Hey there Gloranthophiles,
I'm working on a clan-based campaign in the style of the excellent Red Cow books, and the focus is the Bachad tribe starting around 1611 (I hope to publish it on the Jonstown Compendium at some point, fingers crossed).
I have a few basic facts and questions I'd like checked/answered about the Far Place.
- Alone was founded in late 1582 for a bunch of people that were a mix of veterans from the Battle of Grizzly Hill, and a bunch of exiles/refugees from those regions affected by the war. I assume that, at the time, the area was completely unsettled? I mean, you'd have to be fairly desperate (which was the case here!) to settle in between ghouls and trolls, right? At the time, only the Torkani were living there, at a respectful distance from the troll lands, and with amicable relations to them (as they're called the "troll lovers" and many worship Argan Agrar).
- After 1611, when Harvar Ironfist took over Alda-Chur, it seems like the Bachad and Amad tribes actually moved to the area around Alone (i.e. like I said, Alone was... alone prior to that). Where did they come from? When I look at the tribes map, I imagine that they were living in lands that later became Vantaros and Dinacoli territory. Based on the fact that the Dinacoli have more lands than most Sartarite tribes, I even imagine that they were actually granted former Bachad/Amad lands as a way to sweeten the deal of their move from the the Jonstown Confederation to the Alda-Chur Confederation a couple years later. Does that sound plausible?
- The one thing that doesn't seem to fit is that Gamla's Leap, where Harvar supposedly crushed the Alda-Churi Orlanthi priest order, is all the way out there, north of Alone, near Amadhall (which wouldn't have really existed much, or at all, at the time?). I don't know why there would be a holy place that far if all the tribes were previously closer to Aldar-Chur? My explanation so far is that Gamla's Leap was a wilderness holy place, and you would go on a pilgrimage there for yearly holy rites or something. When shit hit in the fan in Alda-Chur, the Orlanthi of the Righteous Wind tried to gather there in secret to arrange a last resort plan to take back Alda-Chur, but somehow Harvar's spies tipped him off and he rode there and crushed everybody.
- Assuming I'm mostly correct, I imagine that the exile particularly difficult for the Bachad and Amad -- they went from fertile, temperate lands where they might have lived mostly from farming, to harsher, higher lands where farming is impractical, and had to switch over to hunting. That might have included not only learning a bunch of new skills, but possibly looking at new central myths, a change of wyter, etc... to adopt more hunting-related cults? Although maybe not too much, I'm not sure, since the Barntar's Lodge myth happened nearby, and they probably were worshiping Barntar a lot before, being farmers.
- I also assume that, because they arrived from the west, they immediately adopted a hostile attitude towards trolls, because they had to make room for themselves. How did that go with their southern troll-loving neighbours? Again, when you look at the tribes map, the Bachad land extends a bit to the south, and I'm wondering if they might have stolen a few lands from the Torkani there, as it's curious to me how the Torkani wouldn't have crossed over the Creek.
Last, I'm curious about what kind of canonical and non-canonical material I can use. So far, apart from the usual suspects like Guide To Glorantha, the Sartar HQG books, the Red Cow books, etc... I know that there's relevant information in:
- Wyrms Footnotes 15 (general information about the Far Place, along with a more detailed region map which, sadly, doesn't quite line up with the maps in GtG, or in the Red Cow books)
- Questlines (from the old RQ Down Under Con books), whose materials are thankfully available on John Hughes' website (thanks @Bill the barbarian for the info!). They mostly focus on the Bluefoot Orlanthi clan of the nearby Tovtaros, right on the edge of Snakepipe Hollow.
- The Zin Letters supposedly have something around Alone but I don't have access to those. There's also a map of Alone around here which, as I understand it, might actually be from the Zin Letters' authors notes.
Anything else I'm missing?
Thanks!