Re: stuff

From: Sandy Petersen <sandyp_at_idsoftware.com>
Date: Sat, 07 Jun 1997 14:19:27 -0500


Oliver Bernuetz
>What cult do mercenaries who aren't Humakti belong to?

        Sticking strictly to central Genertelan choices, we have: Golden Bow, Lodril, Orlanth, Polaris, Storm Bull, Yelm, Yelmalio, Yelorna, Zorak Zoran.

        Probably Orlanth is the most important of these. He _is_ a war god, after all. And there are plenty of ZZ-worshiping humans.

>On a related topic are there any male earth deities?

        Lodril, Flamal, the Plant Brothers, the Lowfires, many City gods, most hunter gods, High King Elf, Waha, and a host of Pamaltelan gods, starting with Pamalt himself.

        Male earth deities in Genertela took it on the chin during the Gods Age, and all the important ones (except for Lodril!) were killed or supplanted at that time. Some argue that Lodril himself is a "supplanter", but in any case he's firmly ensconced within the Earth nowadays. There are still lots of small male Earth gods; look at Nomad Gods to get an idea of what I'm talking about. In the Paps are temples to such obscure spirits as Ronance, the Three Bean Circus, the Shepherd, etc. Most places have gods like this; each individual cult is of only local importance, but if you added them all together, you'd find that quite a sizable proportion of Genertela's worship was dedicated to these guys.

Note incidentally, that it's only in central Genertela that this strange concept about weapons being tied to certain gods and certain elements is found. A Malkioni, East Islander, Kralori, or Pamaltelan would be puzzled if he was told that using a curved sword was an indication of his political affiliation.

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.

        This is a large dent in the earth made by the Block while it was bouncing and skidding to its final destination. If you look at where the block lies, and consider the Devil's Marsh to be a "skid mark", you can easily see the series of bounces the Block made, etched into the Praxian terrain.

        "Ex" was once a city or temple complex or something -- some kind of Golden Age structure or habitation. It was flattened by the block, and everyone killed, but the bottom of the depression has chunks of worked stone, occasional fragments of statues, etc. Digging among the stone blocks sometimes uncovers chunks of metal or distorted valuables or goods. Ghosts and lonely spirits haunt the area to some extent. Some folk say they've found actual entryways leading underground to intact buildings, basements, etc.

        So Ex is another of the many little "adventure motels" dotting the Dragon Pass & Prax landscape. It's not as big and important as the Monkey Ruins or Agape, but hey, it's probably safer to visit, too.

Disease Levels in Pavis
>I think it's probably less than the level of sanitation would imply, due
to >the existence of CA healers, who are far more effective than their RW
>counterparts.

        CA healers are overworked and far and few between. Also, the existence of active cults and even entire races of beings dedicated to the spread of disease counteracts CA's efforts.

        On the other hand, mere lack of sanitation isn't as serious in Glorantha as it is on Earth because the origins and reasons for disease are different. Disease spirits help signal this difference in a very profound manner.

        Example: a CA healer seeks the reason for an outbreak of dysentery in west Pavis. She traces it to a well. In the real world, she'd find a crack in the side of the well, where raw sewage was seeping in. In Glorantha, she'd find a Dysentery spirit inhabiting the well and fouling the water.

Leon T.
>my main reason for claiming the disease rate is not especially high is so
that >I can largely ignore it

        Good heavens. Do this in any case. Having the disease rate affect PCs when not game-appropriate is like letting a random roll determine whether a female PC dies in childbirth -- unthinkable.

David Cake
>the vast majority of inhabitants of the Empire would not be citizens,
which >would be a very different idea of Citizenship.

        That is my concept of the Lunar Empire -- most of the inhabitants, even many rulers, are NOT citizens.

        For comparison, this is not the case in Kralorela, where citizenship is nearly universal, and based on race & descent. I.e, once a hsunchen, always a hsunchen, but the son of a Kralori farmer is theoretically as much a citizen as the son of a Mandarin.

        In most Malkioni lands, "citizenship" isn't really a concept. You are loyal to your lord, or to the land, or to your liege, or your god, or something. The state isn't a thing in itself to which you can "belong".

Dave Pearton
>the "U" in Nguni is usually used to denote place names such as Umhlanga or
>Ulundi. An "I" is usually used whne refering to a person. Thus the form
I >would like to suggest is "Baba iLodra"

        I'm not sure what language Dave is using (Zulu, Swahili?), but I suggest that Lodril is a good choice for them to refer to with a "place name" type connotation -- he is very much associated with the earth they live on, and is less full of personality than other gods -- more raw earth power. So I would support Baba Ulodr as the most common Doraddi term for "Lodril".

A SHORT GUIDE TO THE MOST COMMON DORADDI GODS ALESHMARA: the most important Old Woman's cult. She is Pamalt's mother-in-law, and is usually portrayed as friendly to Pamalt.

BABA ULODR: Lodril, the Old God, the ancestor and creator.

BOLONGO: the hollow mask, the major Doraddi trickster sect. His worshipers, while pitied, are not necessarily tolerated.

CRONISPER THE WISE: the only major Old Man cult, in contrast to the multiplicity of important Old Woman cults. One of his functions is to act as the praise-singer of Pamalt.

DUALA: the daughter of Faranar and Pamalt. She is born every year and makes the good rain come (as opposed to the bad rain). The God Learners originally tried to equate her with Voria, in their fumbled attempt to turn Pamalt's Necklace into an Earth pantheon. The Six-Legged Empire decided that Duala was not quite the same as Voria, and then they were able to deal with her effectively.

FARANAR: the most important woman's god. Unmarried men can worship her (and most do).

HONDORI MAL: a special society governed by a female deity of the same name. The Six Leggers considered her to be a superior version of Babeester Gor. Both men and women belong to this guild, though the hierarchy is structured so as to advance women more quickly. The Hondori Mal watches over the oases in troubled times, since the old men and women can't do it for themselves. In addition to serving as guards (mostly against crop-destroying dinosaurs), the Hondori Mal builds structures, repairs temples and holy spots, and does some farm work. They also act as substitutes for the Justice of Pamalt, and a court of four Hondori Mal initiates is recognized as able to institute legal penalties almost anywhere in the Doraddi lands.

JMIJIE: a god for wanderers who belong to no tribe. His "worshipers" are considered to have caught an incurable spiritual sickness, which keeps them from living in one place too long. As partial restitution for this curse, they are remarkable fleet-footed. In the revolution which toppled the Six-Leggers, the Jmijie folk banded together into bands of warriors which could run as fast as horses, yet fight like infantry.

KERAUN: her devotees are also called Weather Witches, and sit in wattle huts, accumulating power to alter the weather in any way they see fit. The Pamalt Chieftains sometimes ask them to adjust the weather for special occasions.

KUANGOA: an Old Woman cult, worshiped almost exclusively in the oases. She is the custodian of accumulated lore and knowledge.

LOKOMAL: the mother of dinosaurs.

NORUMA: the god of shamans and magic.

NYANKA: a fertility goddess, esp. of childbirth. She is a rather domestic woman's cult, like Faranar. Women begin worshipping her with their first pregnancy, then abandon membership till next time they're pregnant. Nyanka also has useful healing powers against disease, and full-time Nyanka devotees are not uncommon.

PAMALT: the main god. The most-respected god of Jolar.

PLANT SIBLINGS: a shamanistic sect, involved with ancestor worship, lineages, and magic herbs. More common in Tarien.

RASOUT: the most common hunter god. He's like hunter gods everywhere.

SIKKANOS: The Six-Leggers thought that Sikkanos was Vadrus, unmurdered here in the south. Some Fonritian philosophers claim that Sikkanos is Orlanth Criminous, as good an explanation as any.

        Sikkanos is regarded as an evil sect, and only bad folk are of him, yet a Sikkanos bandit shows up every Sacred Time to ask the local Pamalt Chieftain what his yearly request might be. The Chieftain may then ask the Sikkanos folk for one favor. If the Sikkanos folk cannot provide the favor, then they must, instead, refrain from harming anyone in that Chieftain's tribe or anyone in any oasis in his domain for the rest of that year. Most Chieftains ask the Sikkanos bandits for the traditional impossible "rock from Enmal", thus ensuring safety for another year.

SIKASSO: Yet another Old Woman cult, Sikasso is the Doraddi psychopomp. Her cult members are witches, knowing black magic, and calling on the underworld for their strength. They often appear as villains in Doraddi tales, but the same tales sometimes portray them as using their dark powers in the service of good.. The Doraddi generally consider the Sikasso women to be ethically ambiguous, but certainly preferable to Fonritians, for instance.

VANGONO: A wargod. The "default" wargod of Pamaltela. Most warriors don't worship Vangono, but stick to Pamalt, Rasout, or whatever their traditional gods are. The numerous war gods in Genertela would leave the average Doraddi puzzled and awed.

YANMORLA: another Old Woman cult. Old women in Pamaltela have more power than probably any other society in the world, with the probable exception of trollkind. Yanmorla is the "good" version of Sikasso, a fine example of earth-cult dualism. She does good magic for the benefit of all.

BROO THREAT Hal Bowman lists a number of ways that Praxians can try to guard their herds against Sables, including guard animals, awakened herd beasts, shepherds. Even the quickie corrals that Praxians throw up around their herds whenever they stay in a place for more than a few days are a form of defense. These defenses are good against enemies besides broos of course, and help vs. human raiders, hyenas, and morocanth.

        And in general, these defenses work. The average Sable brave probably goes his whole life and never loses a beast to Broo attack. But he certainly knows someone who did. And the price of safety is eternal vigilance.

        In Prax, most broos are probably descended from wild or feral animals.

SLAVE COLLARS:
>do they stop divine magic?

        Yes. They stop all magic. They can be set to permit magic not requiring contact with a higher plane of existence, however. When so set, spirit magic, sorcery, and low mysticism can be performed, but not Rune magic, high mysticism, or divine intervention. Also, a shaman in a slave collar is cut off from his fetch.

>Also, let us assume that these expensive pieces of gear are not in
>everyone's hands (hunschen, etc). In that case, what would one do with
>POW's, knowing that a man - even buck naked and with no tattoo foci- could
>still deliver a nasty divine (and sorcerous?) surprise?

  1. Tie his hands and gag him. I play that freedom of movement and speech is required for spells.
  2. Blindfold him. A target must be visible to cast an attack spell, at least.
  3. Knock him out.
  4. Set two guards. It's hard to take two guys out with one spell, unless he has sorcery, and if he has sorcery, it takes so long to cast the spell they ought to be able to club him down before he's done.

Peter Metcalfe
>this raises a question of exactly how the Lunars enter Kralorela. I had
>assumed they went through Jankley Bore. But since the Ghost of Sun Storm's
>Third Eye lives there, it could be a dangerous place to go.

        They go through Jankley Bore, and take their chances with Sun Storm's Ghost. It's not ubiquitous, after all, and probably not more than one caravan in five or ten meet up with him.

Paul Chapman
1) OK, Slave Bracelets and Collars are different... what is the difference?

        Slave Bracelets are undefined. Collars are.

>2) What (and how) do slave collars prevent Divine Magic/Divine
Intervention They cut you off from Higher Powers. They prevent Rune Magic, Divine Intervention, and High Mysticism, plus they cut you off from your fetch if you're a shaman.

>3) And what about Magic or Power spirits bound, say, into tattoos all
over >the subjects body?

        The Collars have two magic settings. At the lower setting, the target is allowed to cast spirit magic and sorcery, and command bound spirits. At the higher setting, he can't do any of this. So if you set the setting to "high", he cannot access any of his spirits.

>4) When the collar is initially put on, how quickly does it bleed off the
>wearers' MPs into the ether?

        1 MP per strike rank.

>5) Are they difficult to physically break?

        Yes, they're (mostly) made of metal. Generally bronze, but some are enchanted copper, and supposedly iron ones are available, too. One family makes za-metal ones to sell to mermen.

Mike Lay
> The Chalanna Arroy write up states that the cult does not demand payment,
but >does expect a contribution. WOuld anybody care to comment on what a reasonable >contribution might be?

  1. Donation of time or goods
  2. Donation of service
  3. Huge wads of cash. The CA cult expect a lot more loot from a nobleman than from a poor man's child. One reason that CA doesn't set a list of prices is so a person being healed can let his conscience be his guide (i.e., if you were really really grateful that they decided to sew your severed genitalia back on, perhaps it's worth a bit more than the nominal cost of a 2 point Rune spell).

Sandy


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