Posted by Glenn Kempf on 22:56 9/10/02
In reply to: Uytai! posted by Glenn Kempf on 22:51 9/9/02
A postscript: after writing that last passage, I took another look at the Historical Atlas and saw that you were already ahead of me-- marking the invention of the chariot by the Echizimi by c. -150, and from them to the other Easterners (so the Cuzeians would not have had chariots at the time of their invasion two centuries earlier), and of the sturrip by the Munkhashi by their invasion of the Plain in c. 458 (paralleling the appearance of the chariot in our Middle East c. 2500-2000 B.C. and the sturrip on the Eurasian steppe c. 200 B.C., but with a much faster transition).
A couple of questions:
1. How long did it take the Cuzeians and Cadhinorians (and the steppe barbarians to the south) to adopt the sturrip as well? They probably didn't have time before the great battle breaking the seige of Eleisa. (I'm not sure how fast these things spread on Earth either.)
2. What role did the ilii play with the Cuzeians and Cadhinorians against Munkhash? Did they integrate themselves into the Cuzeian forces? I presume that any land-bound ilii forces would have been infantry (and artillery?), not cavalry; they don't seem to have had anything to do with horses or other domesticated land animals (unless there's an alternate source for those dragon legends... ;-)
Ad onlelán,
Glenn
I'm probably going to move the invention of the chariot up a bit, so the Cuzeians can make use of them. I read an interesting description of chariot warfare on the web; one peculiarity would be that chariots were at their best while retreating. A chariot moving toward you exposes an awful lot of vulnerable horseflesh. They're also said to be enormously expensive.
1. Not in time to help with the siege, certainly. Perhaps a generation before the technology was understood and the riders practised in it.
2. The ilii were most effective in defending the cities, and in undertaking guerrilla action against Munkhâshi forces-- i.e., tracking down and doing damage to a Munkhâshi army before it could engage in battle. An analogy might be a force of Renaissance military engineers sent back in time to aid the Trojans against the Greeks: they were best used not as a unit in a pitched battle, but in siege-breaking.