>> Neither company has ever attempted to censor, veto or control the
contents
>> of fan periodicals.
> I have heard that Avalon Hill did in fact attempt to exert control over=
Tales,
> by trying to claim copyright control or somesuch over it at one time.
I understand (and may be wrong) that at one time, someone from Avalon Hil=
l
wrote to David saying (in passing) that "of course" the copyright on Tale=
s
articles was owned by Avalon Hill. The editors had a quick peek at the
legal
rights of authors, publishers, etc., and wrote back saying "Don't be
silly!"
(and very rightly so, as AH wouldn't have had a legal leg to stand on, in=
the UK, US or elsewhere). Nothing further was heard of this ridiculous notion.
I see my point was misinterpretable: I meant that even then, AH were tryi=
ng
to say they owned the stuff that was printed in Tales: not that they coul=
d
or
should decide what articles would be printed. By "controlling the
contents",
I was saying they'd claim some right to edit, veto or censor what went in=
to
the zine, not that they'd "own" the zine's contents after it was publishe=
d.
(Which, of course, they wouldn't).
> I think it is safer to say that Ken Rolston advertised Tales in the AH
> supplements, rather than Avalon Hill doing it directly.
Bizarre. The Avalon Hill Games Company placed adverts for Tales in their supplements, and placed adverts for their supplements in Tales. What is unsafe about these statements? They would certainly make it hard to claim=
that AH had no knowledge that Tales existed ("I am shocked! shocked! to learn that fanzines are being printed" - to paraphrase Louis Renault).
> I apologize to Nick in advance if I have remembered anything wrong, or
> distorted any of his beliefs. I merely want to give credit where it is
due.
This is very welcome. Thanks, Stephen: multos appreciandos! But a simple
acknowledgement would have sufficed: no need to be hypersensitive next
time!
As you know, I can speak for myself easily enough if you misrepresent my
beliefs, or your own (!), or forget to acknowledge sources... :-)
> The Caladralanders worship a sort of Sky Serpent, which is the sky aspe=
ct
> of Lodril.
I was keen on this being the Firebird mentioned in Genertela Book,
something
like a Phoenix that rises from the volcano and spreads blazing fires acro=
ss
the jungle when there's an eruption. But with Simon's phoenix-cult in
Fonrit
this might be overkill. OTOH, association between Fire and Birds is
universal.
Mind you, association between Earth and Snakes likewise, and between Fire=
and
Earth in Volcanoes likewise too, so why not, eh? "The Firebird has the
wings
of an eagle and the body of a serpent..."
> The people then were not the RQ Caladra and Aurelion, mostly-civilized
> culture that they are now.
I would still prefer to shred the RQ cult writeup and replace it with
shaven-
headed feather-cloaked jungle priests of the Volcano God, even "today".
Just
my tuppence. (And anyone thinking the Caladralanders are ruled by an
elected
President, serving a maximum of two terms, with supreme executive powers
but
reined in by an appointed Supreme Court whose members remain in place for=
life
and control all judicial matters, with legislative functions... Gah! You
see
why I hate parts of the "quick'n'dirty" Holy Country article in the RQC?)=
=2E
[An aside: Peter wrote:
> Perhaps after the OOO regains control of Caladraland, the power of the
> Volcano Twins is cast down and Lodril rules instead.
This could be useful...]
> Now, Jar-Eel somehow got into the high ritual, probably using the earth=
> connections of her ancestress, Hon-Eel. Because he holds the powers of
> the Sixths, none of the magical leaders present can harm him during his=
> moment of vulnerability in the ritual. Jar-Eel was not so restricted,
> being a Lunar agent, and so she was able to slay him. The End.
Alternatively or additionally, she was *meant* to slay him (as usual), an=
d
he was *meant* to return from the Underworld, the crop-king returning, th=
e
dying-and-rising god-king of Esrolia, as he had done for year after year
since claiming his rule. But when Jar-Eel slew the Pharaoh, she sent his
soul to one of the Lunar Hells *outside* the normal cosmos - cf. mention =
in
"King of Sartar". And Belintar couldn't find his way back from that one (=
or
hasn't done so *yet*).
I like the participation of representatives from the Sixths in the
Pharoah's
annual (or occasional) renewal of his rule. But I don't think this is one=
ceremony done once a year: I think he has to perform each part at an apt
season, in the appropriate Sixth, with priests or rulers from that Sixth
participating (as helpers, victims or opponents, depending on their
attitude
to the ritual). I certainly think it unlikely that the rulers of the Sixt=
hs
would always see their God-King as an enemy to be slain in the ritual if =
at
all possible. Though some might -- especially if they thought they'd be i=
n
a
good position for the following Tournament of the Masters of Luck and
Death.
Trotsky:
> An element of Darkness ... is perfectly real in Glorantha. I suspect it=
> alters the sound-carrying (or at least ultrasound-carrying - otherwise
> it would be obvious to humans too) properties of air.
Joerg:
> I don't know about dense, but I am pretty sure that Darkness counts as
> a heavy medium.
Thirded. Darkness is "real" (not just the absence of light), and Darksens=
e
works more efficiently through the dark than it does in light.
> Once a small-time quester has done a however minor heroquest run, she
> becomes susceptible to all the challenges and cross-links WITHIN THAT
> RUN, some of which can be yet unknown.
My emphasis. I agree. Let's slip this to Greg in a fortnight and see if he'll go along with it...
> Nick Brooke (whose coherent postings get here incoherently
I *think* I've cracked it, but I'm still shitting on Compu$erve from a
great
height. If there is any technical solution, please provide details!
::::
Nick
::::
End of The Glorantha Digest V5 #48
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