Hungry Killer Whales, Erudite Light Servants

From: Thomas Doniol-Valcroze <tconrad_at_orbital.fr>
Date: Sun, 27 Apr 1997 22:52:14 +0200


Greetings everyone.

Hungry Killer Whales?

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James Frusetta, answering to my statement that orca do not eat humans:
>Really? I thought they'd snarf down one if they got hungry enough.

Well, they never got me... It's enough for me to trust them. :)

>And for Killer Whales, Dolphins are trollkin! ;) It is true that Orca
>eat dolphins...?

Yep. Sometimes. When they get hungry enough. Or if they are looking for =

sport. But most of the time, they prefer easier preys. Killer Whales are =

lazy fellows: they don't run after agile dolphins if they can get =

something slower...

But you are close to the truth when you say that for Killer Whales, =

Dolphins are trollkins: Killer Whales and Dolphins are kin indeed. In fact, Killer Whales *are* Dolphins. They are the biggest (and the =

smartest?) of dolphins.

As for their gloranthan origin, well, despite the parallels with trolls, =

I would still head for Ceto=EF and their kind. But maybe there is a common ancestor somewhere. I do like Daniel McCluskey's hypothesis:
>We could also have Korasting as the mother of Cetaceans by some sea
>god, with Sperm Whales (mighty hunters of the Dark Depths) as the
>"mistress" variety pre-darkness and orca as the "dark troll" analogue.

David Cake:
>I imagine the orca originating from the same roots as the cetoi
>triolini, that is basically the rape of sea powers by the storm gods.

I thought that there was no rape in Ceto=EF's case, that the union was =

voluntary, and that it was why Ceto=EF did like humans (unlike Pisco=EFs).

On something different now: About Light Servants:

- -------------------------------------------------
Ok. Here is my problem:
One of my players has a yelmalion. He is an initiate, and doing =

allright. He feels it may be time to move on (and get some reusable rune =

magic). So he asked me what were the requirements for acolyte status, =

besides being well seen by the cult.
So I read the requirements (both in GoG and in SC): you've got to have, =

just like priests, 50% in Ceremony, know Lightwall and Farsee, 10 points =

of rune magic (a rule with which you may, or may not, agree) and... 80% =

in Read/Write your native language.

Wow. 80%? I understand that for a Priest. But for a simple Light =

Servant?
Well, I said to myself, why not?
But then I looked at every described NPC-Light Servant I could find. =

And guess what? Many of them do not fulfill this requirement. Invictus doesn't. Fethal (in Shadow on the Borderland) doesn't. (Okay, Belvani does. But he is the only one, and he's weird anyway...)

So what should I do? Tell my player "Take a year off and study your =

writing skills" ?
What would you do?

Yours, Thomas.


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