Martin Laurie sez:
> I think what you mean is that Nick "takes the piss" to their
> face but _insulting_ is another matter. Where I'm from (Sunderland in
> Northern Enlgand) a guy does that to you and he loses most of his teeth.
The joys of informed an mature discussion about a hobby that unites people all over the world, giving us a unique insight into other's minds and allowing us to explore many different and unusual viewpoints.
You spilled my pint, ya'bastard! I'm gonna do you!
No offence meant Martin, but I can see where Onslaught takes many of his attitudes from. If Nick pisses you off, fine, but threats, real or implied, have no place on this digest (or any other, except maybe glorantha-Harrek-as-a-role-model-digest) as far as I'm concerned. And as someone who lives about 100 miles away from you, though on the right side of the Border, it does confirm many of my prejudices about you wacky sassenachs. :>
The Storm Bull/Humakt option: "Violence is the only solution."
Proper stuff:
> (1). The connection with Death, what effects does an avatar of this power have
> on his surroundings? (Very important this one)
Loren did a good bit on this, but generally, for humans, cold, fear, loss, separation, decay. For Uz, this is probably just like home. Possibly also a dampening of sound, emotion, light, sorta like suffering depression, where everything is grey and muted, and seems to be at a distance.
> (2). What is the social impact of such a person and how do they fit in with the
> Humakt and social heirarchy? (This seems to me to be the most tricky one to
> quantify)
Soemone as powerful as Onslaught, behaving in the same way, would need powerful friends. In the same way that any danger to the social oredr is removed or exploited by the rulers, he would either work for the local bosses or be killed. The greater the threat, the greater the effort expended on removing it, so eventually there would be mass sendings of spirits, hired bounty hunters, spies planted around Onslaught who would try to arrange situations in which he would die, etc. Think rabid dog, man-eating lion, etc. Even if he was working 'for' the local rulers, they would eventually want rid of him because he could be used against them eventually.
As for the Humakt hierarchy, I would say this would depend on the particular temple/Chief Sword. If he fitted in with their ethos, fine, if not, bye bye. No doubt many duels would follow, so eventually Onslaught would be wandering around killing entire temples, which again would result in him being hunted down, even if he never became apostate (which i reckon he would).
> (3). What powers other than those related to combat does a minor hero of Death
> have access too? Eg can the cause a field of Death around themselves that
> causes seperation?
Separating magic fom its source, people from their emotions, 1HP of damage to those within 10' (small animals and plants die as he passes, circles of dead vegetation where he slept). Fear/unease in non-death worshippers who see him. Food rots at his touch (he does not need to eat any more, as he is half-dead) ...
> (4). Is Death really the opposite of fertility for without Death would their be
> room and materials for new growth? I think that pre-death fertility was
> _different_ to current fertility. Any ideas anyone?
Death is not the opposite to fertility/life, Chaos is. Chaos is non-existence, life and death are part of existence and the Compromise. Pre-death fertility was not part of the cycle that exists after the Compromise, as there was no death part.
> (5). Humakts character. What does the God really want, is he a force that is
> given a form by the perceptions of his worshippers? This one applies to most
> other gods too.
I reckon that the Gods are mutable, depending on their worshippers and changes in interpretation. This comes about in Glorantha largely via heroquests, where communities affect their own (or other's) Gods on the Hero plane, and the belief is focussed on this. If a God still wants to receive worship, it must fulfil the worshippers expectations, or the worshippers will turn to new Gods. Hero cults are a local manifestation of this, where an individual provides a new interpretation of the God's powers to a local group of worshippers.
> (6). Is Humakt a broad church with many different views within a borad framework
> or a monolith of rigid ideals of behaviour? I prefer the former though some
> seem to prefer the latter.
See above for my views. There are as many different views of a God as there are worshippers, though they will tend to fall into groups. The Lunars and similar religious empires are an exception, but there is still variation even within this ostensibly uniform religion.
> (7). Is a Dwarfen construct capable of acting human enough to be Onslaught and
> if so what is his purpose and what happened to his memory? Implants like in
> Total Recall? I'm seriously tempted to try this one out on my players some
> time, I have done something similar with God Learner Knowledgists. Good idea
> whoever mentioned it first!
The whole lozenge and everything in, on above and below it are Mostali constructs, so of course he can act human. His purpose is, like all constructs, to repair the World Machine. He does this by killing. Perhaps the Mostali want to improve the resistance of the human model to death, and so have created a bunch of killing machines. Harrek is, of course, one of the deluxe models!
Cheers,
David Henderson
Powered by hypermail