many topics

From: Peter Metcalfe <P.Metcalfe_at_student.canterbury.ac.nz>
Date: Sat, 07 Jun 1997 01:22:02 +1200


Owen Jones:

>That is, do [Praxians] believe that the Storm Bull
>they worship is the same as the Storm Bull the Orlanthi worship?

Yes

>3. If two cultures meet, and culture A decides their storm/sun god _is_
>the same as the storm/sun god of culture B, but culture B decides that
>their god _is_not_ the same, what happens?

The cults of the two will remain distinct. If culture A decides to enforce the identification (ie put a statue of Zeus in the Temple) upon culture B, then violence may break out.

>If, later on, both cultures
>agree their gods are the same, do the gods merge at that point?

Yes unless there were some factors that inhibited the fusion of the cults (ie Culture A's Sun Cult is exclusive to the Nobles whereas Culture B's Sun Cult was followed by the women).

V S Greene:


>On the map of Dragon Pass in the RQ2 book and the map of Biturian's
>travels in CoP, south of Biggle Stone, north of Sog Ruins, and
>south-west of The Block is a little oval with "EX" in it.

It's a depression in the ground caused by the Block as it bounced on the way to the Devil. The circle above the D in the legend 'Defender's Shore' is also caused by the same

ObRiddle: Has anybody else noticed how the trajectory points to the Southeast and not to Magasta's Pool?

Duncan Macleod:


>In "River of Cradles", the sections on Initiates and Priests of Zola
>Fel, the River God, makes mention of the Taste skill (p174). However,
>I can not find any mention of this skill elsewhere.

The only description of it is probably in RQ2 rules. It's not very common being taught by Alchemists. It allows people to detect the composition of whatever they taste (depending on the rarity of the substance). Of course, it's not much help if you're a Vampire tyring to detect that whether the water is actually from the river Styx.

Henk Langeveld:


>"I don't WANT a Social Security Number!"

I am NOT an initiate, I am a free man!

Simon Bray:


>In my idea of the monasteries I said that the BEST of the PoIM
>dragon changers would be selected by the mandarins to be taken to
>the state school and then be shown the correct way of development.

Considering that they're being re-educated, rather than being selected for exemplary talent, couldn't these remote monastories be a kind of a Danfive Xaron type institution? For example, a PoIM cultist who is convicted of a serious crime (ie armed robbery) is condemned to one of these penal institutions. There his criminal tendencies are cured by acupuncture performed with red-hot pokers. The most visible sign is the large eye-shaped hole in the centre of the forehead. Of course this also burns out their capacity for creative thought but so long as they're capabale of understanding and obeying orders without question, this is no great loss. The hole in the forehead is usually filled with a glass eye, or which the brilliance and mystical powers increases with the monks rank.

The abbots and other monastic officials are those few fanatics whose capacity for creative thought is not burned out by the red hot poker treatment. They are deemed worthy of learning some of the true draconic secrets so they can throw their weight around the monastery. They generally Pass On when they managed to turn into a (True) Dragon once. They could study further to become a Five Dragon Warrior but since there's such competition for the places, many abbots don't bother.

The military units composed of the Immanent Mastery Cultists would be largely composed of the fanatical monks who have completed their re-education. In case of war, the ranks will be expanded by pressganging ordinary PoIM cultists with the red-hot poker treatment as the basis of military discipline. In peacetime, they often guard important Kralori officials (which is stated in the GoG calender). Perhaps to add a nice twist, these monks are often found on the side of the Mandarins in refighting the War in Heaven (in the smaller towns and villages)?

Given this, I don't think the connection of the Path of Immanent Mastery with these monks would be known by most Kralori or even most Mandarins. The monks are probably thought to be students of the Fanzai Dragonewts who are sufficiently remote for little to be known of them.

>But Pete's idea of an underground
>network of PoIM is so good that I must accept it

To clarify, they are not exactly underground IMO, they are more like the Mafia in having a public presense - everybody knows who they are, they just don't mess around with them.

David Cake:


>>Vangono, being the God of War, hurts anybody who gets in his way.
>>I imagine his fire is no exception.

> I thought Vangono was the god of warriors, not war - Wars occur
>only as a result of the Pamalt chieftains wanting a war, Vangono warriors
>otherwise mostly stick with raids and skirmishes and single combat, all of
>which hurt mostly the other Vangono warriors.

So the chieftains wish. However Vangono is reknowned as the 'loyal warrior whom you love in war but who makes trouble when it is peace'. Vangono warriors in raids and skirmishes do *not* target other Vangono warriors but anybody within their reach just like most raiders do. The chieftains minimize this by using their authority to ensure that Vangono warriors stay out of trouble, ie don't raid friendly tribes to avenge percieved insults.

Those who defy the chieftain often find themselves subject to a number of sanctions starting with humiliation at a tribal meeting to a beating or even expulsion from the tribe. Of late, the appearance of the Kresh has provided a suitable target for tribal tensions.

David Boatright:


>>The chief data
>>points are the infamous 'Making Gods' essay in KoS and the Ivory Pages
>>of the GRAY p87 which follows.

>Sorry Peter bu my copy [of the GRAY] only goes to pg 82 ????.

Yours is the first edition. You can upgrade your copy by sending the copy to Wizard's attic with $US 5.00 if you wish (it costs $25 IIRC without the first edition). The Ivory Pages edition has expanded information and includes the Perfect Sky.

>If Elmal was the one that was was rescued then who stayed and
>defended the stead.

A thorny question and one which nobody is sure about. Or rather many people are sure but they all tell different myths. Some myths say that Elmal was not the homeguard but was slain by Orlanth. Others say that Elmal was chosen by Orlanth to inhabit the Grand Order to keep it moving.

James Frusetta:


>Is there a giant variety of silkworms, providing a lucky bunch of trolls
>with all the silk they want?

>Or are silkworms originally a _trollish_ practice (in the Kingdom of
>Ignorance) that the Kralorelans adopted after taking over there, and
>were subsequently brought into Kralorela proper?

Silworms are mentioned in the Chi Ting writeup where the Friendly Silkworms live (they weave two extra cocoons in case their friends have been robbed of one). Chi Ting is the Imperial Capital so the odds of it being a Trollish practice seems weak. IMO the Kralori think they are superior to Bliss in Ignorance in that the latter don't know how to make silk.

Paul Chapman:


>Please could you go into a bit more depth on Tholaina

Tholania is the Queen of Sea Beasts and mentioned in the Prosopaedia. She begat invertebrates by intercourse with a Darkness spirit, water lizards and their like from a Earth lover, sea birds from a captured sky god, whales from an air god and fishes with Golod.

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