Ian_W

Almost by definition, the disaster to trade networks that was the Closing could not create Sea Peoples, because the sea was, well, Closed (and remained Closed until Dormal figured a work-around). The end of the Second Age that was the Closing saw a bunch of Land Peoples become especially desperate and willing to do what they could with a red sword ... which presumably contributed to the mess at the end of the Second Age.

The first outsider-to-Gm question I would ask is ... 'Do Caladra and Aurelion know they are God Learners who escaped ?'.

In the case of the Roman Empire in Constantinople, they were pretty darn successful in limiting trade in silk. Agreed, they probably made a very sensible decision to not try and limit trade in other than silk, but we have very little high end silk in western, barbarian, Europe, other than through official channels. Now, there is also the argument that you don;t need to impose an embargo if you can just say 'There's a whole lot of bandits, and they are all your problem'. I suspect that suppressing banditry among the tribes was a bigger contribution by Sartar than the roads.

They are, but moving wood or water ten to fifteen kilometers from the foothills of the Storm Walk Mountains to Derek's Walls is the very definition of the Wages of Fear.

1 It happened a long time ago, and stories vary. 2. Not really - the current town is built on a cliff. 3. Mostly stone, some wood. Stone can be locally dug, but wood needs to be brought in. 4. None. Sartarite cities are built next to easily available water, while Barbarian Town was deliberately put where it was to prevent Beast Nomads watering their beasts. 5. Stinking of burning dung, as that's the local fuel for fires. Also, short of water. 6. Yes. Underground water, originally from the Stormwalk Mountains. 7/ No. Derek Poljoni, unlike Mary Sue, was no Dragon Worshipper with plot armor that made him immune from the downsides of dragon magic. 8. No, they aren't dwarfs. 9 Elmal Hosefriend was a thing when the city was founded, but by 1600 the Monrogh Debate - and the relative proximity of Barbarian Town to the Sun Domers of Prax probably means there isnt a shrine to Elmal Horsefiend.

And none of that explains why they stayed, and becomes Praxians. Your just-so story explains nothing.

Or it might be, I dunno, a stead for people exiled from other Orlanthi lands, who make a living in the various ways as Orlanthi do. Including making a dying when the Beast Nomads show up in numbers, wanting to get rid of that wart on Waha's side. Remember, Harmast initiated there, in an era where Lokymayadon controlled who could, and could not, initiate, and therefore get to the Other side and do what were later called Heroquests.

So. Explain to me again why people with better options are leaving well-watered, well-loved by Ernalda Dragon Pass, for the wastes of Prax. Tell me again how much grass grows where they left from, as opposed to where they went to. And then tell me, again, why the people that made this desperate journey, who you claim were "people of some means in their homeland", which means people with options, did this. The people later called the Pol Joni went head to head with the Beast Riders of Prax to grab a portion of that wrecked land. Why would anyone with 'some means' seek death in that way ?

My first thought is you made a mistake letting a player talk you running an Elf. But you're in too deep to back out now. So. Where's the Elf from ? There were enough survivors from Moonburn that rumours might have got there. Similarly, the Fall of Pavis to Jaldon Goldentooth had bad effects on the mini-elf forest inside Pavis, so that might have been a thing as well. Answer where, and you have some clues as to who. Answer who and where, and you can get a clue as to what. Then you need to sort out why.

And yet, they can just stay in and close and safe to the walls of Knight Fort, and when the messenger bird, spirit or zzabur-magicked message arrives, they are potentially ready to send out the party towards Holy Country territory, 40 to 60 kilometers away, and show those Impala, Pol Joni or whatever raiders with their stolen cattle what for.

For me, that's the origin story of the Pol Joni - it was a migration of the poor who had given up on progressing as good Sartarite Orlanthi, who left to be a New Thing on the Verge and inside Prax. That has also been the basis of Exilestead, and of Storm Bull and the Road to the Block as a way out of cottar- or stickpicker-status.

Yes. But they are faster than Impalas trying to herd a mob of cattle out of Heortland. They can't chase Praxians, but Praxians can't do more than hit and run - and thats why places like Knight Fort exist, so the farmers have a place to retreat to with their stock when warning comes of a raid.

What I'm writing is us mostly set a bit further north at Barbarian Town/Exile Stead, but yeah, when there isn't a raid there would be peaceful interaction. I strongly suspect Praxians and other outsiders would have to stay in some sort of Outsider Town, rather than inside Knight Fort itself. Knight Fort is the easiest trade route to civilisation from South Prax, and you're going to get trade in both directions. My view is that Baboons have strong shaman, as they are not very powerful footsloggers in plains dominated by riders - a troop of Baboons has to be able to threaten spiritual combat against unfriendly Praxian riders, so risks will be taken to get more, more powerful Shamans. Some of this will be bluff, of course. And it'll cost a bunch of apprentice Baboon shamans to death, madness or worse. They are also traders, as half a dozen spearpoints are worth a lot more in deep Prax than they are in Knight Fort, that has actual well-established smithies. I am not sure, at this point, what the Aeolians would think about 'heathen magics' like the bound Praxian spirits in fetishes, or taking advantage of the common magic being taught by Baboon shamans. They may well just take their cut from the trade and see the trade go elsewhere rather than be used locally.

*A* tank ? Yep. It's quite possible to buy very old, very obsolete tanks. A modern French main battle tank (and the French are the lowest of low paperwork arms suppliers) with modern optics ? Nope. *Ukraine* can't buy those tanks, as of December 2023, and they are a friendly state being supplied with all sorts of French gear. Arms vendors are very aware that the guns you sell today can be turned against you tomorrow, and that won't change in the far future. In a megacorp-dominated universe, expect them to keep the best stuff for themselves - after all, your professional rivals will absolutely be buying samples of what you make for testing, and you need to keep some carrots for your best, and therefore most trusted, customers.

The first mention of "Saint Orlanth" pretty much gives away the farm, to anyone who knows anything about Western and Lightbringer religion. I'm pretty sure it'd be simple for someone from somewhere civilised that has been fighting with and against sorcery for a while to foment kinstrife among the Sartarites to form a "Aeolian" cult, that promises to teach sorcery to any Lightbringer worshippers ... I mean, 'Saint' is just how the Westerners pronounce 'God', right ? Couple of pamphlets, make a 'St Barntar's Prayer of Sharpen Plow' spell and you could upset the social order right and proper, and then the storm barbarians will be fighting each other rather than us. Worked with Monrogh, didn't it ?! But yeah, the ones in Heortland are quite happy to be who they are in their hills between Prax and the Holy Country.

It is how money works when you're from somewhere - like 40k - where it is more important who you know than how much cash you have. This is true in the real world as well. There are plenty of people with the money to buy, say, a French main battle tank with the good optics and whatnot. But they can't buy such a thing with mere money.

By the way, the military versions of these were called 'anti-tank rifles' for a while, but have been renamed 'anti-material rifles' because tank armor got too thick for them. As a GM you need to think about the weapons vs armor dynamic - if there isn't a lot of armor around, then weapons that fire lots of small bullets will be well liked. If there is a lot of armor around, people will start using things that fire fewer, bigger bullets. So, although elephant guns got invented fifty years and more earlier, militaries after WW2 went for less high powered 'intermediate' cartridges that could fire a lot of bullets quickly and accurately. Today, good body armor is becoming cheaper and more accessible, so armies are thinking of adopting bigger, harder hitting bullets,. My recommendation would be to make up some weapons, and have them issued to your players - PPsK had the contract for equipping the Nostromo, so theres some PPsK carbines, shotguns and a heavy blast rifle, each with their own quirks and whatnot.

Your players will HATE you for this ... but different manufacturers require different power packs and ammo for fundamentally the same weapons. So the Delforth Gauss Rifle's power pack is incompatible with the JnR Blaster's power pack. The PPsK and the Brelforth are the same basic clip-fed highly controllable zero-g carbine, but they use different lengths of .22.

No. That isn't what the Return to Glory is about. No. Not at all. *muhahahahaaaaaa*

Is there anything in canon about the followers of the prophet Aeol, and his views about the Lightbringers and so on being emenations of the Invisible God, trying to spread their faith ? I'm specifically looking at whether they'd be doing this towards Barbarian Town and Prax in the pre-Hero Wars Third Age, when they appeared to have the Knight Fort on the east of the Stormwalk Mountains as a forward base. Bonus points if someone can inform me what impact, if any, their beliefs had on Baboons.

If I was a God Learner building a god to help steal mythic power off barbarians, I'd build something that looks a lot like the Third Age Llankor Mhy.

I don't know of any culture who does that. For MGF purposes, such a weird set of technologies, completely ignoring How Things Are Done, and binding the Sky Horse to Earth like it's a bullock ... I'd pick Sir Ethilrist at Muse Roost.

Ward against Weapons wards against weapons. It will do nothing against, say, a pot full of boiling oil, or the fiery aura of an elemental, which various other forms of magic protection will protect against. But if you want to ward against weapons ...

It's not a mistake, it is showing skill in a showfight, where both participants are trying to keep the other safe.

If you're trying anything with that shield other than parrying the haft of that axe, you're doing it wrong. Apart from anything else, that block done against a blow six inches higher is going to cause a great deal of pain against the left hand of the shield bearer, which may well interfere with the rest of the fight.