"Ronald Green - Great Kings War" - читать интересную книгу автора (Green Ronald)

constituency.

"As I mentioned previously, the primary TrinityтАФbefore Styphon's prominenceтАФwas Allfather Dralm,
Yirtta Allmother and Galzar Wolfshead, the God of War. Dralm is the all-knowing, all-powerful Father
god, like Zeus, Jupiter and a host of others familiar to most Fourth Level Indo-Aryan scholars."

Heads bobbed up and down in agreement.

"Yirtta is the goddess of harvests and fertility and as such she has maintained her prominence within
Zarthani life and ritual, primarily among women who are more conservative about their gods. The Temple
of Yirtta Allmother is a very traditional and conservative temple, similar in many aspects to the Roman
goddess Vesta and her cult.

"Galzar God of War has seen no diminution of status with the passage of time; if anything, as Dralm's
influence has waned, GalzarтАФwith the constant internecine warfare and proliferation of mercenary
unitsтАФhas grown over the years. The Uncle Wolfs, the priest of Galzar, have even taken over many of
the healing duties of older gods, including Styphon.

"Dralm's position among the gods has dropped dramatically, particularly, within the last hundred years,
as Styphon's influence has increased in the Northern Kingdoms, principally among the gentry and the
upper classes. The Styphoni do not consider Appalon, Dralm's son, the Patron of gamblers and gaming,
a True God. Whereas the followers of Dralm add Lyklos, the Trickster, who has a powerful cult in the
Middle Kingdoms, to their pantheon instead of Styphon.

"As Styphon's House's political and economic power grows, the worship of Styphon has spread its way
through the upper strata of society, whereas Dralm is in danger of becoming almost exclusively the god of
peasants and artisans. Styphon's House with its tithing and manure collection continues to be unpopular
among the lower classes, except in Hos-Ktemnos where his worship is firmly rooted after four hundred
years of priestly tyranny.

"As I've demonstrated, Styphon's House has used their 'fireseed' miracle to awe the unsophisticated and
manipulate the politics of the Five Kingdoms, the dominant ruling states on Aryan Transpacific.
Furthermore, Styphon's House has its own military of which there are two arms; the first being Styphon's
Own Guard. The Guard is an elite corps and very well paid; most are former mercenaries and are not
above doing the nastiest kind of deeds. Often times, they are poised behind unreliable troops with the
orders to execute anyone who retreats or runs from battle. They've earned the sobriquet the Red Hand
through their scrupulous attention to such orders.

"The second martial arm is the Order of the Zarthani Knights, who protect the western borders of
Hos-Bletha and Hos-Ktemnos, as well as act as a buffer between the Five Kingdoms and the Sastragath
and migrating nomads from the Sea of Grass. The Grand Master of the Order is also an Archpriest in the
Inner Circle, but like most military holy orders they have little participation in the day to day running of the
Temple. The Zarthani Knights are a formidable fighting force and the Grand Master rules more territory
than the largest Great Kingdom.
 "Styphon's House's usual tactics are to encourage grudges and border disputes among the princedoms
of the Five Kingdoms, helping allied princes with ample supplies of fireseed, while withholding it from
their opponents and placing them under Styphon's Ban. The Ban is a very important tool since it not only
deprives that princedom under the Ban from purchasing fireseed from Styphon's House, but also carries
the threat of withholding fireseed to any other lord or prince who might be willing to sell his excess
powder to the proscribed lord. Without any other recourse to obtain fireseed for their smoothbores and