gives some information from his East Isles stuff. More, pretty please...
I said
>>Elder Races Book has next to nothing on Ludoch culture and daily
>>life, and nothing at all about any of the other races.
> Mainly because it's hard for mermen to be PCs, or even
>interact with them much. They're stuck being mysterious entities of
>the sea.
Unless you have a Rightarm Isles campaign taking place in boats, I can see the problem - lately I had to referee a convention game with a centaur PC, and there went my island climbing scenario, I had to settle for the Sartarite/Praxian border.
An entire underseas campaign would be very exotic, but perhaps there could be a one-off for conventions. Anyone feel inspired?
> Current interactions of Merfolk with humanity are many:
> 2) The Ludoch of Kethaela have some kind of plans kindling.
>Note that the Admiral of Rightarm betrayed the other states of
>Kethaela in their war vs. the Lunars, and later had his fleet sunk by
>the Wolf Pirates. But the mermen were untouched by this defeat. With
>the defeat of the Admiral, it's clear that the balance of power in
>Rightarm has passed from the humans to the mermen. Now they are in
>charge. The proximity of Three Step Isle is indicative, IMO.
This has left me greatly puzzled.
Ok, I did know that the Rightarm isles are effectively run by the Ludoch. The Islander admiral has nominal control of all the fleet (except small local contingents in Heortland and certain Esrolian ports) and is respected by most of the fisherfolk spread around the Mirrorsea Bay (including the shores of Heortland, Esrolia, and Caladraland, although I am less sure about those of the God Forgot Isles).
I did not know that the Ludoch did forsake their historical allies at any point - the Wolf Pirate success over the Pharaonic navy was possible even with mermen support of the Holy Country, IMO, especially if Peter Metcalfe is right about Harrek having been there with a bunch of fresh Ygglinga (which is difficult to reconcile with his sack of Sog a year later - apparently from the land, with mercenary support from the upper Janube valley). Key to this success were Orstando's sea sorcerers, IMO, who would have been able to conjure strange (Neleomi sea type) weather in the Mirrorsea Bay to cover the Wolf Pirate actions, and then mobility, leading to local advantage of sheer numbers, and fighting spirit.
What puzzled me most is Sandy's sequence of events. The Kethaelan fleet is sunk in 1616, three years before any Lunar move south from Sartar. Of course the mermen were largely untouched by this defeat - what are ships to them?
Do you hint at an alliance between the Rightarm Ludoch and the Wolf Pirates? What would the Ludoch gain from this shift of alliances?
> 3) At the moment, the Zabdamar are suspiciously inactive vs.
>the Kralori. Not that they don't sink, curse, and harass ships. They
>do. But they appear to be biding their time, waiting for the
>initiation of some big plan. Or else perhaps they are currently
>disorganized, squabbling among themselves.
>
> 4) The Coral Queendom (Ludoch) in the East Isles has a
>temporary truce-by-default with Haragala, a Mexican standoff with the
>Valkarian Coalition, and evidently tolerates the Ratuki and their
>slave-raids. One common rumor is that the Queen of the mermen is
>bargaining both with the Vorumai _and_ the Haragalans for the best
>deal, after which she will help destroy the other. This might be one
>reason why the Haragalans have proven slow to join forces with the
>Valkarians vs. the Vorumai -- the Queendom may be demanding the
>destruction of the Valkarians as price for her services.
>
> 5) The cost of Fonrit and Laskal is currently in bondage to
>the Malasp. Every ship must pay both homage and tribute to the
>grasping merfolk. With the years passing, the merfolk's demands have
>become even more rapacious, and recently merman inspectors have taken
>to coming onto the land, and being taken (in carriages) to view
>interior activities within Fonrit.
>
> 6) The Malasp and Ludoch are fighting an undersea war in and
>around the Maslo and Marthino. The victor of this war will determine
>the fate of the budding city-states of Elamle and Onlaks. If the
>Malasp win, the folk of these peninsulas will be forced into
>obscurity and probable extinction. If the Ludoch win, they will
>become one of the major naval influences on Glorantha -- their ships
>will trade across the lozenge and bring people from all the world
>into contact. Their hard-working and courageous attitude, as
>exemplified by their long struggle against the Mother of Monsters and
>hostile elves, certainly deserves the reward of a Ludoch victory, but
>who knows?
>
>
>Sandy P.
>
>------------------------------
>
>From: Majordomo <major_at_hops.wharton.upenn.edu>
>Date: Wed, 21 Aug 1996 12:54:06 -0400 (EDT)
>Subject: RQ RIP ? (fwd)
>
>Forwarded message:
>>From loren_at_hops.wharton.upenn.edu Tue Aug 20 10:30:47 1996
>Date: Tue, 20 Aug 1996 10:41:36 -0400
>Message-Id: <9608201441.AA29992_at_accessaig>
>X-Sender: pharmaty_at_accessaig.aig.com
>X-Mailer: Windows Eudora Light Version 1.5.2
>Mime-Version: 1.0
>Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"
>To: <glorantha-digest-owner_at_hops.wharton.upenn.edu>
>From: Paul Harmaty <pharmaty_at_accessaig.aig.com>
>Subject: RQ RIP ?
>
>SimonPhipp writes: RQ RIP
>"Will Tales of the Reaching Moon still support RuneQuest?"
>=> I don't see why it would be impossible. The background information
>and character motivations provided in any good Glorantha material would be
>usable in any role playing game. The specifics mechanics related to a
>Pendragon Pass type of game should actually HELP any role playing game as
>there would be references to passions and traits that drive people to behave
>as they do. Even if beloved
>RQ doesn't use these mechanics, their presence enhances the depth of any
game.
>
>"Now, to get more Gloranthan material, I will have to buy the new game and
>supplements, the wargame/skirmish rules and supplements and the boardgames
>and supplements. Is it worth it, I ask myself. Perhaps not."
>=> Do you prefer the current availability of Glorantha material? You can
>always choose NOT to buy anything. I may not buy new Glorantha material that
>doesn't relate to the areas around Dragon Pass (as Sandy pointed out in his
>survey results - most of us role play in Sartar, Tarsh, Prax the environs).
>
>"Even if I do buy these things, I'll probably convert them to RuneQuest as
>that is the game I am most familiar with..."
>=> Sure, make yourself comfortable, but don't close the door too
>tightly on new experiences. You might find that the new RPG provides even
>greater opportunities for role playing on Glorantha. You might not WANT to
>convert to the new system but at least wait for the reviews. It might be
>clearly a better game than RQ.
>
>"At the moment, I am seriously toying with the idea of giving up
>Glorantha and RuneQuest completely..."
>=> That would be a shame. I understand your hurt. RQ opened the world
>Glorantha to many of us. It defined how we saw that world in many ways.
>We must trust (and hope) that the new system will give us new eyes to see
>the world even more clearly.
>==============================
>
>I'm very excited about the rebirth of Glorantha. We are sure to notice a
leap in
>the quality & presentation of the material released. If Chaosium does it at
>all, they do it right. The very fact that they want a dozen manuscripts
>nearly ready for release tells you they plan to give Glorantha the support
>it deserves. As true belivers we should rejoice! RQ (the name) may be dead,
>but it's spirit lives on! The new RPG is a new birth of that spirit.
>
>It may be two years before we get to see the RPG, but I'll play the skirmish
>rules for sure! I have a huge collection of 25mm lead soldiers that we've
>used for Warhammer Battles. Now the Vikings can be a clan of Sartarites and
>the high elves can be Lunar legioners. "Let us raid a Lunar tax wagon and
>escape into the wild hill country...together". I can't wait!
>Paul Harmaty
>
>
>------------------------------
>
>From: Joerg Baumgartner <joe_at_toppoint.de>
>Date: Wed, 21 Aug 96 19:13 MET DST
>Subject: HeroCouching?
>
>John Brown aka arkat has a problem with personal experiences within
roleplaying.
>
>>Well, I as a person don't go and do something to gain insight about my
>>personality unless I go see a therapist.
>
>Excuse me if I am ignorant of the therapist culture (so often depicted in
>"typical views of American life", like Woody Allen movies), but why the
>Hellcrack would anyone go to a therapist when he or she can _experience_ or
>insight through a fun action?
>
>Don't you ever face your players with a moral dilemma, and let them fail to
>sort it out? Make them decide which "lesser evil" to choose? That's a lot
>what the HeroQuesting mechanics John has been describing are about. HQing is
>_not_ restricted to super-RQ, it needn't include any of it. (It can - Harrek
>or Argrath type questing tends to, some Lunar stuff as well. Other Lunar
>T&Jing is quite removed from any skill use.)
>
>
>>I'm sure that a PC in the game also
>>doesn't go on an HQ to have some cathartic experience or gain some insight
>>into his own personality. A hero goes on an HQ to get something (for himself
>>or his people) or to find out something (like who is Yelmalio?). A hero does
>>not go on an HQ to find out that the reason he can't trust women is because
>>he hated his mother.
>
>Yeah. You did read Campbell, sure (I'm currently at my first run, and fail
>to be inspired or impressed by that part), and bought into the Freudian
>mistake as well. Your problem. Maybe even worth a session or two, if you
>want to do something about it. (Sorry... :)
>
>HQing _is_ about personal experiences shared with others. Myth is. The power
>of myth is that it resonates with some strings deep within you. When that
>resonance is absent, the myth doesn't mean much. This is why some "Mythos
>and History" sections of cult write-ups maybe describe the mythic actions,
>but fail to evoke anything but "gee, what a cool way to power" reaction.
>
>Your example about "Who is Yelmalio" is a good one: every Yelmalian/Elmali
>should go on this quest, and find his personal answer. Which may be a part
>of a cosmic truth, possibly even a single one. However, a quest yielding a
>lexicalic definition of "the god-plane entity falsely appelled as Yelmalio
>by unwitting savages" probably fails to register as a heroquest, unless you
>are a God Learner and do this as part of your personal quest to
>depersonalize all the myths, in order to construct something with them or
>raid something out of them. Not even the Loskalmi forays into the
>semi-reality beyond the mystical guardian take away the personal experience
>from their quests. (Which are the only reason why I think that Loskalm
>stands a chance to keep the KoW at bay for as long as it takes Argrath to go
>on his LBQ, the Loskalmi wizard-knight-questers can use the resource of
>men's dreams which the KoW has cut itself from, thus they can defy the harsh
>and brutal reality of the KoW with romantic and dreamlike stunts.)
>
>
>>Introspection and overcoming of prejudice may come as a result of
>>heroquesting but it is not the object of the heroquest.
>
>Understanding of any power is the object of a heroquest. More often than not
>the "power" gained in the quest is the knowledge about the weakness of the
>enemy, and a token to use this weakness against the enemy. If the enemy's
>power consists of knowledge about the quester's weakness, then introspection
>is the reward. Add some flashy piece of armour or heroic ability or whatever
>you want to visualize this, it's like a battle magic focus in RQ2. Useful to
>have, but not really mandatory.
>
>
>>It sounds like that Mr. Hughes would like the idea of having several couches
>>at the place where we would play HeroQuest. That way we could all lie down
>>and psychoanalyze each other and cure ourselves of problems like prejudices
>>both in the game and in our RW lives.
>
>You seem to be prejudiced that problems have to be solved in therapy...
>
>As you have said, you won't play heroquests for personal insights. Fine.
>Those won't (can't) be in the rules anyway. They can't be in published
>scenarios either, although some of the "problems" can be.
>
>
>------------------------------
>
>End of Glorantha Digest V3 #140
>*******************************
>
>
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