Not sure I'm following you here; that unusual how? Surely these days Rex (or Dar) tribal rites are usual, Vingkoti is un-? The gist of this then is that Vingkot supplies the kingship rites, but no other public or common worship/magic?
Can I suggest that this is at least less explicit in the cases of the "other" Volsaxar tribes, and at the federation level? (Assuming I'm correct in my understanding that the "High King of" is a new/revived thing.)
> > If these rites
> > are now as they've been as they've been for millennia, then it rather
> > undercuts anything by way of "surprise value" it'd have for the
> lunars,
> > which is supposed to be a (possible) campaign theme, isn't it? (Or I
> > saw this suggestion in some I-I source at one point, I'm sure.) Not
> > that it has to be the kingship aspects as such that as being revived,
> > but it'd fit a (possible) general pattern.
>
> If possible, I'd like to avoid a general "Vingkot revivalism" before the
> siege - let that be a surprise that is realized during the siege.
> Besides, isn't the Hendreik angle already a "surprise weapon"? Or the
> desperate and dangerous heroquests? Or the secret escape to Ice Refuge?
> Or getting the Lunars to have to fight daimons, long-gone heroes, and
> maybe even a limited aspect of Orlanth while the living defenders had
> already escaped? I know Greg is in a "let's have a shocking new
> surprise that throws everybody for a loop" mode in his writing, but come
> on!
Well, I'm not thinking so buch "bigger and whackier surprises", as just established that the V. thing _is_ vaguely surrprising. (I suppose its not as if the Lunars have a perfect take on the local mythic landscape, especially in Volsaxar where they've only just turned up.)
> Besides, as far as I know, the Volsaxi are the only proper Vingkot tribe
> that players are likely to encounter. Tarsh and the Kerofini are
> Alakoringites. The Sartarite tribes are Heortlings. We should have at
> least one big Vingkot tribe somewhere in Dragon Pass. :)
Point taken. (Is it in DP though? I guess it's on the G:G map page at any rate... <g>)
> > I suppose Vingkot is indeed the man for the job; the CB has
> celestial
> > connotations on the one hand (being lunar red), and darkness on the
> > other (what with being a bat, and all). So V. has the very tools,
> > double-fistedly, even.
>
> How's that for a surprise? Maybe this is why Broyan starts worshipping
> Vingkot directly as a god and not as an aspect of Orlanth - maybe he has
> to be (incarnate/heroform/act as - we'll figure this out) Vingkot in a
> more substantial way for the heroquest to work.
Makes sense to me. In fact, yes definitely: being a good mini-maxer, he realizes he needs all three aspects, but can't afford to be nickled and dimed to death by all those extra 10% and 20%s...
> > I suppose ideally, one might try to cast the whole battle as a
> > progression of mythic Vingkot foes, perhaps even encompassing the
> whole
> > progression of foes (imperial, darkness, chaos), and associated
> mythic
> > ages. Which isn't to be very helpful about details, I know...
>
> Actually it is helpful - we have the Orlanthi perform the Summons of
> Evil which brings in the *right* opponents for Broyan and company to
> start the process of mythic identification. They work their way up -
> with folk identifying as various Orlanthi gods and heroes (and the Dara
> Happans helpfully complying), until the right moment comes for Broyan to
> be Vingkot and defeat the Bat with his companions.
There you go. No need for multiple HQs -- just have one Summons of Evil with objective, "All the evil, in the right order, please". ;-)
> Then when Tatius takes over, he exploits the identification of the
> Whitewall defenders as the Storm Tribe - or something like this. We get
> another escalation and another until, until the defenders realize that
> Tatius is setting them up for a very *big* fall.
Any sufficiently large number of Shargashi is indistinguishable from being Completely Buggered, I should think.
Cheers,
Alex.
Powered by hypermail