One of the functions of a city or large town is to take the rural agricultural production and turn it into goods and silver. At the time, the Quivini tribes were mostly rural farmers and herders, and so when Sartar founded his cities in the 1480s and 1490s, he invited crafters, scribes, and merchants from the Holy Country to settle there, offering them rights and privileges. He built them temples and markets, and they formed guilds – voluntary “clans by association instead of blood”.
Now more than a century later, the guilds are thoroughly integrated into Sartarite society. And most guild members are also members of other kinship groups – the clans and tribes of Sartar. But it is just another example of how much and how rapidly Sartar transformed his kingdom.
And as stated elsewhere, Sartar is now quite urbanised. Some 20% of the population lives in cities or towns.
Where Sartar’s transformations were largely economic and social, Argrath’s were military and magical. He took the largely infantry tribal militia of his predecessors, and, with his Praxian allies, built the Sartarite cavalry into the equal – and arguably the superior – of the Lunar cavalry corp. He took a diverse collection of priests, rune lords, shamans, and sorcerers and forged them into the Sartar Magic Union, capable of going toe to toe with the Lunar College of Magic.
Of course like Sartar, Argrath did not do this alone.
