One thing I found interesting was the various formats people used in the Home of the Bold reports. Be creative. I think the target average work count is something like 2500 (but I am sure less or more is okay, mine is about 1800.)
Send reports to rqcon_at_erzo.berkeley.edu
Michael Derry
aka Kwaratch Kang
Greybeard Raball's interview as later transcribed by his assistant Morich Goldquill.
Background:
The high priest of our temple of knowledge has been trying to recreate the events of the Second Council. He told my lord and I to visit the brother of Kwaratch Kang and, if possible see Kwaratch. -Morich
This interview occurred 200 years after the work of the second council in which the god/dess was created. Kwaratch Kang is a Zorak Zoran Deathlord who is the General of the Kingdom of Night, Loyal Assistant to the Only Old One, and was the Warlord of the Council for part of the project. His most famous exploit was the assassination of the Dara Happan emperor which caused the withdraw of the Dara Happans from the project temporarily. Unfortunately, Kwaratch Kang killed and ate my lord, Greybeard Raball, during the interview. -Morich
What have you done since the creation of the god?
I have only agreed to speak with you because of the good words of my brother in your behalf. I will not stand for any insolence and I only answer you questions to dispel these inaccurate accounts that have circulated about my activities during the Second Council.
To answer your question, I went to find conflict in Pamaltela. I conquered many tribes of giant trolls [Kwarach has been building a bodyguard of mountain trolls , styganthropus snagus. -Morich.] I have been working with Cragspider on several quests to get them to take orders better and not be such blithering idiots.
How do you feel about the creation of the god?
Certainly I believe in unity and the wonderfulness of the great age that has followed, but for a warrior such as I, it has been unrelentingly dull, even in Pamaltela.
Why did you change the color of the dragon companion of the god?
What kind of stupid question is that. Like I would want the dragon companion of the god to be a yellow dragon. I changed it to a balanced black and white (without any yellow.)
What happened during the two inner council meetings when you were Warlord?
I cannot remember, just a bunch of drivel. I did meet the Brithini ambassador there first and it was then that he first partook of my wonderful Hat of Many Worms.
Why did the council decide to have Iron Diamond Voice become Warlord?
Who knows? Iron Diamond Voice told me himself, he gave up a council seat to be Warlord of the Council. I guess he fancied himself some kind of warrior, hah!
Did you try to become Warlord again?
Sure, I threatened and cajoled many factions. I even told the Only Old One's ambassador to tell the council that I would commit general mayhem if I was not Warlord again. As time went on and each faction pressured the council, I realized what a waste of time is was to sit around in the council room, when I could be out in the field leading armies.
What parts did you contribute to the god project?
I contributed Ironbreaker and a few other trinkets at the beginning. Later on, I did not bother to even attend all that ritual crap.
Describe the situation that led up to your assassination of the Dara Happan emperor and his wife.
It was not an assassination. As the greatest warrior in the world, I did not assassinate him, I just went into the emperor's palace and boldly struck him down in front of his entire council. As for sequence of events, the emperor sent his wife to kill me while I was in the field with the troops fighting the forces of chaos. I guess his intention was to let the forces of chaos win, but she failed miserably, and I let her go. I then went to see the Only Old One during his Council of the Night [Kwaratch is referring to the council run by the OOO that did much of the actual deal making that made the god. -Morich] I asked him for permission to kill the emperor and he allowed me to. I wanted to kill the Dara Happan emperor so that my lord, the Only Old One, could decide the direction of the god project during the crucial second round of construction (for the emperor and his wife were being resurrected during half of the following construction ritual.) At the time I was not sure what the Only Old One intended to do in the god project, but I wanted to make it possible for him to do as he pleased and I succeeded.
The actual killing went as follows. Earlier, a Dara Happan made available to me a Dara Happan document that allowed me to enter the palace. I entered the throne room and asked the emperor if he had tried to have me killed. He arrogantly boasted that he had. In front of his entire council, I told him that as a personal matter between us two, I would kill him. I explicitly told everyone that this was a personal matter, and was not as the General of the Kingdom of King or as the Warlord of the Council. I then easily dispatched the Emperor and used magic to prevent his immediate resurrection. Of all the brave Dara Happans of his council, only his brave wife tried to face me for the killing. It was pitiful how I then killed her and again used the magic to prevent her immediate resurrection. I then marched out the Dara Happan empire.
As a weird postscript and a comment on the total depravity of the Dara Happans, several told me in later years that I energized their empire by killing their drunken emperor and that they admired and feared me for the killing him.
So you feel that you were and are still the greatest warrior of all Glorantha?
Yes. Some say that Palangio was a equal of mine, I guess because of our friendship after the creation of the god/dess. But, of all the contenders for the title of greatest warrior he is the only that comes close. As solid proof that I am the greatest, Palingio later tried to kill the emperor and failed (where I easily succeeded.)
Rumor says that you and Palangio were going to fight each other.
Far from the truth. I had spent many times talking with him at the City of Miracles. After he tried to kill the emperor [during the third round of the project. -Morich], I spoke with him again. Years later he told me that he was very close to joining me against the rest of the Dara Happans. Just think of how things would be different he had joined us.
Your brother tells me that you thought of killing all the Dara Happans.
Yes, I was getting bored and I wanted to run around Dara Happa and kill each of them as they feebly tried to heal and resurrect each other. I figured that I could keep them out of commission during the entire third round. I was also ready to follow through with my threat to cause massive destruction if I was not Warlord. But several events caused me to not rampage. The first was that since the Dara Happans pulled out of the council, many were concerned about the strength of the Kingdom of Night. I did not want to damage the position and bargaining power of the Only Old One. I also did not look forward to sitting around the council chamber and listening to them babble on again if I did get to be Warlord. I did also not mind seeing Iron Diamond Voice embarrass himself on the battlefield as the Warlord of the Council. So I decided being Warlord twice was enough to establish my position in the minds of the council attendees and impress the historians.
Your brother also tells me that you thought of taking the Elder Wilds for yourself.
My brother speaks with a large tongue, I think I should go beat him. [At this point the interview stopped for about a half hour and then Kwaratch returned. -Morich] I never though of depriving troll brother Herka of his lands, especially not when he had to face the forces of chaos that appeared in his lands.
What did you think of the assassination of the Only Old One?
It was nothing. I went to use my Horn of Healing to bring him immediately back but his assistant told me that he wanted to spend more time with some of his old friends in the land of the dead. He had already made arrangements to have Cragspider handle our affairs in the final construction. The assassination only shows the narrowness of vision of the Blue Moon trolls at the time. They have since again been a solid ally of the Kingdom of Night.
Tell me about your resounding defeat at the entrances to the mines of Gemborg.
[At this point in the interview, I heard much activity in the darkness and Kwaratch attacked and killed my scholarly lord. Then, while eating him, Kwaratch yelled at me in Darktongue. After listening to his explanation, I decided that the most prudent thing to do was to return to the temple and deliver the interview to the High Priest. -Morich]
Martaler once insulted the Only Old One. I vowed at the time to teach him respect for the Only Old One and the Kingdom of Night. My lord had long since forgiven him, but I would not let the insult pass without action. I gathered my forces and some of the Only Old One's forces outside the Mines of Gemborg. I gave them time to see that we were marshaling our forces. I not only wanted to teach them a lesson without angering the dwarves of Nida and Greatway, I also wanted to blood my own troops more. The Gemborgi blew many barrels of black powder when we entered the caverns. After all of the troops had a chance to face a competent enemy (as opposed the broos we had fought during the council years) I withdrew them back to their garrisons. Using the Horn of Healing, I quickly brought them back to strength.
Had I continued down into the caverns and wiped out the Gemborg dwarves, the Kingdom of Night would have lost all those dwarven craftsmen, angered the other dwarves, and I might have actually lost some brave troll warriors. We did get to feast on the charred bodies of the weak ones we had weeded out by attacking. The tasty feast included Gemborg dwarves, and aldryami and humans of the Kingdom of Night. I have not feasted like that before or since.
End of Glorantha Digest V1 #106
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