As I have been working on the Sartar Homeland book, I’ve been struck how much more cosmopolitan Sartar becomes if you just extend the map slightly from that of the old Dragon Pass gazetteer. So much more interaction with Praxians, Tarshites, Grazers, dragonewts, dwarfs, trolls, and even Tusk Riders and elves.And the poster sized map we are working on is shaping up to be a thing of beauty.
If you loved the RQ3 Troll Pak map, you are going to love this.
This is very much shaping up to what I wish Sartar: Kingdom of Heroes could have been. But I’ve learned a lot since then, and have a lot more resources.
I remember many years ago, talking with Nick Brooke or Andrew Richardson about how your impression of an area changes when you cut your map differently. So for example, most people in the Western World cut their map of the ancient world with the eastern boundary being somewhere in Mesopotamia or western Iran. But you end up with a very different story when you make that the center of the map. Or when you look at the British Isles as part of the periphery, instead of the center of the map.
There is a trick to understanding Glorantha. The Sartarites are not hermetically sealed. They are tied by cult and trade to Esrolia. They have long ties to Prax. Many are tied by language and customs to Bagnot. Many tribes have contact with the trolls or dwarves, and dragonewt roads run through Sartar. They live along the main trade route in Genertela, and have over a century of interaction with the Lunar Empire, including a quarter century under Lunar rule.
From 1492 to 1602, Sartar was definitely the richest and most powerful kingdom in Dragon Pass. Lunar Tarsh has power because it is a client kingdom of the Lunar Empire, but it is no coincidence that the two battles where Sartar was defeated were where the Red Emperor was present.
And from 1628 on, it is definitely Sartar that is the dominant power in Dragon Pass.