Valthalion wrote:
Honestly, I think if anything we should retain from the MRB, especially to make it easier for people to use the material it is the map and the boundaries on it. To me that is Canon.
Yes, you are right. Though I would not shrink back from
minor alterations.
Valthalion wrote:
Rather than change the political boundaries, I think we could use T'zaul as a client kingdom of Otamarluk. Kudara could be used as well and become a kind of Indonesia. Although Kudara seems like India to me geographically and that opens all sorts of interesting possibilities.
Personally, I’d be eager to go for this. T’Zaul would be good as a vassal of Otamarluk, and even parts of Kudara could be under its influence, the way northwestern India was under Muslim influence. Otamarluk’s power could well be a missionary one, with increasing numbers of faithful in many of the southern and eastern countries, sympathisers with the cause of Otamarluk.
Valthalion wrote:
Kudara could be a bastion of another paganism of a myriad of gods/spirits and a hold out in the jungle against Otamarluk expansionism.
Ties in nicely with my idea of a Kudara torn between traditional “Hinduism†and the newcomer “Islamâ€. But I think we should leave specifcs we don’t absolutely
need to ascertain right now to any prospective developer of Kudara.
Valthalion wrote:
I have always thought of T'zaul as a kind of Persian/Parthian/Iranian, maybe Zoastrian, place.
That rocks! I’m a total sucker for the Sasanids!
Ian.Plumb wrote:
It makes sense to me that Taveruun is losing territory to Otamarluk. I see the eastern part of Taveruun is an Outremer, with territory changing hands regularly. That territory I see as being geographically different to that of the west of Taveruun, so that there is a distinction in the hearts and minds of the people between west and east.
Valthalion wrote:
I would like some contact with Otarmaluk, because I'd like justification for eastern style cavalry for the Helenic army Cataphracts and toxohippeis (Bow armed cavalry).
I can rationalise this by being part of the empire and fighting as part of the Imperial campaigns.
Hm, how do you like this:
Maybe two centuries ago, at the time of the dissolution of the Xanarian Empire or immediately after it, Taveruun was for a short time overrun by Otamarluk, or at least threatened to be overrun. It was first and foremost Dardanet that came to Taveruun’s aid, and the Otamarluks were pushed back.
Later, when Helena was already harping back to its days of glory, many Helenans recalled, often a bit romantically, how their ancestors once stood against an evil eastern empire – and right now, their neighbours in Taveruun were still fighting an intermittent border war against just such an “evil eastern empireâ€. A romantic kind of crusader spirit spread throughout Helena, and Helenan mercenaries flocked east to fight Otamarluk. Where they learned of the eastern horseman tactics.
) I had envisaged disputed territory. Ostensibly part of Taveruun, but Otamarluk influence is heavy and raids are very frequent. Perhaps islands of calm in place of fortification, but open spaces likely to be attacked by Otamarluk cavalry. Farming nigh on impossible.
