A bunch of random comments lieing around from when I was travelling last week.
> John Hughes' POV
>is largely based on an Australian RPG style, involving theatre and
>personal emotions, not the conventional potato-chip-&-monster-killing
>bash we're used to elsewhere.
Sydney style, now spreading a little. In Perth its still almost unknown, and in many other places Sydney style freeforming is generally acknowledged with a cry of 'ooh! who catharted?'.
I find it interesting, yet difficult. I'd like to know more, but it will be a long time before my gaming gets to be much like that.
>Several people have commented on my comments on Shamans being power-hungry,
>saying that real world shamans are not like this, or that they are called.
Ok, sure shamans want more power. But we could all do with more power, that is not the same as being 'power-hungry'.
>If anyone can give me a reason why a Shaman would not want
>to protect himself or make himself powerful enough to fight off the nasty
>spirits, could they let me know as I would be fascinated to hear their
>reasoning.
Sure. If the resources (time, POW, other magic resources) he would use to make himself more powerful could instead be used to heal a plague, save the lives of several tribespeople, scare off an enemy, convince a powerful spirit to leave the tribe in peace, etc. etc. Shamans do indeed want more power. But its not neccessarily their primary drive. Describing a shaman as 'power-hungry' because they spend time and effort making themselves more dangerous in spirit combat is like describing a Sword of Humakt as 'power-hungry' because he wants a higher sword skill and a Truesword spell.
The only shamans who I would describe as 'power-hungry' in the sense of devoting all their resources for power rather than to help those they serve are the Telmori Idovanu - and they gain power for the tribe, not themselves personally.
>I would like
>to point out that Arkat was reborn as a Mistress race troll.
>Therefore it must be possible for Cragspider (another seriously
>powerful heroquester).
I think the suggestion that Cragspider cannot become a dark troll because she has too strong a connection to fire is a reasonable one - Arkat, on the other hand, was never particularly know for fire powers, except presumably as a Zorani.
I also think that assuming that Cragspider the ancient nymph and Cragspider the Dark Troll heroine are the same being transformed is rather speculative - I think its just as likely that Cragspider was an uzko heroine who heroquested to prove that she was the same person as the nymph, thus she is Cragspider reborn in troll form or similar.
[forgotten who I'm quoting here]
> GRoY says that
>it was Sedenya, the Red Moon Goddess who crashed onto her worshippers at
>Mernita. Unless we identify all the moons as one moon, I don't really see
>how this can be.
Yikes! An outbreak of creeping Metcalfism! Of course all the moons are manifestations of the one true moon goddess. She changed colour, and was red at one time, and some time after that was blue, and after that fell down on Mernita
But seriously, the Blue Moon Plateau and Mernita are the only two places in the world that we know to have had moons fall on them for sure - it seems obvious to assume that they are the same, given only minor inconsistencies. But inconsistencies there are. We can skip over the geographical ones, and just say that mapping skills where crap back then, but we are still left with a few differences. And one of those is the colour of the falling moon.
Personally, I think the moon that fell was blue at the time. I think it was probably more properly called Lesilla, not Sedenya. But Lesilla is still worshipped in Plentonius' time, and regarded as fairly good by them (if not the sort of deity a real gentlemen would worship), so he diplomatically skips over the details of what colour the 'evil' moon was. I think there was some earlier event (perhaps the attack of Shargash) which caused the moon to change from red to blue.
[but I think this is Peter Metcalfe I'm quoting here]
>Umm, Lukarius married Gerra *before* Mernita fell victim and Gerra
>was known *long* before this (as she appears on the Gods Wall).
GRoY does record Lukarius as marrying Gerra before he shoots down Mernita. But more importantly she is recorded before and after that point - Gerra is a deity who incarnates a principle, not simply a historical figure.
> Thus
>Lukarius seems to be marrying the High Priestess of the Gerran Cult
>for some obscure reason.
But I don't think this follows - Lukarius marries suffering, not just a priestess. Peter, I think the literal interpretation where a mention of a deity means a priest(ess) is relevent less often than you think it is.
>The Fallen Sedenya *cannot* have become Gerra
>to marry the Emperor although the Gerran Cult may have taken upon the
>sufferings of Mernita in its rituals.
To expound my own shaky theory - I think Lukarius forcibly marries the high priestess of the Blue moon, Cerrulia, who was the queen of the Blue moon plateau, as part of his campaign against the moon religion. I think Cerrulia incarnates the moon goddess in much the same way the Emperor incarnates Yelm. I think after this defeat, she becomes involved with the worship of Gerra and follows Gerra's path. The details of this event are lost in the mists of time (actually, I bet the Annillans have a full explanation, but I'm not going to ask them, nor do I trust them).
This could also have something to do with why the Blue Moon Plateau is a Duchy. Isn't that strange? It is ruled by a man, which is damned unusual for a matriarchal trollish society. He also bears the archaic title of Duke, otherwise unknown in Dara Happa. Perhaps it is ruled by a man because the female line was subjugated by the Emperors (maybe even before the dawn) - and now any female ruler that might appear pretty quickly find herself in the mythic role of Gerra (ie loses badly), hence the patriarchal Dukes.
>The myth which states that Shargash cast down Lesilla does not
>mention Sedenya by name.
Which matters not at all if you accept that Sedenya and Lesilla were seen as aspects/ ancestors of each other even then - and as both were recorded as being revered by Mernita, it seems they were.
Cheers
David
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