Andrew Janssen wrote: > After looking at the website, I have to say that I quite like the > background. Very nice design. Thanks. It's a little bright for my taste, but it should prevent the problems I've had people complain about. > Now, you give a total of 7,500 Exquaestio members, but I assume that > there are now more than that? In any event, I would assume that the > majority of them are Quaestae or anradan. Assuming 7,500 members, and > 97% are Quaestae, that leaves only 225 to be anradan, espiri, and rohain. I'm in the process of updating the page to the end of 1452 when Exquaestio's membership will hit 20,000. Assuming no major changes between now and then, the numbers work out to 1.03% anradan, 0.38% espiri Seekers (no magic), 0.39% magical espiri (76), and 0.51% rohain (100), for a total clergy of 2.31%. Proportions have been falling slowly but steadily for all groups, and, for most clergy, their Exquaestio position is not a full time job. I figure Exquaestio clergy will be full-time when their numbers drop below 1%. I only kept clergy numbers from 1447 forward (regional numbers go back to 1444). At that time, Exquaestio's membership was 8,000 and there were 204 clergy. > Also, how do the rohain, as the military arm of Exquaestio, get along > with the civil authorities? It hasn't come up yet. Exquaestio members are instructed to obey the local authorities, and, so far, have been able to reach agreements or work around local laws. Exquaestio's also forbids its clergy from direct participation in government. Clergy may advise and support, but not rule. > In Cedonia, after two coup attempts, one > backed by nobles and one backed by the Church, both during the second > century, private armies and church armies were banned; strict limits > were set on the number of men nobles and priests could hire as watchmen > and bodyguards, and on the types of weapons those guards could bear. Exquaestio is strongest in the Free Cities and Tanimbar where no such limits exist. The rohain Preceptory is in Junder near the border between barbarian and Free City lands. The one area where numbers and weapons might be constrained is Mir, but there's currently insufficient information to determine the specifics. > Finally, your description of rohain magic says, "Genius is . . . not > dependent on Feroze." If rohain magic is Authority-based, then, strictly > speaking, that can't be true, unless they're getting their Authority > from some being other than Feroze. Yes. This is an inherent (and deliberate) contradiction. Rohain abilities come from Feroze and must be authority except that they are not dependent on Feroze and so cannot be authority. What's going on? Well, first of all Feroze set it up deliberately as a mystery to encourage Exquaestio to look more deeply into magic in general. Beyond that, half-a-dozen possible explanations have occurred to me, none of which can be positively confirmed or denied within Qaiyore's existing knowledge. One significant clue is that essence-based magery is lost should a mage become rohain (known in 1451), but nobody knows what _that_ means either. Jefferson (Exquaestio) http://www.picotech.net/~jeff_wilson63/rpg/ ---------------------------------------------------------------- To unsubscribe, send mail to celandra-off@phoenyx.net.
