Bell Digest v940918p1

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To: RuneQuest@Glorantha.Holland.Sun.COM (Daily automated RQ-Digest)
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Subject: RuneQuest Daily, Sun, 18 Sep 1994, part 1
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X-RQ-ID: Intro

This is the RuneQuest Daily Bulletin, a mailing list on
the subjects of Avalon Hill's RPG and Greg Stafford's 
world of Glorantha.  It is sent out once per day in digest
format.

More details on the RuneQuest Daily and Digest can be found
after the last message in this digest.

X-RQ-ID: index

6256:  = 
 - Truestone and Excommunication
6257:  = 
 - Kill an aldryami and die a hero!
6258:  = 
 - Moon Spear
6259:  = 
 - Many-faced Lodril
6260:  = 
 - Pol Joni and Storm Mountain Orlanthi
6261:  = 
 - Gustbran

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From: taz@cix.compulink.co.uk (Tarry Higgins)
Subject: Truestone and Excommunication
Message-ID: 
Date: 17 Sep 94 10:37:27 GMT
X-RQ-ID: 6256

In-Reply-To: <9409160716.AA28017@glorantha.Holland.Sun.COM>
T.J.Minas@soton.ac.uk (T.J.Minas)
makes some interesting points about casting excommunication from 
truestone, it's an interesting idea indeed, but I donlt think it's workable.  I 
know that truestone fills a person with a need to cast rune magics into it 
strike rank by strike rank, but isn't Exommunication a ritual that takes at 
least 1hour to cast?  I don't think that rituals can be cast into truestones 
because of this.  

In addition although the name of the spell in the books is 
"Excommunication" it really should be "Excommunicate Orlanthi" or 
Excommunicate Humakti".  

On the whole though the way that Sandy looks at truestones makes 
them little more than divine magic matricese, crystals seem more 
interesting and strange.  I think that they should be more than just this, 
in every game I have played truestone has been rarer than crystals by 
far, and it's qualities should reflect this.  Each piece of truestone should 
be completly unique.  It's far more fun this way rather than finding 
"standard" boring truestone.

IMO Truestone is inherently magical in and of itsself, and it should be 
possible to do things to a blank piece of truestone to set it into various 
ways by modifying or using ths normal rituals.  This would normally 
require all participants to make their ceremony rolls and such like 
otherwise things might go VERY strangly wrong - so only the best 
priests would be participate in this.  (And of course should someone 
fumble then naturally something will go very badly wrong for all of 
them, and again should someone critical then it might just be a little bit 
better than they expected)

The sorts of things that should be possible :
Storage of a large ammount of magic points as many as can be got into it 
while it was being set, ideal for a priests to be used as the temple alter 
stone with the priests and spirits all standing round.
Similar to the above, but capable of recharging itsself - mayby by having 
the people donate MP rather than POW instead at creation time or 
possible a mix of both, so it has a max of 50 (MP donated by say 5 
casters) with a recharge rate of 5 per day (each caster donated 1POW)
Mayby it could be a divine matrix that recharges itsself at one point a 
day (or week or season) - recharging all the 1 point spells first then the 2 
point ones etc - or possible it will recharge if just by being left in an 
active temple.  
How about allowing it to enhance the effects of certain divine spells - 
just as Power Enhancing crystal does - but this being set for specific 
rune spells.


Regards,
Taz Higgins

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From: CHEN190@csc.canterbury.ac.nz (Peter Metcalfe, CAPE Canty)
Subject: Kill an aldryami and die a hero!
Message-ID: <01HH8HPS87K2FGZDD5@csc.canterbury.ac.nz>
Date: 18 Sep 94 10:51:53 GMT
X-RQ-ID: 6257

-----------
Martin Crim

>I was trying to figure out what the Aldryami call their sun god,
>as it seems likely that they have their own name whether it's
>really old what's-his-name or not that they worship.  But the
>list of Aldryami names in Elder Secrets has a Sunshine (Lowin)
>and a Sun Follower (Seomale) that seem to have no linguistic
>connection.  

I, the Blue Wizard, have investigated the speech of the Aldryami 
and have concluded it is much more than sounds alone.  It has been 
well known that Aldryami have some wierd touchsense that allows 
them to sense the emotional capacity of that which they touch.  I 
must say that I have accepted a commision by the lords of Fonrit 
to produce a 'phantom elfsense' spell to clear the forests.  
However, I feel that the elves also have some capacity to sense the 
emotion in the speech.

Consider the facts.  Elves do not like to hear other people speak 
their language and speak other tongues in the presence of other 
beings.  Furthermore in some places they delegate the task of 
speaking to outsiders to a speaker cf Speaker to the Small Red 
Rivers in the Jungle, Speaker to the Beast Men in Seshnela and 
Speaker to Those for Whom the Love has Gone.  The last is an elvish 
warleader who has come into prominence against the fight against 
Fonrit.  

It is my belief that when other speak, they give a different emotion 
to their words than that for which the Aldryami are accustomed.  When
saying love, the human might give an emotional subtext of happiness 
and this confuses the aldryami deeply.  The most experienced of them 
translate any aldryami being spoken by an outsider into another 
language and respond in kind.  Some are incapable of performing this
mental trick and slowly go insane after prolonged contact with the
outside.

The warriors of Fonrit discovered this truth in the Eight Season 
Wars and so I am told make use of Aldryami in their war crys as a 
means to damage the mind of their opponents.  Sample cries, I am told, 
include 'Blossoms Abound!', 'Rising Shoots!' and 'Dancing leaves!'.  
This has been adopted to such an extent that the marching song of the 
Gargunan army is 'Greensleeves is my heart's desire...' whereas the 
Goanese sing 'Green grows the grass...'

As for the deciphering of the Aldryami tongue, I can only conclude 
that as well as accents, the elves of different woods have a 
preference for using particular woods.  Heartwood is 'Penacyr' for 
the Greens and 'Cenor' for the Browns.

If people are willing, I will describe the writing of the Aldryami 
in a future post.

--Peter Metcalfe

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From: 100270.337@compuserve.com (Nick Brooke)
Subject: Moon Spear
Message-ID: <940917125558_100270.337_BHL41-1@CompuServe.COM>
Date: 17 Sep 94 12:55:59 GMT
X-RQ-ID: 6258

______
Devin:

> While eagerly reading my TOTRM 12, I noticed in the Granite Phalanx
> writeup that certain officers can get the spell of MoonSpear from their
> Lunar connection. Pray tell kind sirs and ladies....what doth this spell
> do?

Chris Gidlow (who wasn't credited for this fine write-up: black marks for 
the Megacorp!) hasn't written a description yet. I'd run it as an exact 
parallel of Sunspear; if the Moon is shining upon the intended target, he 
gets whacked on the head by a dangerous (meteor, moonbeam, whatever) and 
takes loads of damage (physical or mental), enough to incapacitate or kill 
most normal folk. A 3-point reusable prestigious Rune spell.

*later*

I've just phoned Chris, and he thinks it's a crimson ray zapping out from 
the officer's spear to microwave the brain of the intended target, and not 
something coming from the Moon itself. Moonlight may be needed for it to 
work; or damage could vary on a cyclical basis. We chatted a bit about its 
effects, and came up with something like this:

___________
MOON SPEAR: 3 points, ranged, instant, nonstackable, reusable.

A ray of moonlight is projected from the caster's spear to blast the brains 
of one target. Without needing to overcome magic points, the target takes 
4D6 points of damage to the head. Armour worn on that location will protect 
against this damage as usual; spells are ineffective.

GM Options: use whatever you prefer from:

(1)	The [target and/or caster] must be illuminated by moonlight: the
	spell cannot be cast on the Dying or Black Moon days, or if cloud
	cover blocks the moonlight (this is Nick's version, not Chris's).

(2)	The damage done by the spell is cyclical:

		Full Moon		5D6
		Half Moon		4D6
		Crescent Moon		3D6
		Dark Moon		2D6

	(Just discussed with David Hall: he likes this)

(3)	The meaning of "spells are ineffective" is exactly the same as 
for
	Sunspear, whatever it meant back there. I remember Sandy helping
	us out with this, many moons ago.

It's not quite as gross as it looks: consider. A sufficiently prominent 
target for this spell ought by rights to have a plate helm; under RQ3, 
that's nine point head armour. 4D6 damage averages 14; take off nine AP 
defence, and you've got a mere 5-point head-wound. Treat the spell with 
exactly as much respect as you give Sever Spirit or Sunspear, and it's 
probably safely balanced. And, Sartarite commanders beware: don't take off 
your helmets on the battlefield! (Anyone remember 'Scanners'?)

__________
Truestone:

I agree with Jonas about Ceremonies and Rituals not being "storable" -- the 
caster would have to perform the ritual correctly himself, using the power 
of the stored spell instead of his own.

I'd like better rules for "refilling" both Divine matrices and Truestones, 
but that can wait a while.

Personally, I like thinking of the problems caused when the guy who fills a 
Truestone can't regain his spell until the one he's stored is cast. Fun for 
GMs... reminds me of those life-candles in folk-tales. But then, I've never 
used or seen a Truestone in play, so I'll defer to those who have.

====
Nick
====

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From: niwe@ppvku.ericsson.se (Nils Weinander)
Subject: Many-faced Lodril
Message-ID: <9409171611.AA03926@ppvku.ericsson.se>
Date: 17 Sep 94 20:11:04 GMT
X-RQ-ID: 6259

Peter Metcalfe writes:

> Lodril indead has a good many modes of worship
...
> All these are correct ways to worship Lodril.

Exactly! Lodril has the Disorder rune, so he should be worshipped
in many ways. My guess is that each temple has its own practices,
which vary greatly over time.

/Nils W

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From: ddunham@radiomail.net (David Dunham)
Subject: Gustbran
Message-ID: <199409180018.AA18282@radiomail.net>
Date: 18 Sep 94 00:18:16 GMT
X-RQ-ID: 6261

Mark Foster wonders:
>Does anyone have anything written up on Gustbran the Smith?

From my Ralios PenDragon Pass game:

GUSTBRAN        [heat, stasis]
God of the Forge

Worshippers: Smiths.
Skills: Awareness, Devise, Industry, Mineral Lore, Religion (Gustbran), Ritual.
Duties: Forging tools and weapons.
Virtues: Energetic, Generous, Honest, Proud, Trusting.
Cult Magic: Bludgeon, Endurance, Extinguish, Heat Metal, Ignite, Repair.
Divine Magic: all common, Enchant Bronze, Enchant Iron, Enhance Gustbran,
Find Bronze.
Miscellaneous: Shrines are very rare.

(Although almost all clan thanes support a smith, there's no way for enough
smiths and apprentices to gather to support a shrine by the temple size
rules.)


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From: joe@sartar.toppoint.de (Joerg Baumgartner)
Subject: Pol Joni and Storm Mountain Orlanthi
Message-ID: 
Date: 17 Sep 94 23:25:01 GMT
X-RQ-ID: 6260

Martin Crim in X-RQ-ID: 6254

> Re: Tim Minas's comments on Praxian census
> The figures in G:CHW are pre-Jaxarte (yeah, that's the ticket). 
> However, I accept the 5,000 figure for the Pol Joni and reject
> the Nomad Gods 6 counters, on the principal that later
> publications trump earlier ones.

In Dragon Pass the Pol Joni have 3 Clans counter (5-5-4-X), corresponding 
to maybe 1500 men. These could make up to 20% of their populace, so their 
actual number might be 7500 rather than 5000.

The rest of the Barbarian Horde are at least partly horse riders, too 
(they are subject to Ironhoof's exotic power), even the shamans. 
They consist of 2 Amber clan units and one each of the Potor Clan 
and the Ansil Clan, plus the magician forces of Flash Jak, And-Jay 
and Krise, with ca 500 men per counter another 3500 men of the 
bastard tribes. (I suppose that the shaman units' fighters will be 
comprised of the minor bastard clans beside the Pol Joni, Amber, 
Potor and Ansil.)

Assuming the 20% ratio Nick applied to the Char-un, there will be other 
cattle bastards besides the Pol Joni, numbering 17,500 or so, to a 
total of 25,000 cattle bastards.

These numbers might actually be a bit high for the non-Pol Joni clans, 
who might be supplemented with Storm Bulls from the Block and other 
mercenary adventurer types from the plains who have less qualms to 
ride alongside horses. All of these would live in the Better Place, 
the hilly parts of the Good Place, and of course No Man's March 
around Barbarian Town. Some might serve as auxilia under some 
Hendriki marcher barons around Knight Fort.

The possibly existing cattle bastards from the upper Zola Fel and 
the more fertile Bison Plains around Adari IMO are accounted for 
in Argrath's secret societies forming the Twin Spears, Swordbrothers 
and Bullocks. They too are subject to Ironhoof's powers, but 
they also are formed from Praxian nomads. I suspect they have 
very mixed beasts - bisons, sables, high llamas and possibly 
even impalas alongside with zebras and horses. Apart from 
these secret societies, only the Storm Bulls from the Block 
can show a similar mix of mounts - possibly sans horses, but 
include rhinos.

(BTW: Are there Morokanth Storm Bulls? What gear do they use, and 
do they mix with other Storm Bulls? Do the Pol Joni Storm Bulls 
worship at the block, or do they dominate the Stormwalk Mountain 
altar?)

Another possible source of men for the Pol Joni and other cattle 
bastards are the feral Orlanthi of the Storm Mountains. These are 
a hardy collection of pastoral farmers living in the high valleys 
amid the peaks of the mountains, mostly on isolated steads similar 
to the Norwegian boender in the isolated places. Read the Old English 
Orosius (well, a translation) about Ottar (German speakers have this 
in Free INT 7, plug plug). These guys plow only very little land, 
their mainstay is their cattle. They harvest large amounts of hay 
where possible, and bring in brush and bush foliage to augment their 
winter food. Apart from that, they hunt the capricorns and wild sheep 
of the higher reaches, and occasionally foray either into the forests 
on the Heortland side of the mountains (also to get timber and firewood 
which can be traded with good profit to the nomads at Barbarian Town) 
or to participate in the hunt when the migration of the plains beasts 
brings them close to their abodes - these latter forays are often joint 
ventures with the plains-dwelling cattle herders.

The mountain Orlanthi and the cattle bastards engage in mutual cattle 
raiding as much as any Praxian nomads or East Ralian tribesmen, even 
though their cattle isn't very suited for life in the foreign clans. 
Mountain cattle is reminiscent of the highland breed of scotland, though 
smaller in size (shoulder height of prize bulls rarely exceeds 1.30 
metres), with woolly fur. They are quite good milk cattle, although far 
from effective compared to the common Heortlander breed.

The plains cattle herders favour a breed similar to the Texan longhorn 
so familiar (even to Old Worlders) from ages of TV-Western series. Their 
milk efficiency is quite low, but still comparable to that of other 
Praxian herd beasts.

I'm not sure what kind of horses the Pol Joni and other cattle bastards 
use. I think that part of the breeding stock was raided from the 
Grazelanders in Derik Pol Joni's youth, and traded from Tarshite 
breeders when the Pol Joni offered protection from the incessant 
Praxian raids. The cattle bastards policy to allow disgruntled exiles 
from other Praxian tribes into their ranks seems to indicate that they 
have horse herds with sufficient numbers of spare mounts. This would also 
allow them to include mountain Orlanthi volunteers in the Barbarian Horde.

Of all the cattle bastards, only the Pol Joni have sworn allegiance to 
the royal house of Sartar and have a part in the Swenstown alliance. 
This has made them more territorial than the rest of the cattle bastards, 
although still not sedentary.


The most puzzling fact about the Barbarian Horde is their adoption of 
Jaldon Goldentooth aka Toothmaker. Derik and Jaldon were foes, and 
when Derik slew Jaldon he almost died himself. Is their story a parallel 
to that of Pavis and Waha, where Pavis made peace by visiting Waha's 
altar and restoring his health? Or is this alliance only based on the 
fact that the Pol Joni control access to Jaldon's Rest?


> I propose the following:

> Who                 Description              How Many
> Agimori             Pamaltelans               3,000
> Basmoli Berserkers  mercenaries               2,800
> Bolo Lizard Riders  odd Praxians              3,400
> Ostrich Riders      boomerangers              2,400
> Rhino Riders        big berserkers            2,900
> Unicorn Riders      amazons                   3,250
> Zebra Riders        friends of Pavis          3,850

> Total Independents                           25,000

You have the Newtlings below, but not the Baboons. In NG they have 
one clans counter and one shaman. Assuming approximately 20% fighters, 
their number could be in the 4000 range.

> Oasis People: downtrodden farmers
> where               How Many
> Adari                 200 [+100 others]

According to Tales 3, the populace of Adari is 300 to 600 humans _inside
the palisade_. No mention of oasis folk or farming is made, but refugees 
from the fall of Pavis to Gerak Kag are mentioned. IMO oasis people are 
rare this far north; their Golden Age civilisation was further south. 
Tada's Tumulus could be similar in position to that of Antioch, far from 
any city of his.

The rest of your numbers are useful, and appreciated.

-- 
--  Joerg Baumgartner   joe@sartar.toppoint.de

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