Gloranthan Movies/Jus Primae Noctis

From: MOBTOTRM_at_vaxc.cc.monash.edu.au
Date: Mon, 10 Feb 1997 00:43:05 +1100


G'day all,

Gloranthan Movies/Jus Primae Noctis

Dave Cheng enthuses:

>An issue or two back, someone mentioned "The Princess Bride" as a good
>Gloranthan movie. Anyone who remembers my posts from back when the movie
>came out knows that I feel Mad Mel's "BRAVEHEART" is the greatest
>Gloranthan movie ever.

Yep I remember Dave's posts from back then; on his recommendation I went and saw "Woad Warrior", dragging along Susan and a couple of friends. Unlike Dave I thought Braveheart to be a sprawling mess of a masturbatory epic, more a homage to the star by its director than a tribute to William Wallace's struggle for Scottish independence. Nevertheless it did have rollickingly awesome battle scenes (directed by the second unit director, by the way), not to mention the splendid unsubtlety of calling Prince Edward's chum Lord Bottoms! Unfortunately, Mad Mel also has a bad wig, disconcertingly blue digitally-enhanced eyes, a wobbly accent and a ludicrously-improbable love interest. In my opinion, if you arrived an hour late and snored through the remaining overblown wromatic slush, what's left would be a wonderful Gloranthan movie!

Another great "Gloranthan" flick is the Ancient Greece bit of Terry Gilliam's 'Time Bandits', with Sean Connery as King Agamemnon. His fight with the Minotaur is classic RQ2-stuff, right down the armour!

>In Braveheart, the English lord has the right to take a new Scottish bride
>to his bed on her wedding night. This breeds much resentment among the
>young Scot husbands, as well as a few bastard English.
>
>This got me thinking, what if the Lunars have something similar, but more
>distinctly 'Lunar'? I submitted this scenario kernel to MOB for _Soldiers
>of the Red Moon_, but since that's on indefinite hold, I'll share it here.

This is excellent stuff, and if we feature some of the SotRM stuff in future issues of Tales, this *will* be part of it!

On the topic of Jus Prima Noctis, I posted this 'From the Notes from Nochet files' entry a while back (like my Columbus Mercator schtick, I like the way we can spin things on their head in Glorantha!):



>From the Notes From Nochet files:
(XXIX.12-69) The so-called "droit de seignora", the Esrolian law that states that a feudal lady has the right to sexual congress with a vassal's bridegroom on his wedding night, is I think, the most iniquitous of all laws in all the Holy Country.
Telgonius the Jurist, law-master of this temple.

[No doubt old Telgonius would be less indignant if his holdings lay in the Heortland. There King Richard's new law of "jus prima noctis" applies, in which it is the lord, not lady, who may sleep with his tenant's betrothed on their first night.
Duenna Agrippina Muliebritrix.]


Cheers

MOB PS I have just received a copy of both the MIG (Meints Index to Glorantha) and Tarsh War. Bloody brilliant both of 'em! The MIG is chock full of facts on everything, replete with wry comments by Mr Rick. Tarsh War has got sensational artwork throughout by Dan Barker, and loads of good stuff on the Lunar Army. Both are *must buys* for the ardent Gloranthaphile!



>From the Notes From Nochet files:
(XXIX.12-50) I, Lucien the Diviner, Full Priest, Master of Lores and Intimate of the Spirit Plane, herein set down the truthful and correct answer to the question that has wracked our temple, "What is the shape of the earth?" It is self-evident to all who have understanding to realise it that the shape of our world can be irrefutably determined by contemplating the Mobility rune. I have not the time to spare from my studies to expound any further to the ignorant, so I will leave the words and their meaning to stand alone for all to regard. Those who do not understand should study more the ways of the cosmos, and seek counsel of those who do.

End of Glorantha Digest V4 #183


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