Re: Uz and Orca...

From: Brilliant Mistake <idyoung_at_seanet.com>
Date: Thu, 24 Apr 1997 21:07:41 -0700


Dan McCluskey writes...

> For those of you not (deeply fascinated with / raised in) the northwest,
> I suppose I should give some sort of overview of the folk that Whitey
> wiped out in the lovely Pacific Northwest (mind you, I am not especially
> knowlegable about this myself... so I'm generalizing horribly):

        Well, being from the PNW myself, I will point out that the only real glaring generalisation is about Whitey wiping the coastal natives out. Granted, as in virtually all cases, the natives didn't get a terribly fair shake from the white folk, but here in the Northwest the native tribes were treated much more kindly than in other places. The tribes here have been able to maintain much more of their culture and traditional lands than most places in North America. Far from wiped out, they're still here and keeping much of their traditions alive. Anyway, with that bit of kvetching out of the way, you write...

> Social Status was determined by how much stuff you could give away at a
> feast (called a "potlatch").

                        [snip]
> (Mostly I just love the Idea of trolls competing to collect enough food
> to gorge their rivals into submission. This is probably a common uz
> political tactic in all areas... a well fed troll is less likely to plot
> against you. "Feed your friends -- Gorge your Enemies" -- uz proverb?)

        I recall from Trollpack (RQ 2nd Ed.) that there were one or two accounts of trolls gorging themselves into comas or possibly even death. This might be an interesting tactic -- shame your rivals into over-eating themselves to death.

> Totem Poles: Basically carve a tree into a bunch of stylized
> animals/people and stand it up on the beach. (the UZ would have
> especially wonderful totems... all sorts of Darkness monsters and demon
> things)

        All troll-chewed stone, I imagine. This fits in very nicely with the troll practice of carving (actually chewing) stone idols to their gods. In your proposed village columnar basalt would work wonderfully.

        Ahh...what is it about a troll that's so damned romantic?

Gone,
Ian Young


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