Swords of Central Genertela

[Sir_Godspeed]

1 hour ago, davecake said:

I see the Brithini horali as incredibly competent at arms, well protected with magic, and very inflexible and lacking in creativity in tactics. Attacks them in ways they expect, and they are in a lot of trouble. Attack them in ways they don't expect, and you have a reasonable chance.... once. 

 

I'm getting warhammer space marines (especially Ultramarines or Imperial Fists) vibes here. Cool! 

This might be purely conjecture, but I'd imagine Brithini armies also rarely experience the issues common to most others, ie. dysentery, flu, desertion, etc.

[dumuzid]

13 minutes ago, Sir_Godspeed said:

I'm getting warhammer space marines (especially Ultramarines or Imperial Fists) vibes here. Cool! 

There's an old Greg story about Arkat when he was still a Brithini Horali, in Book of Drastic Resolutions: Darkness, that describes a night-long skirmish between trolls and Brithini troops.  The Brithini switch between mechanical ocular nightsight devices mounted on their crossbows for mundane sight in the dark and magic-sight to perceive the trolls' spells.  It's very Warhammer 40k, especially in how it demonstrates the Westerners having a mostly sound functional understanding of their troll opponents, but having zero understanding of the trolls' culture or internal life.

[Brootse]

Could we perhaps see some drawings, please?

[Joerg]

6 hours ago, M Helsdon said:

And it's still growing. I really like Safelster...

Are you going to deal with the Lake Felster and riverine navies?

[M Helsdon]

3 hours ago, dumuzid said:

There's an old Greg story about Arkat when he was still a Brithini Horali, in Book of Drastic Resolutions: Darkness, that describes a night-long skirmish between trolls and Brithini troops.  The Brithini switch between mechanical ocular nightsight devices mounted on their crossbows for mundane sight in the dark and magic-sight to perceive the trolls' spells.  It's very Warhammer 40k, especially in how it demonstrates the Westerners having a mostly sound functional understanding of their troll opponents, but having zero understanding of the trolls' culture or internal life.

Yes, I have seen and used that. However, my reading is that the sorb vision isn't just mounted on the crossbow. Will have to reread.

2 hours ago, Brootse said:

Could we perhaps see some drawings, please?

I am awaiting for approval to continue. The first thing I will do are the maps.

1 hour ago, Joerg said:

Are you going to deal with the Lake Felster and riverine navies?

There's a subsection of about 450 words about them.

 

Edited April 6, 2020 by M Helsdon

[M Helsdon]

4 hours ago, Sir_Godspeed said:

This might be purely conjecture, but I'd imagine Brithini armies also rarely experience the issues common to most others, ie. dysentery, flu, desertion, etc.

Their main issues are injury and death, both usually repairable.

[M Helsdon]

5 hours ago, davecake said:

Which makes sense, but I also thought the ancestors of the Daron, the heavy cavalry horses of Seshnela and Fronela, are descended from the Deskuval horses of Danmalastan - but I guess the ancient Brithini didn't ride them onto battle, just used them as beasts of burden? Or maybe dragoons? 

My understanding is that riding was the prerogative of talari officers; ancient holari didn't ride because it was against their caste laws. From what I can tell, the Daron wasn't bred to be an ideal heavy cavalry horse until the Second Age - before that it was big but slow.

5 hours ago, davecake said:

I see the Brithini horali as incredibly competent at arms, well protected with magic, and very inflexible and lacking in creativity in tactics. Attacks them in ways they expect, and they are in a lot of trouble. Attack them in ways they don't expect, and you have a reasonable chance.... once. 

Very tough, but prone to making assumptions based on past experience.

Edited April 6, 2020 by M Helsdon

[soltakss]

26 minutes ago, M Helsdon said:

Their main issues are injury and death, both usually repairable.

I thought that Brithini died permanently when they died, no coming back, as their souls just disappear.

[metcalph]

1 minute ago, soltakss said:

I thought that Brithini died permanently when they died, no coming back, as their souls just disappear.

Quote

Brithini religion
denies life after death, and so the Brithini cling
fiercely to the one they have. Resurrection is
possible after death, and even the lowliest of
peasants expect their sorcerers to try it each
time one of them dies. 

Guide p405

 

[M Helsdon]

12 minutes ago, soltakss said:

I thought that Brithini died permanently when they died, no coming back, as their souls just disappear.

There's a time limit. Recovering the head helps.

One thing I had to do was attempt to delve into the various Malkioni sects, because without it, understanding their military is difficult.

Edited April 6, 2020 by M Helsdon

[Joerg]

18 minutes ago, soltakss said:

I thought that Brithini died permanently when they died, no coming back, as their souls just disappear.

All Brithini expect their zzaburi to resurrect them in case of death by accident, disease, or combat, though not old age. This suggests that their identity lingers long enough for the sorcerers to undertake that spell. As we have learned that casting a sorcery spell may take quite a while, an instant disappearance is off the table.

There is the Vadeli uprising against the Kachisti of Gennerela (modern Fronela and Fornoar) which started by exhausting the Kachisti zzaburi by committing a mass suicide which their captors/guardians were somehow obliged to undo, and managed to undo before the Nidan mountain chain erupted.

It isn't clear how or why the zzaburi have such spells.

[Richard S.]

I remember reading somewhere that the Brithini abhorred reproduction, seeing it as an bestial action, which is why it's such a big deal whenever they start to have kids. Probably their ability to resurrect people combined with their immortality makes up for the lack of new Brithini. I don't see why resurrection would be that hard for them, we know that human spirits tend to linger around the body for around 7 days after death, and I'm sure they've had plenty of time to practice recovering them before they fully dissolve into energy.

[M Helsdon]

So far today have added more information about ships (which brings the section on Safelstran vessels to about a thousand words) and Brithini crossbows.

By offering details of Brithini and later Western crossbows, it illustrates the decline in technical/magical ability (the Brithini use hi-tech crossbows with a metal lath with a lever, whilst the Western are basically composite wood/baleen with a much simpler mechanism).

[M Helsdon]

Realised I needed to include western Slontos. Only adds a page and a bit as it's a fairly peripheral region, and I don't have access to much source material.

First draft text pretty much done: now at 100 pages plus index. May start drawing maps...

[Gallowglass]

55 minutes ago, M Helsdon said:

 

Realised I needed to include western Slontos. Only adds a page and a bit as it's a fairly peripheral region, and I don't have access to much source material.

 

Do you mean Ramalia? I would love to see some depictions of human Zorak Zorani, and maybe some were-boars!

[M Helsdon]

1 hour ago, Gallowglass said:

Do you mean Ramalia? I would love to see some depictions of human Zorak Zorani, and maybe some were-boars!

Yes - though it's the oppressed serfs who worship Zorak Zoran (and Mralot - and most of them are 'tamed'), as I understand it, not the nobility or their soldiers. If this project receives the go-ahead, will be sketching soldiers etc. not, I'm afraid, serfs.

Edited April 7, 2020 by M Helsdon

[Gallowglass]

7 minutes ago, M Helsdon said:

Yes - though it's the oppressed serfs who worship Zorak Zoran, as I understand it, not the nobility or their soldiers.

Looking at the Guide it seems you are correct. A lot of my imaginings on Ramalia are based on an old Tradetalk article, which portray the “Axemen” enforcers of the nobility as Zorak Zorani. I know that’s not canon, but the article is still a good read in my opinion. 

[M Helsdon]

25 minutes ago, Gallowglass said:

Looking at the Guide it seems you are correct. A lot of my imaginings on Ramalia are based on an old Tradetalk article, which portray the “Axemen” enforcers of the nobility as Zorak Zorani. I know that’s not canon, but the article is still a good read in my opinion. 

Not certain if I have seen that... But, so far as I can determine, the Axemen are probably of the same non-mainstream Hrestoli sect as their lords. 

One thing I have realised in writing the text is that there is a very great deal of variety between the different branches of Hrestolism, with the Loskalmi at one end of the spectrum, and the Ramalians at the other, at least for a time. I've never particularly 'liked' Rokarism, but now understand why it rejects Hrestolism - Hrestolism can be very nice or very bad, and it makes me wonder if Hrestol was, in fact, Illuminated.. 

Edited April 7, 2020 by M Helsdon

[dumuzid]

Does the coverage of Ralios include any look at Guhan, or the historical Stygian Empire?

[M Helsdon]

8 hours ago, dumuzid said:

Does the coverage of Ralios include any look at Guhan, or the historical Stygian Empire?

I don't generally include very much about the Elder Races. There's about a page on Arkat's Autarchy (rise, military, fall). From what I can tell, his empire didn't heavily influence the culture, martial or otherwise, of its citizens. But this time, I hope to include historical sketches ranging from the First to the Third Age.

[M Helsdon]

Page count sans index now at 100. Keep on thinking of things to add. Will start on the maps tomorrow.

[M Helsdon]

These are base maps I have drawn to illustrate my current project (but lacking most of the names that are going on them). Whilst these are not up to the standard of Chaosium cartography (or overly accurate when it comes to islands), they might be useful...

I will be using them reduced to roughly half a page.

Free to use.

 

Edited April 10, 2020 by M Helsdon

[metcalph]

Huh.  Hand't notice that the Ygg's Isles doesn't appear until the Third Age.

[Brootse]

1 hour ago, metcalph said:

Huh.  Hand't notice that the Ygg's Isles doesn't appear until the Third Age.

Me neither.

[M Helsdon]

6 hours ago, metcalph said:

Huh.  Hand't notice that the Ygg's Isles doesn't appear until the Third Age.

Wouldn't be visible at the scale these maps are used at? I used the historical maps in the Guide as a... guide.

Hmm, maybe the early ones aren't accurate. I can fix mine.

Edited April 10, 2020 by M Helsdon