I've been 'un-digested' for some time, so some of these points may be a bit
old...
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>REAL Storm Bulls do not use proxies and kill Chaos in
>their initiation ceremonies, if they die themselves then they were
>not worthy enough to follow the Bull.
I would dispute that a 'probationary' SB killed fighting chaos would be
denied SB burial rights. What greater honour can an SB aspire to than to die
fighting chaos? Surely it matters not how long one lives, but how well.
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>Not that I don't like these discussions, just that they can put new
>comers like me off
I was warned by my brother that mailing lists could get a bit elitist, and
I think I accidentally ruffled a feather early on, but overall I don't have a
problem with sharing the list among different levels of gloranthoacademia. I
just PageDown through most of the Yelm / Shargash / Carmania / Lightfore /
Elempur / Urvairinus type discussions, but I don't have a problem about them
being here, this is just the only way I can cope with the volume of traffic!
It is important to realise that the written word is more easily
misunderstood than spoken, so one should try to make it clear if you are joking
or just expressing a different opinion, rather than risk appearing to be
slapping someone down. (unless of course you are!).
- --------------------
The subject of re-posting comments & questions arose recently, so here is my
first ever post to the digest, which no-one picked up, but I still think is
interesting.
David Dunham wrote:
>>From: DScott_at_snail.demon.co.uk (David Scott)
>>Who thinks after reading Dorastor that Ralzakark is a part of
>>Nysalor/Gbaji/Arkat, and what will happen if all the parts are brought
>>together again. Will Nysalor/Gbaji/Arkat re-form.
>
>Ral(-???) + zak(-???) + ark(-at)?
See 'Dorastor : Land of Doom', pages 10-11, section titled 'The Second Age :
Dorastor in Ruins', note the following passages:
"In 842 Balarzak Leatherwing, a dragon-worshipper from the land of Tarsh, led
his companions to recover ash and water from the ruined place. ... Balarzak and
his companions returned alive and well, yet all died within three years, none by
normal means, with blood bubbling from his lips.
"Two famous Talastari heroes, Turvoy the Foreigner and Hardral the Flying Urox,
entered Dorastor in 857 to repeat the adventures of Balarzak; they emerged the
following year as draugr."
Hardral Ral
Balarzak + Zak
Arkat + Ark
= Ralzakark ?
Now I don't know much about these other two characters, but could this be more
than a coincidence? And what is a 'draugr'? I get the impression that you
wouldn't take one home to meet the folks, and Steve Thomas tells me it is the
Norse word for undead. So : three heroes (Arkat, Balarzak and Hardral) enter
Dorastor, meet an untimely demise ( Arkat is the possible exception here) and up
pops Ral-zak-ark...
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>It is very hard to imagine how the dolphin is "seeing" its environment
>through the use of its sonar.
Did anyone see the Tomorrow's World (british TV science programme) a few
weeks ago that showed a Japanese scientist fitting sonar devices to blind
people's foreheads? Spooky! There was a *totally* blind chap riding a bicycle
through a slalom course, and hitting a baseball with a bat!
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>Sorry if I've blathered on trying to illustrate a point ...
That's OK, I have a 'Page Down' key!
- --------------------
>Those few aldryami found in hot dry country have
>spines instead of leaves for hair, to prevent excessive moisture loss.
In parts of the Pamaltelan deserts, there are White Elves who have
poisonous blood/sap, and break off spines to use as blowpipe darts.
- --------------------
>it is rumoured Mistress Race trolls can "kill with a glance".
I've heard mention of Kill-At-A-Glance being a HQ power...
- --------------------
>Well I've just finished reading the 12 or so digests that had arrived
>over the weekend!
Lucky you! I've just waded through 133-157, and still have up to 177 to look
through!
- --------------------
>I particularly like this immunity to pagan magic idea.
There are spells in Sandy's sorcery (see my page), "Block Pagan", "Suppress
Spirit Magician", and "Suppress Priestcraft", but these are offensive against
the pagan themselves. There is room here for a defensive spell, I suppose,
and/or an enchantment. "Ward vs Pagans"?
- --------------------
>>armour question. As my geas prevents me allowing a
>>dumb animal to suffer ... no I can't say that :-)
>It's exactly this kind of attitude that puts people off Glorantha.
>New person gets insulted for asking a simple question. Of course some
This is another example of what I was on about earlier, it's too easy for a
flippant remark to be interpreted as a slap-down. Let's be a bit careful with
our language, eh?
- --------------------
>I like the idea of darksense using darkness as a medium
I agree. I don't see why Darkness shouldn't propagate sound, just like Earth,
Water and Air do, all to different degrees. Perhaps darkness is a particular
good medium for ultrasound, but nothing special for human-audible sound?
- --------------------
>Down in the Dungeons, by James D. Chapin
What a refreshing change! Reminds me of some stuff on Simon Phipp's much-missed
web site.
- --------------------
> It seems like the gods must have some understanding of at
>least past/present/future based on what I've read, or am I missing something?
We've had this subject up before, and it got a bit nasty, so I'm going to
be a bit careful! I don't see that past / present / future is necessarily the
same as cause & effect. It is in our world, and it is in post-compromise
Glorantha, but I don't think it is on the Heroplane or the Godplane. Frex, you
can go to the Heroplane and enter the myth of resurrecting Yelm, but hasn't he
already been resurrected? Isn't this a before / after contradiction? IMO, gods
understand cause and effect, but this is not necessarily the same as time, which
they may or may not understand. I don't psychoanalyse the gods to that extent, I
just go with what feels right.
- --------------------
:On Languge & Dialect:
There is a place here in the UK called "Pendlehill".
There was a hill, and the old english (or saxon or something) for Hill was
'Pend', and so it was imaginitively called 'Pend'. A village by the hill took
this name. The language changed, so the hill near Pend was called Pend Hill.
This name was contracted in use to 'Pendle', then people started calling the
village Pendle. The origin of 'Pendle' was forgotten, and people started calling
the hill near Pendle 'Pendle Hill'. Now we call the village Pendlehill, or
literally, 'hill-hill-hill'. Ain't language strange?
- --------------------
:Survey: WHAT I WANT:
1. RQ-Lite (I like lots of rules, but I appreciate that many people do not, and
found RQ3 intimidating).
2. Tower of Night, or at least a good Vivamort writeup.
3. More Strangers in Prax type material
4. A better GoG, like the french one.
- --------------------
Hurrah, I'm up to date on my digests! Now, I'm just off to London for a couple
of weeks ... oh bugger! Look forward to another megapost when I get back!
phibbs_at_csi.compuserve.com
http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/PHibbs
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| Phil Hibbs | What immortal hand or eye dare frame thy fearful symmetry? |
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