James Frusetta
There's a difference to be made, though, between "Trolls" and "Troll."
While yon bigoted Orlanthi fear and loathe the superior merits of
Trollish civilization, an *individual* troll can be good. The troll
that saved you from chaos, for example, is a Good Troll. It's the
strange and fearsome troll society that is Bad.
I am a troll aficionado, yet I think that very few humans think that any troll is good. Even Orlanthi. Look at it this way: You want the treasure. The Troll wants the treasure. The troll is willing to murder you over the treasure, so he's bad (maybe you are, too). But the broo over in the corner wants to destroy ALL the treasure forever! So you and the troll will join forces against the broo. Sometimes.
Broos and scorpion men aren't so much thought of as being "evil", as being "foul", "un-natural", etc.
While from the Uz POV, the Orlanthi are followers of a murderous power-grabber and the Yelmites worshippers of an authoritarian, merciless god of aggression, both of whom would cheerfully roast trollish babies over the flames. Most trolls see only little difference between Yelmites& Orlanthi, IMO. All humans are prey - when you're frying up the bacon, who cares if the pig was spotted or pink?
Dainel McCluskey wrote:humans. Consider that a troll's primary reaction even to undead is as food! That can give kind of an idea of just how dangerous trolls are. A troll is able to weigh options, and if the rewards of not eating you are great, he might not eat you. Just remember that trolls rate "eating" much higher on the scale than humans do.
>The only time it is safe to hang out with a troll is when the
troll is
>afraid of you (Xiola Umbar aside). If they loose that fear,
you are
>food. . . . I would not like to stumble unarmed and
(otherwise)
>friendless into a hungry band of Uz -- no matter how well I
knew them or
>how long they had been my "friends."
>>I'm not sure trolls are *that* incapabable of waiting for a
meal. Is a
>>troll so singleminded that it will eat you even if the
potential rewards
>>of not-eating you are greater? Would make for very limited AA
traders. ;) You must recall that trolls are MUCH more hungry than
V. S. Greenedon't recall how often Annila makes the big dive >down the Pool. And how close is the "sync" here?
>Now as to the Blue Moon Cycles, well, what is it's cycle? I
The Blue Moon's cycle is generally less than a week, varying according to a complex schedule. I don't think that Gloranthan menses are tied to the Blue Moon (except for the Veldang).
Personally, I think that Gloranthan menses are tied to the seasons - 8 weeks is a rather long menstrual cycle, but not impossibly long. And it sure makes sense for Fertility Week.
Andrew Joelson:Moon. Not that she's chaotic, of course. It's just that Chaos _IS_ Death, to the gods. I note by the way that in a recent posting, Andrew mentioned that he had tied himself to the Sandy rune. I want to point out right now that the Sandy Rune is NOT a subtype of the Chaos Rune. It has nothing to do with Chaos at all. Honest.
> The RMG is not a Chaos Goddess. Her Runes are Life,
Death, and
> the Moon. She merely sees Chaos as a fact of life, and
occasionally
> usefull as a tool.
In Gods of Glorantha, we gave her Life, Chaos, and the
End of The Glorantha Digest V5 #86
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