Quick campaign question to start; one for physicists or rave fiends. Does the red moon cast green shadows?
BLATANT PLUG: THE QUESTLINES BOOK When too much Glorantha is just barely enough, (and now that those trashy holiday novels have been read and discarded) you might think of ordering yourself a copy of the Questlines book. Produced as a fundraiser for RQ Con Down Under, Questlines contains 76 packed pages of Prime Time Glorantha.
Amongst the goodies on offer... original fiction from Greg Stafford ('Frog Boy') and Penelope Love ('Four Answers); the official Chaosium cult write-ups for Trickster and Hunter; Sartar tribal population figures and notes from David Hall (with maps for 1610 and 1621); myths from David Dunham (Vinga) and Sandy Petersen (Trickster); Oliver Dickinson's penetrating review of 'King of Sartar'; Greg Stafford's 'Gloranthan Genesis' (reprinted from the RQ Con II Program Book); 'PRAX(IS)' - three takes on exploring Glorantha from MOB ('Maximum Game Fun'), Peter Metcalfe ('Stop Worrying') and John Hughes ('Campaign Myth-Management'); Kevin Jacklin on the Origin of 'Home of the Bold'; a Nysalorian murder mystery from David Hall; and a 23 page Far Point section by Michael Raaterova and John Hughes, including founding myths, spirits, rituals, a timeline, stead calendar, and a detailed look at the tribes and their history.
While some a number of articles have previously appeared on the Digest, in most cases they have been expanded and updated for inclusion in Questlines.
Questlines is available at only $ Aus 16.95. Postage and packing is $2.65 within Australia, $Aus 3.00 sea mail and $Aus 6.00 air mail. All payments in Australian dollars please. Questlines can be ordered from
Michael O'Brien
48 Barcelona Street
Box Hill VIC 3128
Australia.
YINKINI, CATS, AND BI-SPECIES SCHIZOPHRENIA (Confessions of an ex-Burmese Cat breeder)
Cats are useless at cooperative hunting, herding and just about everything. Why? They lead a double life. A double double life in fact. Plus the fact they are completely self-centred and utterly thankless bastards. All of which provide inspiration for alynxes in your campaign.
Double life? Inside the stead, every alynx is a dependant kitten. Once it goes out the door (or through the wind-eye), it becomes completely wild and utterly self-sufficient. Wild in the wild, tame in the stead. Intimate yet independent. An alynx has two views of itself: completely human and completely feline (this bi-species mentality is doubtless the source of Yinkin's unique gifts of perception - the link between realms, between species, between cults).
A domesticated alynx sees humans as pseudo-parents. Humans provide food - which is pretty amazing, because they are obviously lousy hunters. Hence a alynx will often bring prey to the stead door - birds, rats, small trollkin - - in an effort to teach its human parents how to do things properly.
Which is about all you'll ever get out of an alynx.
On Earth, cats have been domesticated for around 9,000 years - the earliest archeological evidence comes from Jericho - which just happens to be one of our oldest cities. There was no mutual interest until humans built dwellings and granaries large enough to attract rats. (Contrast this with dogs, whose relationship with humans extends back to the hunting days of the paleolithic). The Egyptians used cats as temple guards - one of the few instances of humans getting anything useful out of the beasts (unless you count the use of mummified cats as fertiliser). The cult of the cat goddess - - Bastet - was a peculiar mix of virgin-goddess worship and orgiastic frenzy - a very popular mix, and no mystery to those of us who have bred cats. 'Cathouses', indeed.
Alynxes are individuals - which is also a bit of an Orlanthi thing. Unlike dogs, they have no 'group' or 'pack' loyalty. They are solitary stalkers. This is why they are useless in communal activities like hunting or herding.
(An allied Alynx might stalk game for you. IF it felt like it. MAYBE.)
For this reason I like Michael's idea of Yinkini as scouts. In my campaign at least, the Odaylans are a pretty chummy bunch. Solitary types are more likely to follow Yinkin, completely absorbed in their own lives and goals. Never expect a Yinkini (or an alynx) to help you 'for the good of the clan'.
Other themes worth exploring: a reputation for casual cruelty, constant grooming, psychic perceptions (whiskers), an abilty to predict earthquakes, always finding ones way home, an abilty to always land on ones feet, and a reputation for loud orgiastic sexuality. Which is a fine combination of 'earth' and 'air' characteristics: very fitting for an animal that has come to symbolise the stead.
I once hit Greg with the possibility of cat hsunchen still existing around Far Point, but he thought it "too close to civilisation". If I remember correctly, he also dropped the tidbit that most Orlanthi were originally cattle hsunchen. Of course, since the half-beasts escaped from the Youf zoos, you can find small groups of just about anything in the wilder parts of Dragon Pass.
However, I really liked Michael's explanation of Yinkini on Kero Finn. Noted and added to my list of the myriad mysteries of the sacred mountain.
Martin:
> Here's the Levi-Straussian structure for Orlanthi: Cats are Inside (the
>stead), Dogs are Outside.
Or a tad more formally:
CAT: INSIDE: STEAD: INDIVIDUAL: FEMININE: PERCEPTION: ARROGANCE :: DOG: OUTSIDE: FIELD: GROUP: MASCULINE: COOPERATION: GRATITUDE Cheers
John
... a flying arrow, a crashing wave, night old ice, a coiled snake, a bride's bed talk, a broken sword, the play of bears, a king's son.
Havamal 86.
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