Hospitality in a Sartar city/village/hamlet

[Ali the Helering]

1 hour ago, Jeff said:

Except you also spent the night there. And "inn" is a perfectly good translation - "tabernae" were places required by law to provide hospitality.

Actually, no.  Taberna refers to a shop in general, hence the three tabernae in your posting - shop, smith, refreshments.  It was the caupona that provided hospitality as well as refreshments, the popinae that served food and drink without accomodation, and the thermopolium that (mentioned by Plautus alone) served hot drinks only.  If you asked for the nearest taberna you might find yourself with pottery, armour or cabbages.

The later use of the term to refer to accomodation plus boozer is via later Italian as Akhorakil and Kloster wrote.

 

[Akhôrahil]

6 hours ago, Jeff said:

Sartar has plenty of these places - and they were not a gradual evolution, they were introduced by King Sartar as part of his road system. They caught on, more were built by his heirs, and by tribes and temples that sought to capitalise on the growing trade.

I wonder what happens to them during wartime (which there will be a lot of in the future), when trade presumably more or less collapses? It would make sense that they will have to quarter troops, with or without the owner's agreement? (No third amendment in Glorantha!)

Edited December 26, 2020 by Akhôrahil

[Bill the barbarian]

So, Inns provide little on the way of hospitably and what they do provide is a codified way of emulating the hospitable greetings of the stead, and clan hamlets. The best one can find in a city beyond the empty ceremonies is to travel to friends, tribal embassies in confederacies or religious centres, (let's not forget Geos is a Sartarite Cult) when in a larger urban centre. I suppose this all makes sense. I really dig the idea of the caravanserai. Looking forward to doing a bit of reading on this. 

I love the reminder that hospitably is a cheaper alternative to heavier armed force (nice linking the wyter in on that lordabdul).  Love how it tradition becomes codified when the situation that fostered the need changes.. Like in our world with the shaking of hands coming (in tales anyway) from the need to be sure the other did not have a weapon is his hand. Sweet, great answers.

Now who is up on their troll hospitality. Just ran a second game this morn where the party encountered good old fashioned  Uz neighbourliness...

Ever pragmatic, the Trolls avoid the misunderstandings that can arise with having a stranger who might not know better in their household by eliminating misunderstanding before it can begin. While having the newly welcomed individual stand where they can take in the coming spectacle. The gracious host will take three circuits of the lodgings pointing out things in the first circuit that they will kill to protect and then things they will fight to protect and then finally things they want you not to touch...by saying this is mine, oh and this is mine, and well this... needless to say you get the idea! Now those things it does not point out may well still be his or hers but one may use them, without imminent threat.

While this may not seem quite welcoming one should bask in the glow of knowing that tonight should not be the night one is eaten by a troll. Makes one long for the time we can return to welcoming folks with our hospitality eh?

Edited December 27, 2020 by Bill the barbarian

[French Desperate WindChild]

On 12/22/2020 at 8:35 PM, Bill the barbarian said:

MRQ?

I m sorry but I don't understand / know this.. It is not a surprise as I don't understand 90% of what you write (75% when you try to write in french and 100% of what you say in your podcast) but you have the power to make me laugh at at least 80% so not a big issue I think.

I hope it is not the "Ministère du Revenu du Quebec", I don't want to pay any tax because I tried to answer you !

[Tindalos]

11 minutes ago, French Desperate WindChild said:

I m sorry but I don't understand / know this.. It is not a surprise as I don't understand 90% of what you write (75% when you try to write in french and 100% of what you say in your podcast) but you have the power to make me laugh at at least 80% so not a big issue I think.

I hope it is not the "Ministère du Revenu du Quebec", I don't want to pay any tax because I tried to answer you !

It refers to Mongoose's edition of Runequest.

Done with a view quantity was more important than quality, a lot of the books aren't viewed too fondly to say the least. 

[soltakss]

12 hours ago, Bill the barbarian said:

I really dig the idea of the caravanserai. Looking forward to doing a bit of reading on this. 

If you get a chance to watch the excellent Resurrection:Ertugrul series, caravanserai figure prominently, with much of the business deals being don there, as well as meeting with friends outside the clan and for spies to meet. Because the laws of hospitality don't apply in the same way, you can meet different people and do different things at a caravanserai than in the clan. You can also have secret meetings.

12 hours ago, Bill the barbarian said:

Ever pragmatic, the Trolls avoid the misunderstandings that can arise with having a stranger who might not know better in their household by eliminating misunderstanding before it can begin. While having the newly welcomed individual stand where they can take in the coming spectacle. The gracious host will take three circuits of the lodgings pointing out things in the first circuit that they will kill to protect and then things they will fight to protect and then finally things they want you not to touch...by saying this is mine, oh and this is mine, and well this... needless to say you get the idea! Now those things it does not point out may well still be his or hers but one may use them, without imminent threat.

While this may not seem quite welcoming one should bask in the glow of knowing that tonight should not be the night one is eaten by a troll. Makes one long for the time we can return to welcoming folks with our hospitality eh?

We had a troll PC in our RQ2/RQ3 campaign, Derak the Dark Troll (DDT), who was a very genteel, urbanised troll. Whenever the party would visit trolls, they would always do this hospitality thing and he would be mortified by it and would always apologise afterwards, especially when they always did the joke of not mentioning something then slapping the hands of a PC who touched it with "That's mine as well". He normally gave us the heads-up beforehand, so that we would not overreact.

13 minutes ago, French Desperate WindChild said:

On 12/22/2020 at 7:35 PM, Bill the barbarian said:

MRQ?

I m sorry but I don't understand / know this..

Mongoose RuneQuest, or RQ4, depending on numbering conventions. It was an attempt to reboot RuneQuest that produced a lot of useful supplements for the Second Age but was not critically acclaimed.

[Bill the barbarian]

37 minutes ago, French Desperate WindChild said:

I m sorry but I don't understand / know this.. It is not a surprise as I don't understand 90% of what you write (75% when you try to write in french and 100% of what you say in your podcast) but you have the power to make me laugh at at least 80% so not a big issue I think.

Je m'excuse, mais je ne comprends pas...