Subject: MYSTARA-L Digest - 17 Jan 2005 to 18 Jan 2005 (#2005-17) From: Automatic digest processor Date: 19/01/2005, 19:00 To: Recipients of MYSTARA-L digests Reply-to: Mystara RPG Discussion There are 4 messages totalling 156 lines in this issue. Topics of the day: 1. Corun house history (2) 2. Dwarves of Buhrohur? (2) ******************************************************************** The Other Worlds Homepage: http://www.wizards.com/dnd/OtherWorlds.asp The Mystara Homepage: http://www.mystaranet.jamm.com/vaults/default.aspx To unsubscribe, send email to LISTSERV@ORACLE.WIZARDS.COM with UNSUB MYSTARA-L in the body of the message. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Tue, 18 Jan 2005 15:38:43 +0200 From: =?ISO-8859-1?Q?Ville_V_L=E4hde?= Subject: Re: Corun house history On Mon, 17 Jan 2005, Giampaolo Agosta wrote: > Nice work, only one point to raise: why do the SE find it so difficult > to infiltrate Umbarth House? Ok, there are forest elves there, but the > SE regularly plant spies in Alfheim itself (especially in modern times, > back in Celedryl's time it could be different). That's a good question, and the issue is left a bit vague in the text. Umbarth in this timeline is formed relatively soon (in elven terms) after the great purge, and the Alfheimians take very great care in selecting their human contacts this time. It may very well be that the presence of forest elves in the House is a strategy of Alfheimians themselves. They keep a close watch on their allies. Getting agents into such circumstances is too hard. In my mind it is only after a long time that Alfheim City becomes the cosmopolitan place of the Gazetteers. This, and the slow work of Gilfrondel's cronies, makes it again possible to sneak in infiltrators. In 1000 AC the process is still in its beginnings, and I devised the Corun House scenario as a way of realising its full potential. So I wouldn't say that the SE manage to get in agents regularily - each one of them is a huge and risky investment. Of course it is possible that the SE manage to get agents into Umbarth house later on, but that is a matter of choice. In my campaign I don't wish to make their network too powerful. It is not plausible to have them running around everywhere. There is a cell in DDC, powerful presence in Corun House, Gilfrondel's network in Alfheim, perhaps some intelligence gathering teams, but not much else at this stage. Depending on the way the story goes, I expect much from the role of the DDC. There is a DDC agent in the Caravan. I used an idea that was posted by someone on the list and hid him in the role of "the Cook", the ever-present experienced veteran of the trade. He was sent to investigate the new trading venture of the Corun's. Such a long caravan doesn't seem economically viable in established trade environment, so there must be something amiss. But there is always the chance that the SE agents in DDC learn of this, which could offer an oppotrunity for some "Clancyite" intrigue. ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 18 Jan 2005 06:00:13 -0800 From: The Stalker Subject: Re: Dwarves of Buhrohur? On Mon, 17 Jan 2005 18:42:06 -0800, Andrew Theisen wrote: > --- Aaron Nowack wrote: > >> Don't have the book on me to sanity check this, but >> I think it means exactly what it says - Clan Farkres >> is the ruling clan of the (Barony of, I presume) >> Buhrohur. >> >> In other words, Buhrohur is a place, not a clan. At >> least, that's what I'd presume from the quote you >> gave. > > Yeah- I was reading the entry too literally, thinking > there was a clan of Buhrohur.. Katana-One on the MML > set me straight on this, too. > Yes, there is little question, though it obviously still begs an answer to why the Baroness is called Gilla Blyskarats. Traditionally dwarves do not seem to have last names - they all appear to be of the Balin, Son of Korin, or Noris, Daughter of Nais, variety. They do, however, have epithets at times, such as Thoric Redhand, Son of Dorto, so the Blyskarats name might be an epithet. A look in the Rockhome gazetteer seems to confirm this theory, if you examine the Dwarf Language on pages 28-29, where "Blys" is either a noun meaning blood or an adjective meaning red, while "Karats" is a noun meaning death axe (literally - the interpretion is great axe or battle axe. "Karr" means death, while "Ats" means axe). Therefore her name seems to be an epithet making her Gilla Redaxe or some such in Dwarvish. Since Thyatis is run by humans, who do use family names constantly, the empire might have required a more official last name for the ruler of the dwarves, and since "Redaxe" is not a name, Blyskarats was more convenient. Now, this is obviously a very convenient answer, but it does seem rather too appropriate to be a mere coincidence, especially when we know that Aaron Allston wrote both the Rockhome gazetteer and DotE. - The Stalker ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 18 Jan 2005 23:07:25 +0100 From: Giampaolo Agosta Subject: Re: Corun house history Ville V Lähde ha scritto: > > So I wouldn't say that the SE manage to get in agents regularily - each > one of them is a huge and risky investment. That's true. Perhaps the major problem for the SE in setting up a network in human lands is that it will never be a long-standing affair, since any SE agent will need to change cover after a mere 50 years or so. > Of course it is possible that the SE manage to get agents into Umbarth > house later on, but that is a matter of choice. In my campaign I don't > wish to make their network too powerful. It is not plausible to have them > running around everywhere. That's certainly true. Except Alfheim and the Broken Lands, there shouldn't be too many SE agents -- and I wouldn't have agents outside Darokin and perhaps Glantri before 1000 AC. Bye, GP ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 18 Jan 2005 23:16:59 +0100 From: Giampaolo Agosta Subject: Re: Dwarves of Buhrohur? The Stalker ha scritto: > > Yes, there is little question, though it obviously still begs an answer to > why the Baroness is called Gilla Blyskarats. Traditionally dwarves do not > seem to have last names - they all appear to be of the Balin, Son of > Korin, or Noris, Daughter of Nais, variety. They do, however, have > epithets at times, such as Thoric Redhand, Son of Dorto, so the Blyskarats > name might be an epithet. I must point out that Dwarves do have family names: for example, the leading family of the Hurwarf is the Lhyrrast family, the ruling family of the Skarrad clan is the Nordenshield family and so on. Certainly, they don't use family names as other cultures would use surnames -- you rarely see Dwarves being called by their surnames, but when in human lands this may happen more frequently -- e.g., Bolto Nordenshield. GP ------------------------------ End of MYSTARA-L Digest - 17 Jan 2005 to 18 Jan 2005 (#2005-17) ***************************************************************