The new Prince of Sartar and her council (or “ring”) work continuously to (re-)establish the Free Kingdom of Sartar. They’ve got a huge set of problems – first and foremost that Sartar has been under foreign occupation and rule for over twenty years. New consensuses need to be made, new institutions established, etc. As in our history, there is always a terrible hangover after the celebration of liberation!
Civil: Although Kallyr has been acclaimed Prince and lit the Flame of Sartar, only a few tribes are particularly loyal – the Kheldon, Culbrea, Aranwyth, Sambari, and probably the Cinsina. Worse yet, the largest and oldest tribe, the Colymar, are close to open rebellion against Kallyr. Their old king was a strong Lunar ally, although he died in the Dragonrise, his successor is a kinswoman (and a long-time rival of Kallyr).
Kallyr has appointed Orngerin as her deputy in Jonstown and another in Swenstown, but Wilmskirk chose its own. The Alda-Churi are still loyal to Tarsh and Alone is too far away.
Old tribal disagreements that had been suppressed during the Lunar Occupation are now coming out in full force and the Prince is expected to resolve them all. The ducks demand compensation for the Duck Hunts of the last decade. The Telmori demand compensation for the Wolf Hunts, and meanwhile the Cinsina, and other tribes demand compensation for the destruction of the Maboder and years of raiding. The Colymar and Culbrea demand the return of clans and strongpoints given by the Lunars to rival tribes. The returned Dundealos have killed settlers in their valley and barely acknowledge Kallyr.
Holding the tribes together is going to take everything the ring has. Restraining the prince from coming to blows with some of the tribal leaders (particularly the Colymar queen) is a constant effort.
Religious: The top priority of Kallyr is the restoration of the Orlanth cult to primacy. This is the justification of her rule. That means rebuilding temples closed or destroyed by the Lunar Empire. It also means a lot of debate and arguments about what tribe or clan controls access to what temple or holy place, who gets what tithes, etc.
The rise of the True Dragon has shocked and terrified many priests, even if it did destroy the Lunar Temple and make possible the liberation of Sartar. Orlanth’s Ring has changed (after a two year absence), new stars and planets have appeared in the sky, and there is a fear that this Age is coming to an end. The Prince, a famed heroquester who has been to the Sky World and has a star god in her forehead, has decided to perform a MASSIVE religious ceremony this Sacred Time, and intends to spend whatever it takes to do it. Within this ceremony, she and her companions will perform the Lightbringers Quest, with the goal of restoring the world. Even her rivals and enemies will participate in this.
Kallyr accepted the surrender of many Lunar cultists and they are under her protection. She does not welcome them in her presence, but largely ignores them.
Finance: This is the easy part, at least in the short term. The Lunar treasury for Dragon Pass was in Boldhome when it fell. That’s some 1000 talents that fell into our hands. Long-term revenues are more of a question. Sartar makes most of its revenues from trade. During Terasarin’s reign that was some 2000 talents a year, but now it is less than half of that. To grow that amount, the roads need to be safe, and the Etyries caravans need to be protected. Many of the Prince’s most loyal supporters have been active bandits in the last decade and push back against this. The Prince herself was little more than a bandit for many years and she has not yet committed herself to this. And there are expenses. First and foremost are religious expenses, but also there are repairs that need to be made, and there are mercenaries that must be paid. The tribes want their share as well, in the form of gifts and other rewards.
Military: The Lunar Army was recently defeated at Dangerford and it is known that the Lunar Empire is in disarray. There is a large garrison of Lunar soldiers at Alda-Chur and the Far Point tribes are loyal to the king of Tarsh. It is expected that the Lunar Empire will try to reconquer Sartar, but that could be years or even decades away. And success with the religious ceremonies may push that back further.
The Sartarite army is mostly militia raised by the cities from the tribes. Kallyr maintains a small force of professional warriors and mercenaries, who traditionally supported themselves through banditry. They are now paid from the treasury, but this is a growing expense. There are many bandits of mercenaries around Wilmskirk and Whitewall that had followed King Broyan of Whitewall but now are without an employer.
The Sartarites have little cavalry beyond the chariots and cavalry of the nobility. The Dundealos and Pol-Joni tribes have refused to provide warriors, as they are sworn to another warlord.
The Sun Dome Temple is available as a source of high quality and disciplined infantry, but they are very expensive.
Now hopefully all of these together help paint a picture of what various rulers are trying to do, what their assumptions are, and why they do something that might not immediately make sense – especially to power gamers.
All of this means that Kallyr needs to delegate, delegate, delegate. Administering Boldhome as a city has largely been delegated to the guilds, particularly the stonemason guild. Kallyr has been basically a bandit chieftain for the past decade, so running a city is not something that she has much experience with or interest in.
Does she need to pay attention to: “The Dundealos and Pol-Joni tribes have refused to provide warriors, as they are sworn to another warlord” ? Sure, but where do you put it on the list? Is it as high a priority as arranging the massive religious rituals that 1. establish your right to rule, 2. protect your kingdom and people from Lunars, dragons, etc? No definitely not.
Is it as important as making the royal roads safe for caravans? How about making sure the cities have food? Trying to keep the tribes from fighting with each? How about the justice demanded by the ducks and others?
So many things to give a little more attention to!
So who are the Royal Ring keeping their eyes on? A short list:
Queen Leika. The queen of the Colymar and her rival. Many of her kin still blame Kallyr for the collapse of Starbrow’s Rebellion.
Vamastal Greyskin. The king of the Sambari and ruler of Wilmskirk. He was on the original Sartar High Council but is not a supporter of Kallyr. He has a lot of allies among the southern tribes and is a famed hero quester.
Argrath of Pavis. The White Bull of the nomads, this adventurer claims descent from the Sartar Dynasty, although his claims are even more tenuous than Kallyr’s. He’s made himself ruler of the Sartarite city of New Pavis and does have a core of experienced warriors and malcontents around him. More disturbing is that it is said Jaldon Goldentooth rides with him and that the nomads treat him as a religious leader.
King Pharandros. The King of Tarsh and ruler of Alda-Chur, he no doubt plots to conquer Sartar, as did his father and grandfather. His greatest general is Fazzur Wideread, who ruled Sartar for almost a decade. The Prince defeated both of the them at the Battle of Dangerford, which should give us time to rebuild. But we need to be constantly vigilant for Tarshite armies!
These views from should really help to quickly get us to understand what sort of challenges our NPCs are dealing with and why they might or might not care what our adventurers are up to. And it is a great source of stuff to throw at players.
Do Gloranthans actually think of their own history in terms of “Ages”? Their scribes certainly do. And for the Orlanthi, we all know that the old World Council of the Dawn Age was destroyed in the Gbaji Wars, and the world was different afterwards. And we all know that the great civilisations of Dragon Pass were destroyed in the Dragonkill War, and the world was different afterwards. And the stuff going now seems a lot like that stuff.
Here’s something else – every RuneQuest book refers to the First, Second, and Third Ages. How absurd would it be for us to say pay no attention to that?
How strong is the pro-Lunar/pro-Kangharl faction among the Colymars after the Dragonrise. Which clans are pro-Leika and who misses Kangharl? Nobody misses Kangharl. Kinship is acknowledged and its demands accepted, but Kangharl ended up hated.
Client kings who end up being on the wrong side of things don’t tend to have a lot of nostalgia after the fact. And at the end of the day, that’s what Kangharl was. He might have done a lot better had Fazzur remained Provincial Governor, but Tatius demanded that his clients prove their dedication to the Red Goddess. Kangharl was ambitious and was able to be trusted and supported by Tatius the Bright. Think Herod the Great – he might have had ambitions to become provincial king of Sartar or of at least West Sartar (there are not a lot of records on how Tatius planned to organise Dragon Pass after the defeat of Orlanth).
But to do that, Kangharl had to be a good servant of Tatius the Bright. He joined the Seven Mothers. He made it clear to everyone that he knew who his boss was. He was hated, but feared, as Tatius backed him up. But at the Dragonrise, Kangharl got devoured along with Tatius.
If you are one of the Sartarite tribal leaders who converted to the Seven Mothers but escaped the Dragonrise, you are likely to become a bandit or a mercenary, unless you surrendered to Kallyr (in which case you’ve probably moved to a city). In any case, you’ve lost your tribal position, your wealth, and your whole justification for being a leader.
There are small groups of Lunar cultists in every tribe 100-300 usually. The Dundealos have the most – some 600 – but they are Lunar settlers who could not leave. If you are a Lunar cultist in Sartar, you have made at least a superficial effort to emphasise tribe over cult.
The irony is that Kangharl once was strongly anti-Lunar and his father’s (Kallai Rockbuster) right hand. But with his father gone, he wanted leadership of the tribe “more than anything”(if I recall Greg told me that “he’d do anything to become tribal leader”), and so Gordius Silverus made him an offer he couldn’t refuse. But once tribal leader, Kangharl was dependent on Gordius Silverus.