From: Paul Looby
Subject: Re: The Educated Flanaess (still long)
>Paul wrote that:
> >>> In Rel Astra certainly - Old Oeridian rules the roost, though in places
>like Eastfair or Rel Deven, Common has more of a foothold <<<
>So does Drax the Invulnerable only speak Old Oeridian?
Probably yes - but Common as well. I was referring more to the Colleges. My impression of the city at large is that the people speak both Common and Old Oeridian - but some might take a very French attitude to Common speakers - refusing to speak it to them, though they know full well how to.
>Is the "decadence" of Eastfair represented in its using Common for scholarly work?
From a stuffy old Rel Astran scholar's point of view, yes - amongst other things....
>Why Rel Deven as a progressive place? With a Cranden ruler, I wonder if Rel Deven might be more traditional than any other Aerdian city?
This is possible - but its had to deal with more of the ups and downs of Aerdi history directly than Rel Astra. As with the Cranden nobles this probably led to a fracturing of the scholarly community - those which retreated into the past and traditions, and those which embraced the changes and adapted. Rel Astra too has inputs of new thoughts and ideas - though its port and trade - and it it these new ideas and the need to change which drive the younger scholars there in their bid to over turn the dusty morter-boards and capes at the top, IMO
>So Trinity was rebuilt at least once between 1592 and the 1700s.
Or was rehoused on the same site at least - and the older buildings were subsequently demolished and built upon. I don't recall any records of the College being sacked during upheavals such as the rebellion in 1641, Cromwell's devestations in the late 1640's or in the Williamite-Jacobite wars of the 1690's - which is not to say such did not occuer. (Trinity is my alma mater btw, if you hadn't already guessed). :)
>However, I see the other buildings as simply being purchased over the centuries as Grey College grew to need more space. In contrast the School of Clerkship was a planned campus. Any flaws with this development?
Seems plausible.
>Paul wrote:
> >>> Rauxes probably had or still has extensive lore in the remains of its libraries and vaults. And let's not forget Pontylver and Mentrey. <<<
>I _have_ forgotten Pontlyver. What is it noteworthy for?
Ivid the Undying mentions that it was a city known for its sages, scholars and learning before it went up in flames during the madness of the Wars.
>Yet Fiend-Sage aside, I consider Rel Astra more of a mercantile place than a city of learning. Will the details for its rennaissance be explicated please?
It is now and probably always will be - but in its heyday it was not only for a time the capital of Aerdy, but also the gateway of the Great Kingdom at its height to the Solnor, Hepmonaland and the Azure Sea (until later competition from the Nyrondese, Almorian and South Province ports). At that time its wealth and drive also fueled as a spin off its scholastic achievements. As the Great Kingdom declined, and the Aerdi turned inwards concerned with internal turmoils, thought stagnated. Money became more important than knowledge to the people of Rel Astra as it was a more tangible asset in troubled times. This petty small mindedness also infected the colleges - and so bred the current dusty order - who refuse to embrace change and cling to old, certain, but ultimately stagnant ways.
Rel Astra's sagely rennaissance is only just beginning (if it has the chance continue is another question). In the last decades of the Great Kingdom as was, Rel Astra was already slowly drifting from the orbit of Rauxes. The city would have to fend for itself - no longer be a satellite, but be the great city it is. This attitude has bloomed since the wars and has infected the younger scholars, who take an interst not only in the halcyon days of Rel Astran scholarship, but in the means by this glorious end was achieved - by looking outward at the world.
>Eastfair is the largest city of Northern Aerdy, so having colleges there works well.
One maybe two at most - dominated by the Hextorites.
>Okay so Radigast City is a proposed Rennaissance Italy, and Belissica gains the nickname Medici? ;) Again I suggest throwing some Eleanor of Aquitaine into that Countess!
Well - I'm not sure about a Rennaissance, entailing all the historical baggage that that word brings with it, but certainly the large trade cities of the Nyr Dyv have not only wealth, and exposure to diverse cultures, influances and ideas, but also have become the home to large numbers of refugees from the Wars. This has many parallels with the Italian city states of around the 14th and 15th centuries. The Nyr Dyv cities, like the Italian cities, though to a somewhat lesser extent, are also the heirs to a proud(ish) Imperial cultural past (before it turned to complete decandence and evil) - that of the Great Kingdom, which once encompassed them all. So yes, I see, Radigast, Dyvers, Greyhawk, and Leukish to an extent as a
hotbed for new ideas in the Central Flanaess. Rel Astra too may have its chance if the hints at exploration from its port and by the Sea Barons to Hepmonaland and beyond are brought to fruition.
>And "skeptics" in Nellix, tsk, tsk. My but this Flanaess has been rather educated all along. "But they wear _pants_!" :P
Some of them have been educated - yes. Most aren't. I'd see the average Ekbirian on the street having a greater appreciation of the world and learning than your average person in Radigast or Chendl or Dyvers.
>Regarding Velunan attitudes, I too like the idea of prejudiced, righteous, and "superior" Velunan attitudes. Whereas the Ketites would be considered barbarians, the Furyondians (and Bisselites) are treated as children, and the Keolanders and Verboboncians are contemptible. However I wouldn't want
>to overdo it. Rao is not Pholtus, after all.
Hmm.. that might be a bit harsh - remember the Velunese and the Furyondians were almost fellow country men for a while. I think the Velunese would have sympathy for the Bisselites - who've had to put up with not only the Ketites, but the Keoish. The Keoish might be regarded with a degree of suspicion, given their past (the Short War), or exasperation (given their dithering while nations fell) - but generally perhaps as good, if arrogant, people with wrong priorities (if only they were more like us - which ironically is probably exactly what the Keoish think of the Velunese).
>To my knowledge there is close to nothing published regarding Daern.
>However, Irongate does seem centrally enough located to be her historical home base. I want Daern's symbol to be chiseled onto the Velunan bridges of Caronis and the old Ritensa Bridge as well as several cities within the South Province and Darmen Lands of old.
So that's Irongate, southern Aerdy, Furyondy, Veluna and perhaps the matematical schools of the West. hmm..quite a journey - and an intersting tale no doubt.
>I can relate that Elayne Mystica was overheard at a dinner party explaining something that she saw in a Daern sketchbook. It was something about a way for ships to cross the isthmus between the southern Vast Swamp where it meets Spine Ridge. Completely fantatical and impractical, of course, but such a route would render the SB Tilva Strait blockade useless . . .
Bah - probably some nonsense about digging a path through a mountain or some such. It is said that the good lady was partial to Dwur drinking establishments (a rumour, you understand) and Dwur spirits. Cynics have cited this as the inspiration for some of her wilder flights of fantasy. :P
>Regarding troubadours, it seems like Countess Belissica is only a latter day saint when compared with the "dimming memory of the noonlight of Loriaelor!"
>Alas for Nevondeer! ::raises chalice::
For sure much of the lore that yet remained of that great realm was surely lost in the sack of Nevondeer. Nonetheless, the echo of its songs linger yet in the streets of Radigast and Trigol, Brotton and Midmeadow, Borneven and Rel Mord, lilting from the lips of poor Tenha bards singing for coppers. Though beauty fades, the embers glow long among the ashes.
paul
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