Sables, Gloranthan civ, Tricksters

From: Stephen P Martin <ilium_at_juno.com>
Date: Wed, 01 Jan 1997 01:22:36 EST


"Dave Black" <dave_black_at_leamy.chshq.dfo.ca> SABLE RIDERS MOUNTS
>
>Can someone clarify for me what Sable Riders are actually riding? My =
>dictionary says that sable is the fur of a small arctic rodent. Clearly
=
>this is not what fierce nomadic types would ride...
>

Judging from their mention in a recent Sunday newspaper comic strip, I think the Sable Antelope is a terrestrial creature. I believe they are native to Africa (where else?). You'll probably need to look in an Animal Encyclopedia, as the best you will get from normal dictionaries and encyclopedias is a generic description of antelopes.

I don't know if Sable Antelopes are actually black or not. My gut instinct says they are not. Perhaps they were named for the sable because of some other quailty -- fur appearance (other than color) or feel?

Peter Metcalfe <P.Metcalfe_at_student.canterbury.ac.nz> more on gloranthan civ
>
>IMO We would run into problems with two different nations having the
>same gods on both sides - Alakoring versus Orlanth Dragonfriend,
>uniting Ralios and so forth.
>

Except that most such "universal" deities, such as Orlanth, are only the sum of the various heroes, spirits, and deities which were amalgamated together. For example, I would pretty confidently state that Alakoring IS Orlanth Dragonslayer; Ingolf IS Orlanth Dragonfriend; etc.

>A better way to work it would be to have a pantheon/monomyth
>for each country or culture. This would describe how well they
>percieve the cosmos. Thus Sartar would have Orlanth in its
>storm slot and Ernalda in its earth slot.
>

This severely limits the usefulness of the game. I think most players would rather identify with a specific deity. Civilization has each player associated with a given culture, as I recall, and things like various Religions can eventually develop. I think a different approach is called for in a Gloranthan version, where the Religions are a bit more "real" and, if I may venture so far, important, than in Civ.

>Stephen P Martin:
>=================
>
>>How do you do things like the Sunstop and Closing?
>
>In Pax Britannica and Republic of Rome, they have certain marker
>indicating European Tensions and Social Unrest. If these get too
>high then nasty things start to happen. A similar marker could be
>worked out for a gloranthan game (abuses of the cosmos).
>

So, there would be some kind of guage or timer to a major event. In some ways I prefer the Timer, since these types of changes seem to appear every 600 years or so. As to what change you got, you could have a deck of 40 or so cards. In addition to the normal events like Sunstop, Closing, Opening, and Rising of the Red Moon, you could have things like the Sky Turning Purple, Genertela Cracking in Half, and another invasion of trolls from Hell.

[This last paragraph only half facetious.]

Say, that is something that was left out of KoS -- some scholar's attempt to date the Golden Age based on his Cycle of the Devil and the Ages of the World section. Sort of like the guys who dated the time of the Creation from the Bible.

New Subject

Does anyone out there have any ideas on the form the Trickster takes, and how he is treated in myth, in Prax and/or among the Trolls?

For Prax, I infer the following Trickster forms from Waha's Quest (DW 4): Jackrabbit, Raven, Hyena, Human, Toad or Rattlesnake.

Raven is a Thief

Jackrabbit probably is as well, and also is the Pursued aspect.

Hyena is a Fool, of course, and possibly partakes of Devourer.

Rattlesnake is a Destroyer, and possibly Shapechanger. If the form is Toad rather than Rattlesnake, I am not sure what its attributes are.

Human, of course, partakes of all of these.

For the trolls, I would imagine that Devourer is well-known and quite popular. Other likely forms seem to be Firestarter, Drunkard, and Destroyer.

I also think that Eristi the Doubter might be a Trickster aspect, sort of the opposite of the Rogue/Lier aspect. I envision a spell called Disbelieve, though what exactly it does I am unsure.

This question is asked because I am working on Praxian and Troll issues of The Book of Drastic Resolutions, and would like to include some info on tricksters in both. Anyone got any opinions?

Stephen Martin
ilium_at_juno.com

- -----------------------------------------------
The Book of Drastic Resolutions
drastic_at_juno.com

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