How do the Aeolians get along with the "true" Orlanthi people who live in Heortland?
Tolerantly. To the Aeolians, these "backward" Orlanthi are not seen as evil pagans, more as unfortunately ignorant but nonetheless wonderfully enthusiastic compatriots. Their religious difference (inferiority) is minor compared to their true patriotism.
In fact, under the occupation by Sir Richard's Rokari crusaders, disenfranchised Aeolian clergy are getting more help from back-woods die-hard Orlanthi and Uroxi (and the like) than from their urbanised compatriots.
The stress is less, IMO, than that between Saxons and Normans in Sir Walter Scott's semi-historical novel "Ivanhoe". The two cultures (actually, more like one culture in two different stages of evolution) happily coexist. Aeolians have more in common with the old-fashioned Orlanthi than the English have with the Scots or the Welsh, perhaps -- same language, even, albeit different literary script -- but they're still all one Kingdom. (I can't stand those Jutes, though...).
Is the written language used in Heortland still Heortlander, or do they use the language of their Western overlords instead? Or do they use both for different purposes, like English and French were used in Mediaeval England?
The latter is the more fun, and I embrace it. Remember that there have been "Western" influences in Heortland since the end of the First Age. It's not just King Richard's johnny-come-lately Rokari crusaders (although those are rather like a brutish Norman Conquest on their own) -- perhaps a fair comparison is:
- Second Age Heortland - like Anglo-Saxon England becoming
converted to Christianity (Aeolian Malkionism): Venerable Bede Country.
- Third Age Heortland - like late AS England being invaded by Normans (Rokari Crusaders): Hereward and Ivanhoe Country.
The Rokari under Sir Richard have been hammering the Aeolian "heretics", to some extent driving them into the arms of their traditionalist compatriots. (Remember, many good Malkioni think that heretics are more dangerous than pagans. Pagans are ignorant, but heresy is a malignant cancer in the body of the Church). In the long term this may be bad for the established Aeolian Church, but in the short term there is now little conflict between Aeolians and old-style Orlanthi.
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