Pavis/Chaotic Humakti/Compromise/Woman's Touch

From: Simon Phipp <crassus_at_dol.ru>
Date: Wed, 30 Jul 1997 12:02:23 +0400


Dave Bailey on Pavis:

> How do they do this? Is it a HeroQuest, could be since they could need =
> to mess with the Myths or quests for a Myth that links Pavis with the =
> Lunar Pantheon? Is it a marketing ploy like Seven Mothers?

As far as I know it's simpler than that. You have a Priestess of the Full Moon in a shrine in Pavis. She prepares herself ritually to be able to take on the Form of the Goddess. The Priests of Pavis and the Lunar Empire negotiate a political deal, hammering out who is in charge of what. Then the Priestess of the Red Moon performs a HeroQuest (probably several in fact) and makes Pavis an offer he can't refuse. Usually this takes the form of magical gifts, new powers, influence beyond his own. Pavis can then either accept, in which case everyone is happy, or reject the offer in which case the Lunars fall on the Rubble like a ton of bricks and trash the Temple. Hard Choice.

V.S. Greene

> Still, a
> non-Illuminated chaos worshipping Humakti doesn't _feel_ right to me.

In our multi-GM campaign we had a number of Orlanth/Humakt cultists (Wind Lords Associate Sword Priests). One of the GMs took great delight in occasionally bringing in a Chaotic Humakti Sword (normally a broo or Scorpionman, but once a Walkatpus with 8 swords) and watching us all line up to challenge it to single combat in the Humakti way. Of course, some of us were in Storm Bull too (Illumination again - wonderful) and sometimes we just flipped out - not nice. Of course, our swords didn't break so Humakt must have agreed with our methods.

Fabian Kuechler:
> Are the Chaos-gods part of the Great Compromise?

Wakboth is by his exclusion (Cults of Terror, somewhere). Some of the others may be. Primal Chaos certainly is as it is part of Glorantha. I would guess that any owner of a Rune is part of the Compromise. Certainly the Red Goddess, a major Chaos Goddess, is an integral part of the Compromise.

This means that anyone who rids the world of Chaos then destroys the world, allowing Chaos back in. Fun, eh?

Sergio Mascarenhas:

> One of the things that I think Glorantha lacks is a woman touch. I mean,
> most of that universe is male oriented.

Apart from the Lunar Empire, the Earth Pantheons, The Trolls, Scorpion Folk, Theyalans in general ......

  1. Theyalans in general (and Sartarites in particular) have no opposition to men taking on female roles and women male roles. Look at Kallyr, Vinga as two simple examples, Babeester Gor and Maran Gor as two extreme examples. Don't forget that an Orlanthi "All" is 85%, so 15% do whatever they want. As such, the Sartarites have no problem with the Red Goddess taking on certain masculine properties.
  2. The Red Goddess has proven her ties to the Earth - she heads the Young Elementals Cult and thus provides Earth magic. Hon Eel, an Aspect of the Red Goddess is a major fertility goddess, bringer of Maize. In my campaign there is the Red Earth Cult which promotes fertility through blood sacrifice and works well. The Lunar Empire produces so much food that nobody can claim that it has broken its ties to the Earth.
  3. & 4. I don't think so. Nothing has been written, as far as I know, about this. Anyway, who says the Red Goddess is barren - I am sure that she has more children than the Red Emperor (but I can't think of any off hand). Also, if the Glowline made women barren the Lunar Empire would not be around today - the Lunars seem to be breeding quite happily.
  4. Ernalda marries everyone she meets - she lifts her skirts with regularity. That is why she has so many Husband Protectors. Anyone who has married Yelm (Emperor of the Universe) , Orlanth (King of the Gods) and Pamalt (Ruler of a continent) wouldn't care about marrying a little God like the Red Emperor. Anyway, Ernalda has many husbands, her husbands have many wives. This is the way of the Earth and nobody cares.
  5. Maybe ........ I would feel that Orlanthi women are sophisticated enough to realise that this is a title not an actual status.

Sorry, but the Male vs Female contest does not apply to the Lunar Expansion.

Simon

Simon Phipp <crassus_at_dol.ru>


"Trust me, I know what I'm doing" - Sledge Hammer!



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