[Anomandaris Purake]

Hey everyone, im a long time lurker first time poster,reading the posts here it seems that a whole lot more info is revealed about the seguleh and their society so i want to know some things that ive always wanted to know about them. Firstly in MoI does anyone know what Senu's and Thurule's rank were?
Secondly do we know how old the seguleh with Lady Envy were? Senu said that he was fourteen years old and that he was a fourteenth level initiate in the schooling of weapons(paraphrasing). If he is fourteen and is that good it leads me to think that Mok and Thurule arent that old, possibly in their late teenage stage or early twenties. So in Return do we get a glimpse of just how old the average seguleh is. And just at what age do they start their training if Senu was fourteen and already so good. Sorry if this is rambling and all over the place, kinda rushed. Someone enlighten me please.

[kaf09]

Short answers are that we don't know. Senu was a lower rank than Thurule because he got the job of talking to foreigners. Again, we've got no idea as to the age of Mok and Thurule. While we have no idea of Seguleh society, someone sagely drew the comparison between the Segulah and the Spartans of our world - largely because both groups used lumps of iron as their currency. So if the comparison holds Seguleh would start their training at 5 or 6 years of age.

If the Segulah (reasonably) avoid magery (and thus no mage-induced longevity), then the ranking members of that society would likely be between 15 and 50 years of age before they are past it.

[Anomandaris Purake]

I can get down with that. the reseon that i put early twenties is that they dont seem to be that far apart in age. Plus what got me curious was Senu's comment that the butchering of the Pannion priests was left up to the Blackmask who where the beginniners. i just got intrgued by the idea of fuve year old children killing all of those people. hectic stuff.

[kaf09]

Anomandaris Purake;327714 said:

I can get down with that. the reseon that i put early twenties is that they dont seem to be that far apart in age. Plus what got me curious was Senu's comment that the butchering of the Pannion priests was left up to the Blackmask who where the beginniners. i just got intrgued by the idea of fuve year old children killing all of those people. hectic stuff.

I was just thinking of the child soldiers of Africa, who are reportedly especially ruthless because they have no idea of the enormity of what they might do. Anyway, the Blackmasks are possibly at least adolescent or pre-adolescent 10-12+ or a bit older. The youngest Seguleh (Segulah?) inductees, the 5 and 6 and 7 year olds might spend a good few years sharpening edges, running errands, and learning about anatomy. Your guess is as good as mine of course.

[Anomandaris Purake]

i think theyr much younger than that, if Senu at fourteen is an eleventh level initiate then they must start training at an early age, unless each level is a few weeks long which i doubt, but like you said, we really dont know. another thing iv always wanted to know is how the seguleh get food and other sundry tasks? i mean from all accounts they spend all their time training so they have no time to do mundane chores of life. i thought maybe the woment did all that like in some african cultures bcoz of wat Mok said in MoI about them not fighting women unless provoked. But then in RG we saw the female seguleh who was highly ranked. But considering how she was found something leads me to think she might be a renegade among the seguleh. thoughts?

[kaf09]

Like the Spartans and the Vikings, the Seguleh probably have a subject population of serfs and helots, all charged with the task of hewing of wood and drawing of water. Actually, Rell in ROTCG talks about his experience; because of an infraction he was no longer allowed to compete in the blade hierarchies and was only allowed to be a farmer. Someone is doing the cooking and cleaning and it ain't Seguleh no.s 1, 2, 3 etc.

[Anomandaris Purake]

since ihavent read Return yet i guess thats one question answered. must be a freaky place to live. imagine, being accosted in the street by a sword wielding 10year old. Or maybe a marital spat. hehehehe,it must gey out of hand.

[Idkillthemule]

Pure speculation on my part but maybe they don't start counting until you start the training. For example, you can be 10 years old but if you are 14 years old it means you have had 14 years of training but really making you 24.

[Abyss]

i HAVE YES read RCG and i'm YES SPOILERS going to refer to it SPOILERS so if you SPOILERS
don't want to SPOILERS be spoiled re Seguleh SPOILERS
SPOILERS in RCG i suggest you SPOILERS stop reading now SPOILERS
SPOILERS SPOILERS SPOILERS serious frikkin seguleh SPOILERS
SPOILERS SPOILERS
SPOILERS
SPOILERS


and SPOILERS
just for good measure...

Okay this book was, as these things go, HUGE for Seguleh infomation and it was awesome!

Start with Rell. It was pretty screamingly obvious from intro that Rell was Seguleh - everything ICE wrote about his pointed in that direction especially a coment from someone else in Storos' squad about his 'code' of not attacking anyone unarmed. By the time Storos sends him up against 50 veterans, we know. And it's all good.

Rell ultimately gives us interesting insight into Seguleh society; the fact that the uppose 1000 are elite and ranked; the way duels are fought without bloodshed; the way non-warriors live. Neat stuff.

He was a great character too. His confrontations with the two mages and Ryllandaras were all interesting contrast in the way someone who argued against Seguleh society still acting like one.

Hurl's narrative when she saw his body was just tragic - he was basically one step away from ruling Heng.


Also great was Iron Bars' confrontation with the Seguleh ship. The painted shield faces, the way they would have taken everything but then deferred to an Avowed - that they had even heard of the Avowed - and would have from the start. Great stuff here. Totally enjoyed that element of the story.


- Abyss, figures ICE and SE realized we like the Seguleh

[Aptorian]

Anomandaris Purake, on Jun 13 2008, 11:43 AM, said:

since ihavent read Return yet i guess thats one question answered. must be a freaky place to live. imagine, being accosted in the street by a sword wielding 10year old. Or maybe a marital spat. hehehehe,it must gey out of hand.

It's my impression that as a whole, allthough far from our opinion of these things, the Seguleh are a very cultured and highly civilized people.

They don't just live under constant attacks from each other. Nobody is going to jump you in the street if you look them in the eye. Rather, if you don't show the proper respect, you will be challenged. The notion that a slight/insult is tantamount to challeging another Seguleh to a duel is probably very sobbering and something any person on the Seguleh islands take as second nature. But I don't think you're forced to fight. Like when the Captain/Leader of the Seguleh challenges Iron Bars, you're allowed to decline. It would be a blow to your standing in the society, but that's also it.

[Crow Clan Baby]

Aptorian, on Sep 27 2008, 03:50 PM, said:

It would be a blow to your standing in the society, but that's also it.

I'm wondering if it would really be that much of a blow. The Lead Seguleh didn't seem to have any lessened respect for Bars, and actually went so far as to leave the offer of a challenge open for another time (as well as letting them go free). The application of the "Rules" might be different where outsiders are concerned, of course, although from reading where Bars killed Leal, one gets the impression that Bars is now considered part of the Seguleh society. No, I'd be of the opinion that declining a challenge from a higher-ranked member is considered acceptable enough to do, and just serves as an acknowledgement of one's own place in the pecking order. Declining a challenge from a lower-ranked member would be unthinkable. I'm still figuring how well this reading chimes with the observed behaviour of Mok and company, though.

[Abyss]

It makes sense - Seguleh challenge to move up, but they don't challenge people ranked below them. IB took out, let's say, #20. He outright challenged her and she couldn't refuse, and then he killed her, so he becomes #20. Then #10 (or whatever) tries to stare him down, and IB passes, indicating he does not wish to challenge to rise higher. 10 would be showing a lack of confidence in his own position if he challenged below his own rank, so he let it go.

If #21 had been standing there and decided to challenge IB on the spot, none of the Seguleh would have interferred.

Having your best warriors hacking each other to bits all the time would be counter-productive, especially to relatively insular a island culture, hence the highly formalized rules and structure.


Y'know what keeps popping into my mind... how nasty it would be if the CG found a way to take over the entire Seguleh society. It did appear in MoI that the First is working with Krul against the CG.


- Abyss, would have doubled-down.

[Urb]

Was Rell actually the seguleh 1st before they exiled him? I mean, Dassem was favoured by Hood when he fought Ryllandras to a standstill, so it doesn't seem that impossible. Or did I read it wrong?

Also: what were the Seguleh looking for? Anyone know?

This post has been edited by Urb: 07 October 2008 - 11:59 AM

[Abyss]

Rell wasn't 1st. He was just exceptionally good for his age when he was exiled. We're never given his ranking, but it seems clear he was fairly junior, but expected to rise qucikly before he fncked it up.

We were never told what the Seguleh ship were looking for, only that they seemed to want/need the supplies from IB's ship, suggesting they were lost.

I like the notion they are looking for the Second, but Krul's chat with Envy in MoI sort of almost kind of implies the First knows the Second is working for Hood.


- Abyss, sort of, almost, maybe...