Martin Crim
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> In Glorantha Digest V2 #387, Paul "Runelord" Heinz writes:
> >Male trolls are also sent outside to hunt and generally do what their
> >mother or wives tell them to do but look forward to returning to the
> >safe warm "womb" of their cave or underground dwelling.
> ^^^^
>
> I agree with lots of what Paul writes, and think that the Good Son/Bad Son
> split is a useful starting point for understanding Karrg and ZZ (but not the
> whole picture). I am suspicious, though, of the description of the uz womb
> or caves as warm, with all the positive connotations that word has for
> humans. Trolls have the same connotations for "cool," and that's how they'd
> describe wombs or caves in contrast to Komor, the hurtplace (surface world).
> [Maybe teenaged trolls say something is "warm" if they like it--cf. human
> teenagers' use of "cool."]
A good point. Hmm... are trolls cold-blooded or at least less warm-blooded than humans ? That's something that hadn't occurred to me before... Thanks Martin!
I like the vision of teenage trolls calling things "warm" to annoy their mother: "Hey, way warm, dude!"
Peter Metcalfe
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>The only problem is the third eye is the traditional third eye of
>enlightenment - trolls do not have navels in their foreheads.
>Perhaps it's a primitive lobotomy (with a burning stick) to burn out
>cherished memories of their mother? They could still scar their
>bellybuttons although we may need a third scarification (I suggest
>the heart - so they can't be nice again) so as to filful the
>August Tripartation as revealed by the Prophet Dumezil (in simpler
>words - three is a nice number).
>
>>Personally, I imagine raw fire _IS_ forbidden to trolls, especially
>>male trolls.
>
>The only problem I have with this statement is 'forbidden' because
>it connotates laws and taboos whereas simple Fear for a Troll is
>sufficient. Like there is no prohibition against disobeying your
>mother but most trolls do so anyway because She Frightens them.
I don't subscribe to the 'no culture, no laws' view of trolls. In my view, female trolls do plenty of telling you what to do and what _not_ to do, particularly to male trolls.
>And why male trolls specifically prohibited? Female Trolls AFAIK do
>not use fire either.
My mistake. I believe the prohibition applies to both, but males are more likely to 'need' to be told if you get my drift. I think that female trolls have very little to do with fire and probably heat too. Male trolls get sent to the surface and other undesirable places where they may encounter fire whereas female trolls generally do not.
Also, Male trolls are expendable and more to the point, they _know_ it which explains some of their behaviour. It also shows the lure of Zorak Zoran, the Bad Son.
'If we're so expendable, why don't we at least do what _we_ want and get killed rather than what _they_ want and get killed.'
Now, the female trolls know of this 'male flaw' so they spend plenty of time admonishing any males around about doing what they're told to and staying away from things like fire. Of course, this sort of nagging is probably what pisses of the males in the first place but then the irony of these sort of social setups appeals to me.
TTFN,
Paul.
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