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, 13 Sep 1994, part 3 Sender: Henk.Langeveld@Holland.Sun.COM Content-Return: Prohibited Precedence: junk --------------------- From: jonsg@hyphen.com (Jon Green) Subject: A big black stick stack? Message-ID: <1309.9409121131@diss.hyphen.com> Date: 12 Sep 94 11:31:13 GMT X-RQ-ID: 6167 Bob Luckin in X-RQ-ID: 6120: > Hopefully the others you left at home include Donaldar - a god well-known > for his singing voice, and Squawk Mother - daughter of Vrimquack who > taught Yelmalio how to Speak to Ducks (that one's for you, Jon !). :-) I'm half-inclined to include it! But first Yelmalio had to be bested by Zorquack Zoran... And someone (I think it was me:-) posted some notes on the way he thought foci and matrices operated, and how they were attuned. I forgot another peril of attunement - sometimes you can get just a little too close to the person who made all those items... Read, enjoy (if you like) and feel free to comment! --- CUT HERE --- The Story of Stax, a Stick-picker ================================= Stax was a stickpicker, from a long and proud line of stickpickers, and the greatest of his clan, which was not to say very much. He considered himself a great thinker, which, amongst his family, he probably was. One day, out picking sticks, he came across a horde of strange items, we know not how. There were sticks, yes, but sticks with weird squiggles and pictures, and stones with drawings, and jewels with uncanny glows, and many more things. Stax considered for a while, and decided that they were probably magical, since anything he did not understand was magical, and he did not understand them. As it happens, his guess was more apt than he could possibly have hoped. As a generous and considerate stickpicker, Stax could have taken his haul home with him, to show his hearthmate. But Stax was neither, and he hid his booty where he found it, taking only a well-inscribed stone with him. Stax knew little of magic artifacts, and his attempts to understand the stone were of little avail, at the start. He learnt that, if he stared at the sigils for a long time, he could start to see more of them at a time. He called it his "concentration stone", and would spend hours at a time in the corner of a field, gazing at the rock and neglecting his stick-picking. It is little surprising that Stax took so much time to understand his beloved stone. The stash was that of a fearfully powerful magician, Chalaranth, centuries before, who had secreted it for a time of need. His time of need overtook him faster than he had anticipated, and he never returned to reclaim it. Stax was a creature of little wit and less wisdom, and to comprehend Chalaranth's least item he had to encompass the magician's thought and his soul with his own. But Stax had only to understand a little of the wizard's mind, and commune with but a small portion of his soul, and the task was not impossible, even for Stax. It took almost half a season, but eventually Stax could see all of the runes at the same time, in focus, and it was as if a great cloth had fallen from his eyes. He extended his soul into the stone and pushed - and the stone gave. He did not understand what had happened, but he ran home to his hearth-mate to show her. "At last you return - and what do you bring me? Some roots, maybe? A nice juicy grub or two? No, you bring me a worthless pebble, to rattle in the pot!" Stax was abashed. "But look what I can do with it!" he howled and, with a flourish, pushed his soul into it once more (not knowing what to expect), and found himself pushing into the soul of his wife! "Eaarrggh!" She spun, as if a puppet-master turned her strings, and began aping every movement Stax made! Stax was most taken aback, but soon fell to enjoying his revenge upon his wife's nagging. "Now let that be a lesson to you," he chided her, "never anger a great wizard!" Stax' next task was to discover the secrets of a white rod, covered with blue symbols. He now understood something of the thought of its maker, and in only a couple of weeks he had mastered more and different magics than he could possibly have known in his lifetime. As he found the last spell in the wand, the name of its maker became clear. "Chalaranth? Strange name." He filed it in his memory for later use. During his secretive investigations, his wife and family noticed a change in Stax. His speech, once simple, became more fluent; his language more complex. A new light shone in his eyes, and he discovered a confidence previously unknown to any of his kin. Once, an old enemy visited, intending to cause trouble. He did not stay for long. Injured and humiliated, with his rear showing through the scorched remains of his smock, the foe retreated rather more quickly than he had arrived. "Bow and fear me," Stax crowed after him, "for I am Magick!" For the next season, Stax worked through the rest of his treasure, become better and quicker with every attempt to use a new toy. His manners changed, became more courtly; and slowly his kith and kin began to believe Stax' boasts as he demonstrated better and greater magicks with each day. At the last, Stax was heard to cry, "I am Chalaranth! Fight me if you dare: fear me as you must!" Stax' soul was irretrievably entwined with the great Chalaranth's, and the powerful, dead magician's mind had overcome the meagre senses of the humble stick-picker's. For another season, and through the Sacred Time, Stax/Chalaranth performed his marvels and achieved some small notoriety in his area. The peasants would come to him for healing, repair of their meagre possessions or even just for his blessing, and he would exact payment or tribute. His soul swelled. But such a figure is not ignored for long, and strong powers grow to challenge great souls. One day, early in Sea Season, a strange, whirling blur, like a dust-storm without dust, was seem to approach Chalaranth/Stax's dwelling. Before anyone could react, it surrounded him. "I am Djilliq," cried the great spirit, whose form only the self-acclaimed wizard could perceive, "and who are you?" "I am Chalaranth! I am a great and powerful magician!" replied Stax. "Then I shall defeat you again, as once I did before!" howled the apparition, and set to the attack. Stax tried all of the magicks he knew to defend himself, but in truth he understood few of the spells he had learnt to cast, and had never discoverd the true purpose of many of them. The spells he knew had no effect, and, had he but known, many of those he did not would have aided. He was not given the time to try them. The djinn had no trouble in mastering the hapless Stax, and wore his skin for many years. Djilliq had the knowledge to comprehend the magicks Stax had discovered, and the means to extract their uses from the shrunken soul of Stax, now hidden, whimpering, in some small corner of his own mind. When the spirit finally left to find a less confining space, what remained of Stax' mind was deranged, and he died soon after, a degenerate and gibbering wreck. Stax had discovered wit but, without both wisdom and knowledge to clothe it, intellect is naked and defenseless. Had he wisdom, Stax would have seen the change within himself and curtailed his greed for power and prestige. Had he knowledge, he could have used his findings to protect himself when his nemesis came, for that was ever their intent. But Stax was a stick-picker, from a long and proud line of stick-pickers, and, as Orlanth's children say, "Stick-picker does as stick-picker is." --- CUT HERE --- Some notes: (1) Stax is a bear of very little brain, trying to comprehend a giant of intellect. It takes much longer for him to attune Chalaranth's magical devices than it would normally take an average person to tune an average item. This raises the interesting prospect a magic item having a kind of inherent INT, and the attuner having to overcome the item's INT with his/her own; (2) Stax finds each successive attunement more easy. Each time he succeeds, he learns a little more of the style of thought of its maker, and can interpret the mandalas (what IS the plural of mandala?) more easily. An incremental bonus for objects made by that person?; (3) As Stax' few wits try to fall in tune with Chalaranth's, he gains INT, a kind of INT training. As the story says, though, he doesn't know how to use it, or, indeed very much else; (4) Stax's POW increases during the time. Perhaps it's through using the spells successfully, maybe bits of Chalaranth's POW are rubbing off on him, or just possibly he's found access to stored POW as well; (5) No, I don't know how he discovered Chalaranth's name! But it sounded good... Jon jonsg@diss.hyphen.com --------------------- From: sandyp@idcube.idsoftware.com (Sandy Petersen) Subject: Re: RuneQuest Daily, Sat, 10 Sep 1994 Message-ID: <9409122057.AA09212@idcube.idsoftware.com> Date: 12 Sep 94 08:57:36 GMT X-RQ-ID: 6175 Simon Hibbs >We must remember that the monomyth failed, it was an unmitigated >disaster. Not so. The monomyth was the closest approach to Gloranthan reality that had ever been accomplished. Admittedly it was wrong in many fundamental details. Newtonian physics was a huge advance on what went before, and is still a useful way to describe the world. But it is wrong in fundamental ways. When the God Learners got too close to the _real_ reality in Glorantha, it stepped up and bit them. Alex doesn't think that Pamaltela is _really_ more fertile than Genertela. >I don't think this makes much sense. If Pamaltela had twice the >population of Genertela, rather than half, this might be marginally >more convincing. More Fertile doesn't mean More People, Alex. The Most Fertile places on the face of the earth (measured by biologic productivity) are swamps and jungles. Pamaltela has plenty of swamps and jungles. But these aren't environments in which large numbers of humans thrive. The strongest evidence for Pamaltela's fertility is not only the swamps & jungles, but the interior plains of Jolar, Kothar, etc., In any rational land, such interior areas, cut off from the sea by mountains, flat, and with few rivers (and those that exist draining into a dry dead sea) would be a horrifying desert, as bad as the Sahara or the Empty Quarter of Arabia. It's not -- in fact, it supports a reasonably prosperous group of nomads. The only possible reason is because Pamalt's influence POWERFULLY mitigates the disaster. Finally, one of the major population sources of Genertela is Kralorela, which IMO does not suffer much from Genert's death, because he has been replaced by the Emperor, who now holds responsibility for all such matters. David Cowling: >typically, a shadow of Humakt is faced as the PC "overcomes death" >to enter and return from the God Plane. If this is true, and >coupled with the fact that when Humakti are dead, they are DEAD, do >Humakti HeroQuest? If so, is it a shadow of Humakt that they face? To enter the Heroquest, you must either vanquish death by defeating the Humakti warrior as you enter the Hero Plane, or else one of the party must die (but only one), thus paying the price. Yes, Humakti heroquest. The dude facing you when you try to enter the Heroplane is probably a heroquester Humakti, for instance. (Well, not a fancy quester, but at least some Sword doing one of his cult responsibilities.) And yes, a Humakti entering the heroplane must vanquish death (i.e., another Humakti) to enter. Allyr >Praxian carnivores, no one seems to have mentioned dinosaurs I thought I had. I said that IMO Dinosaurs in Prax were visitors (possibly permanent ones) from Balazar or the Rockwoods. There are probably some permanent dinosaur residents in the River of Cradles, and maybe some huge amphibians in the coastal swamps, but I don't think you'll find deinonychi breeding or thriving in the Wastes proper. Pam Carlson: >Well, EXCUSE ME for using the words "Trickster" and "respect" in the >same sentence. You are forgiven. >But isn't Trickster *occasionally* appreciated? Hyena ate Genert to >keep him safe from chaos, Eurmal helps Orlanth occasionally, and in >Native American stories, Coyote is known for being rather clever. Yes, but what Native American would want Coyote for his brother-in-law? Or even hanging around his house. I think that Praxians, like Orlanthi, regard Trickster and his deeds as absolutely essential to the nature of the cosmos. Death is essential, too. I'm sure that when they tell tales of the Trickster they laugh and are appreciative. And when a Trickster comes into the camp, they beat him, abuse him, and scream, "Not with MY daughter, you don't!" With luck, they'll drive him away, and to some other tribe. After all, it's not like Trickster is an endangered species. > I favor Hyena as the Praxian trickster, because Coyote is too >similar to the Real World I kind of think of Raven as the real trickster of Prax. Hyena I see as one of his friends. Sometimes victorious, sometimes tricked or killed, but in many stories with Raven. Coyote may or may not be a trickster, but their treacherous cowardly nature probably makes them at least trickster-associated. Note that even if they aren't tricksters at all this doesn't mean there aren't coyotes in Prax. Stupendous Man: >2) Having dealt with Viv, what about Cacodemon, he's got the >Darkness Rune too, what about Ogre's, they can't see in the dark >can they? I don't think so. But they probably do a lot more night fighting than most humans, setting ambushes and the like, so they may not be quite so hosed at a fight in the dark as humans are. >3) How about broo's, they're the ubiquitous chaos nasties, can they >not see, or do they have improved night vision. I ask this because >it's seems so much more atmospheric to fight broo at night, when >they are only half seen. Hmm. I almost always have my own broos attack on blistering hot days, when the sun bakes the brains from the players' heads, and there is no wind anywhere, and the air smells stale, while the horizon shimmers with blazing heat. I save night attacks for morocanth and trolls. BUT ... since you asked, I believe that most broos have marginally better night vision than most humans (much as a sheep or an antelope has somewhat better night vision, but is still diurnal). On the other hand, lots of broos are probably colorblind, too. Doubtless a broos' vision depends on what its mother was, averaged out with what a broos "natural" sight is like. In any case, there have GOT to be bands of broo brothers that see really well at night (just because their mom was a jackrabbit, or a cat, or some other night-dweller), and I'm sure these guys lead the night attacks, or even band together into special bands that specialize in darktime combat. Kuri: >A priest who cast all his rune spells into the trunestone >(A) cannot regain them and he must resacrifice to the spell. > or >(B) can regain them when he pray in his temple as usual. I have always played (A). Bryan J. Maloney >>You are different from the others, child, so I will tell you a tale >>that the others don't get. This was a stupendous story/poem/song of the Basmoli. You are my hero. Nick Brooke: > I'd rather waive the "obligatory die rolls" while fudging the >numbers of 90%+ skills required. Becoming an initiate, Rune Lord, >sacred milkman, or bartender at Gimpy's is a Major >Campaign Event, >not something to brush off as a wee mechanical hiatus. The main purpose of the 90% skills and die rolls, I believe, is to give the GM an idea of how hard it's supposed to be to become one of these dudes, and hence of how rare they are, how impressed other folks are of them, etc. I have no objection of blowing off all the mechanistic details of Rune Lord-dom, if the GM is able and ready to do so. All I ask is that Rune Lords be recognized as Real Tough Guys, and masters of their trade. I also picture the majority of these guys not as folks who've won every game they've been in, but long-term hardened troopers who've seen the good and the bad. Not Keanu Reeves, or a nine-day-wonder, but Henry Fonda, proven through thick and thin. The 90% skills are handy, though, in giving the players something to work towards. "Goal-setters", as it were. Peter: >I'd love to figure out Teleos except I know so little about it. You know as much as anyone, if you've read Gloranthan history and the Seas of Glorantha stuff. Basically: 1) it's shaped like Pac-Man. 2) before the Closing, bad pirates & a whole pirate kingdom were centered here. 3) after the Opening, 6 groups of multi-colored folks live here who hate one another, but give birth to each other's children. Were the pirates of old-time Teleos multi-colored? Unknown. In one conversation with Greg, he thought they "probably" were, for what that's worth. 4) it's jungly and reasonably tropical, due to the ocean currents. 5) there's dragonewts.