Subject:  	Re: MTibet & humanoids
Date: 	Mon Nov 25 19:33:31 1996
From: 	David Melik 


At 05:27 AM 11/25/96 +0000, you wrote:
>>I sent this message to the whole team before you were added to the list, so
>>I forwarded for you two.
>Thanks!  This is great stuff!  I don't know if I should be sending this to
>the whole team or not, so I'm just sending it to you.
>
Well thanks for the compliment.  :)  You know, once you mentioned that I realized that I asked Jody how we should be discussing things, either carbon copying everything to the team, or do most of it individually.  It may overwhelm her if we do the former.  So, I asked her and emailed a couple of ideas, and when she replies I'll tell you, and I then everyone will be informed.  I'll just reply to you now, but our conversation about MIndia is important[....]

>>        Long ago, I mentioned that I thought Sind is MIndia, and may have
>>made many others think this too.  Someone else said they thought it was
>>MMiddle East.  Now that I've read more, and looked at the atlas, I think
>>that it's more like the Middle East.  From what I've learned, I think it's
>>geographically more like the Middle East, and they have castes in Sind, like
>>on Earth. The only thing I noticed now making it somewhat Indian is the
>>religion, which has strong Indian elements.  I probably didn't read enough
>>on this, but it's more than I did previously, so does anyone else have
>>thoughts on this?  Thus, I think there's nothing wrong with making another
>>MIndia.
>Actually Sind is very similar to India, much more so than the Middle East.
>The religion of Sind is very similar to Hinduism.  The land does have a lot
>of desert, but this is really just empty land on the fringes that Sind
>claims.  The Sindhi language is based on Hindi and Sanskrit.  Champions of
>Mystara makes it very clear that Sind is based on India.  I believe that the
>Hollow World nation of Shahjapur is very similar to India as well.  The
>MMiddle East would probably be Ylaruam (MArabia) and the Barbaric Nomads of
>the Great Waste west of Sind (MPakistan/Iran?).  There was an interesting
>discussion on the Mystara Mailing List a couple months ago that the Shadow
>Elves are MIsrael, as well. We could still add a MIndia, but it should
>probably be based on more ancient India rather than the relatively modern
>India that Sind is.  Historic India was ruled by Buddhists, Muslims, and
>Mongols (check the article that you recommended on Genghis Khan), so we
>could make a nation based on one of these.
>
Well, you're right, I did even more reading and found out that India also developed a strict caste system, not just the Middle East.  So it's society is very close to the more modern Indian one.  So Sind must be based on the Brahmanic age, when they had castes, and if we make one it should be based on the Vedic age.  Does that sound right?  I got that out of the New Larouse Encyclopedia of Mythology, not a history book. Sind does have some forests and plains like India, just not as much, and more desert.  But overall, Sind's a good MIndia.  

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