Eric the 'alf a bee

From: Martin Crim <mcrim_at_erols.com>
Date: Fri, 19 Jul 1996 20:24:16 -0400 (EDT)

Robyn McNamara writes:
>Now I don't know about the other participants on this list, but I like
>to draw on rural folklore IMG. My games are usually set in country that
>is strongly reminiscent of mediaeval rural England, so it adds flavour.
>I don't think it's much of a stretch to allow Minlister initiates a spell,
>or knowledge of a ritual, that allows them to _ask_ the bees to move to
>another hive so that the honey may be harvested. Of course, the bees must
>first be placated, and they are capricious....

In an Imtherian village where bees were important, there would be seasonal worship of a bee spirit who might indeed allow Speak to Bees. OTOH, he might teach secret cult knowledge of building hives you don't have to destroy in order to harvest. This knowledge he (yes, he) transmitted in/through a myth about some ancient injury (how he got to be half a bee)...

This ties into the "how many initiates" debate. My approach on this, BTW, is to keep maximum fuzz. One could even construct a fuzzy logic matrix with the axes being 1) connection to the main deities of the pantheon, 2) zealousness of worship, 3) number of worshipers, 4) local mythic connection, and 5) an inconsistency factor, generated randomly. I want Glorantha to be a place were a God Learner could construct two mythically identical villages and find different magical effects for reasons he can't figure out. The God Learner could chalk up the inconsistencies to otherwise-imperceptible fluctuations in the spiritual realm, but that's a cop-out for people who think giving something a name explains it.

Yours semi-carnally,
- --Martin Crim

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