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, Sat, 08 Oct 1994, part 3 Sender: Henk.Langeveld@Holland.Sun.COM Content-Return: Prohibited Precedence: junk --------------------- From: sandyp@idcube.idsoftware.com (Sandy Petersen) Subject: Re: RuneQuest Daily, Fri, 07 Oct 1994 Message-ID: <9410072021.AA05028@idcube.idsoftware.com> Date: 7 Oct 94 08:21:57 GMT X-RQ-ID: 6521 Nils: >Yelmalio armouring geases: >why do Humakti have the same stuff? To show off their courage, or to show that for every benefit, there must be a penalty. It's a completely different reason from the Yelmalion system. Peter Metcalfe is STILL not convinced that swamps are A-OK. >There are plenty of people who live in swamps and love it. >I'm not too sure about these examples exemplfying Swamps are good. Eat me. Are there ANY "real" swamps or marshes in all of England? As an inhabitant of a nation possessing same, and a frequent visitor to 'em, I hereby state that whatever weird view you have of swamps by watching movies or reading old Conan stories are false. >The Bayou folk obviously have the technology to mitigate the worst >of the swamps side effects such as mosquito netting. They've been living in the swamp for many many decades, and few of them actually use mosquito netting over their beds. Swamps are no more mosquito-laden than any jungle, and plenty of folk thrive in the jungle. >The others tribes as far as I am aware stick within the swamp >because it's their home turf and can easily defend it and are >acclimatized. This is a non-argument. The same can be said of the desert, of the mountains, of the arctic. This is not unique to the swamp. >How much competition would the swamp humans face from the goblins? None. They don't eat the same things, after all. They may be antagonistic or hostile at times, but the swamp humans live in specific enclaves, in which there are few or no goblins. In any case, I'm not talking about the swamp humans, but the neighboring Doraddi. I do not believe that the swamp dwellers are Doraddi-like in culture. >IMO, the swamp humans would have to compete with the goblins >IMO, a expedition could easily be transformed as a raid >IMO would transform the Doraddi perspective to something less >than flattering. Your opinions are mistaken, IMO. I humbly submit that you don't know what you're talking about re: marshes and swamps. The fishing is great. The hunting is great -- lots of fine edible birds -- ducks, geese, and swans. If you can stand eating muskrats and other aquatic rodents, that's fine, too. There's few predators dangerous to man -- maybe a few alligators or big snakes, but if you stay in a canoe not much can really hurt you. There are lots of edible plants in a swamp. Best of all, the marsh has a definite boundary -- a day's travel and you're back home on terra firma. Praise Pamalt for the blessing of the marshes. Okay. I've admittedly overstated the case to make my point. There _are_ goblins in the swamps, and some bad predators. Plus, people _do_ sometimes get swamp fever and die. But you can get killed back on the plains, too, and you _never_ get nice fat geese back there, or tasty alligator meat. Dave D. >Mike Dickison wonders about Esrolia. I imagine not only are they >matriarchal, but also matrilineal, which no doubt confuses and >annoys other Orlanthi. The "women rule" bit is probably in many ways >a stereotype -- I suspect men would still be in charge of armies, >for example. While the "women rule" bit of Esrolia may or not be a stereotype, I would expect to find women in command of their armies, but men forming the bulk of the armed forces. As John Keegan and others have pointed out, for basically unknown reasons (though _lots_ of theories are bruited about) it is exceedingly rare, with only the most trifling exceptions, for women to go to battle. Women make inspiring war leaders, are often excellent generals and officers (even on a small scale, as with ship captains and the like), incite their men to war, work hard on the home front to ensure that their men have the weapons and supplies they need, and even shame their husbands, childrens, and fathers into going to fight; BUT women don't engage in mass combat. [Side non-Gloranthan note: this does not seem to apply to individualized one-on-one combats, such as fighter pilots. I predict the future will see air force personnel moving closely to the 50-50 ratio, with the army and navy never ever reaching near it.] While Glorantha is not earth, and there are plenty of female warriors, I don't think, for instance, that the Sartar City Militia has anything _near_ 15% women among its ranks. The Lunar Empire probably has proportionally more women soldiers than any other large nation in Glorantha, because of their culture -- maybe _they_ have 15% women soldiers. Certainly they have entire units of women (the Hell Sisters being the most obvious, but not the only one). Anyway, my point was that I think that the nepotism and desire for control on the part of Esrolia's female leaders would ensure that most of the high military leaders would all be women, but few of the ordinary soldiers. I don't think that this is why their army is so incompetent, tho. I rather believe that the Esrolian army's inferiority stems from the elitism of its rulers -- all the generals were "born to the purple" as it were, and they are chosen on the basis of birth, political loyalty, and advantage, rather than competence. I also suspect that the regiments themselves are largely seen as bolstering one's factional prestige, so that they are carefully dressed in gold leaf, with fancy banners and awe-inspiring fancy (but not particularly effective) weapons. Asphalt soldiers, in essence. A drill team, not an army. Guy Hoyle >Sandy's got some ideas about Kralorelan magic (NOT sorcery), and >also about the East Isles. We're currently in Kralorela in his >campaign, and he's tantalized us with tidbits. Pester him so's >he'll post it here. David Cake: >Sandy, consider yourself pestered! Now see here. I consider it to be my PLAYERS' responsibility to post info about my campaign on the net, not mine. Especially because their true motive is just to get me to slip and reveal something in their futures. Pester Guy, not me. ---------------------