When Nomads become Peshwah

[Havard]

The whole things a bit tricky, but the Ben Hassock don't really fit as Afridhi because they are tribal raiders of Blackmoor going back at least 5 centuries. So they must be fairly closeby. Not a slowly spreading conqueror from the far west.

I tend to agree, although it would have been very interesting if the Afridhi had indeed been to Blackmoor centuries earlier. I

Ye old cut and paste:

Thanks! Are these mentioned in any particular context, such as involved in a specific battle etc?

Great catch. Thanks for pointing that out. I always forget about those maps because I don't have a physical copy (I guess it didn't come with the '77 print).

I hadnt really thought that so much information could be gained from that map either. It does at least show alot of similarities between the FFC and DA versions of Blackmoor. BTW I have the 2nd print version from '77 and it features two JG poster maps...

What I think I see is a map drawn and hand colored by dave with his pencils (ala his description on pg 26) and a second B&W map prepared from it by judges guild.

The colored map shows a much smaller barrier swamp. since some of the hexs are only partly colored I assume that was the size Dave intended. So the swamp wouldn't have been at all impassable until it expands with the sinking.

Both maps show "nomads of ten" (in yellow for desert?) directly opposite loch glomin. This is The The Plains of Hak on the new map, and good evidence that the Nomads of Ten must be (now at least) peshwah.

The B&W map puts the Peshwah to the south of the wurm river and the VOA and Dragon hills, while marking the area east of the Wurm as "to the grand Kingdom".

That works, I think. If the "eastern Hak" is originally The VOA and some area east of it, more or less bounded by the Wurm, that leaves a wide corridor commecting directly to Thonia. It shrinks the size of it considerably but....

This seems fairly similar to the interior map on page 15 of the FFC. That one also has a Desert in the south-western corner.

It seems to me that the Blackmoor map must have been revised at least X times in the 1970s:

1. Blackmoor expands from the Dungeon. Coot Invasions etc (1972)
2. Adventures in Lake Gloomy (1973)
3. When the PCs began getting their own holdings. Map expanded to the south to include the New Lands. (1974?)
4. Redrawing the map in preparation for the FFC. "I have decided that it would be advantageous to make some minor changes along the south and west borders to link it with the Judges Guild's Known World area...". Valley of the Ancients added.

The question is what happens to the Desert during these revisions:

a) It becomes squeezed into the middle, becoming effectively the Valley of the Ancients? Probably the Southern Desert was the location of the City of the Gods, originally.
b) Turned into the Plains of Hak
c) Shifted further away to the southwest, assumed to be somewhere beyond the map?


As to the Eastern Hak, it may very well be that these lands were once controlled by the Great Kingdom, but that they Peshwah have later been pushed into those lands. Grasslands would be less attractive to the Thonians anyway so it could have been sparesly populated except for along the coastal areas, and the Thonian Rand.

Brilliant observation Herr Viking! Since the Sufz seem to be a good fit for the FFC Nomads of Ten, one could easily suggest that they moved to the eastern Hak after the Afridhi invasions.

It would also be quite possible that the "Eastern Hak" could have expanded at this time from a relatively small strip of land occupied by the Bortai to its later size. Assuming the territory between the great kingdom and Blackmoor was largely abandoned by Thonian settlers (perhaps the farms had failed), it could have been claimed by the Sufz.

The Sufz certainly fit as Dervishes. They could be the renamed Ben-Hassock, althought hey dont seem as agressive as some of the other tribes. OTOH, I see some older fan speculations suggest that the Nomads of Ten are the Afridhi. We could still have a scenario here where the Ben Hassock are not the same as the Nomads of Ten.

If the Afridhi are the same as the Nomads of Ten it would mean that the Afridhi and the Duchy of Ten originally formed an alliance, which would be surprising, but not impossible.

Maybe. Will give it more thought but at the moment am still favoring the Sufz.

There is one key difficulty that has to be addressed, that being that the Nomads of Ten and the Horsemen of Peshwah are on different sides in this war. While that doesn't mean that they were actually fighting each other, it still has to be explained if we are going to say the Nomads were Peshwah.

The scenario above would help explain that problem. OTOH, Peshwah fighting eachother would not be unheard of.

A few more things to consider. Ken Shepro's character Peshwah na Shepro is associated with the Bortai. He is the Baron of Dragonia and loyal to Blackmoor. Dale Nelson is also said to have controlled "Nomads", though I am not sure which group.

Chuck Monson's comments could also help explain where the Afridhi came into the picture:

"As noted in the Judge's Guild publication... released at GenCon Lake Geneva Playboy Club so long ago (10th GenCon?)... I held a post in the Duchy of Ten, however frequently I was mashed by the hordes."

Definetly! I think the associations were more subconcious than deliberate, but it would be great to iron out a consistent narrative.

Yeah, its fun to think of it in terms of a narrative as you say Also quite useful for gaming purposes.

-Havard