On Jan 18, 2012, at 5:14 PM, Paul Hughes wrote: > Spoliers > > Hello again, > > I find Midkemia fascinating and I have a tendency to really get into the > worlds of authors that I am reading. > I don't have many questions about Midkemia because the books and the websites > are so comprehensive. So > I have to ask about Kelewan and the Tsurani. > > I am just trying to get my head around the size of the clans and houses in > Tsurani in terms of military strength > and numbers of houses in the clans. > > Before Mara took over the minwanabi estates, she had roughly 2000 to 2500 > soldiers as far as I can see. However > even the Anasati had more than her according to the books themselves. Mara > was able to take the warchief's position > from the guy who was the Lord of the Chekowara, so even though the Anasati > had more: Mara still had a significant > amount of men to call upon. > > I guess this is more a question for Raymond more than anyone else, but how > many houses would have had a > stronger military than Mara when she had that many soldiers. You have the 5 > great houses who obviously had > to have more, but how many houses who were not 'great' like the Anasati would > have had more. Maybe only > the Shinzawai? > > The other question I have is if the Hadama are a minor clan but have 70 > houses - how many would the Minwanabi > clan have? > > Lastly there must be a lot of smaller houses, but what would be their average > military strength? They surely could > not all be packing more than a thousand men and perhaps only half that if > they keep getting destroyed like the > tuscai were. > > Anyway hope this is not too detailed a question and I suppose I am asking so > that I can see if my own *figuring out* > is any good. > >
Kelewan was a movie set, with canvas over wood painted to look like stone houses, if you get the analogy. So, to answer your questions, I have no idea how many houses are in what clans and how many soldiers, etc. One point to make is that a lot of Kelewan was politically driven, so it wasn't only armed might to be considered but influence and position socially, as well. Best, R.E.F. ---- www.crydee.com Never attribute to malice what can satisfactorily be explained away by stupidity.
