Re: sandy returns after a hiatus

From: Sandy Petersen <sandyp_at_idgecko.idsoftware.com>
Date: Mon, 17 Jul 95 17:41:28 -0500


>Me: I have noticed an irksome tendency on the part of some to
> assume that if the GLs believed something, this must be evidence of
> the idea's _falseness_.

Nick B.
>This tendency is on the whole a healthy thing; questioning the
>received, simplified, streamlined version of Gloranthan mythology
is >a neat way to set up surprises for your players.

        Not if your players question everything too. Also, it's only cool to have neat exceptions if the GL are generally considered to be accurate. I adhere to a fairly orthodox conception of Gloranthan myth BECAUSE that way I can pop surprises upon the PCs. If they assume that everything the GL did was a fiasco, this is much harder to perform.

PUBLIC SERVICE ANNOUNCEMENT: I understand that there has been some reluctance to sign up for the forthcoming "Hunks of Reaching Moon Megacorp" Swimsuit Calendar. I reassure potential subscribers that myself, Greg S., and Steve Perrin are not current employees of Reaching Moon, and there is little danger of encountering us au naturel within its august pages. I hope.

        This should reassure the nervous holdouts.

INTERSEX:
PMichaels:
>Some persons who are born anatomically male have a double Y
>chromosome pattern. Others have extras of both the X and Y
>chromosomes. Some persons born anatomically female have a Y
>chromosome, while others carry a triple X pattern.

        For what it's worth, the following genetic peculiarities (chromosomal-based, at least) are reasonably common:

        Single X chromosome -- female, but generally sterile, very short, with small breasts and immature reproductive organs. 97% die before birth, but once born, survivors can live to a ripe old age. Basically, these are females deprived of most of their female hormones.

        XXY -- the classic intersex. Anatomically male, but with stunted gonads, wide "effeminate" hips, thin beard, etc. Basically males, but with an excess of female hormones.

        XXX -- females with too many X chromosomes are reasonably common. I've heard of XXXX, XXXXX, and even XXXXXX. Physically, the only result seems to be wider-than-usual hips, heavier-than-usual breasts, and (maybe) slight mental dullness. I hasten to add that these wide hips etc. aren't unnaturally so. An XXX woman would typically have wider hips than her sisters, but she's no freak. All but one X chromosome per cell is turned off (except for a tiny bit near one end), so having multiple X's doesn't seem to make that big a difference.

        XYY -- This includes XYYY, etc. These "supermales" tend to be tall and gawky, with slight mental impairment, and (usually) bad acne. At one time 'twas believed that they were prone to violence, but this is no longer believed. They _do_ show up in jail more often than XY males but this is easily explained -- think about it. Since they're not super-bright mentally, the typical crime they commit are impulse -- breaking a window and snatching something, or getting into a fistfight. Not much forethought. Then, they're big awkward guys with scarred faces -- easy for witnesses to remember. It's not that XYY folk are likelier to commit crimes -- it's that they're LOTS likelier to get _caught_.

        Then there are weird combinations like XXYY etc. The general rule is that if you have a Y chromosome, you're considered male, though this may be masked by other genes. The more Y genes you have, the dumber and bigger you get. The more X genes you have, the more feminine and fatty you get.

        NOTE: it is my belief that Great Trolls are XYY troll males and that trollkin are X or Y (a simple Y human won't survive, but this needn't be the case amongst trolls).

RUNES and gloranthan beliefs re: same

>1) Dialectic (the two Runes cause activity by their
>opposition. This is the classic God Learner interpretation.)
Nils: Is this the God Learner view, or the western view in general?

        Both, IMO. I won't care to speculate on whether the westerners have adopted the GL view, or whether the GL brought western opinions as baggage with them to the RuneQuest Sight.

> 2) Complementary (neither Rune makes sense alone. Both are
>be present in everything. If one Rune gets too much intensity, the
>other Rune is "attracted" to it, in a Yin-Yang sort of way. This is
>the classic Lunar concept.)
> 3) Continuum (the two Runes are really part of the same
>substance, just different ends of it -- like a spectrum, or the
>dichotomy of "light/dark", in which there is every degree of
>lightness and darkness between the two extremes.The classic Kralori
>ideal.)
> 4) Mirror (the two Runes are exact opposites. This is not
>exactly the God-Learner point of view, and in fact implies that the
>two Runes are really the _same_ thing, seen in different ways. The
>classic East Isles interpretation.)

NILS: What I propose for the people of Teshnos is then:
>5) Opposition, leading to imbalance, but with the insertion of a
>third force, the members of an unbalanced pair complement each
>other.

        I myself must think on this.

Dara Happa: I believe that the Dara Happans see opposition within opposition. For instance -- my god is Lodril, the rival to Yelm. But taking a larger view, I respect the gods of the earth (Dendara, Lodril, Gorgorma, and the like), as opposed to the gods of the sky (Yelm, Dayzatar, Ourania). But even a more cosmic view demonstrates that I worship the gods of life and goodness (Yelm and his kin) as opposed to the villainous gods of darkness and strike. There is opposition within opposition within opposition.

Theyalan/Orlanthi: I think most Orlanthi have adopted the GL view.

Doraddi: Every Rune contains an opposite to every other Rune. Life is in opposition to Death, just as it is in opposition to Fate, Mobility, Stasis, Truth, and Disorder. Take any two Runes and place them alongside one another, and you find that they become opposites, working on one another to produce the world.

Aldryami: They adhere to one central Rune (Aldrya). All other Runes have relevance only insofar as they affect the center.

WEIRD CULTURAL DATA
Folk interested in getting a good pop look at some weirdness of different cultures, with IMMEDIATE application to Gloranthan gaming, should read Edward T. Hall's books -- "The Silent Language", and "The Hidden Dimension" are reasonably short and teem with anecdotes and cool stuff. They are primarily aimed at describing the exotic cultures of 20th century industrial states, but you'd be amazed by how much we are applicable to Glorantha -- at least inasmuch as we seem to be blind to our own cultural assumptions. Trust me.

Fantome:
>Can you please tell me the source references for Elamle as this
type >of stuff interests me.

        Elamle-ata's background is largely unpublished I fear. Here is the story bowdlerized and shortened and devoid of all the cool stuff. NOTE: all this action takes place on the peninsula of Elamle.

        In the First Age, Elamle-ata came wandering into the forest and met the elves. The elves believed that all the humans in the world were extinct, and that she, Elamle-ata, was the last human. She went throughout the land and all the elves became her friend. She healed plants, elves, all that was appropriate and all loved here.

        Years later, the humans came as refugees to the land, and began to cut down trees. Incensed, the elves massed their forces to wipe out the upstarts (a task easily within their capabilities), but Elamle-ata came to the Council and asked for mercy. She then went everywhere in the land, asking every Council what they would require of the humans in order to permit them to stay. And she went to all the human peoples as well. If a Shanasse asked more than the humans were able to give, Elamle-ata paid the price herself. No one knows what all the prices were that she gave up for the humans' survival, but after her travels, she was gone. All the elf dynasties and all the human cities now had special rules they needed to follow to live one by the other, set by Elamle-ata's negotiations, gifts, and diplomacy. Thus, human and elf lived together amicably. The elves did not need the humans' tribute, but the humans needed to survive, and so obeyed the elves' rules. In gratitude, the humans named the land Elamle.

        Then Errinoru united the elf tribes and spread over the jungle. Things were great for a while. Until Errinoru and his family perished in the blight. The elves of Elamle were sore beset, and were nearly wiped out themselves. All that saved them was the continued tribute of the humans, sent to them in traditional fashion, as the humans continued honoring Elamle-ata. Thus, her legacy saved both elf and human, and the elves, too, began calling the land Elamle.

        NOTE: it is entirely possible that the Elamle-ata who befriended the elves, and the Elamle-ata who performed her journey to all rulers were different women who lived generations apart.

        NOTE TOO: this is a gross abbreviation of the story. Try telling Arkat's Saga in two paragraphs and see what _you_ get. (Elamle-ata is at least as important to the people here as Arkat is to the West.)

>And Sandy I quite like Jane Austen too

        She is, IMO, the most nearly perfect writer in English there exists. Shakespeare is grander, but her sentences cannot be improved for concision and elegance.

Peter Metcalfe
>However the modern west does not really work with runes these
days, >IMO, as the major use for them is defunct.

        I strongly do not agree with Peter on this point. I believe that Runes are still powerful and active throughout Glorantha. Just because the West believes in the Invisible God doesn't mean they don't recognize that the world is built out of Runes.

>I think KoS says that the Dragonewts can't write. QED they don't
>use runes.

        Does not necessarily follow. We know that many of the more complex Runes (beast, frex) are of dragonewt origin. Also I doubt mere humanity would have invented a "Dragonewt" rune on our own.

Peter gives a reasonably complete description of the Maslo, given that hardly anything is published on it. I'll present the facts as I know them in the form of a "critique" of Peter's comments (not an attack on him, but an explication).

>Furthermore we know that the civilized humans are divided into two
>groups: The Elf-lovers of the Elamle pennisula and the Elf Haters
>of the Onlaks pennisula.

        Roughly correct. In addition, Laskal (especially) and other lands (to a lesser extent) have more primitive human tribes living in the interior. Not in Dinal or Onlaks, though -- no humans allowed. In Dinal's case, it's not because the jungle is hostile to humans, it's just that the jungle is so primal that humans cannot exist.

>The Elf Lovers would be quite peaceful except that they suffer a
>huge monster trashing everything on the littoral every now and
then.

        Well, kind of. The folk of Elamle aren't particularly pacifistic, though they don't war on the elves. Perhaps it's more accurate to say that they've never managed to get their act together and become imperialistic bigots because of the constant pressure of the Mother of Monsters, which tends to interrupt empire-building.

> The Elf Haters are now organized under the leadership of Hoom
Jhis, >the Dynast (which really means 'Bigshot' despite its connotations >with 'Dynasty') of Flanch.

        They're not as organized as Hoom Jhis would like, though. They're certainly nowhere near as organized as a "real" empire.

>The Flanchi are one of the Great Naval Powers of Glorantha and
came >close to dominating the Pamaletelan Coast but his massive Fleet of
>Conquest and Exploitation was destroyed by the Vadeli at Oenriko >Rock.

        Yes. Maybe not a "Great" naval power, but at least a moderate one. Not up to beating Haragala, but could probably give Loskalm a run for the money.

>I think the Flanchi have a number of (one-sided) trading treaties
>with the Cities of the Elf Coast.

        The Onlaksians trade with the Elamlians all the time. They're friends, and the Elamle humans naturally enough side with the Onlaksians vs. the evil elves of the "other" peninsula. They don't want to be conquered by Flanch, though. Not much of a problem at the moment. Flanch can barely maintain what it has.

>I don't think the Flachi actually hate the Elamlites as such, they
>just think the latter are just deluded Monster Worshippers whereas
>one should aspire to be real Monster-beaters like the Flanchi and
>the (related) Kimoti.

        The Onlaksians have a range of beliefs re: Elamle, varying from "I wish _our_ elves were docile, too." to "I hear them Elamle humans are required to let elf lords screw their wives on their wedding night, and give their first-born babies to a cannibal tree."

        Everyone pities the Kimoti. They have it tough.

LORAL: no humans now live on Loral. It is Monster Island. Think Godzilla & co.

Edrenlin Islands: Waertagi live here sans city-ships. They do, however, help crew fishing and trading vessels all over the Maslo area, and their assistance is one of the reasons that the Yanchi fleet is so tough. (top-flight sailors)

Andrew Behan
>However Greg failedto mention quite how Sir Ethilrist got into
Hell >in the first place. OK, he could have kept travellling in a straight >line until he reached the edge of the world orjumped down Hellcrack >but not every hero has travelled that far, surely?

        Not every hero goes to Hell. Ethilrist is exceptional. Elamle-ata, Jaldon Toothmaker, Hon-Eel, Tada, none of them visited Hell to my recollection. And _none_ of the (admittedly few) East Isles heroes went to Hell. Of course, the EI don't really believe in the underworld. At least not the same way.

Ryan Moore:
>I am getting ready to introduce my players to Dorastor. Since they
>are currently in the Pavis region, I was planning on having a kind
>of "epic journey" across glorantha. Anyone have any interesting
>ecounters or things that might happen while on the way from Pavis
to >Dorastor.

  1. Pavis to Barbarian Town -- meet one of the lesser-known tribes of Prax. Say the Cannibal Cult (who spend all night trying to get one of the party members mad at them so that they can consider the party to be "enemies") or a sad group of Long-Nose wanderers with a single bull Long-Nose. ("Anybody here ever seen a cow Long Nose? We'll pay top dollar?!")
  2. Barbarian Town to Furthest -- you're in Dragon Pass, so see Dragonewts. Maybe the famed Dragonewt Statues (a band of immobile dragonewts who are progressing across a field at the rate of about an inch per year -- if one is killed, he flops over dead, then his replacement comes running out from the Dragonewt City as fast as he can come -- to stop cold once he reaches the right position.) Or maybe some Dragonewts doing something incomprehensible with a Gorp.
  3. Furthest to Aggar -- see the giant cranes that live in the Aggar marshes. See Jolanti(!). See ancient Lunar nobility who ride bisons and wear gold-and-satin idealized versions of Praxian chieftain gear without knowing why.
  4. Aggar to mid-Lunar Empire -- anything goes. How about one of them orgies in which some boob dies of "a surfeit of virgins"? Or how about a Chaos Gladiatorial Contest ("It's Amateur's Night! Come One Come All. Win 100 Lunars for each round you survive against Guganox the Grotesque.")
  5. mid-Lunar Empire to the borders of Dorastor: here you _have_ to have the Bat and his cult rousting locals, drafting the gendarmes to produce passers-by, etc. Wotta riot.

Dick Hutchison
"Tatius sen[ds] a demon which had two arms, and an extra one, against them."
>Thoughts as to what demon this is? Must be nasty, as it apparently
>smokes Jaldon and a good portion of Jaldon's Army

        Just a point to ponder: The Lunar Empire itself is said to have three heads -- two visible, and one invisible. The similarity between this and Tatius' demon are too obvious to elucidate. NOTE: the demon's extra arm is not just a third arm, of course, or else it would be a three-armed demon. But it's not. It's a two-armed demon, with an extra arm.

THE KRALORI AND THE FALSE DRAGON RING AND THE DRAGONKILL WAR         In my opinion, the Exarchs managed things so that the Dragons were all summoned _away_ for the Dragonkill war. Then, the War in Heaven was able to take place without the hapless False Dragon Ring being able to rely on Kralorela's native dragons (who always try to save the land) being available. I hold that the entire Dragonkill War was (from one point of view) a plot by the exarchs to cleanse their own land and reconquer it.

Andrew Joelson
>David Cake suggests that the Crater has a bottom, I had always
>thought that it was bottomless via some mystic means. I seem to
>recall that climbing the rim and looking down into the Crater was a
>sure way to go mad. Corrections, anybody?

        The Crater has a bottom, I thought. You go mad by looking down into it because you see the secret city that is built there. Besides the crater's interior is on the surface of the moon.

>By the way, I had heard once that the Castles of Lead have some
>sort of connection, allowing you to move from one to another
>directly. Is this true?

        Sort of. Basically, there is only one Castle of Lead.

Peter M.
> I haven't heard about people complaining that Illumination is
>Obscenely Unbalanced.

        You haven't? Where have you been? Besides, if Illumination _isn't_ obscenely unbalanced why would it even exist at all? "Of course Illumination is unfair, my lad. But it can be unfair on _your_ side if you only say the word."


End of Glorantha Digest V2 #15


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