Ok. In no particular order...
John Hughs brings wonderful news of the impending... er... upcoming publication of the Trickster writeup. Not to mention all the other goodies! Thanks for the info!
BTW, does anybody know if there are any plans to record and transcribe the seminars from RQ Down Under? I sincerely hope there are.
Erik Sieurin:
First, let me make clear that I don't feel that my posession of a few old unpublished Chaosium/Staffordian documents makes anything I write closer to the One True Way. I disagree with the One True Way idea, and love it when folks come up with inspired innovations on their own. I'm not saying "as Greg has written, so let it be done!" I have simply chosen parts of what I have read in those papers to incorporate into my personal vision of Glorantha, and I give credit to those parts which originated in the old papers.
Regarding Spiro, I don't think he will necessarily be excommunicated either. I said he might eventually be excommunicated, depending on how he is played.
Erik asks at the end of his message what the official aspects of Eurmal are. (At least, I think that's what he asked.)
The Trickster cult writeup describes different aspects in different Theyalan areas. Ralios has many Imp shrines, but they may be found almost anywhere. The Comic Fool is a major figure in all Theyalan lands. Although one of the rarest types of shrines, the Shapechanger could be found almost anywhere. The Fright is found in Ralios. Thief is a covert cult, largely or totally worshipped by burglars and thieves. Shrines are found in Ralios. Seducer is not exactly covert, but no one advertises their membership in his cult. He has adherents throughout Manaria. The Truant aspect is found in many Theyalan lands. Some of the scattered shrines to the Dismembered are found in Theyalan lands. The Lightbringer is an important god in all Theyalan culture.
Argrath discloses the name of one of my Trickster spells, so I'll go ahead and share it with everyone. It's one of the Dismembered spells. I think it's a Kazkurtum spell. Kaz tricked the Dara Happans into accepting him as Emperor because he had detatched his shadow, sending it off to do nasty deeds.
Remove Shadow/2 points/ Self, Temporal, Nonstackable, Reusable With this spell, the caster is able to remove his or her shadow, and anchor it to the specific spot where the shadow is when the spell is cast. So long as there is a light source illuminating where the caster was originally standing when the spell was cast, the shadow can be seen and will continue to indicate what it's "owner" is doing wherever the caster is. (Note that if the trickster's shadow is an allied spirit this spell allows the shadow to detach and function as a separate entity.)
David Cake confuses me, displaying his own Powers to Cloud the Minds of Men.
I suggest you go back to Digest v2#195 to reread what I wrote about Raven in Prax. I think you may be confusing that with what I wrote in Digest v2#197 about Raven in Pent.
Unless you are suggesting that both the Praxian and Pentan cultures worship exactly the same incarnation and aspect of Trickster. If that IS what you're suggesting, then that's a different issue from what your comments suggest.
BTW, Hyena teaches the spell Enthrall. I think he is worshipped as a spirit cult in Prax, mostly by the Morokanth.
Enthrall/1 point/ Voice Range, Temporal, Stackable, Reusable To use this spell, the targets must be able to hear and understand the caster's voice, and the caster must simultaneously succeed in an Orate skill roll. If the caster succeeds, everyone whose magic points are overcome by the caster's is hypnotized, and sits down to listen to the caster's words at the expense of all else. The caster must continue to succeed in an additional Orate skill roll every five minutes to keep the spell active for it's full duration. This magic will only end prematurely if the targets are physically attacked or if the caster stops speaking for more than one minute. (c. Chaosium, from the official but unpublished Praxian spirit cult descriptions)
David did mention the Three Feathered Rivals, and so I thought I'd confuse the issue even further by sharing my Sun Hawk cult writeup.
Sun Hawk ob
Three Feathered Rival, The Clear One
Sun Hawk is one of the Three Feathered Rivals of Prax, along with Raven and Thunderbird. They are all bird spirits that were not originally from Prax, but who ended up residing there. All nomadic Praxian peoples tell tales of these spirits, and there is a common theme which runs through the stories. This theme is how the powers of each of these spirits always bests the powers of a second spirit, but are also always bested by the powers of the third spirit. For his part, Sun Hawk's clarity always overcomes Raven's deceptions, but Sun Hawk is always bested by Thunderhawk's air powers. In addition to the Three Feathered Rival tales, other stories are also told about Sun Hawk.
I. MYTHOS AND HISTORY Before Time
Sun Hawk is a sky spirit found in Prax. He survived the Lesser Darkness with the help of brother sky gods, but wandered seeking shelter. During the Great Darkness Waha offered Sun Hawk a place in Prax. When the Horned Man taught shamans how to work with spirits, Sun Hawk was one of the first summoned.
After Time
As shamans continued to regularly contact and worship Sun Hawk, he was able to solidify his part in Praxian nomadic society.
The God Learners came and explored Prax during the Second Age. They tried to convince the Praxians that Sun Hawk was related to an elf god of light. Next the Dragonfriends came and took over the God Learner place Robcradle, building the Sun Dome on the banks of the river. They tried to convince the Praxians that Sun Hawk was a kin-slave to their god Yelmalio. The Sun Hawk shamans and worshippers did not believe either of the outsiders, and were proven correct when both the EWF and God Learner empires collapsed.
In the Third Age, Sun Hawk continues to be worshipped through a spirit cult.
Life After Death
Sun Hawk worshipers retain their Praxian beliefs about life after death, and follow Praxian funerary rituals.
Runic Associations
Sun Hawk is associated with the runes of Light and Beast.
II. CULT ECOLOGY Sun Hawk's magic provides Praxian nomads with hightened visual acuity and the ability to see through deceptive magic. As a Three Feathered Rival, he helps create a stable dynamic of magical powers in Prax.
III. THE CULT IN THE WORLD Sun Hawk can only be contacted in Prax. Although all Praxian nomads (excepting the Morokanth tribe) worship Sun Hawk occasionally, he has traditionally been worshipped most by the Alticamelus and Ostrich tribes. Since Moonbroth, Sable shamans have also been worshiping Sun Hawk more often, especially after the Lunars convinced Count Solanthos in Sun County to permit Praxian nomads to worship at an ancient Sun Hawk shrine near Yellow Sky (in the hopes of fomenting a stronger Solar presence among the Praxian tribes). Another Sun Hawk holy place is said to be Spirit Mountain, in the south east range of the Eiritha Hills.
IV. WORSHIPERS Requirements: most shamans will only allow someone from their own tribe to join them in worship. Outsiders almost always must have joined the tribe before they are allowed to worship Sun Hawk.
V. SHAMANS Requirements: The shaman rules for RuneQuest describe the correct practices for Gloranthan shamans.
The spirit cult rules for RuneQuest describe the correct way for shamans to contact and worship Raven. He provides the Divine Magic spell Clear Sight as a reusable spell. If Sun Hawk's worship service is a special success, he provides his shaman with one use of the Divine Magic spell Cloudclear .
Clear Sight
2 points/temporal/sight range/nonstackable/reusable
This spell increases the caster's visual Scan and Search skills
by 30% each. It also permits the caster to see any illusion for
what it is, and to see through such cloaking spells as
Invisibility and Conceal. However, the caster cannot see in the
dark or through opaque objects such as walls, fog, or smoke.
(c. Chaosium, from the official but unpublished Praxian spirit cult
descriptions)
When summoned, Sun Hawk appears as a large, brilliant red hawk limned with yellow and white flames.
VI. MISCELLANEOUS NOTES The worship of Sun Hawk is not accepted readily by most other sky worshipers. Sun Hawk is seen as untrustworthy for accepting the agreement with Waha, and almost all of his worshipers are native Praxian nomads. Only because of Lunar influence has the Yelmalio cult allowed for a shrine to be reactivated on Sun Dome Temple property.
And, finally, time for a story:
Sun Hawk Learns About Raven
(as told by an Impala Sun Hawk shaman)
Raven met a good-looking young man while he was walking in
the chaparrel. The young warrior was dressed in yellow
leathers, and had on red face-paint.
"Hey, young man, where are you going?" called Raven.
"I'm going to follow the war path."
"I am a mighty warrior, known by all the people here. I can
come with you to give you help."
"If you are brave, you may come with me."
"Oh, I am the bravest man around here! You will see. Our
enemies will run away at the very sight of me! We will have a
good time together. We will capture their animals, and take
everything they leave behind."
The young warrior barely looked at Raven. Raven was sure the
warrior did not know him. The young man said, "You may come
with me."
As they went along together, the warrior told Raven that they
would camp that night at the place called Scalped Man by the
Fire. Raven didn't like the name of the place, but did not say
anything.
That evening they killed a bison and made camp. Raven made
the young man do all the cooking. After the meat was prepared
and cooked, Raven told the young man that he deserved the
Warriors Choice, and took the best pieces of meat for himself.
The young warrior looked at Raven. Raven wondered if the
warrior might have heard about him. Then the young man sat
down to eat and went to sleep.
Before he went to sleep, Raven took the pieces of meat he had
saved and the rest of the meat, and placed it around the place
he would be sleeping, by the fire. He wanted to be able to have
the meat near by in case he got hungry in the middle of the
night. Raven placed the bison's liver on his chest and the
bison's heart on his left knee. Then he went to sleep.
In the middle of the night, Raven heard a noise and woke up.
Sitting up, he saw Scalped Man right in front of him. Quickly,
he picked up a big rock and brought it down as hard as he could
on Scalped Man's head. But it was not yet Scalped Man, only
Raven's knee with the meat on it, and when Raven hit it he let
out a very loud yell. Immediately, the young warrior jumped
up.
"What's going on?"
"Oh, it was just Scalped Man. He thought he could sneak into
our camp and kill us while we slept, by I scared him away."
The young man went back to sleep. Raven spent the rest of the
night rolling around on the ground while holding his knee,
trying not to make any noise.
The next morning, they broke camp and set off. As they went
along together, the warrior told Raven that they would camp
that night at the place called Cooked Meat Flying All Around.
Raven didn't know what to make of the name, but did not say
anything. As they went along, the other man saw that Raven's
knee was bothering him, causing him to lag behind. Raven said
he would be all right, he had just hurt it in his battle with
Scalped Man.
When they got to camp that night they sat down and waited.
When it was dark, pieces of cooked meat began to fly in the air
all around them. The meat was very easy to catch, and tasted
delicious. When they had caught enough, the pieces stopped
appearing. The warrior told Raven that they would camp the
next night at the place called Arrows Flying All Around. Raven
didn't like the name of that place. He said, "I don't know if I
can travel that far. My knee was badly wounded, you know."
The next morning, they broke camp and set off. Raven said his
knee was really bothering him and suggested they find
somewhere else to camp. The young warrior looked at Raven.
Raven wondered if the warrior recognized him. Then the young
man said no more and began walking again. Raven followed
him.
When they got to camp that night they made a fire and ate
dinner. When it was dark, sharp arrows began to fly in the air
all around them. The warrior stood very still, and moved only
to grab fourteen arrows out of the air as they went by him.
Raven was frightened by the arrows, and jumped all around
trying to dodge them. The more he dodged, the closer the
arrows came to hitting him. Finally he got down on the ground
and tried to dig like a badger into the earth. An arrow nicked
Raven, drawing blood on his right arm. Raven screamed that he
was going to die, and rolled over on his back with his eyes shut
tight.
When the arrows stopped flying, the young warrior came over
to Raven, kicked his feet, and told him to get up. Raven jumped
up and rubbed his eyes.
"What's going on?" said Raven. "I must have fallen asleep.
This knee wound is making me very tired."
As they got ready for bed, Raven said, "You know, you're lucky
Scalped Man went after me first last night. He might have
killed you then, but he could only wound me." The young
warrior looked hard at Raven. Raven began to feel
uncomfortable, and wondered if the warrior recognized him.
Then the warrior told Raven that they would need these arrows
when they fought the enemy, and gave him seven. He also told
Raven that they would camp the next night at the place called
Where Women Visit the Men. Raven liked the sound of that
place, and said his knee would be much better in the morning,
and that he might even be well enough to break camp early.
The next morning Raven did all the cooking and was the first
one out on ther trail. He kept getting far ahead of the young
warrior, and would turn around and yell, "Hey, why can't you
keep up? What kind of warrior are you? When we find the
enemy I'll have to do all the fighting myself! I have a bad
wound, and still you can't keep up. Are you sure you're a
warrior?"
Finally, they made camp. As soon as it was dark two women
in green shawls came into camp. One went over to the young
warrior, and the other went over to Raven. Raven could not
tell if she was young or old. He gave her a piece of meat, and
thought by the sounds she made when eating that she must be
very old. He figured that younger women would come to the
camp later in the evening, so he told her to go away.
When she got up to leave, Raven saw by the firelight that she
was a very beautiful young woman, and he called out for her to
sit down again. But she didn't. Raven got up and smoothly
tried to tell her that it must have been a ghost she heard
telling her to leave. But she just kept walking.
At first Raven thought that she might come back, or that some
other woman might come to him. But no one came. Raven then
got very angry with himself. He knew the woman might have
spent the night with him if he had not sent her away. Now he
had nothing. He was so angry that he couldn't sleep. He could
hear the other woman and the young warrior talking softly. He
could hear that they were not making love. Raven hoped that
the other man might call out, telling him to come and make
love to the other woman. But he didn't call out. Raven waited
until it was light again for the woman to return, but she never
did.
While they were eating breakfast the next morning, the
warrior told Raven that they would camp that night at the
place called War Clubs Flying All Around. Raven didn't like the
name of the place, so he tried to lag far behind the young
warrior, saying his knee hurt him and that they would not make
it to that camp. But they did anyway.
When it was dark, heavy war clubs began to fly in the air all
around them. The warrior told Raven not to move, or he was
sure to get hit. Raven dodged them anyway, and was hit on the
head and knocked out. The other man stood very still, and
grabbed two war clubs out of the air as they went by him.
When the war clubs stopped flying, the young warrior came
over to Raven, kicked his feet, and told him to get up. Raven
jumped up and said he must have fallen asleep again. The
young warrior looked hard at Raven, but Raven was too dazed
to notice. Then the warrior told Raven that they would need
these war clubs when they fought the enemy, and gave him one.
He also told Raven that they would camp the next night at the
place called Vulvas Flying All Around. Raven liked the sound of
that place, and said right away that his knee felt better and
that they could get an early start the next morning. He asked
the young man if they were the best kind of vulvas, young and
full, just the kind a warrior likes. The young man said they
were. Raven asked the young man to tell him all about these
vulvas, but the young man just went to sleep. Raven stayed up
all night thinking about vulvas, and what they would be like
with no women attatched. He wondered how easy they would
be to carry around.
Raven was up early the next morning, and fixed breakfast. On
the trail he left the young man so far behind that Raven could
not shout to him to hurry up. Raven could only shake his head
at how slow the other man was, and he wondered if the man
was tired from such a long journey.
After it got dark that night, things began to fly around in the
camp. Raven knew what they were, and he jumped about trying
to grab one. No matter how high he jumped, they stayed just
out of reach, just brushing their moisture on Raven's
fingertips. Raven jumped around until he almost collapsed
from exhaustion. The vulvas all made sweet sounds, and he
was going crazy with desire. Then, Raven had an idea. He
threw his war club up into the air, and hit one of the vulvas. It
fell to the ground with a soft sound, but flew back into the air
before Raven could jump on it. Then Raven had another idea.
He emptied all the arrows out of his quiver, and swung it in
the air like a bag. Finally, with a tremendous leap, Raven was
able to catch one of the flying vulvas in his quiver. With a
triumphant yell, he jerked it out and laid down on top of it -
but he could not get his penis to work at all. The other man
was sitting under some trees quietly laughing.
When they went to bed that night the warrior said that they
would camp the next night at the real place, called Where the
Enemy Attacks.
All the next day, Raven complained about how his knee hurt
him. When he did that, the young warrior would look at him,
which would make Raven feel strange and he would stop
complaining. Sometimes Raven would stop walking. When he
did that, the young warrior would look at him and stop to wait
for him to catch up, which Raven always did. They made camp
and went to bed. All night, Raven's knee hurt him because he
knew they would be attacked in the morning.
At dawn, they were surrounded by the enemy right away as
soon as they broke camp. Raven took one look around, and tried
to run away. An enemy caught him, killed him, and scalped
him. The warrior bravely fought off all the other enemies with
his arrows and war club, and then went looking for Raven.
When he found Raven, he kicked his feet and told him to get up.
Immediately Raven got up and started running. Then, he
realized no one was chasing him, so he stopped. He turned
around and cried out to the warrior, "This battle has made me
very tired. I am going home now. Remember what I taught you
the next time you have to do this alone. You're lucky I came
along." Then Raven left.
The young warrior, whose name was Sun Hawk, said "I will
remember, Raven. I fought. We won. I was lucky you came
along, and I will not forget you. I know you now. And, I know
your tricks now too. I will remember."
Peace,
Peter
End of Glorantha Digest V2 #207
WWW material at http://hops.wharton.upenn.edu/~loren/rolegame.html
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