Bell Digest v931210p2

From: RuneQuest-Request@Glorantha.Holland.Sun.COM (RQ Digest Maintainer)
Sender: RuneQuest-Request@Glorantha.Holland.Sun.COM (RQ Digest Maintainer)
Organization: Lankhor Mhy and Associates
To: RuneQuest@Glorantha.Holland.Sun.COM (Daily automated RQ-Digest)
Reply-To: RuneQuest@Glorantha.Holland.Sun.COM (RuneQuest Daily)
Subject: RuneQuest Daily, Fri, 10 Dec 1993, part 2
Message-ID: 
Precedence: junk


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From: raphael@research.canon.oz.au (Andrew Raphael)
Subject: Re: Humatki Swords
Message-ID: <199312091423.AA29115@mama.research.canon.oz.au>
Date: 10 Dec 93 12:23:27 GMT
X-RQ-ID: 2598

MOBTOTRM@vaxc.cc.monash.edu.au writes:

>According to COP, it is "not uncommon" for the *broken* sword to be
>stuck in the grave, so perhaps some cultures require the sword to be
>snapped as part of the funerary rites.  Personally, my fave Humakti PC
>Murphius wants to be buried holding it in his arms, so that his weapon
>is handy when he wakes up in Hell.

I think he'll look pretty silly arriving in Hell without a sword.  :-)
You should kill the sword so you can take it to Hell with you.  Otherwise,
Humakt's armourer will give your character new weapons when they arrive.

You might not just wake up in Hell, either.  Is there a psychopomp
for Humakti?  You might have quite a trek ahead of you.

Speculation: Humakt's psychopomp is Eurmal, who guided Humakt to the
place where Death lay hidden & guarded by Vivamort.  Compare to Orlanthi.
Their psychopomp is Issaries, who guided Orlanth to Hell on the LBQ.

What an anti-climax.  You die, & the Trickster is waiting for you.
-- 
Andrew Raphael 
    "She's probably not what she seems, though she tries"

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From: brandon@caldonia.nlm.nih.gov (Brandon Brylawski)
Subject: Re: RuneQuest Daily, Thu, 09 Dec 1993, part 1
Message-ID: <9312091900.AA00442@caldonia.nlm.nih.gov>
Date: 9 Dec 93 19:00:45 GMT
X-RQ-ID: 2599



Pam Carlson asks :

>Sandy writes re Yelmalian Heroquesting:

>>Most Hill of Gold questers don't even attempt the whole quest, but
>>instead just get a set of golden arms 'n armor and go to the hill to
>>seek Yelmalio's blood. Eventually a Wind Lord ambushes 'em, defeats
>>'em, and takes their armor, whereupon the Light Son (or Light Priest)
>>aborts the quest and goes home, having effectively exchanged a suit
>>of gold armor for one or more magic crystals.

>As an old time RQ'er new to Glorantha, please excuse my ignorance,  but this 
>repeating your god's failures stuff confuses me.  Does the Yelmalian in the 
>above example HAVE to lose?  Is he possibly capable of defeating the Wind 
>Lord?  Does he simply choose to loose?   Is it considered bad form to win, 
>thereby succeeding where one's god failed?   If he does win, may he keep his 
>weapons and armor and use them against the Death Lord?

No, a Light Son can go on the heroquest with the intention of defeating the
Wind Lord and then the Death Lord and otherwise changing the myth of Yelmalio 
for himself, but he takes a grievous risk in doing so : as soon as he steps
outside of the path his God took, he no longer has any guidelines for
what to do or what to expect. The quest becomes a "free heroquest", wherein
the quester may meet unexpected enemies, find unexpected rewards, and get
completely lost. We ranked Heroquests into three categories :

Temple Walks - the quester attempts to emulate a feat of his God.

Stated Walks - the quester attempts to gain a specific single goal, acting as
his God would have acted. This goal is announced at the beginning of the Walk.

Free Walks - the quester enters the Hero Plane to explore and discover.

Any Quest is risky, but the risk is lowest for Temple walks and highest for 
Free Walks, because the quester's knowledge, direction, and preparedness for
danger are all greatest in the Temple Walk and least in the Free Walk.
On the other hand, a successful Free Walk may grant the Walker strange and
wonderful benefits, while the Temple walk's benefits are more confined
to the rewards that the God received in his original act.

Stray from the path of your God at your own risk!

Brandon



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From: ddunham@radiomail.net (David Dunham  , via RadioMail)
Subject: re: What makes Pavis great?
Message-ID: <199312091903.AA12033@radiomail.net>
Date: 9 Dec 93 19:02:58 GMT
X-RQ-ID: 2600

My wife wandered in when this was on the screen and said "Cheap wine and
loose women." She's only played in my Gloranthan campaign once, and has
never heard of Pavis, but there may be some truth in what she says...
especially to a nomad.

The after death section was wimpy.


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From: sandyp@idcube.idsoftware.com (Sandy Petersen)
Subject: re: RQ Daily
Message-ID: <9312092331.AA22083@idcube.idsoftware.com>
Date: 9 Dec 93 11:31:47 GMT
X-RQ-ID: 2601

Steven Barnes asks:

>Since Carmania is described as being "Lunarized", does this mean the  
>Lunar pantheon is integrated into this structure?
The Lunar pantheon here, as elsewhere, is basically an overlay. It  
isn't really "integrated" into the local society anywhere. Important  
officials are Lunar, as are various people everywhere. Conservative  
folk are often still straight Carmanian. The worst parts of the old  
Carmanian ways have pretty much been eliminated. 


>why does the Empire tolerate it, if Orlanth worship is outlawed?

Technically, it's not "true" Orlanth worship, and the Empire really  
doesn't tolerate it too much. It is accepted in the way that the  
Soviet Union used to accept Russian Orthodox believers. If any  
important Carmanian leader ever professed the Aeolian Heresy, he  
would be quietly kidnapped, killed, brainwashed, or replaced, and  
they know this. 


[I said]
>>You get to go to Solace when you die instead of remaining as a lost  

>>soul, you get Divine Intervention, you (or at least someone in your  

>>culture) gets just about the full gamut of sorcery

[you replied]
>Yow...  This is a major change from standard Malkionism.  I assume
>that standard Invisible God worship doesn't provide DI, since it
>isn't mentioned in Gods of Glorantha.
What is the major change? They've always had Solace, and they've  
always had sorcery. Why wouldn't the Invisible God provide DI? It's  
not mentioned in GoG, but neither is anyone else's possession of DI,  
yet no one doubts Aldrya's or Tsankth's access. Mostal and Nysalor  
are another matter, of course, what with being dead and all.


Colin Watson asks:

>Is there a Gloranthan version of a base (i.e, alkali) or is this not  
>part of Gloranthan alchemy?
I'm sure Glorantha has quicklime and lye, for making soap if nothing  
else. I personally am of the opinion that the "acid" in Glorantha  
used for damaging your opponents is as likely to be a base as a true  
acid, or even a vesicant of some sort. Most people wouldn't  
distinguish between corrosive liquids. I still think that gorp "acid"  
is not the same chemical thing as true acid, but some other  
dissolving substance. 


>If a god has existed and is still remembered then I'd say folks  
>should be able to worship him/her/it.
Technically, this is true, of course. But since in Gloranthan worship  
you are able to expend MPs and have them accepted by your god you  
have a means of telling whether or not your deity exists. Nysalor  
doesn't accept such MPs or POW sacrifice because he is dead. Hence  
his "cult" consists of folks that even the Lunars believe are  
misguided, and a waste of time. I've heard of a branch of his cult in  
northern Kralorela in which none of the members are illuminated.  


>Wish I knew what that "now only a shadow on the Spirit Plane" bit  
>meant...
It means that certain lucky (unlucky?) heroquesters are able to  
encounter Nysalor/Gbaji there (the Red Goddess did, frex). 


Mark Crowne asks:
>Does anyone have any information/theories, official or otherwise on  
>how Baroshi and his new cult are related to the local earth  
>pantheon? Would such a minor god have a separate cult or would he be  
>worshipped through the cult of a more significant deity?

To have a cult, you've got to have worshipers. The easiest way for  
your cult to get worshipers of his own is for him to become a subcult  
in one of the local earth gods. I don't recall if his mother was  
named in Snakepipe Hollow, but if she was Esrola or Ernalda, he could  
be part of her cult easily enough, then people all over Sartar could  
install a shrine of Baroshi in their major and great temples. Baroshi  
should probably have a Rune spell handy to give these earth  
worshipers, and you've probably already got one picked out. 


If Baroshi's cult proved popular, it could "grow" from being a  
subcult to being a full cult on its own, and become just an associate  
cult to Ernalda. 


Pam Carlson asks re: Hill of Gold quest:
>As an old time RQ'er new to Glorantha, please excuse my ignorance,   
>but this repeating your god's failures stuff confuses me.  Does the  
>Yelmalian in the [Hill of Gold quest] HAVE to lose?  Is he possibly  
>capable of defeating the Wind Lord?  Does he simply choose to lose?
No, he doesn't have to lose, but if he wins, then the subsequent  
tests each become significantly harder. He doesn't simply "choose" to  
lose, and is expected to give it his all to win. It's just hard to  
do, that's all. Not one Light Lord in ten is able to beat the Wind  
Lord -- not because Light Lords are so inferior, but because the Wind  
Lord has certain advantages on the Quest, based on Orlanth's original  
victory. Basically, the Wind Lord is completely invisible and  
inaudible to the Light Lord before his attack, so the Wind Lord gets  
to have all his spells cast first (the Light Lord must cast his after  
the first round), plus he always gets a free "surprise" blow, which  
is pretty significant if you consider how tough most Wind Lords are. 


>If he does win, may he keep his weapons and armor and use them  
against the Death Lord?
Yes, but most Light Lords choose to give away their weapons and armor  
to the Wind Lord in exchange for being able to steal a skill or spell  
from their defeated ambusher. 


The big danger is that each victory you have increases the magnitude  
of the chaos parasites at the end. If you beat Orlanth or Zorak  
Zoran, the power of chaos is increased, because they killed plenty of  
chaos. This means you'll have to kill the resultant chaos yourself,  
to prove you don't need the storm or darkness's help. If you keep  
Inora from freezing you, then your blood loss is increased (the  
freezing stops you bleeding), and this also increases the number of  
chaos parasites. 


So far, only a handful of Yelmalion quester has been able to defeat  
Orlanth, Zorak Zoran, AND Inora. Of those, all are believed to have  
fallen to the chaos parasites, and thus are totally extinguished from  
existence. If anyone ever managed to beat all four of the obstacles,  
they'd probably end up with a different reward than what Yelmalio  
received, and instead of immortality, get something else.


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