On 10/02/2013, at 9:07 AM, michaelL <michaelalewis25_at_...> wrote:
>
> I'm starting my first Glorantha campaign in 2 weeks. I have a player who was thinking of a spirit as a patron.
Yep, makes perfect sense. Spirits as patrons are, IMO, a good way to represent a typical aspect of spirit interaction.
> I'm using Griffin Mountain as a starting play and GURPS Ice Age for use as background of nomadic stone age technology.
>
> Are spirits just people and animals with no bodies who have been dead for a long time?
Some are. Many aren't. Some spirits are from the sky, some are from below the ground, some are spirits of places, or diseases, or mysterious beings from hidden places, or broken pieces of gods, or all sorts of other things. But a given tradition deals mostly with a particular set of spirits, a set that they know well and have friendly . The Balazaring shamans mostly deal with their ancestors, plus animal spirits, especially dogs. Remember, though, the role of a shaman is to deal with neutral and unfriendly spirits as well as friendly ones. The spirits that are friendly to the traditions are not the only ones the tradition knows how to deal with, and shamans often go on to learn obscure knowledge to deal with spirits from hostile traditions etc as well. The Foundchild cult, for example, probably has ways (similar to the Odayla cult in the Sartar Companion) of capturing the spirits of prey animals. There are animals that see humans as prey, such as sabre tooth cats - and there are spirits for those animals, as well. The shamans will have techniques for dealing with disease spirits, hostile ghosts, and other dangerous spiritual beings. And then there are horrors like Granny Keeneye to deal with.
> What's it like to talk to an animal spirit? I assume some of them are intelligent, otherwise it would be pointless.
Most of them are like animals. They can communicate, but they don't have much to say that isn't about animal stuff, and they are about as smart as animals. They definitely have priorities, and an understanding of the world, that is different to a human one, though there will be some points of established connection.
But some are intelligent, and have plenty to say. Some will have long established relationships with shamans of that tradition.
Cheers
David
Powered by hypermail