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M Helsdon

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  1. M Helsdon
    The problem is that although the Orlanthi may look similar to Celts, Anglo-Saxons, Picts, Vikings etc. all too often that similarity is taken as being the same as, meaning that inappropriate cultural beliefs, behaviors, architecture, art and so on are taken as being Orlanthi. And of course even those real-world templates are based on assumptions and short-hand descriptions which can be wildly misleading.
  2. M Helsdon
    Please bear in mind that my sketches are not canonical.
  3. M Helsdon
    Two Pavis variants of an 'Ernalda House'. The first is a grand residence of an important and wealthy family; the second has been partitioned into two residences and a shop at the front, and a number of cramped apartments at the rear. The shop has access to the courtyard, and uses it as storage and an extension to the living quarters on the upper floor.
  4. M Helsdon
    Flintlock muskets; the Dwarf of Dwarf Mine has cannon. It's a secret of Dwarf alchemy, made more mysterious by the fact that iron is also mined. Disorder mini-kegs, steam tech and dwarf constructs such as Jolanti (stone servants) and Nilmergs, semi-intelligent servitors. They have some, gremlins and gobblers, which are programmed to seek out and destroy any substances (such as gun-powder) that dwarves consider they have the intellectual property rights for. Whilst humans have purchased (at great cost) or stolen Dwarf secrets, it is apparent that most of their techno-magic are unknown to humans.
  5. M Helsdon
    Even if the culture isn't familiar with a supply-and-demand economy, if the market is literally glutted with money-on-the-hoof, its worth will reduce. Metal tends to have a more stable value because it is less common, and has numerous uses, in addition to being a unit of monetary exchange. (In the real world the political and military stature of the Athenian state went into a sharp decline after its silver mines started to run out.)
  6. M Helsdon
    The first minted coins appeared around 700BC in the Iron Age, but given that coinage in Glorantha seems to have been invented by the dwarves, who have firearms, and numerous other pieces of high level techno-magical devices, it's a relatively minor anachronism... From a gaming point of view it simplifies having to carry around lumps of trade metal. And of course money-on-the-hoof doesn't have a fixed value but can go up and down in value, especially by time of year: after the winter live animals will be more valuable.
  7. M Helsdon
    The activity of cattle raiding has a long tradition - it wasn't just practiced by the Old Irish, but appears in the Mahabharatha and in the Homeric Hymn to Hermes : 'Born with the dawning, at mid-day he played on the lyre, and in the evening he stole the cattle of far-shooting Apollo on the fourth day of the month; for on that day queenly Maia bare him.' Cattle as currency is similarly fairly universal, including in some modern cultures. Whilst the term wergeld is Northern European, the concept is far older: many of the penalties for crime in the Law Codes of Hammurabi, for example, were fines (when it wasn't just death). I fear you are seeing things as Northern European when they were far more universal activities - for that matter, some cultures continue to engage in cattle raiding, and they aren't Celts. Relatively recently a cattle-raid in east Africa left several hundred people dead.
  8. M Helsdon
    I missed most of the early HeroWars/HeroQuest period so my Glorantha always reflected Luise Perrene's illustrations (which are more Classical Greece than Ancient Greece) and the better art of RQ3, so when I got back into Glorantha the more Northern European (and Mesopotamian) emphasis looked decidedly odd to me. I suspect that new/younger players won't be affected by the look, or the changes in depiction. They are all ancient cultures and the coverage of ancient cultures is pretty sparse in most education systems. Not a problem. I'm a heretic regarding some things Gloranthan. For instance, I found the Ernalda House idea a bit odd, so I decided to look at ancient houses (none quite match the layout, though there were a few palace complexes with the same sort of layout) and then try manipulating actual ancient house plans to fit. It wasn't hard to assume the houses built under a different ethos, imposing the Earth Rune, and so far as I can see, from playing with those architectural outlines, they seem to work. There's also an aspect to the Esrolian House I noticed whilst reading Esrolia: TLoTTG to gain extra information, which I won't mention here, that gives it even more mythic import than being based on an Earth Rune... However, I don't believe all houses in Dragon Pass and nearby are all exactly to the same style. The 'Northern European' longhouse was really a widespread template in the real world, and personally I suspect it is still widely present in Dragon Pass.
  9. M Helsdon
    I do have a copy of the book, and did use the archaeological house plans of Mycenaean and Minoan houses from elsewhere in my versions of Jeff's outlines. The main differences were the outer balconies, which don't appear to match the descriptions of Esrolian and Sartarite houses. Instead, I assumed these might be inward, facing the inner courtyard.
  10. M Helsdon
    This map by Colin Driver helps bring the scale of Esrolia, Heortland and Sartar into perspective. Given the major traderoute that runs through Sartar to Esrolia the regions aren't remote.
  11. M Helsdon
    Why should Dorasar be interested in Esrolian houses? Many of the houses built in New Pavis were built by Sartarites, using Sartarite traditions. Sartarites would know of their Heortland antecedents and their long shared history with Esrolia. Bear in mind that these cultures are close, both historically and geographically. I'm not entirely certain what you are suggesting. If you are interested in the history of architecture, you'll find that settlers tend to retain their traditions, adapted by the availability of building supplies, and local tradition. It's inevitable that Sartarites would transfer their styles and techniques as much as they were able to a new colony. Regarding houses well adapted to Prax, New Pavis was also settled by Sun Domers from Sun County who had been living in Prax for centuries. Old Pavis was a ruin (lots of ruins) and the bits still inhabited by humans in the Big Rubble such as the 'Real City' or Mani's Fort aren't overly impressive, architecturally, but the result of make do and mend for centuries. if you look at a map, you'll find that New Pavis is much smaller than Old Pavis, and its buildings appear to be far less grand than those in ruin.
  12. M Helsdon
    There are several different types of 'houses' in Pavis: they aren't all Sartarite. This is denoted not only by the different shapes in the map of Pavis but the materials used: adobe, stone, leather and reeds. Sartarite houses tend to be made of the first two. Dorasar wasn't sticking to an 'Esrolian plan', but a Sartarite one: the ancestors of the Sartarites moved north only a few centuries ago, and retain much of the material culture of their Heortland ancestors.
  13. M Helsdon
    All true, but the Sartarites learnt a great deal from the dwarves: Saronil learned from them how to build towers, though the dwarves ceased to aid him (and may have killed him) when he used their knowledge to build a temple to Orlanth; his son Jarolar continued his work and was known as the wall-builder. And then there's the cult of Flintnail in Pavis, which accepts human initiates. For that matter, some dwarf cities within mountains have dwarf-built cities on the surface which humans mistake for the entirety. Given the exploits of Sartar, and the building by Saronil and Jarolar, it seems the Sartarites did gain a level of engineering and masonry knowledge from the dwarves.
  14. M Helsdon
    The houses of New Pavis differ a little, as I understand it because of the difference in climate: less rainfall so flat roofs are more likely. I suspect Sartarite architecture isn't just influenced by Esrolian, but by the masonry work Sartar and his descendants obtained from the Mostali. Regarding variations in style elsewhere: I can't say. However, as always the availability of materials and the environment will be a factor. One thing: the rural houses aren't depicted with their surroundings: there are likely to be other barns, sheds and outbuildings, and in many parts of Sartar farmsteads cluster in steadfasts (heavily fortified villages) with twelve foot high ramparts as a defense against the Telmori.
  15. M Helsdon
    Front elevation of three 'Ernalda Houses': Esrolian townhouse, Sartarite townhouse, Sartarite rural house.
  16. M Helsdon
    Oxen are cattle... usually castrated males.
  17. M Helsdon
    The Sartarite rural houses mostly include (the cottar has no oxen, so no stalls) stalls because it's traditional, even in longhouses, to have an area for livestock. Oxen are valuable; without them land can't be sown, and given the Sartarite tendency to cattle raiding, keeping them close is only sensible. I haven't included a livestock area for the urban houses, though some might include stables for horses or other riding animals.
  18. M Helsdon
    The roof: not overly large - see the thatched roofs on the previous page for the size of the roof span. I would hazard that the slope of roofs in Esrolia would be less than in Sartar - less snow. As a model, the Romans could span a roof space (using wood) of up to 30m wide, but that indicates a large and expensive building; ordinary homes would have a much smaller unsupported span. In drawing these, both the Sartarite and Esrolian, I had a relatively small size in mind, with a width no greater than an ordinary Roman house. The interior courtyard actually permits a larger size because the individual roof spans aren't great. The chieftain's hall, on an earlier page, is large and expensive, with its roof approaching the maximum possible for the 'period'. Regarding weight, thatched roofs, if properly made are thick and heavy, at least as heavy as a tiled roof. I've watched a house being thatched, and whilst the individual bales were light enough for a man to carry up a ladder, in total, the thatch is no slight weight. When buildings 'expand' over time there are a number of trends: demolition and rebuilding on a grander scale; the inclusion of other neighboring properties, simply knocking through walls (the irregular layout becomes a feature); a mixture of the two. Based on the ruins of building that grew in that way (the temples at Luxor and Karnak come to mind), an irregular outer edge is likely, with only the entrance façade being tidied up. Away from the street, I would expect large complexes at Nochet to be fairly haphazard. Regarding roof span - wrong period, but it shows what can be achieved: http://www.visitparks.co.uk/places/cressing-temple/ These barns built for the Knights Templar were very large and ornate for the period, but they show the sort of span basic engineering can give.
  19. M Helsdon
    http://www.glorantha.com/nochet-city-of-queens/
  20. M Helsdon
    Last one in this series for now... An Esrolian townhouse. Whilst the general layout is similar to the Sartarite townhouse, there are distinct differences. The main entrance does not directly enter the building but opens onto a vestibule and then the central courtyard. The main doors are directly ahead, with a waiting room for visitors and clients. An audience/feast hall with a raised platform is to the left, and entry to the private portions of the house lie beyond this with an imposing staircase up to the family rooms. Offices and storerooms lie to either side of the corridor leading to the stairs. On the other side of the house are the kitchens, rooms for retainers and storerooms. The upper floor is occupied by the family, with the matriarch having a suite of rooms in the upper left, and other large rooms for other important members of the household. Elsewhere are rooms for children, and chambers for the older sons and daughters. Looking at the latest map of Nochet, many of the Great Houses have a similar layout with a central courtyard, but tend to be rectangular complexes instead of square.
  21. M Helsdon
    On Glorantha, the equinoxes are when the Sun's path precisely bisects the Sun Dome - when the Sun will be directly overhead at noon; in summer the Sun Path heads north and the Sun is bright and days are longer, in winter, south and the Sun is pale and days are short?
  22. M Helsdon
    A selection of rural and urban 'Ernalda Houses': At the top a two storey town house, belonging to a wealthy clan. The courtyard is partially roofed, with a colonnade. The hearth for 'entertaining' is to the right, the family hearth to the left. Rooms for servants and workshops lie at the rear of the house. Two sets of stairs lead to the upper floor: the family stairs on the left, servants' on the right. The family rooms: sleeping accommodation, shrines etc. are on the upper floor. At the bottom, two large houses with an enlarged internal courtyard, a more modest carl's house, and a cottar's cottage. The two storey house has an internal gallery on the upper floor, with windows overlooking the courtyard. I imagine in the Esrolian equivalent the gallery might be on the outer wall.
  23. M Helsdon
    The Sun Path varies with the seasons, so the relative angle of the Sun will vary. Regarding house orientation, I see an alignment north/south, east/west as implicit in an Ernalda House, and living quarters, at least in Genertela, being on the south side to gain maximum warmth.
  24. M Helsdon
    I suspect that houses in an urban setting are likely to be more variable in size and shape: space within the walls is often at a premium and only the wealthy can afford not to be pragmatists about the layout of their houses. Many of the structures at Apple Lane are not homes but halls and barns. In Pavis there are some square houses with central courtyards or light wells, but many buildings are rectangular and divided into apartments and tenements.
  25. M Helsdon
    Seen from above.
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