Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Content-Length: 2725
>The rumoured production of simulacra (or "clones", as Nick Brooke names them
>in a modern term) might be the solution for this dilemma. Maybe the Vadeli
>who has made simulacra of himself has a conception of identity which
>includes all clone brothers, so as long as at least one of these survives,
>he will not have died. This might also account for some daring and bravery
>(may I say chuzpah?) the Vadeli showed in dealing with Jrustela and Umathela
>after the Closing.
>
>To outward appearances, there seem to be extraordinarily many twins and
>look-alikes among the Vadeli, but this might be explained by their
>incestuous ways. For the Vadeli who have produced a clone, there should be
>some magical ritual to exchange the experiences and memories since the
>separation of the two bodies, thus reuniting the separate bodies of one
>individual. Yes, this makes the Vadeli mindset very strange - as it should
>be, IMO.
Stay Alert! Trust No One! Keep your Enchanted Cross-bow Handy!
The Red Vadeli is your Friend! Trust the Red Vadeli! If you do not trust the Red Vadeli, you will be used as packing material in the next cargo shipment!
Going too far down the simulacra path, IMHO, conjures up far too much Paranoia baggage. Especially considering that we have color coding denoting the various levels of Vadeli.
Instead of having lots of twins and group-mind clone families, I think it's more horrific for something like this...
(not that this particular phrasing is very horrific. I'm generally not a horrific gamer <shrug>)
Brown Vadeli:
"Hello, friend! Would you care to sample this fish? Fine fish, freshly
killed!"
Farmer:
"By The Invisible God! Eblenoth! Weren't you trampled to death by
horses in Apple Lane two weeks ago?"
Brown Vadeli:
"So sorry, you must be mistaken. Perhaps you know my cousin?"
If the Vadeli do indeed create simulacra, it seems only logical that they would try to keep this strategic capability a secret instead of being blatant about it. Only rumors of Vadeli duplication would seep out, accompanied by horror stories of the blasphemous rituals needed to accomplish it.
Clues to it going on could be dropped subtly, by having players spot a familiar face in the crowd someplace far from home, only to have the person's friends and acquantences vouch that he's lived in the Vadeli Enclave all his life and has never been more than a few miles from home. "Memory Dumps" could occur upon "Budding" the new clone, but thereafter distance would permit them to grow as seperate people...
All IMHO, of course.
Powered by hypermail