Peter Metcalfe objects
>I wouldn't have made Lo Pin Po say 'God' here. IMO a Kralori would
>have been more likely to have said 'Heaven' or after the New Dragons
>Ring 'Aether' as a result of God Learner influences. I realise I
>can be shown the Yellow Card for attempting to make Kralorela more
>like China but this is the first time I've heard of God in a Kralori
>Context.
Pshaw. Who's writing the story, me or you? First off, I wanted to emphasize the non-standard feel of Kralorela. You'd never hear a Theyalan or a Pelorian talk about "God" like that, and I think that the Kralori do. Is "God" to the Kralori the same being that "Aether" is to us. I don't think so, though the former might include the latter.
>>[1] the Far North province referred to here is not the
>>Kingdom of Ignorance, but just south of that.
>Is this the same as the province of Shiyang or had the provinces
>been reformed since then?
It is in fact Shiyang, a.k.a. Far North. I didn't have my books on hand and couldn't remember Shiyang, but IMO all the Kralori provinces have more than one name.
>>Then he [General Joon] stationed his Mantis archers on a nearby
>>rise...
>I take it the Crossbow has not been invented yet?
They have crossbows. Not every Kralori archer uses crossbows. Some use true bows. Dunno what the Mantis archers used in Lo Pin Po's time, but all Kralori missile troops own the honorifi of "archers" regardless of their weapon. They might even have been throwing javelins, but this seems unlikely in the story's context.
One real possibility is that the Mantis archers in the story are crewing torsion artillery. The Kralori use ballistas and other field artillery in battle, some of their war machines are quite complicated, and most are enchanted.
Modern-day Mantis archers use composite bows and field artillery, but rarely utilize thrown weapons or crossbows. The Mantis soldiers come from Shiyang, where it is colder and dryer than the rest of Kralorela.
>He stationed his Mantis horsemen behind...
>>This is the one that perturbs me. According to the Kralorela
>>Writeup in G:CotHW, 'Cavalry is rare because the Kralori do not
>>know the secret of raising great warhorses'. How do you
reconcile?
What's to reconcile? Cavalry is "rare", not unknown -- in every single major battle the Kralori fight, they have cavalry. Just not as much of it as you'd find, say, in Fronela. The Mantis horsemen were doubtless riding typically scruffy Kralori ponies. Note that Shiyang has more horses and composite bowmakers than further south, where there is less grazing land and greater humidity. Also, do not forget that Lo Pin Po took a selected force with him on the march. Presumably he took all the horsemen he could find, and a selected force of halberdiers and archers.
> When Keng Shing came to the tree, peeled and white, he
>could not read the message, for it was night. He commanded light to
>be made. When he could see, he read, "KENG SHING DIES UNDER THIS
>TREE" The archers loosed, and Keng Shing heard hundreds of green
>arrows rushing through the air. Then he died.
>>Been watching Kurosawa's 'Kagemusha' (Shadow Warrior) again? I
>>know it's not the _same_ trick but the resemblence is there...
Apparently you, Peter, don't know your Orient. I like Kagemusha plenty, and the story I told was stolen from a completely different Chinese source -- not Japanese in any case.
Lionel Dumont:
>Hi, I'd like to play an initiate of Black Fang, and want to know
>if any of you have already made sthg on this pavian cult.
Yes. Here is what I have. Please feel free to alter it at will.
LAY MEMBERS
Black Fang has no lay members.
INITIATES
Initiation is, of course, restricted to people who are
known to the other Black Fangers. The cult is not
missionary-oriented, to say the least. All members are part of the
criminal underworld.
All spirit magic is permitted. Sorcery, too. Black Fang really doesn't have many "cultic" type restrictions. Failure to adhere to the leaders' rules means execution of course. Think Frank Nitti and Louis Lepke transposed into a Gloranthan setting and you're not far off. Except that so far the Black Fangers have not made any real effort to join "straight" society -- probably not possible anyway. They are mainly assassins, with burglary, fencing, and robbery on the side.
RUNE LORD
Maybe Rune Lord is the wrong term. These are Black Fang's
assassins -- the primary money-makers and rulers of the cult. Skills
needed: 90% in Dagger attack, Sneak, Hide, and two other
murder-related skills, such as disguise, poison alchemy, etc.
Rune Lords give 90% of their time and $$$ to the "cult", but the fact that they rule the roost, get all the women, get all the luxuries they need, etc., means that this is not very restrictive.
PRIESTS
Yes they are shamans. They have access to a few rune spells:
COMMAND SHADE, SHATTER, STOP DIVINATION, HIDE FETCH, WORSHIP BLACK FANG
Shatter: like a 4-point Disrupt that all hits the same location. Stop Divination: an enchantment that keeps Divinations from working on the object in question. Hide Fetch: an enchantment which conceals the target'sfetch, so it cannot be seen by other shamans.
Nick Brooke
>Sandy: the new Kralori stories were great! More, please...
My hero. Okay, here goes.
LO PIN PO ACHIEVES THE PEARL TABLETS
The Exarch of the Far North mourned. Lo Pin Po questioned
him, and the Exarch said, "Black Hueu owns the Pearl Tablets of
prophecy, and he has said that the latest prophecy has the secret of
all happiness. Yet he tells no one the secret."
Lo Pin Po said, "I will go and bring you the tablets." and he traveled to the tower of Black Hueu. Servants admitted Lo Pin Po, who went before Black Hueu and said, "I wish to talk with you concerning the Pearl Tablets of prophecy."
Black Hueu immediately replied, "You are a thief! All want my tablets." And Lo Pin Po was cast out of the tower without further argument.
Then Lo Pin Po said to his servants, "Go. Sell all of my goods, and bring me the cash." They remonstrated, but he said, "I have told the Exarch that I would succeed. Shall I go before him and say that Black Hueu would not give me the Pearl Tablets because I only offered him 3/4 my goods?"
So all his property was sold, and they brought him the cash. He took it to Black Hueu and said, "See all this wealth and cash. I wish to buy the Pearl Tablets from you. I give it all to you in exchange. Do you agree?" But Black Hueu lusted after the cash, and said to his servants, "See, this man wishes to rob me in my house. Slay him!" Lo Pin Po and his servants were forced to flee, leaving the cash behind.
Ragged and destitute they sat uneasy in the woods. The servants began to mourn. Lo Pin Po admonished them. "We need not wail, for we have done right in the sight of God. Black Hueu is now blameful below heaven and cannot prosper. I will go alone into the city and attain the tablets."
His servants wondered, and asked him, "How then can you obtain the tablets? See, Black Hueu rules a hundred men. Hence, he can slay a hundred men. How then can you triumph? You will be slain, and we left naked in this foreign land."
Lo Pin Po reassured them. "The stars now fight against Black Hueu's sins. Are not the hosts of heaven able to whelm all the legions of Hell? Why not then Black Hueu and his hundred?"
Lo Pin Po returned and came across Black Hueu lying drunk in front of his tower. So Lo Pin Po reasoned to himself, "It is a sin to slay, but if I do not, then all the people of the land will never know the tablet's secret. It is better for one man to die than an entire nation to wither in ignorance." So Lo Pin Po slew Black Hueu and donned his clothing. Then he went to the tower and demanded entrance in the voice of Black Hueu. He was admitted, and he demanded the pearl tablets, which were at once brought forth. Lo Pin Po told the servant to help him carry the tablets outside the tower, and he was obeyed. So Lo Pin Po used Black Hueu's own servant to take the plates to his own servants in the woods.
When Lo Pin Po returned to the Exarch, the Exarch begged and asked, "What is the secret of happiness? What do the Pearl Tablets say?"
Lo Pin Po read, "Father dies. Son dies. Grandson dies." "What?!" cried the Exarch, dismayed. "That does not sound like a formula for happiness to me." "Not so," said Lo Pin Po. "All men die, this is certain.But how sorrowful and tragic is it for a parent to see a child perish. And how much more sad for a grandchild, for not only do you feel your own sorrow, but you also feel the father's pain -- your own son. So is it best for death to follow the natural order -- the oldest passing on first. This is indeed the secret to happiness."
End of Glorantha Digest V2 #130
WWW material at http://hops.wharton.upenn.edu/~loren/rolegame.html
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