From: RuneQuest-Request@Glorantha.Holland.Sun.COM (RQ Digest Maintainer) To: RuneQuest@Glorantha.Holland.Sun.COM (Daily automated RQ-Digest) Reply-To: RuneQuest@Glorantha.Holland.Sun.COM (RuneQuest Daily) Subject: RuneQuest Daily, Tue, 15 Mar 1994, part 2 Sender: Henk.Langeveld@Holland.Sun.COM Content-Return: Prohibited Precedence: junk --------------------- From: 100270.337@CompuServe.COM (Nick Brooke) Subject: Chariots of the Gods Message-ID: <940314214746_100270.337_BHL60-2@CompuServe.COM> Date: 14 Mar 94 21:47:47 GMT X-RQ-ID: 3314 Time for a Von Danikenesque interlude... --------------------------------------------------------------- Based on the "Glorious Reascent of Yelm", it is possible to draw alarming conclusions about the source and nature of early Gloranthan civilisation. First, it is obvious that "Lodrili" peasants and "Dara Happan" overlords represent separate racial types. The former are said to have been the indigenous people of Peloria, the latter being relative late-comers. In myth, we find one of the first recorded events to be "Lodril's" arrival on the ground. This "Lodril" is called the god and ancestor of the common people, and is depicted as a fiery Sky Spear, who came crashing to earth at the beginning of all things. It takes little imagination to see this as nothing other than a distorted folk-memory recollecting the crash-landing of a rocket-ship from some distant solar system. If the Lodrili came from a rocket-ship, then surely the depiction of the "Sun Rune" shows us plainly the shape of a flying saucer. We can imagine the Yelmic conquerors of Dara Happa flying overhead in their great glowing craft, striking down all opponents of their rule with laser-powered "Sun Spears". Their early capital, Yuthubars, must have been a gravitationally levitated flying city: truly a wonder to behold! Not that the world Glorantha was initially hospitable to its new settlers. Early Dara Happan tales record that the first human cities were built under domes, in the days before there was any breathable air. The extra-terrestrial origin of the Dara Happan peoples reveals itself yet again in their fascination with astronomy. Note too their familiarity with forms of life profoundly alien to all those found elsewhere on Glorantha: the fourth row of the "Gods Wall" (commonly interpreted as a tribute-list) depicts many inhuman monstrosities, as well as figures clad in protective clothing (IV-5, the so-called "Goddess of Night") and robotic servants (IV-8, the "Keeper of the Third Hell", a squatly mechanical figure). Though given the evident familiarity with genetic manipulation recorded in the "myth" of the First People, these may be servitor races similar to those known to have been bred by the Emperor Kestinoros. --------------------------------------------------------------- Well, it's as plausible as anything old Erich ever wrote... (No, this has nothing to do with that other old chestnut, "Flash Gordon/John Carter was the Pharaoh". I believe that one to be symbolically if not actually true; this, on the other hand, is a load of tosh for your amusement). ==== Nick ==== --------------------- From: jeff@cotopaxi.Stanford.EDU (Jeff Freymueller) Subject: Re: Hykimi cults Message-ID: <9403142306.AA16443@cotopaxi.Stanford.EDU> Date: 14 Mar 94 23:06:10 GMT X-RQ-ID: 3315 Martin Crim (argrath@aol.com) writes: > Throatwarbler Mangrove asked for Hykimi cults, so I sent him 22 > of them. Anybody else interested should contact me directly; 18 > pages of material is a bit much for the Digest. Martin, could these be mailed to someone (perhaps Shannon Appel) for upload to the soda.berkeley.edu archive? I am interested in them, and I suspect many others are as well. Or, if you mail them to me I can upload them for you. Jeff --------------------- From: ddunham@radiomail.net (David Dunham) Subject: Heortling religion; forms of magic Message-ID: <199403150447.AA08921@radiomail.net> Date: 15 Mar 94 04:47:49 GMT X-RQ-ID: 3316 Joerg shot back a bunch of counter-quotes. >The much used "Report on the Orlanthi" describes just one facet of >their complex culture, highlighted at one time in one place, but this >does not mean that the customs in other tribes or clans cannot differ >strongly from these, even if close by. I agree. But I think it does reflect the majority of Sartar Orlanthi. I'd forgotten about the Volsaxi origin, but just because there are Elmal clans doesn't mean Elmal is a common or mainstream deity. >introoduction clearly states that the object of observation >is but one facet of the Orlanthi peoples in/around Dragon Pass, the >Heortlings. Presumably from Heortland Heortlings are those who follow Heort's laws [90] -- I don't think they're at all identical with Heortlanders. Martin Crim said >Joerg Baumgartner writes: >>What do people think about all-round magic users, i.e. people >> with memorized divine, spirit and sorcerous spells? Would they >> rather accept matrix users of all varieties? > > The world problem is worse, and Greg Stafford has told me in >personal communication that the three forms of magic are mutually >exclusive. A person has to dedicate his mind and soul to just >one. This is inconsistent with the rules, which present shamans >(frex) as mostly having divine magic, too. Someone at Chaosium told me that the God Learners did practice all 3 styles of magic, thereby breaking the rules. BTW, I think people are dumping too much on the God Learners. They did do some terrible things, but they also did good things (e.g. Tradetalk is handy both for us gamers and for Gloranthans, as are many of their classifications). But they're wiped out, and probably nearly forgotten. I doubt most Gloranthans know anything about them. --------------------- From: robmh@aol.com Subject: The Opening Message-ID: <9403150124.tn22467@aol.com> Date: 15 Mar 94 06:24:00 GMT X-RQ-ID: 3317 Hi all, Three months ago I had no idea that Glorantha was so vibrantly alive on the Silicon Plane. Last night I found a note in my diary expressing my first reaction to the RQ Daily mailings: "This must be how folks felt when Dormal came sailing up and opened the waves." Thanks for the daily devotionals! --Rob Heinsoo --------------------- From: robmh@aol.com Subject: TempleWalking Message-ID: <9403150124.tn22488@aol.com> Date: 15 Mar 94 06:24:34 GMT X-RQ-ID: 3318 I'm catching up with the RQ Daily lists from January and February. I'm much fonder of Glorantha than I am of RQ, and the RQ I do speak has a decidedly second-edition accent. Many of my RQ/Glorantha books are in storage so feel free to correct (or ignore) my terminology in this and future postings. I noticed discussion of the need to recharge one's Rune spells in a temple. In my Gloranthas, quantities of worshippers and Power are not the only factors that can create the conditions necessary to renew one's Rune spells. As well as the normal temples that are accessible on the human/Mortal plane, one of the simplest Heroquest paths is to HeroWalk to a Heroplane site sacred to your god where your Rune spells can be recharged. I don't mean that such a HeroWalk should actually be simple, only that it is among the paths which beginning Heroquesters seek to master. There is certainly more than one such path per cult. The variables affecting the path of a specific TempleWalk should include one's location on the Mortal plane, the myth-themes you are attempting to surf into Heroplane, your ritual preparations, and the GM's assessment of the PCs' interaction with the local cult conditions. Some TempleWalks might take you to a Spirit Plane temple, others might take you into Godtime myths where spell renewal is possible, others might physically transport you to a mortal-plane Temple. And no, I don't necessarily wish to make it any easier to do missionary work in Glorantha; I think this form of spell renewal is only accessible to extremely powerful individuals. Some of them may have nothing better to do with their time than missionary work. But not many. --Rob Heinsoo ---------------------