>>> Broo are an intrinsically chaotic species, while cave trolls are
>>>not. If chaos had not entered the world, cave trolls would still be dark
>>>trolls, but broo would not.
>>Rubbish. Reread River of Cradles or Borderlands. Broos were a perfectly
>>normal species before the Turning. Broos have a stronger connection to
>>Primal Chaos but they are still victims of chaos as much as cave trolls,
>>trollkin and diseased humans suffering from disease are.
> I was aware of the 'mistress race broo' theory, but I am not
>convinced that it really applies - certainly the broo race as it exists nowThe Broo genomes exist. These are highly chaotic and have been so since the Turning. The Broo Sperm whilst propogated into the host normally requires genetic material from more mundane species so that its DNA will not go supercritical whilst in the host and transmute the fetus into a gorp. Certain individuals with unnatural power whilst in the host can prevent the transmutation into a gorp by their sheer will. These are usually aided by outside help (like Ralzakark's breeding programme) which accounts for the failure of the God Learner experiment Sandy talked about. Before the Turning, the Broos were naturally fertile like the Kralori's Wild Man and his four hundred sacred miscenegations (and I don't hear anybody calling him chaotic!)
>and more to the
>point their method of reproduction is now intrinsically chaotic, so that any
>member of the existing race of broos is a direct result of the chaotic power
>of broo reproduction.
But the Chaos has not replaced wholescale the Broo Genetic material. It has warped it. The gene that carries the instruction for Broo reproduction is infused with the aura of chaos, to such an extent that Broo reproduction gives everybody a hard time.
On a trivial note, I think that the Broo sperm really only contains genetic material common to broos and the hosts genetic material is not passed on (rather like mitochrondial (sp?) DNA). This prevents dispersion of the chaoticness of the broo among the population. Otherwise we would have broos becoming less chaotic in about three generations. Thus a Broo concieved upon another Broo would have 75% chaotic genetic material instead of the normal fifty percent. A Broo concieved from two second generation broos would then have 87.5% of his genetic material chaotic and so forth. This ties in well with the fourth generation 'broos' being gorp...
>> The only reason
>>the normal Uz spare the cavetrolls is that they recognize the common kinship
>>and find the cavetrolls useful. They do not recognize any kinship with feral
>>broos or diseased humans (for the most part) so they do not spare them.
> I certainly never meant to imply that kinship or utility were not
>big factors in the uzko acceptance of the cave trolls, though. But if the
>cave trolls where as chaotic as broos are (or even, say, as chaotic as
>scorpion men are, with very common chaotic features), then I think the uzko
>would a) find them strange enough to not be kin and b) find them dangerous
>enough to not make good slaves.
Ah but Cave Trolls are still _chaotic_. The idea of weak chaos or [species] as per RQIII book V is mere God Learner fudging. The Uroxi maxim is Right 'Any Chaos is All Chaos'. I mean how often do you see Zorak Zorani making a big song and dance about Telmori for example?
> I think, for example, that if a dark troll with 3 chaotic features
>turns up in a ZZ temple and asks to be let in, because he is kin and he is
>pretty tough, he will die swiftly and unpleasantly.
Depends what sort of chaos feature he had. If he had a tentacle for a head than he is no longer recognizably kin and liable for extermination. However if he had less gross features like a withered arm or only explode while after death, they would be more accepting of him, IMO. (In the case of a withered arm they would place cruel pratical jokes on him instead).
and on a different note.
> I am inclined to think that intelligent cetaceans are a higher
>proportion than intelligent fish, for several reasons. I would guess that,
>as in most cases the merman are closer to cetaceans than fish, cetaceans
>make good domesticated animals and familars and allied spirits for mermen,
>especially the ludoch and ouri.
I can hardly imagine the (fishy) Piscoi Merfolk being close to Cetaceans. Ludock with Ceteceans, yes. Ouori are more akin to Walruses than to Ceteceans and so I think would hang out with the former instead.
Jeff Richard:
> Not long ago Pam Carlson commented: " We've been playing around with
>trying to make each culture's myths work without introducing conflict from
>an foreign pantheon. In short, why does the Evil Emperor of the Orlanthi
>myths always have to be some Solar furriner? And does the Murderer of Yelm
>(if that myth is even believed) always have to be an unwashed Orlanthi
>barbarian?"
> I was quite disappointed by the reponses given by the (obviously
>overly-God Learner influenced) scholars of the Digest. A sample response was
>given by the Mighty Mr. Metcalfe:
>>A bit of a futile dream IMO. The cultures have now come into contact with
>>each other and are aware of each other. Plus 500 years ago, the God
>>Learners did a good job of screwing the original myths to such an extent
>>nobody is sure what they were. What was true then, is no longer mythically
>>true now. "
>[Cogent arguement stating that the Third Age Heortlings for much of their
>time did not need to see a Solar God as the Evil Emperor]
This is true. I said as much when I stated that the Ralian barbarians probably see Malkion as the Evil Emperor. What I was taking issue on was the desire to avoid conflict with _foreign_pantheons_. The horizon of the Orlanthi has expanded since the Dawn. The insularity of the Third Age Heortlings is one of the few exceptions rather than the rule. Orlanth has long made his peace with Elmal. The Evil Emperor must be someone from outside and not bound by the ties of kinship.
> Of course that leads us to another question, just what sort of
>influence did the God Learners have on the illiterate clansmen of the hills?
>Certainly they warped the minds of the poor benighted scholars of Nochet and
>the cities with their cosmopolitan and relativistic ways but what of the
>hillsmen farmers? Just because a foreign culture has a dramatic impact on
>the beliefs of literate and urbane scholars doesn't mean that it has a
>corresponding influence on the traditionalist agrarians who make up the
>majority of the population.
You forget Taxes, Hostages, Foreign Soldiers out to 'suppress banditry', and Bureacracy. A perfect tie-in with the traditions of the Evil Emperor...
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