> Has anyone got any information about Casino Town except for
> what is in RQ Companion & G:CotHW ? At Convulsion 94 Sandy
> mentioned something about the inhabitants of Casino Town
> owing a great debt to someone. Can anyone ellaborate on this ?
I'm not sure if this is what Sandy was alluding to, but on the train on the way to Convulsion, Stephen Martin and I were brainstorming the Sixths of the Holy Country and how Belintar brought them under his control. One of Stephen's theories was that he's "The Man who Broke the Bank at Casino Town": Belintar gambled for high stakes, and won, and now the casino must remain within his Holy Country until they can pay off their immense debt to him. So, what look like tax or tribute or tithe payments from Casino Town to the City of Wonders are really installments (plus interest, of course) on their long-term debt. It's plausible Stephen passed this on to Sandy, who made his allusion later in the weekend. Over to you, Mr.P...
I *loved* your bureaucratic treaty negotiations with Kralori Spirits! I'm now sure this is how it works out East. Many, many thanks for discovering this!
> The equipment gained by a Baboon shaman includes an (unintelligent)
> baboon pet, which I interpret as the one who wrote that part meant
> normal baboons to exist in Prax as well.
In our games, three ancient Baboon gods are Grandfather Baboon, Monkey (the Trickster), and Mandrill (Father of Shamans). Gorilla is a Hero of the Baboons, who was tricked out of his tail by Monkey. The following notes owe a great deal to Chris Gidlow's pioneering cynoscephological researches...
The young baboons in a troop are Brothers and Sisters; the adult baboons are Fathers and Mothers. Above those are the gods. Little Brothers are infant baboons; Little Cousins are monkeys. Members of other troops are Cousins, Uncles and Aunts; if there is no room in a troop for a new-made Father, he can wander off and find another troop to take him in.
MANDRILL the Horny One is named for his splendid attributes. He was the first to teach us to brandish our mighty totems and use the magic paints. We never groom shamans, because they are infested with spirit lice: very dangerous and powerful! And shamans groom Mandrill in Baboon Spirit Land, and nobody else.
GRANDFATHER BABOON is the ancestor of us all. He is the child of Great- Hykim and Great-Grandmother Mikyh, and was the first Baboon to learn the paths the dead follow to Baboon Spirit Land. Grandfather Baboon is also the ancestor of the only-Men and taught them everything they know about religion in the Great Darkness: but being only-Men, they still haven't got it right yet!
Great-Grandfather HYKIM teaches us how to keep our teeth sharp, our manes thick and our weapons strong: when we can do all this, we are Fathers. Fathers learn the strong magic that can distinguish Mothers from Sisters.
Great-Grandmother MIKYH might teach our Sisters something, but we don't know about that. A Sister becomes a Mother when a Father recognises the magic signs and mates with her. If a Sister mates with a Brother, she is still a Sister: Brothers don't have the powerful magic to change her.
FOUND BROTHER came to us in the Great Darkness and taught us how to use tools and spears in our everyday lives.
MONKEY built Monkey City: you may know it as Monkey Ruins, but it never really fell down: it always looked like that! This proves that living in cities is a foolish idea. Monkey taught many things to only-Men in the Darkness, too, which explains the way they are now. Monkey will play tricks on anyone given the chance, which is why it is so important to maintain discipline in the Troop.
One last thing you must know is the meaning of the Red Moon. This is the name of the submissive posture (known to some as "mooning"), and is also the name of a goddess in the sky (who looks something like it). When she points her buttocks towards Prax, all her followers kneel down and make a show of Submission towards the outer world. They talk about "Peace" a lot (this is another word for Submission). All of this is probably something to do with Monkey...
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