The following is a bit of poetic propaganda, composed in a New Pelorian "heroic" style which is about ten years out of date in 1615, when this was written. It relates with some truth the exploits of a scion of Dorkath in the Grantlands of fabled Prax. The composer is a part-time poetaster and would-be skald from Pavis.
Earth-born plow and shining lord
The sundered halves united in love
Many the hard sacrifice to reach the altar
With the blessing of the Emperor, success. (1)
This is a tale of a sun-touched land,
Prax, where land is free and rich,
The River of Cradles, full of treasure,
And bold men reap golden rewards. (2)
Lord Lovoro Duro-Ebro of Dorkath (3),
Prince and grandson of the Sun (4),
He walks in the glow of the Goddess (5),
And speaks nobly with grave command. (6)
[Six stanzas praising Lord Lovoro's clothes, club, ancestry, wisdom, good looks, and wit omitted.]
A dark dream came to Lovoro's advisor (7),
A birth he saw, from an ancient grave.
Water and blood gushed up in a fountain,
As a beautiful woman stepped forth. (8)
Lovoro knew his destiny then. (9)
He commanded his followers to arm and mount. (10)
He summoned aid from savage allies, (11)
And set his face to the wilderness. (12)
Barbarian allies, perfidious to the core, (13) Claim land belonging to the Emperor. (14) Undaunted, Lovoro disdained the barbarians. (15) In fear, they burned fires of warding. (16)
Gloriously, Lovoro led past the barbarians. Unerringly, he rode toward the dream's heart. (17) Bravely, he drove away night raiders. (18) Wisely, he honored the sacred precinct. (19)
Calling mystic aid to his side, (20)
Defended and girded by a giant, (21)
Supported by loyal followers, (22)
Lovoro prepared to woo a goddess.
The goddess stepped forth as a queen, (23)
Clad in the rough splendor of Prax, (24)
Adorned with drops from the Sun, (25)
And imbued with power and glory. (26)
The pain of the goddess stalked her:
A burning man of villainous fire, (27)
Horrible his face, terrible his hands, (28)
The smoke from his limbs was smothering. (29)
Bold Lovoro smote the burning foe, (30)
His commands felled it swiftly.
His will broke its power, and
With a rain of gold he quenched his foe. (31)
All hail Lovoro, who wooed and won!
Hail his taking of the earth!
Praise is his, the husband of the earth,
He who made the earth move. (32)
(1) This is a formal introductory stanza, using stock phrases.
(2) A second introductory stanza, which narrows the focus.
(3) The full name of Mike Dawson's player character in my
Borderlands campaign.
(4) A bit of an exaggeration. He is, though, a bona fide noble
from a Solar family.
(5) Because he wears a translucent red hat and red sunglasses
(Mike actually has the glasses--they make him look even more like
Woody Harrelson than he already does).
(6) Actually true.
(7) Well, he technically is Duke Raus's advisor, but why quibble
with art?
(8) A fairly accurate synopsis of the dream vision the shaman
had.
(9) Well, he was willing to investigate, at least.
(10) The Duke told the player characters to investigate in the
direction the shaman said to go.
(11) They had to pass through the lands of the Blue Cloud clan of
the Sable nation, which is nominally allied to the Duke. The
Queen lent the party her jowly brother, Jigonta.
(12) The only unqualifiedly true statement in the stanza.
(13) The Sun Dome Temple claims to the Vilinar River, based on
usage 400 years ago and the original grant from Pavis.
(14) The same land was taken in the name of the Emperor by the
victorious Lunar Army. Everything in the Empire belongs to the
Emperor, but he lets other people enjoy the profits sometimes.
The Grantlands, of course, have been divided up for settlement,
but as of 1615 only the Weis grant has been awarded. Part of the
problem here is that no border was ever set.
(15) Lovoro was openly contemptuous in response to Belvani's open
contempt. It was a short interview.
(16) Actually, they were burning fires all around their
unfinished camp (where no work was being done) even before the
PC's arrived.
(17) The wandering around must have been part of his plan.
(18) The Sun Domers found them, and Lovoro led the retreat,
avoiding the closing lines of Templars.
(19) The PC's figured out they couldn't accomplish more without
putting themselves into serious danger.
(20) Actually, the PC's went back to Ronegarth to bring the
shaman to the spirit's grove.
(21) Ankubi, Lovoro's man-and-a-half-at-arms.
(22) The other PC's. Doesn't this poem make you feel special?
(23) That is, the spirit of the earth possessed Queen Kirzadtha
of the Blue Cloud, who was willingly participating in the ritual
for her own reasons.
(24) Queen Kirzadtha actually wore out-of-fashion Pelorian
clothes.
(25) A stock phrase, taken to refer to jewelry.
(26) Unvarnished truth.
(27) The obstacle to the sacred marriage: a man made of burning
logs. The earth spirit was angry, you see, because the Sun
Domers had cut down trees that were special to it, and because
they had started a stockade without appeasing her first.
(28) More stock phrases.
(29) Poetic license. It wasn't that bad.
(30) Whupped him good with the Rod of Duro-Ebro.
(31) Exactly what it sounds like.
(32) Lovoro is one of the rare male Uleria cultists, and he
specialed his Courtesan roll and then cast Erotocomatose Lucidity
with 9 MP. First time I've ever seen the spell be useful in a
game.
River gossip confirms that the source of the Sun Domers' concern has apparently been removed, and they are continuing to work on their stockade. The ill effects, if any, of having the local earth nymph removed from the area have yet to manifest.
Hope you enjoyed it. The next adventure will have something for everybody to do.
End of Glorantha Digest V1 #104
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