Continuing meta-rambles
Jun. 8th, 2010 02:23 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
lady_songsmithDid I say only two parts? Did you believe me? Gullible, you lot.
Thrall is useful to the Queen as a subtle way to work her will at a distance, but it relies on having sufficient control over an individual who's sleeping. For a more reliable minion, she requires dedicated servants. There are two ways she can get them -- well, three, but one is the way any power-hungry sort gets servants. The first is to create them in her own dream-realm, then use her magic to manifest them in the waking world. These shadow-creatures can be deadly, but they do not blend in well, being too obviously otherworldly, and they prefer the darkness. They also know little of the waking world, meaning that they cannot carry out complex tasks. The other way she can get servants is by drawing people fully into her realm and power. This is more involved than putting them under Thrall and involves immersing them in dreams until she can reshape them. The Waking Sleep plague is her instrument, begun by magic in order to draw the population of Narnia into her realm. It's a very slow process because she has to act remotely, but the earliest victims are nearly converted to her creatures now. Won't that be an interesting surprise for Narnia?
Telmar sits in the mountains west of Archenland, sharing only a tiny border with Narnia, nothing more than a fan of river valley at the foot of the only pass directly connecting the two countries. Narnia would like to take the valley and bottle up the pass, because as matters stand Telmar takes advantage of that spread to slip raiding parties over the border. Peter and Edmund spent years trying to claim the valley and narrow the border to something they could control, but Telmar guards it fiercely, determined to keep its foothold. Telmar desperately wants Narnia; it's miles of rich, fertile land, something Telmar has little of. Most of the country is straight up and down; what farming they manage is carried out in little pocket valleys or painstakingly constructed terraces. They have excellent timber and do a thriving trade in lumber and wood crafts, and they also have a couple of reasonably productive mines, mostly silver. But you can't eat lumber or silver, and even one bad harvest makes them dangerously dependent on food imports. In an unaltered history, successive famine years would make them desperate enough to not merely invade by pack the entire population up and move en masse to Narnia (which by then was in no state to repulse such an exodus). Their lack of food also affects the common view of them as not much of a threat. The perennial raids are annoying, mildly dangerous, and somewhat costly, but no one seriously considers a Telmarine invasion plausible. They don't have sufficient forces for it -- and Narnia especially knows this because the bulk of what forces they do have are parked at the Narnian border hanging onto the valley like grim death. Light patrols cover the other borders and passes, and a small complement maintains security along the trade routes, but Telmar hasn't got the food to support a lot of soldiers. What isn't commonly known is that Telmar doesn't operate on the same system as most of Kishar. It's generally accepted practice to have a standing army comprised (depending on the country) of some combination career soldiers, volunteers, compulsory service, impressment, glory-seekers, mercenaries, and slaves. The sizes of these forces vary depending on whether there's a war on (Calormen's been in a state of war for twenty-six years as of the Stagging), but it's a convention that armies are composed of people whose business is fighting. Telmar takes a different view. Unwilling to sacrifice anyone to soldiering who might be better employed producing food or products with which to purchase food, Telmar has invented the feudal levy. During the slow seasons every man of certain age and health is required to drill with spear and bow, and in an emergency Telmar could conceivably triple its forces practically overnight. If the conflict was expected to be short and it was neither planting nor harvest, they might do better than that. The Pevensies have their eyes opened to this possibility back in Spare Oom, when they discuss a potential time-frame for Telmarine invasion and the Professor, overhearing their math, inquires about levies and ends up loading them with reading about European warfare.
North of Telmar is the League of Free Cities. Here, among the numerous waterways descending from the mountains, seven independent city-states have formed an alliance for mutual defense. they do a great deal of trade, with each other and with other lands, and are the primary link between the eastern lands thatn the other side of the continent, sending trade goods as far as the Western Ocean to which their rivers eventually run. Thought they protect one another from pirates and bandits, especially at the western end of the trade routes when they must share river-space, they compete fiercely for trade advantages, and particularly in the eastern lands try to cut off one another's access to markets. Each city has to be dealt with individually for diplomatic purposes, and none of them take kindly to a neighbor gaining an advantage, real or perceived.
At the northern edge of Narnia's western border are Evrath and Ymar, with (?? call it 'B' until I find a name I actually like) wedged between them to the west. Evrath and Ymar are perennial enemies and both frequently try to court B, seeking advantage by alliance. B has shifted allegiance several times, and is also historically fond of remaining neutral as long as possible to wring advantage out of the alliances. Recently (for some value of recent; it was during Narnia's Winter) B's king married a Ymari princess, and their son is possibly a better claimant for the Ymari throne than the acknowledged heir (it has to do with whether one prefers a closer relative via a female line or a further relative via a male line). This was not a great concern as Ymar's king was young, healthy, and expected to produce plenty of children in due time. Then, just weeks after Ymar and Evrath went to war (again), the Ymari king was assassinated. Evrath was blamed immediately, but denied responsibility -- and they would normally be expected to gloat. It is now something of an open secret that B's prince arranged it, but no one can prove anything. Complicating matters is that a fair proportion of Ymar's nobility would rather see a foreign prince take the throne than the late king's cousin, who has a reputation that leaves many feeling he would be an utter disaster as king, or even better see one of their own claim the throne. They are not, however, going to let a little thing like succession issues stop them from trouncing the Evrathenes, so the country is under a makeshift war leadership for the duration.
Thrall is useful to the Queen as a subtle way to work her will at a distance, but it relies on having sufficient control over an individual who's sleeping. For a more reliable minion, she requires dedicated servants. There are two ways she can get them -- well, three, but one is the way any power-hungry sort gets servants. The first is to create them in her own dream-realm, then use her magic to manifest them in the waking world. These shadow-creatures can be deadly, but they do not blend in well, being too obviously otherworldly, and they prefer the darkness. They also know little of the waking world, meaning that they cannot carry out complex tasks. The other way she can get servants is by drawing people fully into her realm and power. This is more involved than putting them under Thrall and involves immersing them in dreams until she can reshape them. The Waking Sleep plague is her instrument, begun by magic in order to draw the population of Narnia into her realm. It's a very slow process because she has to act remotely, but the earliest victims are nearly converted to her creatures now. Won't that be an interesting surprise for Narnia?
Telmar sits in the mountains west of Archenland, sharing only a tiny border with Narnia, nothing more than a fan of river valley at the foot of the only pass directly connecting the two countries. Narnia would like to take the valley and bottle up the pass, because as matters stand Telmar takes advantage of that spread to slip raiding parties over the border. Peter and Edmund spent years trying to claim the valley and narrow the border to something they could control, but Telmar guards it fiercely, determined to keep its foothold. Telmar desperately wants Narnia; it's miles of rich, fertile land, something Telmar has little of. Most of the country is straight up and down; what farming they manage is carried out in little pocket valleys or painstakingly constructed terraces. They have excellent timber and do a thriving trade in lumber and wood crafts, and they also have a couple of reasonably productive mines, mostly silver. But you can't eat lumber or silver, and even one bad harvest makes them dangerously dependent on food imports. In an unaltered history, successive famine years would make them desperate enough to not merely invade by pack the entire population up and move en masse to Narnia (which by then was in no state to repulse such an exodus). Their lack of food also affects the common view of them as not much of a threat. The perennial raids are annoying, mildly dangerous, and somewhat costly, but no one seriously considers a Telmarine invasion plausible. They don't have sufficient forces for it -- and Narnia especially knows this because the bulk of what forces they do have are parked at the Narnian border hanging onto the valley like grim death. Light patrols cover the other borders and passes, and a small complement maintains security along the trade routes, but Telmar hasn't got the food to support a lot of soldiers. What isn't commonly known is that Telmar doesn't operate on the same system as most of Kishar. It's generally accepted practice to have a standing army comprised (depending on the country) of some combination career soldiers, volunteers, compulsory service, impressment, glory-seekers, mercenaries, and slaves. The sizes of these forces vary depending on whether there's a war on (Calormen's been in a state of war for twenty-six years as of the Stagging), but it's a convention that armies are composed of people whose business is fighting. Telmar takes a different view. Unwilling to sacrifice anyone to soldiering who might be better employed producing food or products with which to purchase food, Telmar has invented the feudal levy. During the slow seasons every man of certain age and health is required to drill with spear and bow, and in an emergency Telmar could conceivably triple its forces practically overnight. If the conflict was expected to be short and it was neither planting nor harvest, they might do better than that. The Pevensies have their eyes opened to this possibility back in Spare Oom, when they discuss a potential time-frame for Telmarine invasion and the Professor, overhearing their math, inquires about levies and ends up loading them with reading about European warfare.
North of Telmar is the League of Free Cities. Here, among the numerous waterways descending from the mountains, seven independent city-states have formed an alliance for mutual defense. they do a great deal of trade, with each other and with other lands, and are the primary link between the eastern lands thatn the other side of the continent, sending trade goods as far as the Western Ocean to which their rivers eventually run. Thought they protect one another from pirates and bandits, especially at the western end of the trade routes when they must share river-space, they compete fiercely for trade advantages, and particularly in the eastern lands try to cut off one another's access to markets. Each city has to be dealt with individually for diplomatic purposes, and none of them take kindly to a neighbor gaining an advantage, real or perceived.
At the northern edge of Narnia's western border are Evrath and Ymar, with (?? call it 'B' until I find a name I actually like) wedged between them to the west. Evrath and Ymar are perennial enemies and both frequently try to court B, seeking advantage by alliance. B has shifted allegiance several times, and is also historically fond of remaining neutral as long as possible to wring advantage out of the alliances. Recently (for some value of recent; it was during Narnia's Winter) B's king married a Ymari princess, and their son is possibly a better claimant for the Ymari throne than the acknowledged heir (it has to do with whether one prefers a closer relative via a female line or a further relative via a male line). This was not a great concern as Ymar's king was young, healthy, and expected to produce plenty of children in due time. Then, just weeks after Ymar and Evrath went to war (again), the Ymari king was assassinated. Evrath was blamed immediately, but denied responsibility -- and they would normally be expected to gloat. It is now something of an open secret that B's prince arranged it, but no one can prove anything. Complicating matters is that a fair proportion of Ymar's nobility would rather see a foreign prince take the throne than the late king's cousin, who has a reputation that leaves many feeling he would be an utter disaster as king, or even better see one of their own claim the throne. They are not, however, going to let a little thing like succession issues stop them from trouncing the Evrathenes, so the country is under a makeshift war leadership for the duration.
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(no subject)
Date: 2010-06-08 09:35 am (UTC)And I love that bit about the Waking Sleep! (I'm gonna say it again - zombies) Narnia in for a suprise indeed, yes yes, especially because then what do you do with the rest of the infected population once you know they're going to eventually turn into NQ creatures?
Love love love the ramble! Ramble on!
(no subject)
Date: 2010-06-09 05:46 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2010-06-08 07:02 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2010-06-09 05:47 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2010-06-09 02:55 am (UTC)Seriously? I love this. Political geography. Narnia/Spare Oom correlations. Meta. The Waking Sleep. Oh. My. God.
In summation?
Please carry on being awesome.
(no subject)
Date: 2010-06-09 05:47 am (UTC)