Harrek

From: martin <102541.3423_at_compuserve.com>
Date: 23 Oct 95 15:03:07 EDT


David Cake said:

> What I mean by 'Harrek is an powerful magician' is Harrek is capable
>of defeating virtually any magical threat, and he himself performs some
>exceptional magical acts. Sure, he doesn't generally act like our stereotype
>of a magician - for that matter nor does Arkat, he is an even more talented
>magician. When I use the term magician, I use it in an inclusive Gloranthan
>sense - in the broadest sense, anyone who uses serious magic with any
>understanding is a magician. A Sword of Humakt casting Morale is just as
>much a 'magician' as that Adept sorcerer with the pointy hat and wand.

I totally agree with you here. Thats how I see his magic too. They way I always saw it, in Glorantha, anyone with a serious ammount of spells, of whatever origin is a magician, not as you say, in the pointy hat tradition though. From reading about how Arkat wiped Kwaratch Kang out in milliseconds, while being hit by the combined spells of a stack of Death Lords etc gives some idea of how tough a superhero really is. Harrek though would be less subtle (!!!!!) than Arkat in the same situation.

 I see the magical difference being one of approach. Arkat grew up in one of the most magical of societies, and carried on warring on a magical level for decades. Harrek grew up in a magical but barbaric society and from service in the Dart Competitions, he would have learnt to take what he wanted with force, rather than guile (I imagine they deplyed him as a kind of nuclear weapon - "I guess our cunning spell didn't work, now what? We could always drop Harrek on them. Evil chuckle..."). So, when he went home, he saw an opportunity and took it. The binding of the God is not the act of an instinctual, low cunning magician though. To me it speaks of utter callousness, mixed with a cold intelligence and relentless greed.

> To put it in your terms, when Harrek massacres an army unit,......, makes
perhaps >excursions into the heroplane to destroy their magical support, calls on other >powers to weakenthe unit (perhaps dstroying the morale), and when he has made >himself berserk and outrageously powerful, he leads a terrifying wolf pirate >charge.

I think this would happen in seconds, as he's charging a foe, his power flux control would probably be weakening the enemy magics around him as he engages the enemy. As for destroying their morale, I would imagine they'd just have to be awake and looking at his onset to be demoralised. He must radiate such rage and violence that even the most stalwart of chaps would feel a bit weak kneed. I tried to represent this in the Urain cult. The psychology of the beserker has always seemed to me to be their most powerful weapon. When you face an ordinary opponent, they try to live, hence they defend. When you face a beserker, they are so far gone, they don't care about living any more. Hence no defence. They will gladly die just to take you with them. Now _that_ is scary. Harrek would transcend even that though because he's virtually invulnerable, tremendously skilled and strikes with the power of an avalanche. He invariably will go straight for the center of your line, tipping the wedge of his companions, he'll kill your leader and staff in seconds, run over your colours and be through your unit in the blink of an eye. The wedge of supra-Rune Levels will simply mop up the debris. Bye Bye Regiment.

>Think of what even a powerful Storm Khan does in combat - he might charge in
>a berserk rage and chop his foes to bits, but he casts magic on himself and
>his followers first, has powerful guardian spirits either enhancing or
>protecting him, and probably even casts a few spells to neutralise enemy
>magical support first (Command Spirit of Law, or summon a Sylph). He may
>even make lots of ritual preparations for the combat. That is the sort of
'>magician' that Harrek is.

Exactly, and I bet lots of it is going all the time too. His cloak (toupe?) must provide hin with enough power to run spells all day, every day. Also, in battle, he could perhaps infuse those around him with the Polar Bear Gods anger and some of its power.

 >I see echoes of my troll disagreements with Sandy here, actually.
>Sure, Harrek goes berserk, is extremely violent, and is regarded by his
>cultured sophisticated enemies as a terrifying psychopath. He is also
>extremely smart, very knowledgeable about magic, very knowledgeable about
>warfare, and likes his enemies to think of him as a terrifying psychopath.
>His wolf pirates respect him as a killer, but also think he is a leader
>worth fighting for, and respect his other abilities, such as his poetry and
>his role as a religious leader of the Ygg religion. None of this is
>appreciated by the Lunar civilised culture, and only some of it by the
>orlanthi barbarians.

Yes, I was wondering about the Ygg connection. He was supposed to be champion of the God. Would Harrek have sea storm powers which wouldn't have been represented in DP because it was a land war? It would seem probable to me. If not, then what "gifts" did Ygg give him, apart form his people?

As for his intelligence, I think it must be undoubted. I would imagine he is a Conan in that regard. I also would think that Harrek is about fifty in natural age (not including his long snooze) and his time in the Lunar Empire, on campaign and doing unpleasant deeds to everybody would give him a cosmopolitan knowledge of warfare like no other, all the more impressive because his barbaric heritage would mean he'd had no preconceptions to taint his ideas about what warefare is (unlike the British officer class you mentioned). He will use only what works. The Conan and Harald Hadrada parallels are obvious here. Conan for example starts out thinking that warfare is about standing toe-to-toe and fighting it out like "real" men. By the time he's King of Aquilonia he is an astute tactician, logistics expert and strategist but his barbaric character is unchanged. This is Harrek through and through. He's still a nutter, but a clever and educated nutter, taught in the hard school of Winning or Dying.

I don't know about him losing his memory and getting buried by an iceberg. It would be fun him getting involved in the Western wars though. I wonder if Greg had any more information on what becomes of old H after the fall of the Red Moon?

Martin


End of Glorantha Digest V2 #169


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