Prince of Sartar. Comic

[Steve]

http://www.princeofsartar.com/comic/96-before-the-storm/

 

[Steve]

http://www.princeofsartar.com/comic/97-before-the-storm-part2/

[Steve]

http://www.princeofsartar.com/comic/98-time/

Edited July 23, 2017 by Steve

[Steve]

http://www.princeofsartar.com/comic/99-change/

 

[Steve]

http://www.princeofsartar.com/comic/100-the-battle-begins/

[Steve]

That looks like some pretty powerful magic that's about to be unleashed.

 

[kaydet]

What a great triptych. Particularly enjoyed the image of Argrath-as-Orlanth the Restorer. Brilliantly executed.

I also really enjoyed the beautiful images of the Dara Happan (?) troops and their captain in the middle band of page 100. Nice to see such crisp depictions of the opposition.

[Jenx]

[jajagappa]

Obviously Elusu was having fun!  Just wonder what other celebratory surprises she has in store for him... ;-)

[Steve]

http://www.princeofsartar.com/comic/101-the-battle-begins-part-2/

 

[Mankcam]

Loving this comic !!! Although this is causing me to slightly rethink things... 

I had gotten used to the Pelorian culture being based off the Assyrians, so the Darra Happan mercenaries depicted earlier worked quite well for me.

However in my mind I still retained a Roman-flavour for the actual Lunar Imperial Army. I guess this impression comes from looking at the artwork from the RQ3/HW era depictions of Lunar soldiers, which reminded me of late era Roman Republic Legionaries. This notion shifted in recent years, and I now envision Lunar military attire to be closer to an earlier Roman look, perhaps something similar to Roman soldiers from the Punic Wars period (or perhaps a hybrid look influenced by Assyrians and Punic Wars Romans).

Yet the Lunar Soldiers here still look very Assyrian, which feels a bit too Solar Cult to me, pre-Lunar so to speak. Not a criticism; just getting my head around it. I either live with it, or it becomes another one of those YGMV moments. Its all good.

Anyway i just love this comic. Those Lunars are pretty impressive with that massive volley of Firearrows raining down everywhere

Edited August 6, 2017 by Mankcam

[Joerg]

40 minutes ago, Mankcam said:

Loving this comic !!! Although this is causing me to slightly rethink things... 

I had gotten used to the Pelorian culture being based off the Assyrians, so the Dara Happan mercenaries depicted earlier worked quite well for me.

The Assyrians are only one of several Mesopotamian influences that enter Pelorian art direction. The great diversity of the Persian troops both in the Greek invasion (Thermopylae, Marathon...) and in Alexander's conquest is applicable to Dara Happa.

These forces are the Lunar regulars - the Antelope Riders, the Marble Phalanx and the Silver Shields. Neither of which are specialized archers, though, but they could have attracted enough individuals with enough archery skill to  field such a volley.

Sor-eel doesn't have a complement of Field School magicians at his disposal, except possibly for a few individuals as liaison, otherwise I would have suggested that these archers, and especally the archer hero, might have come from their bodyguard.

40 minutes ago, Mankcam said:

However in my mind I still retained a Roman-flavour for the actual Lunar Imperial Army. I guess this impression comes from looking at the artwork from the RQ3/HW era depictions of Lunar soldiers, which reminded me of late era Roman Republic Legionaries. This notion shifted in recent years, and I now envision Lunar military attire to be closer to an earlier Roman look, perhaps something similar to Roman soldiers from the Punic Wars period (or perhaps a hybrid look influenced by Assyrians and Punic Wars Romans).

IIRC the signatory Roman legionary equipment was copied from Etruscan helmets, and also popular among the Gauls when they did not rush into battle sky-clad.

The Phalanxes are credited to Daxdarius, a Pelandan king/emperor of the Gods War active around Mt Jernotius, with access to metal from the Brass Mountains. They probably predate Dara Happan (urban) cultural influence in western Peloria. The Dara Happans inherited that style of armor and weaponry when they shook off the Horse Warlords, as their ancestral Godtime armor was less advanced and probably relied more on magial concepts than actual physics.

40 minutes ago, Mankcam said:

Yet the Lunar Soldiers here still look very Assyrian, which feels a bit too Solar Cult to me, pre-Lunar so to speak. Not a criticism; just getting my head around it. I either live with it, or it becomes another one of those YGMV moments. Its all good.

The Heartlands have a majority of non-Lunar cultists, with mainly lay membership in imperial cults, and initiation to a single cult much less guaranteed than in Heortling society. The Provinces and the two newer Satrapies (Sylila and Oraya) probably have more single cult initiates, and significantly more Lunars. Glamour and First Blessed may have higher rates of initiation, and especially to Lunar cults.

The upper echelon of society and the military probably have a higher initiation rate than the rest of the populace. I get the impression that Pelorian worship consists of a lot of ecstatic worship in communal rites, especially for the Lodrili peasantry, rather than focussed worship of just one role model. Those Enverinus priesthood folk probably have to deal with rites that no proper Yelmite would wish to offiiciate, let alone participate in.

The Marble Phalanx probably is rather sparsely Lunarized, stoutly old-Pelorian in its composition. I doubt that they even have the degree of Lunar monitors that you will find in less traditional Lunar regiments. The Antelope Lancers are Twin Stars followers with a good degree of Lunar worshippers among them, and the Silver Shields probably are strong in the Conquering Daughter as Lunar deity. The officer corps will of course have their share of Yanafali along with worshippers of the regimental and traditional Pelorian deities.

These archers appear to be rather up to modern Lunar doctrine for magic use in battle, with that organized Firearrow volley. This might be a case of monitors coordinating the magic for the archers.

[soltakss]

Personally, I think that each Regiment has its own distinct look and feel, with different armour and weapons.

Dara Happan Regiments follow different regimental deities and would dress differently. Lunar Heartland Regiments often follow Yanafal Tarnils and might have similar armour and uniforms, but would vary in colour and style to signify which regiment they belonged to. Lunar Provincial Regiments follow a wide variety of deities and would have distinct armour and uniforms.

What this means is that places like Pavis would have the same Lunar uniforms and armour, as Pavis has a handful of regiments, as well as some mercenary forces. Prax would have more variety, as the Sable Riders act as auxilliaries and the Antelope Lancers have their own uniforms and armour, other Regiments might be stationed in the various forts of Prax. Sartar might have even more variety, reflecting the different types of Regiments stationed there. 

[g33k]

On 8/6/2017 at 6:22 AM, soltakss said:

Dara Happan Regiments follow different regimental deities and would dress differently... 

And of course the Dara Happan troops would still retain that Solar flavor... including many of their magical units, with Solar-influenced magic.

[Steve]

http://www.princeofsartar.com/comic/102-shields-down/

 

[Steve]

http://www.princeofsartar.com/comic/103-fire-the-missiles/

[Steve]

In case anyone is wondering, as per the discussion on G+ and what @M Helsdon said there, these missiles are mentioned as dwarf artifacts in the original Pavis boxed set.

[g33k]

4 hours ago, Steve said:

In case anyone is wondering, as per the discussion on G+ and what @M Helsdon said there, these missiles are mentioned as dwarf artifacts in the original Pavis boxed set.

I had a "WTF missiles??!?" moment ... before I went "oh, Dwarven."

Now I'm wondering if the Lunars:

• have a contingent of Dwarf mytho-tech battle-engineers, either allies or paid mercenaries
• have Dwarf slaves, making these for Lunar use
• have stolen Dwarf missiles
• have stolen Dwarf tech / secrets

All but the 1st of these would seem to be poor long-term strategies...

[Steve]

They might have just paid up and bought the missiles from the Dwarves.

Edited August 21, 2017 by Steve

[g33k]

22 minutes ago, Steve said:

They might have just paid up and bought the missiles from the Dwarves.

I guess so.

But I had understood that the Dwarves *NEVER* (willingly) let their mytho-tech out of their control; you could sometimes hire mercenaries, but not just "buy" anything more advanced than iron weapon/armor...

But maybe my expectation is out-dated or otherwise incorrect.

 

[Steve]

19 minutes ago, g33k said:

But I had understood that the Dwarves *NEVER* (willingly) let their mytho-tech out of their control; you could sometimes hire mercenaries, but not just "buy" anything more advanced than iron weapon/armor...

According to the original Pavis boxed set:

Quote

“Dwarf assault ladders!” shouts Garrath. Player characters who have witnessed Lunar army assaults on cities may have seen these devices; flexible cable ladders which dwarfs sell for excessive prices to kings. These particular ladders may have been brought to assault Pavis, but never used, or perhaps they were purchased by the Lunars from the Pavis dwarfs.

 

[David Scott]

2 hours ago, g33k said:

I guess so.

But I had understood that the Dwarves *NEVER* (willingly) let their mytho-tech out of their control; you could sometimes hire mercenaries, but not just "buy" anything more advanced than iron weapon/armor...

But maybe my expectation is out-dated or otherwise incorrect.

They likely came from the Dwarf of Dwarf Run. Looking at the items from WB&RM, the Alchemical transformer, the Canon Cult and the Stone men it's not to far a stretch to get assault rockets. But you have to ask yourself, what do the Lunars have that the Dwarfs don't? I think the answer is moon rock. Just think what the dwarves could do with that.

[M Helsdon]

6 hours ago, Steve said:

They might have just paid up and bought the missiles from the Dwarves.

If I recall correctly, they were purchased at great cost for use in the assault on Boldhome, but were not used. Obviously, a quartermaster recalled them being in stores and...

 

On ‎8‎/‎6‎/‎2017 at 11:53 AM, Joerg said:

The Assyrians are only one of several Mesopotamian influences that enter Pelorian art direction. The great diversity of the Persian troops both in the Greek invasion (Thermopylae, Marathon...) and in Alexander's conquest is applicable to Dara Happa.

A while ago I attempted to systematically categorize the helmets appearing in canonical illustrations... 

 

Edited August 21, 2017 by M Helsdon

[David Scott]

11 hours ago, M Helsdon said:

If I recall correctly, they were purchased at great cost for use in the assault on Boldhome, but were not used

I can't find a reference for this - any ideas?

[M Helsdon]

4 hours ago, David Scott said:

I can't find a reference for this - any ideas?

My memory was faulty: Episodes for the Gamemaster, page 39: These particular ladders may have been brought to assault Pavis, but never used, or perhaps they were purchased by the Lunars from the Pavis dwarves.