.Refugees may not be the most appropriate word . . . "converts" and "draftees" come closer. :-) In guesstimating the numbers for the Shanari, I assumed that they consider every male to be a warrior(an advantage of being nomadic). Note, as well, that a slightly lower number of significantly more motivated refugees will also survive to support the opposition. In this case, it is probably reasonable to assume the two factors offset each other. .Could that population support the long war? Population and agression are a long debated dicotomy in sociology. The discussion would be better pharsed, in this case, as "Can that polulation support an army in the field for a long war?" Our debate here actually centers on the ability to maintain a coherent supply line. Even the primarily nomadic Sinari will face supply concerns in the long term (even assuming that their nomadic army is self-sufficient through forage and scavanging, the first time a culture employs a scorched earth policy against them, they are in for a rude military awakening). In terms of supply lines, the population numbers need to be considered in terms of culture, wealth, and orginization. Sadly, I think that arbitrary game mechanics will not ever be sufficiently worked out to replace subjective decisions. And, gentlemen, please, watch the language. We have youngsters lurking. .The main issue I have is that the NPS's tend to be rather brittle and easily defeated The brittle nature of smaller NPS is a kind of game mechanic gestalt. Large or significant NPS fall under the protective auspice of the GMs and do, indeed, have an active defense (part of the reason we have two GMs). The smaller NPS are deliberately allowed to be swallowed up for simplicity. A society without the creative impitus of a player is terribly stagnant and, very likely, not well developed. The fact that an agressive PS can swallow-up a small NPS does not limit game posibilities (another player can always be added and a re-eruption of a previously conquered/surpress culture can occur) and has the potential to actually improve the developement of the region (a player who conquers a region should attempt to reflect the affect of the aquisition of the new peoples in play). My largest concern with a deliberate opposition (something along the lines of letting another player temporarily assume control of the NPS) is that the actions taken will only be in the context of the short term and will not reflect the history of the people or follow-up their developement. Thus far, the two GM system has worked out well (although it's really going to get a work out over the next few months as the Sanari press south). In regards to the pacing of the game and the resolution of turns in general, I blame the season (vacations, good weather, etc.) but I think we will speed up a bit soon. The next few turns are drawing in story lines which date back to the beginning of the game and it's been a little tricky to weld it all together. (Mostly I'm just making excuses for myself but these darn turns are just plain big and time consuming. I can't speak for Jason but I've been swamped and haven't had time to do the game stuff right but also don't want to do it half-way either.) The Canto of Sand is proving to be even longer than the CoF and Jason has been slowed by waiting for me to sort out all the Eerith/Mir history. In fact, (ignore the man behind the curtian), we're still working out the details of how that silly Golden Mirror thingee works (soon, JTH, soon, I'm workin' on it, really). .So, we just need to make sure we kill the leaders of old age... A favored strategy of the Vraa'al and Eerith .The Saraa, i dunno. As they are defined now, the Saraa have human bodies although they almost have to have eternal spirits that are reincarnated into their children in order for the race to remain consistent to design but not die out. That being said, those definitions could change in a heartbeat if a player took them in a different direction with good detail and narration or the Saraa may have actually forfieted all of their previous spiritual status and are now expressly human (introducing the idea of a degenerating culture into Qai). .The Ban Horroth, being reptiloid, and not humanoid, very likely live much longer than their human neighbors. Finally, the far south of Qaiyore is absolutely infested with goblins, distant relatives of the Elyrian goblin tribes. These goblins were responsible for the fall of the Old Cedonian Empire. Some of the regional descriptions of flora and fauna also hint at other possibly sentient races and certianly leave room for additions. Also some of the sub-cultures within socieites, such as the preists of the oracle, may not be entirely human .As for the Eerith, who knows? :-) (evil smirk) I do. Actually, a significant amount of eerith background, lifespan, and the like were laid out in the Canto of Fire and more is coming (although I think most "biological" information is already presented). What may start to get confusing, if things progress as they have been, is that the eerith, the society, is not comprised exclusively by the eerith, the race. Ok. I've consumed a good deal of posting space without actually saying anything but at least this should put to rest rumors of my demise (small S. Clements reference there as a joke, you see). All right, shuttin' up and going back to work on the game. M. Keaton "Any completion of the phrase 'I am' is a corruption of the entity. The direct object of existential conjugation becomes, not a description, but a restriction." --Oberon to Tristan in "I, Oberon"-- ---------------------------------------------------------------- To unsubscribe, send mail to celandra-off@phoenyx.net.
