Brawling Uz (mostly)

From: Daniel McCluskey (Volt Comp) <"Daniel>
Date: Sat, 1 Feb 1997 11:40:58 -0800


James Frusetta:
>trolls
>can't resort to eeing, IMO, because trollish sight is crap. "Dark trolls
>are farsighted, and must use their darksense close at hand."
><snip>
>So, a weird suggestion: darkness _always_ existed. Before light. It is
>not the absence of light, it's the norm. There's always darkness around
>you, even at high noon -- humans just can't make it out, but trolls can,
>because they'z uz, dammit. Light doesn't drive it away -- darkness is
>still there, ever present. So trolls always have enough darkness to use
>darksense, but darksense is superior when light isn't around.
<my text ... (I HATE exchange)>
I'm convinced. This also allows sounds to travel through Darkness, and explains away my concerns with that. Winds (ie:windwords) can sometimes pick up a bit of darkness (the words) and carry it elsewhere. </my text>
>Orlanth's "Wind Words"
>> certainly Does imply an air-sound connection.
>Ah, the jerk just stole it from Kyger Kitor, I bet. Just like Sandals of
>Darkness.

I have a draft of a Kitori myth I invented about the sandals of Darkness. Basically, the outline is that when the trolls came to the surface, KL and Orlanth had themselves a big ol' Brawl, and each decided that the other was too tough to beat, so they got married instead, so that they could maintain an uneasy truce. Part of this Marriage (STRICT heresy ANYWHERE but the Kitori Woods) was Orlanth's aquisition of the Sandals of Darkness.

I hold (through the revelation of the great LM seer Imade Itup) that there is an ancient Uz tradition that in order for a wedding to be valid, the bridegroom has to successfully steal something from the Bride-to-be. This helps reduce domestic violence and abuse by ensuring that the poor weak hubby is tough and sneaky enough to withstand his wife.

>I was in a campaign once, though, where a Moonsword cultist strolled into
>a Xentha temple (and was slain, natch. Horribly).
And Xentha is the "nice" darkness goddess! she actually likes humans (ther than to eat<g>

>> fingers) but this is just IMO. of course, I like the idea of Uz
>> "humanologists" having to train value trollkin to read to them... maybe
>> spelltrading an ocasional Detect Lie from the Lhankor Mhy to weed out
>> the unreliable (Yum! <burp!>.)
>This is almost worth junking my belief they can use texture to read! Heck,
>it _is_ worth it. This'd be reason #33 Why Trolls Make Better Graduate
>Students: Trollkin slave race to do their reading for them. <g>
Huzzah! a convert! (now if only I can convince Greg and Sandy...)
>
>> Actually, I'm still convinced that the nose would be most crippling...
>> but I havn't really determined just how all this fits into Uz culture...
>Maybe you _don't punch there_, just like you don't (usually) punch the
>throat in human culture in friendly fighting? MGF -- the trolls get in a
>bar brawl in Pavis. The human hits him in the jaw/nose. The troll gets
>_very_ angry, now... (Raising the question, where do trolls punch each
>other for fun? Maybe it's more polite to slam the other troll in the gut?
>or the ol' knee-in-groin doesn't carry the same social stigma?)
I suppose that Trolls prolly just DONT punch. I think it makes sence, actually... they push and slap, Like Sumo Wrestlers (and bite -- very much unlike sumo wrestlers). Considering that their weapons tend to be all swing/blugeon types, it would be kinda strange for them to use a stabbing motion (normal human punch) in unarmed combat. This mode of combat also helps reduce permanant injuries, while allowing trolls to be extremely physical and violent in their social interactions, as I feel they Ought to be. It also favors the larger and stronger females over males which is socially correct, and Greatly reduces the changes of a miscarriage (really THE most important concern of the uz). Punching, or kicking above the knee (note that ALL of an enlo counts as below the Knee, of course) is probably Extremely bad form in an Uz brawl, much like biting or hitting below the belt is for humans. I think knee-in-groin is probably bad amongs trolls for the same procreative reasons as punching in the belly. ( on females, it's Close to the belly, and she may be preggers, and on males, you just might piss off his wife... <g>).

I also really like the Idea of a Troll in a barroom in Pavis bellying up to a stormbully and slapping him silly... (ooohhh, gawsh, Imagine how a Yelmite or Shargashi would respond to being slapped....<evil g>... I bet that's how a Troll would respond to being punched... I smell some MGF brewing...)
>
>Hey, maybe it's true. See, Zorak Zoran is in Hell, and each night Yelm
>shows up. So ZZ grabs him, and punts him up in the sky. Now, ZZ's so
>strong, he kicks Yelm up so high, it takes a whole day for him to fall
>back down. At the end of the day, Karrg catches him, and passes him back
>to ZZ, where they repeat the cycle. Yelm: The Cosmic Football. Boot.

I LIKE it... sort of a Grims Fairy tale for young Uzlings... (of course the more consevative XU nurses forbid such tales, because it's not good for the yung'uns to be confronted with such horrors as "daytime" in their tender youth).

danm

>


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