Re: Scary food and HQs

From: Jane Williams <janewill_at_mail.nildram.co.uk>
Date: Mon, 23 Jun 1997 21:13:22 +0000


Alex Ferguson:
> > Some Sartarite clan could always have blue sheep, for instance.
> Presumably an Inora-worshipping clan...
Actually I was thinking of Heler. The Inora clan would have sheep with a very thick, warm, white fleece.

And on Black Pudding:
> I'm sure _someone_ in Glorantha is brave enough to eat this;
Well, plenty of us here are.

> at one
> point, I theorised that southern coastal Heortland had a dish involving
> pig's blood and pickled fish, thereby combining the worst elements
> of Prettanic and Nordic cuisine, but I later decided that was going a
> tad too far.

Sounds interesting: personally I'd try it.

A thought, BTW: has anyone else tried to map cultural cuisine in Glorantha? It seems necessary in Pavis at least.

I've generally opted for Sartar being dark age/medieval British (climate and known crops fit).

Sun County with their river-dependency, massive barley output and irrigation reminds me of Egypt. Or maybe ancient Mesopotamia. Looking up recipes is tricky, but not impossible.

Lunars I've equated to Rome, and Apicius in particular: the level of absurd luxury fits, and it's documented enough to be useful.

Praxians are your standard nomad: meat, more meat, and fermented milk of appropriate animal (which apparently supplies Vitamin C - can anyone confirm this?)

Finally the Riverfolk. I've gone a little away from the RW: anyone read Witches Abroad? You take anything at all out of the river, and cook it. ANYTHING. The stew will be delicious, but DON'T ask what's in it.

Now, where can I fit Italian, Greek, and Indian cookery?

Scott Haney:
> Darn tootin! I'll lift a Laphroigh for my fellow Digesters tonight!
Good idea. Sadly I've been told by my other half to finish the Talisker before buying a bottle.
> (Fully confident that probably only Alex will know if I spelled that
> correctly.)

It's "Laphroaig". See http://www.laphroaig.com/ for more details. And that definitely comes under the heading of scary food: how many people like drinking a peat bog, after all?

Less scary things:
Andrew Raphael tells me:
> Genertala has potatoes, tomatoes, & maize because it's supposed to be
> Pleistocene North America in many places.
Not Glorantha as pre-historic Earth, please! But several people have said potatoes come from the Lunars (or somewhere out that way). We know maize comes from the Lunars. I've so far not heard of Gloranthan tomatoes, but I can believe it. Does this mean the Lunars are Americans? No doubt the "over-paid, over-sexed and over here" analogy fits in many ways.

On to HQs and things...
James Wadsley:
> There seems to be some level of consensus that HeroQuests require
> large scale backing to be successful, counted in numbers of keen
> worshippers along for the spiritual ride. Do people agree on this?
I'd say that such support makes things a great deal easier. But, it takes more organising. If you need a HQ-level result tomorrow, you just won't have time to get rehearsals done, and a disorganised mob would be worse than no support at all.

> To phrase it another
> way - is renown or 'legendary status' a good substitute for
> followers or fellow initiates?

An interesting idea: not sure how it would work out. I suppose people who know of you and think of you as a hero (small "h") are on the way to being your worshippers: they define what you are on the HP the same way the beliefs of Yelmalians define the abilities of the chap who gets beaten up at the HoG. It's a lot lower-level of course: not sure how much effect it would have, if any.

But I'd agree that the high-level heroes should be able to just pop on to the HP and do things, even if at some risk to themselves. It makes for better stories. I realy don't see Argrath doing things by committee decision.

> I would also argue against a one-to-one mechanic for calculating the
> support you get per worshipper because big empires always win that way
> which is boring. Can anyone comment? For example, a lot of bored Dara
> Happans secure within the support of the empire might provide a lot
> less HQ boosting that a bunch of desperate Sartarites?
Quality beats quantity, any day. Which is why IMHO C.A. temples can keep going in Sartar: there may not be many initiates, but those they have are really dedicated.

Jane Williams                     jane_at_williams.nildram.co.uk
http://homepages.nildram.co.uk/~janewill/gloranth/index.shtml

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