M Helsdon
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Wife negotiations, blessings, and transferral of dowries are overseen by senior members of the clan. They are only involved in a divorce if there are serious problems which might otherwise be settled by combat: disputes about the return of dowries, bride price, or conflict over jointly owned property.
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The wife generally joins the husband's clan for the duration of the marriage. It depends upon the type of marriage. There are several different forms: Husband and Wife. Both have equal property, status, and responsibility. The woman moves to her husband’s house, and children belong to his clan. Husband and Underwife. The husband has more status and property. The woman moves to her husband’s house, and children belong to his clan. Wife and Underhusband. The wife has more status and property. The man moves to his wife’s house, but the children belong to his clan. Esrolian husband. The wife has more status and property than the husband. The man moves to his wife’s house, but the children belong to her clan. Year‑wife or Husband. A temporary marriage, renewable after a year. Bed‑wife or Husband. No property changes hands save for that publicly granted with witness. The children are raised by the individual who is not named in the title. A bed‑husband is not responsible for raising the children. Love‑wife. No property changes hands. A vow of monogamy for its own sake, or the sake of romantic love. Children go the father’s clan. Divorce is common and available to husband or wife with property being divided. The wife always returns home with her dowry, and the groom always recovers the bride price.
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I did too, but King of Sartar describes it thus: The Battle Banner of the EWF is widely known throughout Genertela. It is a standing dragon about to bite its own tail, which arches over its back. Its arms are so slender that most who saw it mistook it for the legless form of dragon called wyrm or orm. After reading that, it became obvious that the cover illustration of the KoS 1992 edition shows the Battle Banner. I'd like to think that other Sartar Free Army standards and banners are similar to Roman/Sarmatian draco standards but no text supports this.
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A: Standard of the Lunar Emperor B: Standard of Tarsh C: Standard of the Silver Shields regiment D: Standard of the Antelope Lancers regiment E: Standard of a Yuthuppa regiment F: Standard of an Alkoth regiment G: Battle Banner of the Empire of the Wyrms Friends H: Humakt’s Raven Banner This concludes the banners I have canonical information for. A number of others are named but aren't described.
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KoS says: Page 213 The clan is the “overfamily” of several bloodlines which trace their origins to a common founding event, spirit, or other occasion which forged the clan. The clan shares responsibility for a traditional geographic region. The clan is also responsible for overseeing marriages within its bloodlines, justice among them, and distributing the land commonly held by them all. And: Page 216 Clans are exogamous, and the wives must come from someplace else. .... All clans have a list of prohibited clans, with whom marriage or sex is forbidden, in order to prevent unwitting incest. Most clans have a second list of prohibited marriages, due to ancient feuds and other historical events. Exogamy is a social arrangement where marriage is allowed only outside a social group.
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Work among Praxians is gender-divided, and the Unicorn Tribe appeals to women who won't follow their traditional gender roles. Just as some women won't adopt the roles set out for them in Praxian society, there will be some men who don't, so there's a reversal with men doing women's work and women doing men's. Gender role reversal is found in several terrestrial societies, so I imagine that the Unicorn Tribe are a Gloranthan example.
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YGMV: Your Glorantha May Vary.
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Historical Dara Happan Standards Ancient Standards: A: Star Captain standard B: Star Captain standard C: Spearmen standard D: Archers standard Polaris Era: E: Spearmen standard F: Archers standard G: Alkoth regimental standard Jerarong Era: H: Raibanth regimental standard I: Early Tripolis standard Khordavu Era: J: Tripolis standard K: Regimental standard
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Witch and warlock seem to be used for any magician who uses 'strange' and often 'dark' magic. Jakaleel the Witch, Cragspider the Firewitch, and Ezdene come to mind.
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Witches and warlocks aren't unknown in Glorantha: Jakaleel the Witch was once a shaman-priestess of dark powers and as one of the Seven Mothers her cult explores the diverse horrors and solaces contained in the secrets of Darkness in its many forms. The term 'witch' is applied to other deities as well, such as Earth Witch who prepares potions. This reflects the Gloranthan usage, which often applies to an elder female shaman. The magicians of the Sartar Magical Union are called warlocks and they wield great magical power through meditation and other strenuous disciplines. Argrath taught them to perceive a higher consciousness through their inner eye; these teachings are very similar to those Arkat taught his companions but include some element of draconic communication. Their meditative disciplines include dance, chants, breathing techniques, postures, and other rites. Some rites include elements of Auld Wyrmish, both spoken and danced. The warlocks belong to other cults as well as that of the magical regiment; Lightbringer cults predominate; some are Malkioni, shamans, and even Lunar cultists.
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Standard of the Red Emperor, Standard of Tarsh, standard of the Silver Shields, standard of the Antelope Lancers. A few more to follow...
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Some of the Magical Regiments are better than the Sartarite tribal Heavy Cavalry, and the Brotherhood of Death, the Sartarite Humakti are very good. The Western mercenaries of Mularik's Men are as well. I've been unable to uncover any canonical descriptions of Sartarite standards...
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A few more to come, later in the week. I'm starting to run out of canonical descriptions.
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Too bad on days when the Moon is at Half, Crescent, Dying, or Black...
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Bad news: in cold weather, with ice on the ground, an organized military unit can't march many miles a day, even on a Royal Road. A regiment can march around 15 miles a day in reasonable weather - but the distance between Roman mansios and camps along their roads was 11 or 12 miles - and 15 miles a day is a high average for infantry carrying packs and their supplies. In this event, I suspect infantry might manage 7 or 8 miles a day, and cavalry 12 or 13 miles a day, but: at the end of each day there are going to be casualties. Horses and other riding animals are going to die without adequate food and shelter, and whilst the soldiers can eat them, the strength of the unit is going to diminish. Think of Napoleon's retreat from Moscow, but worse... These distances suggest the foraging distances for Lunar Garrisons - a radius of no more than five miles, assuming they want to get back to base by nightfall. Because if things are bad during the day, at night they are going to be far far worse. There are going to be trolls, and worse things out there...
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No doubt, but foraging and raiding can only gather what can be found, and this would be insufficient to maintain an entire static garrison for a year. When ancient armies are on the move they can, to an extent, sustain themselves by foraging and raiding because they are moving through 'fresh' territory. However, this reduces movement and makes the army dangerously reliant upon exploiting local resources. These can be withheld either by the expedience of hiding them, meaning it takes even more effort and time to find them, making the army increasingly exposed to enemy action, or by a policy of scorched earth. The Scythians enacted the latter very successfully against Darius the Great, meaning that many Persian troops died of starvation... However, when an army is in winter camp, in an ordinary winter, it can't survive by foraging and raiding because only a distinct area around it is easily accessible: it takes increasing time and effort (which itself uses up supplies), and added risks of ambush and accident to widen the area exploited. Once the surrounding area has been exploited and exhausted, if the garrison has no winter stores of its own, and no resupply, it will perish. This would be even more severe in the Great Winter: the Lunars could seize supplies from nearby settlements, but would have to rely upon their own stores and any supply caravans that managed to get to them. I suspect that the death rate of civilians in Sartarite cities was even higher than among the rural population, because the garrison would take complete control of the city stores.
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The Windstop was full of unexpected consequences, highlighting how dangerous Lunar magical engineering is. The Lunars' didn't expect what happened, and they didn't expect Ernalda to go to sleep. The Lunar garrisons across Dragon Pass and Prax don't seem to have been prepared - and although their losses were probably less than those of the civilian population, of whom a sixth seem to have died, this must have contributed to the weakened control of the regions. Keeping garrisons at strength in a year long winter requires a major logistical effort. Whilst the Lunars could probably barge supplies as far as Furthest, unless the Oslir started to run low, pushing supplies much further by land would be intensely difficult.
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Not entirely relevant to this thread... Standards of different grades of Lunar General; Carmanian Shah; Dara Happan Emperor.
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The standards of the Granite, Beryl, Marble and Jasper Stone Wall phalanxes.
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The difference in weaponry: throwing spear and shortsword. The only regiment which uses that mix of weaponry is the Carmanian Steel Sword Legion. Whether they use a maniple formation - I suspect not. Primarily creating their own versions of Magical Regiments. The Sartarite Free Army includes Heavy Cavalry (mostly Praxian, either Animal Nomads or the Praxian Humakti, plus the Pavis Royal Guard, plus units from the Kheldon, Colymar, Culbrea and Malani tribes) and Light Cavalry from the Bush Range (though this might all change when the 1627 sourcebook becomes available). For a Rider God, the Sartarites have Elmal, though the cult is reduced because of the schism, and a long tradition of Orlanthi weaponthanes and other thanes having riding mounts. I suspect that a great deal of Sartarite arms and armor are Lunar in origin, taken from the garrisons in the liberated cities, with the Lunar emblems hacked off.
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In historical phalanx battles it wasn't unusual for one phalanx to rout before contact. The reputation of the Spartans was such that their mere appearance could cause the opposition to falter and run away. The casualty levels were usually around 5% for the victors and 40+% for the losers. Over time there was an arms race between the Successor States, resulting in longer pikes and heavier armor, and on the open battlefield the phalanxes became increasingly unwieldy and affected by unsuitable terrain. Even so, when the Romans attempted to break Macedonian phalanxes initially, in fairly static conditions, they failed, unable to get close enough to use their swords, but where terrain and mobility were a factor, the Roman formations defeated them. The later phalanxes weren't of the same quality as those Alexander led into Persia: they had heavier weapons and armor, and their training doesn't seem to have been as good. Alexander's phalanxes could ford a river in good order, the later ones lacked that sort of ability, perhaps because the soldiers were overburdened. In Glorantha, no group employs the Roman tactics (except perhaps the Steel Sword Legion), there's been no significant phalanx arms race (perhaps because all militaries are fairly conservative because to retain their power they must match traditional rituals and the regimental patron spirit in the standard and the regimental god) so phalanxes and shield-walls, and their variations, are the peak of heavy infantry formations. The Lunar innovations consist of mounted infantry and unified magical regiments.
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Hollow square phalanxes are historical. For water the historical peplegmene or 'saw tooth' formation might fit (it doesn't increase the width). Whilst formations and commands existed to increase width to outflank the enemy, those pose the risk of reducing depth. In any push of spears or pike, a significantly reduced depth could prove disastrous. However, I suspect that whilst Dara Happan Stone Wall regiments might perform both of these, they might not equate them with the Runes.
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I know, but I decided not to include it in the limited set of commands. In my Warfare in Glorantha, I've included it: Schiltron A variant on the rectangular phalanx formation is a schiltron, with spearmen drawn up in an extremely close formation, intended to present a cavalry charge with a perimeter horses and most other mounts will refuse to breach. This is a purely defensive formation, with spear points bristling out in all directions. This allows for a reasonably effective defense even if parts of an army have been divided in battle but requires a high level discipline. Such a formation is capable of holding off cataphract heavy cavalry, but is defenseless against a stand-off attack by archers. The array of spears provides limited protection, but when the formation is adopted to defend against horse archers, its lack of mobility can prove disastrous. In Dara Happa a circular schiltron is known as a Sunstand. ------------------------------------------------------------------- There's also another formation of Gloranthan interest, though the name is that given for the real world formation: Half-Moon The Half-Moon or Crescent is a phalanx formation taken in the face of an approaching attack by an infantry or cavalry wedge or rhombus. The wings are extended forward and the center hollowed. This permits the phalanx to surround the attackers, meaning that combat is not restricted to the point of contact between its line and the wedge. If the enemy succeed in breaking through the center, the wings can converge on their flanks, trapping them.
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Not really: outside the Glowline, Moon Boats are unable to move during the Dying or Black Phases of the Moon. So the entire caravan would have to halt or split on those days. Not a wise thing to do in Pent.
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They do, in translation. But all are derived from ancient sources. Aelianus explains why the orders are expressed in 'reverse' order (chapter 51 of his Tactics) as in 'to the pike, face' instead of 'face to the pike'. In the latter, soldiers will start to obey the order as soon as they hear it, but some will start to face in one direction, others the opposite direction. It doesn't matter if the soldiers are using spears, pikes, or muskets, an entirely different language - the logic remains the same. And, of course, Aelianus became necessary reading in the age of pike and musket, so his methods have a direct carry forward to the present.
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