Basmoli of Prax

From: Greybeard <Greybeard_at_nochet.demon.co.uk>
Date: Wed, 07 Dec 1994 09:57:24 GMT


_at_ Well, you're sorta right, but there are also cults that don't have gods --
_at_ Basmol is dead, frex.

Basmol isn't dead, at least not in Prax, in other places he is. Mythology isn't consistent nor is it universal.

_at_ Sandrya tribe. Its ruling family is the Basmol clan, who trace descent from the
_at_ lion god himself." ... sounds 'real' to me.

I fuly believe that Basmoli survive elsewhere, often intermingled and cross bred with humans. As the Brithini know most 'humans' are in fact beasts that have slowly lost their bestial aspects. Theyalans have also propounded the view that hsunchen acquire the traits of their animal counterparts, thru a magical intermingling and true cross breeding, a Telmori can bear human and wolf cubs, as can a Telmor wolf.

The Basmoli of Prax are still close to the lions, and as such they have cats eyes, carnivorous incisors, auburn/red hair and vestigial spinal hair (mane). They are not kzinti but show obvious lion attributes.

Glorantha is a magical world, and the evolutionary effects of massive levels of powerful myth/magic allow peoples/beasts to change/evolve in non-Terran ways.

Basmoli in Ralios have no contact with lions and may have become civilised, they may have lost the cats eyes, and teeth, but maybe not, it is a choice that one can make. Of course if the Ralios lion was a dark furred beast then the Ralios Basmoli may have dark short hair etc etc.

Basmol may have died at the Hill of Gold in Imther, in Wenelia he was defeated by the Boar God, in Prax the Basmoli still talk and worship him. Basmola is lost and her powers are weak, as are the powers of the Basmoli, but they still worship her. One day they will find her again and old powers will restore to the Basmoli and they will kill and eat the Riders as freely as the old days.

To generally pontificate for a while, in Glorantha there are many interesting threads of universal similarity, but once one gets down to it, there are often bigger differences. This is true of Earth, and both more and less true in Glorantha due to the power of mythical magic. One can create monomyths, one can create artificial constructs of world scale. The GLs did this very successfully, <or not>. But similarly the power of HeroQuesting also mitigates this monomyth. Most cultures have enough local myth magic to subtly change and alter, so that by the Third Age the GL monomyths will already be crumbling, with local "real" changes being made to the local GodTime. Even the Lunar monomyth, with it's acceptance of local deities will be susceptible to local change. Whilst the Empire is vibrant and strong the cults will have a degree of stability, but knock the Empire about a bit and the MoonSon, the Daughters, even the Seven Mothers will start to change from place to place.

Now in Glorantha people and myth are intertwined. Mythical changes make physical, mental, and social changes. Similarly intellectual, social changes make mythical changes. Thus the Basmoli of Prax are lions, they can interbreed they have physical lion attributes. Remnants of Basmoli elsewhere are less lion and more man, the Cattle Hsunchen peoples are still broad shouldered and feisty but they no longer grow horns.

As to whether Hsunchen humans are bestial humans or human beasts is just one of those lovely unanswerable questions that we must never look to resolve.

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