> Thanks so much for this Jorganas (Joerg?). I'll try and respond
> imaginatively once I've stopped dancing round the room.
Thank you very much, John, both for the lavish praise, and for provoking this combination of odd ideas I've been harbouring for a while. Yes, I plead guilty.
Frankly, I'm surprised at the reactions to this little piece. Good ideas aplenty.
Bryan Thexton:
> For these people, the darkness might never have ended.
Well, it became lighter after a while, but the conditions of the Greater Darkness certainly remained unchanged.
> "Once life was good, then the sun was eaten by
> (cultural bad guy), and it got colder. The ice closed in, but
> (cultural hero) found the lava vents, and showed us how to live
> near them. Eventually the ice covered the whole earth except the
> small area near the lava vents, and eventually it even roofed over
> us. Because we never lost faith, light returned, to help us live
> here. Here we preserve the world, in hopes that the cold times will
> leave eventually." In other words, they could think they are the
> only people in the world (but see * below). They could even be the
> remnants of mighty civilization from long ago, or maybe they were
> never more than hunters.
I'm still trying to puzzle out what kind of people would sit down there. I'm fairly certain that they are the survivors of a once great culture ground to dust below the Ice. There are bound to be some very few heirlooms from this time.
They may well think of themselves as the only humans left in a world of demons, with Uzhim and Hollri as neighbours. As far as they are concerned, the sky above them has frozen.
Great idea about the "things trapped in the ice". Reminds me of Heort and Ivarne as much as of Pandora's box. (Any similarities to the movie "Ice Age" are fairly welcome, too. Giant sloths down there?)
> Finally, even if there are some stunted trees (and there doesn't
> need to be any at all), your idea of no fire is cool. To reinforce
> that, perhaps sometimes some patches of air are flammable (in
> pseudo-scientific terms call it clouds of sulphur dust,
In less pseudo and more scientific terms, let's call it swamp gas, or methane. You don't smell it, it has no physiological danger other than being inert, and it will go boom whenever some idiot tries to use fire or generates sparks in the wrong place. Manifest divine anger...
> in magical terms call it some sort of spirit), so even if they
> can make fire, it is very dangerous because you never know when
> the very air around it will ignite (this probably happens over
> the lava beds sometimes too).
Sure. That's probably one of the major means of augury down there.
> I love the idea of this setting, I hope some of my ideas help to
> inspire you further!
Definitely. Keep them coming!
Stewart Stansfield proposed lava as a means of transportation. Probably not the standard method, but quite possible.
These people have liquid rock at their perusal for creating items. Just carve a somewhat oversized mold of what you want out of ice, and bring it into contact with the stuff. This might even work to create rock canoes (perhaps better catamarans).
Mostly, I see the lower parts of the cavern flooded with fast-flowing water and whirling drift-ice.
Philippe Sigaud suggested a glacier somewhere in the Caladraland chain, but I fear the climate there plus the excessive earth heat haven't left any sizeable glaciers there. There might be up among the Skyreach Mountains, though, or in the upper reaches of the Rockwoods.
The inhabitants surely have no idea where on Glorantha they are, or rather, where all the rest of Glorantha is.
Simon's proposal of the H. Rider Haggart theme is quite perfect to tie these people into the Hero Wars. Care to give more detail?
Cheers,
Joerg
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