Sir_Godspeed

Presumably after most mortals die.

Terms like carls, cottars, etc. are out the window in official publications. Because cottars are basically tenant farmers, they are rendered as "semi-free" or something similar, iirc. Carls are free.

Jar-Eel is famous debating them, isn't she? So they at least have SOME individual who are highly regarded spiriturally/intellectually, if nothing else. But I agree that it's general modus seems to be that of a grassroots movement. Not that things can't get astroturfed, of course. A push and a pull in the right direction and suddenly your rival family as an uprising in their lands.

Lukarius destroyed Mernita himself for heresy and insurrection (supposedly), so it seems a bit weird to have someone represent it later. Are there any parallels between the arming of Murharzarm and the coronation of Khordavu? Mernita provided Murharzarm with a helmet, in any case.

Him being Lokarnos is not a terrible shout. My initial guess was some form of Yelm the Elder, but as his own son in a weirdo-divine way. Doesn't really feel very satisfying.

Aryash is related to the Eel-Ariash name Char- can be found in the Char-Un. -Un is also in the Char-Un. So yeah, several references to modern Solar Pelorian/Pentan words.

Yeah, this is a BIG deal for Solar cultures, and these are all either the same event, or they reverberate enough through the God Time to reoccur.

It seems likely that as long as the Lunar Empire remains prosperous and stable, the legitimacy of Moonson is rock-solid. And moreover, just taken for granted. So implicit that it's not something people even really think about. If anyone *wants* there to be a powerful Reactionary Yelmist movement in Dara Happa, it seems like the most likely moment would be after Argrath and his allies absolutely wrecks the Lunars' behinds (whenever the nadir of that whole thing is, my knowledge of late Hero Wars is spotty). The Dara Happans would've lost a lot of resources, manpower and prestige, and watching it all coming down seems like the moment for some Citizen families to decide to "jump ship" and suddenly declare a fondness for whichever version of the Yelm cult they consider "pure" (which is none of them, but don't tell them that). Perhaps they would rally around a previously marginal Avivath-like figure or whatever. Nysaloreans, perhaps, or perhaps some even jumping ship to ally with a revived Sheng (the poor fools). There's a Monster Empire in there somewhere along the timeline, so who knows how Dara Happan Celestial types would work with that. Actually, setting up a scenario where the White Moon movement goes full on public during this time as well would put Peloria in an interesting scenario of two divergent rebellions, possibly setting up a new status quo much later on. While a post-Argrath Dara Happan rebellion might initially be for political expediency, one might hypothesize that it goes full on radicalized (something like Every Man a Sun or something Nysalorean) with the initial leaders losing control to ever more hardline factions. Moon worship might survive in a subservient or auxiliary fashion, but lose overt political significance. Or perhaps Dara Happa suffers a huge brain drain as skilled Lunars get the heck out of dodge before some crazed demagogue makes the mob burn down their house. Dara Happa's loss, ultimately. The true legacy of the Red Moon might survive through emigrants, or in the Arrolians. Presumably places like First Blessed would remain Red Moon strongholds. We do know that the Moon survives in SOME form, at least, even if it doesn't have an attendant empire in the Middle World. Anyway, all of this is pure speculation out of self-amusement. I think Jeff's point that the Moon is so integrated into Dara Happan society at this point (after several centuries, massive demographic shift and at least one total breakdown of society with a Lunar-spearheaded rebuilding) that separating the two would be very artificial and odd to the Dara Happans themselves.

The Dark Trolls themselves were never actually in Wonderhome, they are an adaptation of the Surface World, and likely fit there best, despite what many trolls might think.

Cool! Thanks for the recommendation. Ancient Chinese airships sounds cool as hell.

wtf Belintar is a hunk

Apologies.

The Ten Treasures of the Vingkotlings might contain some that were originally from Arselia. I forget what they are, but several of them were lost, at the very least.

Hitched a ride on a dragon through time sounds amazing.

Yeah, but once again, does an urban Dara Hapan water-carrier, street sweeper, potter, etc. follow those "high" ideals? That seems.... weird.

I think the "success" of Dara Happa is fairly easy to justify even in mundane, non-magical terms: - The culture controls the main waterway in an otherway fairly dry area. - It is heavily populated (large tax and conscription base) - with a well-functioning bureaucracy and well-developed infrastructure. As noted above, Dara Happa has *frequently* been conquered and ruled by outsiders, and while they certainly have been influenced and partially transformed by their rulers (The Fortunate Succession pretty strongly dispels notions of homogenous cultural continuity, even the Yelm cult, for all its pretense of purity basically gets "reset" every few centuries), it's also pretty clear that most of the conquerors found the area they took over to be so well-functioning that it was best to simply let things run *mostly* as before, and instead reap the benefits. - In other words, much like what happened to Egypt in the RW. ------------------------------ On another note, I find the continued insistence of separating Dara Happans from Pelorian peasants interesting. Does this mean that "cultural Dara Happans" are exclusively urban, or exclusive Citizens and/or aristocratic? For example, does a street corner cobbler in Raibanth hold themselves to the Dara Happan stereotypes above? Or is he considered a "peasant"?

A marriage-centric Wyter sounds kinda cool. Like a nymph or Earth goddess or something.

Who knew Surtur was pushing through Ragnarok slow-cooker style.

Dudes, Hobbits are chill af, they're literally just vibin. (I like them a lot probably because the Shire SUPER-reminds me of the rural community I grew up in, especially the massive quantities of food, constant gossiping, and bitter inheritance feuds, lmao. My dad was a huge family lineage nut, to boot.)

I've heard a good deal about it, or seen it around, but I was always put off by the subscription. I just don't have a lot of disposable income lately. Since there is a free tier, I might give it a whirl for fun, though.

I still get a kick out of diving back into Middle-Earth every now and then. It's been a while since I read LotR, but it's such an strongly defined world/setting that it feels like putting on an old, comfortable sweater. It has an "earthier tone" to it than most modern fantasy, as it were. EDIT: And thanks to a bout of Elven-mania in my teens I can translate a good portion of the place names on the map. That's fun.

My deepest sympathies. We're scheduled for a heatwave here soon, I am NOT looking forward to it. A/C is basically nonexistant in Norway as well.

I'm tempted to believe that the Brithini Laws are entirely arbitrary, and the only thing that matters is that they are internally consistent. The Brithini mistakenly believe that they are universal (and why wouldn't they), but the Vadeli know that they aren't, and so apply a different set of laws (equally internally consistent) to the same effects. (As do the Mostali, of course. Speaking of which, none of this makes the parallels between Danmalastani-Malkion-Invisible God and Mostali-Mostal-World Machine any less interesting.)

Gloranthan horse tastes like chicken.

That's pretty doable, actually, given the existence of the Serpent Beast Dancers in Ralios.