naval matter

From: Durupt Jean <durupt_at_cc.ec-lyon.fr>
Date: Thu Mar 20 10:06:39 1997


 Hi all,

The closing
I'll have to disagree with Sandy Petersen on this.

In my opinion the Closing had two effects. The first was to sweep anything afloat from the seas of Glorantha, and the Waertagi like the Jrustreli fleet were affected. The second is to forbid the navigation.

Because of the first effect, the Ozur (sp?) bay near Loskalm was clogged with debris. When Dormal came, it was a normal bay, where his ships could sail.
If the first effect did still exist, the bay would have been impassable by boat because:
- - no initial debris could have left the bay,

In fact, if the first effect still exists, any gloranthan port is clogged by debris that cannot escape to the high sea. And no ship can leave port.

That is why I say that the first effect ceased to exist when all the seas were affected by the Closing.
It allows me to describe gloranthan seas like RW ones.

Are the Waertagi affected by the second effect?

We know that any ship is affected by the Closing, and I think that only the ships (or the boats) are affected. A ship (or a boat) is able to escape a sea current. We know that mermen, sea animals, sea birds are not affected by the curse.
A tree trunk is not affected either.
The great difference between a Waertagi ship and a human one is the philosophy behind it.
The Waertagi ride the waves, the humans try to ignore them. If a tree can be uprooted by a flood and sail to Magasta's Pool thanks to the waves and the sea currents, then a dragonship can sail without being affected by the Closing, since she only follows the waves (controled by the Waertagi but that is another story). If a merman can drag a tree trunk and lose sight of the coast, then a waertagi fastship dragged by a sea creature is not affected either.

The humans build ships because they don't raise sea creatures, and so they cannot breed draft sea creatures. And since they are not sea creatures themselves, they don't worship the oceans like the waertagi. They cannot bind a local sea current to their ships' hulls like the Waertagi do, Thus they are still affected by the second effect of the Curse.

Two interesting cases are the rafts and the moonboats. A raft is mostly propelled by the currents, and could escape the curse. They are useless as ships.

A moonboat flies, but on the dark moons she has to land. We can imagine a lunar expedition to Pamaltela with a moonboat. Each dark/dying moons they have to land on the sea. I agree that if they try to sail, they will be affected by the curse, but if they only wait on the surface until the next crescent moon, they can eventually reach their destination.
They fall in the seabird category.

Why were the Waertagi wiped by the Closing?

I'll have to check the dates but I think that they sunk Jrustrela before the Closing reached the island.
Anyway, they were only affected by the first effect. They had expanded so much magic against Jrustrela that they could not escape the sweep.
A titanic wave could have saved them by leading them beyond the wall, but they could not raise one when the wall struck them.

What did the Waertagi do during the Closing?

Some had their ship totally destroyed and were stranded on the coast.

Some had to beach their ship. They were stranded too but, if they can have their ship hauled to a drydock for repairs, they can come back on the seas.

Some went down to Hell through Magasta's Pool, and sailed on Hell's ocean. Maybe the fact that Dormal opened the sea allowed them to find the ocean of eternal return and the world beyond. Eventually, they would have come back, even without Dormal opening.

Vadeli and Waertagi

Both races want a monopoly on the seas.

The Vadeli need Dormal'magic. The Waertagi don't (at least IMO). Any other seafaring nation has a choice to do.

They can side with the Waertagi to crush the Vadeli, but the Waertagi want to destroy Dormal's magic and destroy their fleet.

They can side with the Vadeli against the Waertagi. Both need Dormal. But the Vadeli are treacherous and with the blues no human politician or admiral is their match, in the end they will be happy if they can keep a fishing fleet.

They can try to unite to crush the Waertagi and the Vadeli. With blue admirals, red marines and invulnerable dragonship, perspectives are bleak for a naval campaign. One solution would be to use Tanian, like the God Learner did. But it is a destrutive one.

The Vadeli race

As Sandy Petersen said in the past, the Vadeli have three colours. The Brown are the crafter mainly.
They may not captain a ship, they may not use an elemental weapon (ie swords are forbidden)

The reds are wariors.
They may captain a ship, they may only herd, hunt or harpoon sea creatures. They cannot fish and they cannot be farmers. They can use any weapon.

The blue are the rulers.

If any of the three cultures break one of the geas they lose their immortality, as if a Brithini talar did some magic. They maintain their immortality by nasty practices. All three cultures may do magic, and a Vadeli is often a potent sorceror.
The three can live alone as the brown and the red did.

When I designed the blues, I took inspiration from the brown and the reds.
They have to be able to survive alone, ie to feed themselves for example, they may fight, and they can work, unlike a Brithini talar. I think that they came back in the world when the closing was complete. The older are more than 200 years old. For their geas I propose
They may only captain a ship, they can only hunt or gather their food, they may only use one weapon to fight. They are innate politician and generals. Maybe superior to the KoW in strategy.
They cannot leave their island, and it will be discovered when someone sail to Brithos, so that Zzabur failure is complete.

	Peace
		Jean

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End of Glorantha Digest V2 #576


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