the Arrows of Light. At that battle, he was the wielder of Fury, which may be his scimitar or some Lunar berserk magic. 3) His cult has since developed the ability to create vexilla - bascially combined forces magic.

Sheng seems to have been rather dogmatic in that his best warriors all followed an ultra-traditional lifestyle. Presumably their magics would have also been similarly conservative. But Sheng's no longer around and neither are his Bursts. Hence his followers today would have some more freedom in their magics (like Darkness or Storm). At the same time, they would not be as powerful as they were in Sheng's time. Based on what Sheng preached (Good Slavery), I'm inclined to make the Zholathi spirits bound into living mortals. The spirit, being ultra-traditional, punishes the Zholathi severely for the slightest infraction. Under its harsh discipline, the Zholathi begins to develop the powers of the spirit.