RE: The thing with goats

From: Matthew Cole <matthew.cole_at_BzCLQoNKDGVvIioSjWL7NmPVQJVqO1s_yxE3LtfNgVoInxt_tyuvkTPMFHaDR1G>
Date: Fri, 10 Apr 2009 11:34:52 +0100

Hi Richard

Recently, I've been doing a lot of research into broo, Thed and the darker side of all that goes with them.

A couple of things might help you:

• Broo, believe it or not, actually herd goats themselves. (ref: Shadows on the Borderlands. "What Do You Want? Shut Up!" A Personal View of Broo Culture, now on: http://www.glorantha.com/library/dad/broo.html find the "What is my lot in life?" section)
• You said broo 'tend' to look 'like' the creature they are born from. Many still look like goat-kind even when their 'mothers' are not goats; these same goat-looking broo also look like their 'mother' at the same time.
  (ref: Anaxial's Roster (Issaries Inc, 2000): Broo (goatkin) are humanoid,
  but have many animal features, especially those that derive from their mother. Ragnaglar, the broo ancestor, was goat-shaped)

(following are some thoughts that are not a direct response to your
question...)

On the second point, I think it's a mistake to always portray broo as 'goat man with head of parent'. So other physical attributes from the parent could be used on the basic broo template to arrive at something that fuels your story. For instance, last night one of my players highlighted that his hero had 'hate cats' as an ability; I had already planned shadowcat broo for this part of the scenario so it was easy for me to bring them into the next encounter. My point is that they operated on all fours, had grey mottled fur and moved silently to ambush that hero. They did have the trademark broo horns but, whilst it didn't come into the story, I think I'd have had them with shadowcat paws, at least on their hind legs.

LOL! I just found this picture on the www: http://www.websophist.com/GoatBoy.jpg

Also my feeling for how they 'make' more broo isn't limited by the size of the 'victim'. So, I can envision frog broo, bat broo and even insect broo. As an intelligent race I think there could be individuals enterprising enough to put their seed into almost anything, even if this means not using the most popular method.

My central thrust here is to say that: rather than use cardboard cut-out broo (and in my opinion relegate them to a similar status as [cough] D&D monsters), I think it's important to show how they are affected by the chaos they embraced back in the day.

Have you read Ron Edwards' article on Daedalus called "Redeeming Thed"? http://www.chimera.info/daedalus/articles/fall2003/redeeming_thed.html

I mention it here because the research done for that article clearly shows the origins of broo and explains their shape and form.

Is there something for your game you want to decide on the basis of the answers to your question?

Cheers and Happy Easter everyone!

Matthew

-----Original Message-----
From: WorldofGlorantha_at_yahoogroups.com [mailto:WorldofGlorantha_at_yahoogroups.com] On Behalf Of Richard Crawley Sent: 10 April 2009 09:43
To: WorldofGlorantha_at_yahoogroups.com
Subject: The thing with goats

Broo tend to look like the creatures they are born from.

Most Broo look like goats (RQ2 gives "Goatkin" as an alternative name)

Most Sartarite tribes tend to shy away from goats because of the Broo associations. To the extent that the Balkoth are forced by the Lunars to keep goats as a punishment (HiG2).

Dara Happans don't eat goat meat (DHS) because of the Broo associations.

So where are all these effing goat-like Broo coming from? Is there a massive population of wild goats right across Genertela that forms a Broo breeding reservoir? Is so why doesn't some enterprising Storm Bull / Urox / other chaos-hating cult Hero get out there and preach caprine genocide?

Richard