re:Glorantha Digest V1 #212

From: ian (i.) gorlick <"ian>
Date: Tue, 14 Mar 1995 17:43:00 -0500


Majordomo_at_hops.wharton.upenn.edu

Subjects: flaming, childbirth, chaos

Alison Place here:

        Paul Honigmann (188) says, "What's with all this netiquette crap, anyway? Half the fun of the Digest is watching Alex and Nick having a Flame War. ... They do it with such erudition and finesse. Let's have ... more raw vitriol!" Please, don't take Paul up on this! I don't want to be coping with flame wars as a spectator sport. It's not that I mind good friends indulging in clever snide remarks, such as Sandy and Alex. Sandy was careful to mention that they are friends before having at Alex. However, like Sandy, I don't want any part of a conversation that is meant to hurt or drive someone off the subject.

        With the comments that are still coming on Childbirth, and harking back slightly to removing an accidental chaos taint, I thought that some people might be amused by the trouble that one of our characters got into some years ago. One of Duke Raus' men was a Pentan who went by the full name of He-Who-Rides-So-Fast-That-He-Breaks-The-Wind-With-His-Passage, or Windbreaker for short (Loco in his language). (He had a pony called Hyundai, too.) This was based partly on a scenario published as "A Tale to Tell", but much of it was Ian's imagination.

        He had accidentally got himself contaminated with chaos, without knowing it. The form that it took was 'never be surprised', which was unwittingly very helpful to the party! However, one day we found the discarded skull of Hrothmir wedged between two rocks on the edge of a Chaos holy ground. (For those who don't remember, Hrothmir was the son of the Storm Bull. He killed himself so that he could pursue Tien underground into the land of the dead. He sliced Tien's head off, but the body beheaded Hrothmir, and then used Hrothmir's head to replace his own for a short while.) It couldn't be freed then, so we came back with more rope and draught animals to do the job.

        Once he was free, Hrothmir told Loco that there was a chaos taint about him. Loco was horrified, and begged Hrothmir to remove it. Hrothmir told him to fall on his sword, and if Loco came near enough death that Hrothmir could see his soul on the spirit plane, Hrothmir could attempt to claw the taint out. Loco obligingly did this so thoroughly that what he needed was much closer to resurrection than mere healing to bring him back. He actually touched the mane of his god, and came back a very religious man!

        However, this peculiar experience changed Loco, without his knowledge. He became illuminated. When we later tracked the disease mistress Muriah back to the cave temple deep in a hill, where the scribe Ormelius' spirit was bound, who should volunteer to go in but Loco? Now, O. was forbidden to attack illuminants, so by sheer coincidence Loco was the only one who could enter.
(One of these coincidences that GM's are really frustrated by, I believe.) It
was clear that we could not trash the temple ourselves, so we went for help to the Maran Gor temple.

        The head priestess, Damita, was a stunningly beautiful young woman who had been born into the cult. (Imagine a southern belle with a delicate constitution who just happens to have ladylike tattoos.) She accompanied us back to the chaotic temple, flirting all the way. She warned us that such mighty magic would need a sacrifice to make it work. She found for this purpose a young Agimor who was shown to her in a dream. His father, the band chief, was unhappy though resigned. It was, at least, a brave death.

        However, by the time that we reached the cave again, three of our members were so in love with Damita that they all volunteered to be the sacrifice instead when Damita said that she would marry the man who volunteered. He might have to wait in the halls of death for her until she died, but that was apparently alright by them. Loco's spirit was greatest, so he was chosen. We congratulated the fortunate bridegroom, and the betrothal was magically cemented by Damita. Then he went into the temple and lay upon the altar.

        While Damita used an obsidian knife to cut open his chest and belly with two cuts that formed the death rune, Loco's spirit kept Ormelius at bay. Various of Loco's internal organs were placed at the four corners. Damita came out of the temple and called on Maran Gor to shake the earth. There was an extremely satisfying rumble, and down the temple went. Loco then called for Divine Intervention, to resurrect himself. Helped by the magically entwined souls of Damita and himself, he made it. Glorious and memorable death otherwise.

        Loco and Damita then consummated their marriage hastily. At this point, Damita could not technically be a priestess by the old rules, because her power was now too low. We returned to Ronegarth, while Damita's two Babeester Gor bodyguards returned to the Paps with the knife, and the news of Damita's marriage. The heirarchy there was not particularly displeased. There were other ambitious women who were much better suited to the role of high priestess. Meanwhile, Damita decided that Ty Kora Tek would be an acceptable earth goddess to follow, because she also lacked the fertility rune, and had to do with death.

        News came some while later, however. Maran Gor was displeased that her former high priestess would take such advantage and abandon her, especially since Damita was now pregnant! A curse was placed on her, such that all their lands and herds would be barren unless their firstborn child was sacrificed within a day of its birth.

        To evade the effects of the curse, Loco sold all his possessions to the Duke, for one Lunar. It also seemed that a Caesarian delivery might get round the technicality of birth. A Xiola Umbar priestess, Xepti Xemia, was persuaded to cast Couvade on the pair since Damita was not very strong, and to perform the Caesarian when the time came. The Maran Gor temple sent back the obsidian knife
(I believe that omens indicated that this should be used) for the operation.

        Maran Gor realised that we were taking steps to get around the curse, so she brought labour on before Damita came to full term. Despite this, the Caesarian went successfully, as far as getting a live baby went. Damita nearly died before Xepti Xemia could stitch her up, though.

        One night shortly after the babe was born, Loco and Damita each had a dream in which a shadowy person walked up beside the crib, and wept over the child. There was a feeling of sadness and forgiveness. The curse had been lifted.

        As for the knife, it, it now has a real reputation, and some power in its own right! If the wrong person has it, it sends them horrible dreams of blood and death. Loco, meanwhile, went around showing off his chest at any bragging sessions with the tribesmen. His favourite line was, "See this scar? My wife did that!"

        Hope you liked the way we dealt with these little problems!

        Alison


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