Answers and Aphids

From: TTrotsky_at_aol.com
Date: Wed, 4 Jun 1997 14:31:52 -0400 (EDT)


 Shon Vaughan:  

<< Is it possible to remain a devout Orlanthi while enjoying the benefits and   luxuries of Lunar citizenship?>>

     I've always felt that to be an actual Lunar _citizen_ you need to be an initiate of a Lunar cult. The excellent write-up of Moonson in TOTRM#16 supports this view. I don't see how you could be a devout Orlanthi and a Lunar initiate at the same time, so the answer to the question actually posed is 'no'. OTOH, it is possible IMO, to live in a strongly Lunarised area and remain a reasonably devout Orlanthi, although probably not a fanatical one! Still, it would be difficult, since you will tend to be heavily taxed and generally put upon by the authorities. I don't imagine very many Orlanthi do so, but I think it's possible. Areas that are only partially Lunarised, like Pavis or Sartar, are full of Orlanthi, but they don't get 'benefits and luxuries'.

<<Do mainline Orlanthi treat these Orlanthi as traitors?>>
 

    Some of them do, sure. To become a Citizen, you'd have to give up your god, so they'd have a fair point! But it depends on the Orlanthi. Many Issaries traders, frex, will probably be willing to trade with such turncoats, although they're unlikely to be too friendly. As a general rule I'd say that the Orlanthi living in cities have a less violent attitude to the Lunars than the backwoods clans. They get to see the benefits of Lunar living, and can't afford to be too openly hostile. Of course, that isn't to say that they wouldn't support an uprising when they had the opportunity.

<< What are the staples of the *human* diet?>>

    Unhelpful but accurate answer: Depends on the human culture. BTW the non-human races also have varied cultures too, one of the nice things about Glorantha IMO. Better than all those D&D players who assume that all elves are alike ;-)

     Answer to the question I think you meant: The Sartarites eat mainly barley based products, with wheat, oats, lamb and chicken supplementing the diet. Presumably a few vegetables as well. This is from p16 of the Genertela player's book.

     Bonus comments: As for other cultures, grain of some kind is going to be the main staple of all the Genertelan agrarian communities. The list of Grain Goddesses in GoG gives some idea of the Pameltelan staples. The nomadic cultures eat products derived from their animals (or those of their neighbours) while the Hsunchen are hunter-gatherers with diets varying from tribe to tribe. There are some exceptions, like the nomadic Grazers eating the food grown by the Vendref.  

<<After a battle with broos what is the usual response? Are your weapons
  discarded for fear of disease contamination?>>

    I'd think cleaning them thoroughly would do the trick. Bit of a bummer otherwise.  

<<What is the gestation period for a broo? I guestimated three days. If it
was significantly longer then the hosts would have to be cared for by the broos or face extermination by anyone who finds it.>>

    'Many weeks' according to ES. I'd go along with this, three days seems far too short. Remember, broo generally breed with non-sentient animals, and there's no obvious way of telling the host has been impregnated without specifically checking. Granted, it is a problem (from the broo POV) with human hosts. IMO broo don't breed much with humans, though. They try, of course, but it generally doesn't turn out very well (again, broo POV) for the reasons you've quoted.  

<<Is the host conscious and aware? If so, wouldn't people try to commit
suicide afterwards?>>

    Yes to both, I should think.  

<< What does a broo larvae look like?>>

     Urgh, why d'ya wanna know?! By the time it's born it looks like a baby broo, if that's what you meant.  

<<Try this for your next jaunt into the Wastes: A one (or two) cubic meter
undine (water elemental) is very easy to summon and bind. For two POW you can have a binding. One (or two) cubic meter(s) of water lasts a long time if you don't have to
carry it and it doesn't evaporate when you are storing it.>>

    I'm not very familiar with the RQ rules, but I didn't think you could do this. Is a 'bound' creature actually following you about? I thought they just did one task for you, does 'follow me about through the Wastes, and don't beat me up even if I try to drink bits of you' count as a single task? You could try using the sorcery spell 'dominate elemental' I suppose, but that's a lot more than 2 magic points, you'd need to stack the duration to at least 10 points. I agree that if you were willing to expend this much energy that it might work (at least according to da roolz as I understand them - and I don't play RQ so I could well have missed something) since I agree that the undine won't evaporate for the same reason that salamanders don't need fuel.

<<This has been my first post and if I get friendly and helpful responses I
  will post more of my ideas as well as ask more questions.>>  

    I hope that wasn't too unhelpful. And most of us here are nice, friendly chaps, honest!

     Oh yeah, aphids and trees. The dratted things seem quite happy to eat the shoots of the trees in my back garden. Also, my book on insects describes some species that specifically attack poplars, oaks and apple trees. Not the woody bits, obviously, but I imagine this is only 'cos they can't get their little stabbing stylets through the bark. If they was BIG killer greenfly I'm sure they'd have a go. They probably wouldn't breed so fast as RW aphids, though, since if they did we'd be snowed under!

Forward the glorious Red Army!

     Trotsky


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