M Helsdon

Actual swords for the Swords of Central Genertela thread...

The thing to focus on is that the majority inhabitants of Glorantha would know far less about their world than we do, if we've read the Glorantha Sourcebook, glanced through the Guide, or real one of the rulebooks. So, as has been said, you can either start in one small corner, and gradually work outwards - literally staying in a clan's lands first, or, the other approach is to have player characters who are themselves new to wherever they are, even of another culture and trying to fit in, so they don't need to know very much as first (though this means that you have to simplify the family history). Outlanders might be refugee hunter/gatherers, Wolf Pirates who want to stay on land (and the Wolf Pirates at this time aren't just from Ygg's Islands, but Westerners, perhaps even Orlanthi from Fronela, for example, and the latter would have some gods in common with the people in Dragon Pass, but not quite of the same culture). If you use outlanders, you don't have to worry too much about getting them exactly right; no one in your campaign is likely to go back and visit their homes, and their homeland is unlikely to be heavily developed for some time. It can be, though you have to choose how to do it. However, if you want to start small, best to avoid high level sword and sorcery, but something more like Conan's early career, where he's an outlander, but not yet a war leader.

I have received an update today (the size of the book and being in Word makes it a challenge) and work is ongoing. Hopefully it will be available some time this summer.

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8-) Yes, I'd seen your reconstruction (turned up in a search on Persian armor some time ago); my suspicion is that it is a variant of the neck protectors used by various steppe/Persian cavalry of different varieties. Despite there being a few descriptions and reliefs depicting Persian armor, I suspect that many griva-pan were similar. I am tending to use ancient Persian/Bactrian armor as a reference for Seshnela.

One thing to bear in mind that there is probably a large troll realm out on the ice, of which the Blue Moon plateau is a mere outlier.

Whilst Mongoose have a deserved reputation for a general lack of proofreading, when I tried to read their (grits teeth) Elfs volume, the weird spelling made the book almost unreadable, even though it was well written.

Latest. On the whole, War Society regiments aren't as well equipped as the 'knights', so this cataphract has vambraces and greaves instead of the 'hooped' arm and leg armor.

Hmm, I seem to have used knee-protectors only once and that sketch is in Armies and Enemies. More recently - a rider with half articulated armor (sadly hidden behind the leg protectors in the final picture), three-quarter articulated armor worn by a Castle Coast noble, and 'full' articulated hoops.

So far as I know (and I haven't got my books here), finds of actual ancient cataphract armor are very rare, and we have more examples of the horse armor than that of the rider. Most reliefs and graffiti from the actual period is very difficult to interpret. Like an awful lot about the ancient world, where we think we know a great deal as a result of modern illustrations, the opposite is true, and there's very little in the way of finds that provide definitive information. Here's the Balustrade Relief of the temple of Athena Polias Nikephoros at Pergamum, which shows arm manica, and two Sassanid depictions. About the best sources we have.

Thank you - my reading suggests there were several styles of segmented articulated arm and leg armor - some almost fully enclosing the arm and leg, some only partially, towards the front or only where the limb would be exposed. In the photographs of the reconstruction, the maker has had to get around the problem that the segmented armor was inherently 'stiff', limiting movement in the arms and legs, by splitting it into upper and lower leg bands, with a separate piece protecting the knee. Whilst the form shown permits greater movement (and I think I've drawn something similar in one sketch) it was also much more vulnerable - a greater chance of the wearer being hamstrung behind the knee, or a blade slipping in under the knee protector and, well, it would not be pretty... In drawing cataphracts I believe I have used three or four different styles. The maker of the reconstruction has probably had to compromise in order to have a reasonable range of movement. In Men of the West, in different chapters: The armor worn by the rider is usually a form of scale or lamellar armor sufficiently flexible to give the rider and mount a good degree of motion in using a lance or kontos, but strong enough to survive the shock of a charge into an enemy formation. -------------------------- Horsemen may wear a bronze or cuir boilli short scale hauberk or a two piece bronze breastplate, a skirt of scale armor, with their arms and legs covered in bronze plates, either as hooped articulated manica or as hooped splints, or leather covered with fine scale reaching to the wrists or ankles with the heaviest entirely covering the hands and feet, with the neck protected with a gorget of riveted plates. Some may adopt very fine scale-covered gauntlets (of dwarven manufacture) and greaves. Those of great wealth may own fabulously expensive chainmail made by the dwarves. One drawback of the articulated armor is that whilst it provides a high degree of protection, it is also fairly inflexible. This matters little for the legs, used to grip and guide the horse, but the manica worn on the arms restricts movement to such a degree that whilst the wearer can hold and use a lance or kontos, they will be clumsy and slow when using a sword or mace.

Safelstran Fortress Barge The fortress barges are exceptionally large, consisting of at least two broad beamed hulls lashed securely together to form a stable platform[1], with the deck railings removed and a joint plank deck added. This is raised above the rowing benches to leave space for the oarsmen and to give room for them to row. Each of the wide hulls carries as many as ninety oarsmen, up to forty-five a side. The design is similar to the large cargo barges used on the lake; those rely more on their sail than their rowers, unless a cargo must be rapidly transported. A multi-story square or rectangular siege tower or turret shaped like a truncated pyramid is then erected, each story smaller than the one below. This has a timber frame, sometimes wooden walls, often clad in thick hide either kept wet or treated with sorcery to prevent it being set afire, or thin bronze plates, with the weight kept to a minimum so that the tower can be tall enough to assault defenses, by ramps dropped down on the battlements, and to permit missiles and magic to be cast into the interior of the fortification. Portholes permit crossbows and long spears to be deployed from inside. The towers are usually mounted in the center of the barge, meaning that if boarding ramps are fitted, they are arrayed at the sides so that the vessel must come alongside a wall to deploy them. The hinged gangways have hooks at the end to latch onto the defenses and hold the barge firm, as the fighters disembark. The ramps are kept up when making the approach, acting as doors behind which the troops waiting to immediately sally forth shelter. [1] Some of the battle-barges of the Middle Sea Empire were also dual- or triple-hulled; it is unknown if the smaller Safelstran fortress barges were inspired by these, or are a separate development. ------------------ Spent the day cutting hedges... so this isn't exactly detailed.

It's possible, given that New Malkonwal may not have been very far away before it vanished.

Latest. I may work on the shading of the horse tonight. Am using the cataphract sketches in two places - smaller to illustrate the chapter on cataphracti, and in the regional chapter. Reworked version below. As I add more sketches to 'Men of the West' the page count increases; if I want roughly one illustration per three pages, ignoring the appendices, I need about eight more.

It's not unlike opinions of Alexander, which vary with time and place. For some he's a great conqueror who sought revenge for the treatment of the Greeks in Ionia and Aeolia and the burning of Athens, for others he is a ruthless conquer who overthrew the democracies of Greece, for others he is the ambitious tyrant who destroyed one of the most tolerant empires in the Ancient World, the general who misused his faithful troops and when they thwarted his plan to reach the Ganges punished them by having them march through the deserts of southern Persia where many died, for others he is the great statesman who sought to merge the Greeks and Persians, and for others the failed statesmen whose lack of preparations plunged his empire into centuries of war and ultimately partition between the Romans and Parthians. Alexander - hero or villain? Arkat - hero or monster?

Is there also an issue that in some ways the Hill of Gold somehow reflects the Cosmic Mountain, even though it had been destroyed? Perhaps as the pilgrims (whether of Yelmalio, Kargzant, Manimat or Antirius (or even Elmalus?)) ascend the 'hill' they enter the mythic landscape which is very different to the terrain seen from below, so that the mere hill becomes something closer to a golden mountain. If it doesn't change then the motives of the pilgrims aren't sufficiently pure, or they haven't undergone the necessary purification rituals.

Occlusion?

Latest. May need more work on the face - difference in the definition between the laptop and the desktop. As this one is a Loskalmi light infantry, decided to go with a quilted corselet instead of lammelar.

Latest. I hope that this is fairly faithful to Jan's original illustration.

Thank you. I believe a mixture of lamellar vest and a pectoral is usable. To distinguish the Loskalmi from other Westerners I will probably go with winter gear for at least one. The Glorantha wiki, whilst useful, is sometimes unreliable, so I tend to use the Guide and its illustrations as primary sources. May attempt to start inking one this afternoon...

Well, here's what I was working from.... Looked to be a pectoral over a quilted (leather?) cuirass, over a wool or felt tunic, with small vambraces, and leggings. Couldn't see the shoulders. Couldn't make out the shoulders, but perhaps there are shoulder protectors? Perhaps the cuirass is lamellar with a pectoral? Can't resolve it any further by adjusting contrast or brightness. [Curiously, I was using some Angus McBride illustrations of Tang dynasty soldiers as reference.]

Or Kargzant means sun, so Kargzant is sun and Yu-Kargzant is Sun God?

Decided that preparing for the next sketches might be more productive than launching directly to inking a 'finished' piece. The only armored Loskalmi reference I can find are small background figures in one of Jan's paintings. Hmm, the tower shield needs to be taller and the round shield smaller.

I may be wrong, but the Yu- prefix means 'god', so Yu-elm means Sun God.