KoW

From: Nick Brooke <100656.1216_at_CompuServe.COM>
Date: 15 May 96 06:40:33 EDT



In a recent post, William characterised the Kingdom of War as:

> a kingdom packed with Urox and ZZ berserks, grim fearless Humakti
> fanatics, and vengeful Babeester Gor devotees...

This brought to mind a minor point, but I'll mention it anyway: one of the things I find when writing about Glorantha is that slapping the names of known cults onto what ought to be strange foreign phenomena tends to 'label' them with all kinds of unwanted associations. The further I get from Dragon Pass and Prax, the less I expect to find similarly-named deities, similar cult practices, etc. (Sometimes this feels like "wimping out", but whatever...).

Anyoldhow, I'd have written that passage rather differently: "a kingdom of soldiers, warriors, berserkers, plunderers and mercenaries, all fanatically devoted to their one hundred Gods of Death." Sure, there will be KoW warriors who use spells like Trueswords, Berserks, Sever Spirits, Undead, Fear, etc. -- they have access to the best War Magic of the world, in all of its forms (and not just Rune Magic, for that matter). But I don't think there are (recognisable) Swords and Storm Khans and Holy Avengers in the ranks of the Kingdom of War.

I agree that in a very real sense they are worshippers of the gods of war -- that their battalions get power from the same deity, rune, power source (or whatever) as the Cults of Humakt (etc.) -- but I don't think they "ARE Humakti". Their ethos and ideology and obligations are those of the Kingdom and their own (subcult, tradition, regiment, faction): I don't feel these should be "adapted" versions of cults which are well-known elsewhere.

Of course, if you like the God Learned monomythical Glorantha of World-Wide One And Only True Cult Writeups (Accept No Substitute!), your outlook will differ. For my part, I don't have much time for this.

___
MOB wrote that, in contrast to his Rokari chaos,

> the Hrestoli under Pope David Gadbois looked a very trim outfit indeed,
> like the Gloranthan equivalent of a US televangelist campaign.

They were also immensely boosted IMHO by the fact that David, in his costume (another very trim outfit), looked like a dead ringer for God: *I'd* have voted for him!



Nick

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