Re: Praxian tribal campaign

From: Peter Metcalfe <metcalph_at_...>
Date: Thu, 21 Mar 2013 17:23:17 +1300


On 3/21/2013 10:31 AM, jorganos wrote:
> Peter Metcalfe <metcalph_at_...> wrote:
>
>> Heort, Hrestol and Ezkankekko as cultural founders? I don't think so.
>> They revived nations that were already developed in the Storm Age as
>> opposed to Waha who is on the record as inventing practically
>> everything. Also Waha is a two-rune deity whereas Heort and Ezkankekko are mere heroes.
> "We invoke Heort, Hant, and Hara." The Heort/Hantrafal combo is at the heart of all theist worship of the Orlanthi.

There's far more to culture than theistic worship. Secondly Heort was not involved in the creation of Orlanthi worship but was persuaded to do so by Rikaldur Graybeard, *not* Hantrafal.

> That's as radical a deviation from the demigod sacrificial practice of the Vingkotlings as is the covenant of the Eaters and the Eaten. Plus Heort separated the living from the death (which was done by Daka Fal rather than Waha on the Praxian side).

"Demigod sacrificial practices"? Please don't try and shoot me down with your personal theories. According to the Book of Heortling Mythology, Hantrafal was a Vingkotling, *not* a contemporary of Heort. His father was Orlanth and he served on Vingkot's Ring. Likewise Heort did not seperate the Living from the Dead. I won't bother to rebut the rest of your highly debatable assertions about Heort because, even if true, they don't make him a cultural founder.

> Ezkankekko gets one rune, Kimantor gets another.

You are confusing between the unique runes of HeroQuest 1 whereas I am talking about the standard runes in HeroQuest 2 (in which Waha has Death and Beast). According to Sartar Companion, Ezkankekko only has the Darkness Rune and teaches a single magic, which makes him a hero. Even if you were to conglomerate the cult of the Only Old One with the Night Cult and all that, you still end up with a one rune deity worshipped within Argan Argar. On the other hand, Waha is quite distinct in personality and religious impact from Storm Bull.

> The Kitori culture is created without any Storm Age precedent (the race having just Kimantor as precedent), and you are overlooking his role in Esrolia and in creating the alliance of the Unity Battle and later the First Council.

Did Ezkankekko create a new culture in Esrolia? No Was the First Council a new culture? No. Therefore Ezkankekko is not a cultural founder. As for the creation of the Kitori, humans adopting troll customs isn't making a new culture by any means.

> Hrestol's Joy of the Heart reveals an entire new level of the Materialist Otherworld, and his invention of the "men of all castes" (formerly known as knights) revolutionizes the Malkioni caste system.

Hrestol's Joy of the Heart only created a new caste and a small one at that. Most of Malkioni culture was unchanged by his revelations in that they kept on doing the same stuff they always had done as taught by Dronar and others. Hrestol is not a cultural founder and not even the Loskalmi would consider him one.

> Even Malkion and Zzabur just have one rune, so why should Hrestol have two?

Malkion and Zzabur would be three rune deities whereas most Saints/Ascended Masters would be one-rune deities like Flintnail and Pavis. The Two Rune Deities would be, I think, abstract sources of Power, like Ehilm the Sun and other weird names in Xeotam's Dialogues.

> I think that Waha inherited a lot of feats from the Founders. The two most important feats - digging a canal and starting a sacrificial mode of sustenance

Waha did a lot more than this as can be seen by what the Shaman says about him in HeroQuest Voices.

> is similar to what Belintar did (digging a canal and stopping a sacrificial mode of sustenance by inserting himself as recurring sacrifice).

Belintar didn't found a new culture from scratch, did he? And Belintar inserting himself as a recurring sacrifice isn't canon - Esrolia: Land of Ten Thousand Goddesses only speaks of him as putting an end to the practice.

--Peter Metcalfe            

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