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, Fri, 16 Sep 1994, part 2
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---------------------
From: PMichaels@aol.com
Subject: Basmol story
Message-ID: <9409152331.tn1088687@aol.com>
Date: 16 Sep 94 03:31:40 GMT
X-RQ-ID: 6236
A few people have asked me (off the Daily) to post this. I know it's been on
before, but I get the impression that there are a fair number of folks who
are on now who haven't seen it. My apologies to those of you who have seen
it before.
Peace,
Peter
The Death of Basmol
(as told by a Basmoli woman of Prax)
In the beginning Basmol lived far away from here. He was the
child of his mother Mikyh, daughter of Yanmorla, and his father
Yelm, son of Cronisper. He was chosen to be chieftain of all
the animals in the world. After his father was killed, Basmol
kept the world alive by separating the weak and dying from the
strong and healthy. This was how Basmol fought the Bad Ones,
by killing those who could not be healed. This is who Basmol
was. The chieftain who kills the sick and weak to keep the
world strong.
Basmol heard a great cry from far away. It was Eiritha
Earth-daughter, the herd mother, who was crying "The Bad
Ones hurt me and I am dying! Please, come end my pain!"
Basmol knew that he must go and help her.
Eiritha was asking to die, and said, "You must be careful, for I
have many family members here. My sisters have failed to
heal me. My husband, brothers, and children will fight to keep
you from me. You must be careful, for there are many Bad Ones
here."
Basmol said "I do not fear," and he gathered up many of his
children and came here to this place, now called Prax. This is
who we were. The dutiful children who followed our father.
Orani Earthbrother was the first person to fight Basmol in
Prax. Basmol slew him at the place now called Orani's
Mistake*. Orani's mistake was in thinking that stopping
Basmol was a good thing. He was wrong. This is who Orani
was. The Earthbrother who made a bad mistake and was slain
by Basmol.
While Orani and Basmol fought, Tada Earthson had his people
bury Eiritha alive. Trapped beneath the earth, Eiritha was
unable to send her scents of blood and fear or her cries of pain
to Basmol. This is who Tada was. The Earthson who stopped
Basmol from keeping the world strong.
Stormbull Earth-husband was the second person to fight
Basmol in Prax. Basmol fought him in a great battle which
raged across the whole of Prax. Their anger was the equal to
one another, and neither could hurt the other. Basmol heard
the cries of Eiritha's children who could not find their mother.
Their souls walked the world in a bad way, and so Basmol left
the meaningless fight with Stormbull and went to end their
pain. Stormbull hid himself then, and used secret magic to
make a son in his wife's buried womb. This is who Stormbull
is. The Earth-husband who cared nothing for his wife's pain
and used bad magic on her.
Waha Butcher was the last person to fight Basmol in Prax.
Waha learned secrets from his father Stormbull and from the
Bad Spirit Mallia. Waha used Mallia's magic to weaken Basmol,
used Stormbull's magic to kill Basmol, and then used his own
magic to steal Basmol's magic. He used Basmol's magic to
learn the Peaceful Cut and to make the Covenant of the Eaters
and Eaten. This is who Waha is. The Butcher who killed
Basmol and stole his birthright.
The burial of Eiritha, the creation of Waha, and the killing of
Basmol, all these things helped to bring Ragnaglar Evil One
into the world. This is who we are now; the children of
Basmol who live on without our family. This is who we are
now; the children of Basmol who survive in the land of our
enemies. This is who we are now; the children of Basmol who
kill all those who brought the Evil One into the world.
_______________________
*The Praxian nomads say the area called Orani's Mistake got
it's name in this way: while fighting Basmol, Orani accepted
the lion-god's surrender and turned his back on him. Basmol
then leapt on Orani's back and broke his neck. Orani's mistake
was in trusting Basmol not to fight.
---------------------
From: ddunham@radiomail.net (David Dunham)
Subject: Sun Folk; Orlanthi
Message-ID: <199409160641.AA16792@radiomail.net>
Date: 16 Sep 94 06:41:28 GMT
X-RQ-ID: 6238
Alex tried to answer the question
>> If there is only one sun, then please explain why the Elmali do not get
>> Sunspear?
by stating
>If you're asking me this with my Sartarite Elmali hat on, I'd say something
>about how Yelm was a false sun god, and that his worshippers were all evil
>Illuminants who got their fire powers from chaos demons, or some such.
>Yelmalions would counter-explain that Elmal's a lame-no-hoper, who denies
>his Yelmic parentage (or simply doesn't have such), and hence is hosed,
>Sunspearwise.
I think the answer would be somewhat different. Elmal is from the Fire
Tribe, hence his association with the Sun. Of course, everyone knows
Orlanth had to kill the Evil Emperor, and then convinced him to do the
proper thing, travel through the sky aloofly leaving the lower world to
Orlanth and his kin, while Elmal loyally guarded the stead. But just as
there's more than one Wind god, there's more than one Fire god. There are
bad winds and (mostly) good winds. There are bad fire gods and (a few) good
ones. If having Sunspear makes you into an arrogant, pompous stuffed shirt,
then it's a good thing Elmal doesn't have it.
Joerg thinks that grain goddesses and land goddesses are different
entities; apparently Mr Baumgartner needs to take another look at the
Prospaedia: "Each region .. has its own special grain or land goddess." I
take the "or" not to mean they have one or they have the other, but that
you can call her one or call her the other. Also, the bold title above is
"queens of the land." They appear always to be both.
Paul Honigmann says
>The trouble with Storm Bull and Orlanthi characters - who seem to comprise
>the majority of PC's - is that they have to be extremists in a Gloranthan
>game. There's always something that has to be fought
Aside from pedantically taking this opportunity to point out that plurals
never use an apostrophe (PC's means "of the player character"), I don't
find this to be true. Agharl, my Orlanthi, is more concerned about running
a stead in Riskland. This mostly means trying to AVOID fighting, since
there are a lot more bad guys than there are of us. Agharl has found
support not in the cult, but from society -- our stead has helped the clan
chief, and we occasionally get some help back.
Orlanth is such an all-encompassing cult that I don't see it as extreme in
the slightest. Sure, extremists are members, but they're a minority.
---------------------
From: T.J.Minas@soton.ac.uk (T.J.Minas)
Subject: Pavic teleportation.. or.. Things that aren't where they were!
Message-ID: <199409151329.OAA04328@willow.soton.ac.uk>
Date: 15 Sep 94 15:29:14 GMT
X-RQ-ID: 6226
Greetings all! (or "Ho! Brother Death! as the Humakti might say!)
A few topics this time around, in no especial order:-
Hyena/Trickster etc
===================
I don't think Hyena is the Praxian Trickster, my reading of
Nomad Gods implies that Genert _CREATED_ Hyena specifically to
eat him and save him from being consumed by Chaos.
Incidentally, from a private source I have (An unpublished
version of Praxpak) the following paragraph appears under the entry
in the bestairy for Hyena:
"Hyenas are a famous aspect of the desert. They can make the
night hideous with their humourless laughing call. All the tribes
of Prax keep outriders working all night to protect their herds,
partly to prevent herd-thieves from the other tribes, but primarily
to ward off Hyenas."
Thus it would seem that Hyenas are hunters and rather vicious
rather than Trickster like so much.
Truestones
==========
First up: Casting your spells into a blank truestone and
losing them forever? I don't think so. See CoP, p64, Biturian casts
"all of [his] Rune Power for a week and all of [his] Power for
a day." Later, he regains his Path Watch spell (that he had put
into the stone) obviously after the Questing CA priestess had cast
it.
So, what happens when you cast your spells into a Truestone?
They go into the stone, you lose the use of them until they are
cast from the stone, when you may go and pray to regain them.
Effectively, whilst in the stone, the spells are "in use", and
you may NEVER regain any spell that is still "in use" (Thus if
you have cast Warding on an area, you can't go and regain the use
of that Warding spell whilst it is still in effect).
Remember, you cannot (as I understand it) just cast _SOME_
of your Runespells into a truestone, (Unless you are immensely
powerful in terms of Willpower) but instead, cast ALL your divine
magic into the stone, strike rank by strike rank, until you have
cast all your spells. Probably this only applies if you actually
touch the stone with bare fingers/skin, or maybe try attuning to
it etc.
Second point. Biturian casts "all [his] Power for a day" into
a truestone. IE puts all his MP into it. Do blank Truestones
therefore act as MP storage crystals, with a capacity set by how
many MP are put into them in the first place?
Third point. Truestone is (as someone said) part of the Block,
ie the Spike, ie Law incarnate. Can't see ANY Chaotic being even
being able to handle it, it probably burns them (much as Iron does
Uz and Aldyami). Also, if you recall, any piece of Truestone
ignores all Magical protection on the target (Shield, Countermagic
etc) and whomps straight through to hurt him. It IS rather more
useful than a Divine Matrix, as well as a lot more prestigious,
if you ask me.
A Fourth Point. If I, as an Orlanthi, find a Truestone on
a Lunar corpse (whom I have just made so!), and discover that it
has an Excommunication spell therein, can I use this spell to
excommunicate Lunars or Orlanthi? If the former, oh, what jollity,
look out Mr Lunar! (Hey Sor-Eel, can you be Governor if you aren't
an initiate?) If the latter, you mean that I have just used the
Divine power of the Red Goddess to Excommunicate an Orlanthi???!!!
Hmmm!!!!!!
Six Stones Heroquest
====================
David Cowling requested info on this and Alebard's Quest.
All are mentioned in Wyrm's Footnotes writeups. I believe that
the Six Stones Ritual is a 1pt Ceremony spell (In RQ3 terms) that
translates you to the banks of the River Styx in the Underworld.
Can't recall any other details without digging out my WF's from
the bottom of the box that they lie in.
Bless Crops
===========
(Not AGAIN, everyone says) Just a comment. If you seem to
need Bless Crops to grow stuff in Genertela, how come the Malkioni
haven't starved yet after 1620 years without Bless Crops?
Troll Humakti
=============
Simon Hibbs enquired about these guys and what Humakt was
doing in the Underworld to find Death.
Well, as I recall, the reason that the Sazdorf clan have a
bunch of Humakti Trolls (The Day Watch, almost sounds like a
soap opera series!) is that the Zorak Zoran trolls in the clan
challenged a group of Human Humakti who were visiting and lost!
(It's in Wyrm's Footnotes again, in the "Saga of the Temple of
the wooden Sword" I think) As a result, the trolls, always
appreciating strength, opted to worship Humakt rather than ZZ.
As for Humakt wanderiong in the depths of Subere's darkness,
remember, at the time, he was one of the rebellious Storm Gods,
always sticking their noses (and other things!) where they weren't
especially welcomed or wanted!
Yelornans
=========
A few comments on the long selection of Yelornan things to
do:-
The Unicorn Tribe has a considerable number of Yelornan
worshippers, and most of them turn up in Pavis (well the Rubble)
for the High Holy Day ceremony each year. Get to know them.
Lunar friendly suggestions. I doubt it. In Pavis, the
Yelornans bash Lunar silver coins into lumps of silver, then re
stamp them as "Stars", their own silver coins! The Lunars do not,
unsurprisingly, appreciate this!
As for the theory "you've got a good excuse to be out at
night" try that one on the Night Watch in Pavis afetr Curfew and
see where it gets you! So much for the "I'll be the thieves
lookout" role! And I don'ty think you'll find many Light cultists
wanting very much to with thieves anyway!
They are friendly to Elves, CA and Yelmalio, though, also
Humakt to some extent. The ideas on a "sisterhood" I think are
reasonable too. In fact, given that Unicorn riders have to be
celibate, I suspect that a number of them are Lesbians. (Actually,
this is probably more a case of "they are lesbians because of their
stuation" rather than anything else. The unicorn tribe is all
female, so I would expect many of the young girls growing up there
to see lesbian relationships as the normal thing, and to downplay
the Yelm patriachal model)
Incidentally, that comment probably applies to Babeestor Gor
too. Of whom I think there are none in Prax. The Paps has its own
unique Guardians (Serpent headed women, or women headed serpents,
i can't recall which!)
I can't realistially see them admiring Troll society. After
all, most humans don't know that Trolls are ruled by women, and
assume (once they see all those ZZ Death Lords and KL Kaarg's
Sons) that it is a patriachal society like most human ones.
The point about not trying to make too many enemies is a good
one though. Your cult is small and not very powerful, has few real
friends, and is always vulnerable. If people really want me to,
I'll dig out the old RQ" Yelorna writeup, and update it to the
Daily.
Ygg's Isles Humakti
===================
These certainly exist, see G:CotHW. The Ygg's Isles character
generation section says that they worship the Orlanth pantheon.
Thus, I think the idea of "Valkyrie" like Sword maidens swooping
down to collect the fallen Humakti to the Einherjar stands.
Pavic teleportation
===================
No, this is not some strange new Rune spell! What it is,
however, is a comment based on looking at the Nomad Gods map again
and reading certain passages in RoC. On the NG map, the city of
New Pavis (2 hexes!) is SOUTH of the Zola Fel and WEST of the
Rubble. In RoC/Pavis etc, it is NORTH of the Zola Fel and EAST
of the Rubble! What gives? See also p16 RoC, where it states "They
[the nomads] lost many rights because of the fight, for they no
longer have a member upon the council, nor may they ever camp on
the SOUTH (My capitals) of the river within 30 km of Pavis." Why
the limit on camping on the south of the river if the city is to
the north? There was no bridge next to New Pavis until the Lunars
built it, so that wasn't a worry. AND the nomad camp is, in fact,
just opposite New Pavis, on the south side of the river, in all
the maps etc. Surely this reference would make sense if New pavis
was on the south side of the river. As it is, banning them from
the north side of the river would make a lot more sense! And please
don't say it's an old historical thing, the nomad plot that lost
them all these rights was in 1572!
On a related note, in NG, the Sun Dome Temple is also north
and east of the Zola Fel!
And does anyone have any idea about those mountains in North
pent, shown on the Genertela map, that aren't actually there!??
Pol Joni
========
According to the G:CotHW books, the Pol Joni number about
Five thousand. This makes them smaller than the independent tribes
(I would say) yet they manage 6 counters (and 3 magicians!) in
WB&RM/DP to the independents 1 counter each in NG. And my private
copy of Praxpak implies that there are more like FIFTY thousand.
Anybody out there have any answers on this one?
Also, the G:CotHW Wastelands chart ignores the population
of the Rubble, and of Sun County, as well as grossly
underestimating the numbers of the Pol Joni and the independents
etc. As there seems to be reasonable interest in Praxian matters,
what say we revise that chart and produce a new set of figures
for the Wastelands?
Whew! I'm finally done!
Tim Minas saying "May your Sword never lose its edge"