Notes on Belintar III

In the Holy Country, Belintar largely let the locals rule themselves, so long as they kept the peace, and sent their magical and financial tribute to the City of Wonders. In exchange, Belintar blessed the Holy Country and maintained the connection to the Proximate Realm.

So in each Sixth, there were officials who oversaw collection of this tribute, organized ceremonies and sacrifices for Belintar, resolved local disputes, and spent funds. These officials were appointed by Belintar. They aren’t satraps or even really “governors” – their authority is pretty circumscribed to those activities.

Belintar maintained a small but flexible professional army, supplemented by many priests and magicians, and on occasion led personally by the God-King.

Let’s imagine how this might work in Heortland. Belintar appoints an official to be his representative in the Sixth. The provinces of Vandarland, Gardufar, and Esvular were ruled by the dominant local clan leaders allied with the representative. The Volsaxi were an autonomous tribe with their own king. Belintar’s representative did things like build and maintain temples (especially in Durengard and Stormwalk Mountain), placate the Orlanth cult, offer sacrifices and organize ceremonies, and adjudicate between clan leaders.

In 1602, Belintar appointed Orngerin to be his chief official in Heortland. If I recall, he was a from a rich clan in Gardufar and related to several previous governors. He was responsible for mustering the clan militias and thanes to fight off the Lunar invasion of 1604 – he was soundly defeated by General Fazzur Orindori. Nonetheless, Belintar defeated the main Lunar Army at the Battle of the Building Wall.

Orngerin restored temples, collected books, hired entertainers and poets, and was a reasonably popular figure from 1602-1616. In his last years, the Volsaxi launched raids into Lunar Occupied Sartar, which troubled him greatly. When Belintar disappeared in 1616 and did not return, Orngerin encouraged patience despite the failure of the Tournament of the Masters of Luck and Death and continued to perform his tasks, although to less and less effect. He died in the midst of rituals in 1617.

Note that placating the Orlanth cult means maintaining Orlanth’s support for the Sixth, which is his. Keeping the gods happy is a key responsibility for the officials of the Holy Country.

The Holy Country had a decentralised government consisting of a central government on the City of Wonders with Belintar at its head and six regional provinces (“Sixths”). Each Sixth met at the City of Wonders via a magical bridge. The City of Wonders was essentially governed by Belintar, while the Sixths had governors appointed by or local rulers confirmed by Belintar. The larger Sixths were subdivided into smaller provinces with local rulers.

The City of Wonders was beautiful and rich, an island-city enriched by three hundred years of trade, tribute, and magic. It had numerous temples, markets, a vast library (larger even than in Nochet or Glamour), a fortified port, theatres, university, zoo, gardens, and a population of some 50,000 people or more. It was an incredibly civilised place, where spirits and gods walked among men, trolls, and triolini. Heck it even had water towers and the aquabridges that allowed sea people and gods to visit Belintar.