Sorry for the Break...

Sorry for the break but suffered second computer hard drive failure in less than six months! :-(

Admittedly, it was a hand-me-down computer rather than a new one, but still - talk about bad luck. New machine should be online by the middle of next week - hopefully the holiday monday will not interfere with that.

The Deeds of the Ever-Glorious

This web-book is one of the best purchases that a wargamer thinking of delving into the campaigns of the Petal Throne can make. At 123 pages, it documents the histories of the Tsolyani legions.

Not completely, mind you, as there are some 86 legions described, some in more detail than others. Most get the better part of a page, some more-so. The descriptions typically include major campaigns or battles that the legion participated in, or some significant event in it's history. The entries end with the current disposition of the unit - the book is written with the start of the war with Yan Kor as a reference point. More recent events, the legion's conduct in the war or in the events following are not recorded. This is because the book is a reprint dating from 1981, before more "recent" events in Tekumel's timeline were documented.

In addition to the unit histories, the book includes a listing of the Tsolyani Emperors and Empresses along with brief notes about important events during their reigns. This list has been partially updated to include recent Emperors. At the start of the war with Yan Kor, the 61st Tlakotani Emperor, Hirkane hiTlakotani, the "Stone Upon Which the Universe Rests", is on the throne. The list includes a couple of his sons who succeeded him.

The best part of the book are all the references to various battles and campaigns. By reading the unit descriptions one can glean useful information about which units were where and little tidbits of information about historical [military] events.

Blog Customization....

The design process for this blog is ongoing. So far today, in the sidebar to the right, I've added links to retailers who sell our miniatures and links to sources of Tekumel information, including PDF books and printed materials.

Retailers:
Worldwide: Eureka Miniatures - who both manufacture and sell our range. Excellent Service!
In the USA: Eureka Miniatures USA (Eureka's main US distributor) and Tita's House of Games.
In the UK: Fighting 15s (Eureka's main UK distributor)

Sources:
Tekumel: The World of the Petal Throne - the main Tekumel site.
RPGNow - which has PDF downloads for 30 Tekumel-related items, including maps (from the original "Empire of the Petal Throne" RPG) and the "Deeds of the Ever-Glorious" which contains the histories of all the Tsolyani legions.
Tita's House of Games - long the source of Tekumel publications, past and present.

But where to begin...?

Starting from scratch, the absolute best site to learn more about the World of Tekumel is Tekumel.com.

This site has it all: background, history, links, downloads! It can be a bit over-whelming at first and easy to get lost - there is just so much cool STUFF!

I would start with the section called "The Eye of Illuminating Glory" and after reading that page, follow the link to the "Lands of Tekumel." From here you can gather an overview of the nations on Tekumel - the Five Empires, the lesser kingdoms and tribal entities and the non-human realms.

Of particular interest are the two comparative maps, one of which shows Tsolyanu, the Empire of the Petal Throne, with an overlay of Europe, and the other which shows this hemisphere of Tekumel with an overlay of Asia.

In the first comparative map Yan Kor is barely shown, being off the map to the north beyond the Desert of Sighs. The initial area of operations in the current war between Yan Kor and Tsolyanu - and the starting point for our range of miniatures - is in the area of little Pijena in the north-western corner of Tsolyanu. Pijena is essentially a Yan Koryani puppet-state. Before the war the border ran north of that mountainous range in southern Pijena: the Atkolel Heights. Now the Yan Koryani occupy the heights and the two nations face each other off on either flank of this mountain bastion.

This is the situation where our Range begins - in the role-playing game events have progressed several years beyond this point: the war has ended, and Tsolyanu has been embroiled in a bitter civil war. All that you can read about in History section.

The Armies and Enemies of the Petal Throne

As I said, our figures are being made available in cooperation with Eureka Miniatures. On their site is a brief introduction to the range and the background upon which it is based.

There is also a gallery with painted figures from the range.

Or you can go straight to the catalogue listings!

May Day! May Day! A New Blog!

Welcome to the new blog for The Tekumel Project. By purest chance our first post comes on May 01, 2008 - May Day! :-)

What is The Tekumel Project?

The Tekumel Project is a company formed to create a range of miniatures for MAR Barker's epic Tekumel setting, first published by TSR in the 1970's as the role-playing game entitled: "The Empire of the Petal Throne". Professor Barker's creation was the first fantasy role-playing game to feature a fully developed background, including actual languages. In addition to being a setting for role-playing the world has a rich military background for wargamer's to draw upon. It is this background upon which this range is based.

The range is called "The Armies and Enemies of the Petal Throne" and consists of 28mm figures from the Five Empires (Tsolyanu, Yan Kor, Mu'ugalavya, Salarvya and Livyanu); the nonhuman empire of Shenyu; various lesser nations (ie. Pechano, Saa Allaqi and N'lussa); the enemies of mankind, the Ssu and the H'luss; and various other creatures and personalities of the World.

The range is manufactured and sold by Eureka Miniatures of Australia. As of this date there have been four releases, the most recent just last month. More figures are yet to come! :-)