Hi All
I totally agree with the sentiments expressed recently on the
wierdness of Mostali & Dwarfs and that there should be NO mostali PCs.
I allow apostate heratic dwarfs as PCs but these are very broken so
one would expect severe behavioural disorders...
In my version of Glorantha Mostali are even wierder than most
humans think.
- They have a semi-hive mind like a distributed computer system networked
together. The individual units (Dwarfs) are as intelligent as a human,
but they have access to the vast data (knowledge) of the entire network.
These networks are formed around hubs (Mostali and some advanced Dwarfs).
- Dwarfs *think* in Octal, thus they are very good at calculations which
greatly aids their engineering skills. In a world where human engineers
work by experience and suck-it-and-see skills Mostali calculate the
correct answers and run complex finite-element computational fluid
dymanics simulations to check the answer!
- Of course this bias towards calculation does limit the *human-type*
social and interactive skills so thus the reputation of dour taciturn
dwarfs.
- True Dwarfs & Mostali do not use Sorcery! Instead they use their own
system of *magic* which is strongly biased towards the Stasis Rune.
Mechanics is the original Mostali magic system, it uses the engineering
concepts of time, distance and mass to create constructs which affect
the current state of the World Machine. Unfortunately, due to the
damage to the World Machine other effects are at work such as Friction
and Entropy. Friction is the major problem for most dwarfs using
mechanics as it makes their constructs much harder to errect. If the
World Machine was repaired it would disappear and Mostali would again
resume Control...
I have written up Mostali Magical Mechanics in full and they are awaiting
publication in TotRM. However, due to csh-flow and a slow publication
rate they are not scheduled to appear soon. So if you want to see them
pester David Hall (but not too hard as he is a busy man and most of Tales
delays are not due to him!). Alternatively, if you publish a zine email
me and we'll see.
Well that's enough for now.
Cheers
Lewis