Amazons and beasts

From: Sergio Mascarenhas <sermasalmeida_at_mail.telepac.pt>
Date: Thu, 13 Nov 1997 10:46:38 -0000


Tines remembers us of the amazons of Dahomey in GD v5.n220. May I suggest the excelent book The Vice-Roy of Ajuda (I think that's the english title - I only know the Portuguese translation) by Bruce Chatwin? It has some wonderful descriptions of how powerful and effective these amazons were. And it is also very useful to make us understand how the mixing of different cultures can turn vrong.

I've been trying to define the difference between the different types of creatures in Glorantha. This is what I come up with:

  1. Types of creatures and special rune

List of the great categories of creatures and wether they have or don't have a special creature rune.

Types of creatures Special Rune

This means wheter in a single population of a species of a given type of creature you find intelligent and non-intelligent specimens (or, to be more precise in RQ terms, free intelligence and limited intelligence).

If the species has mixed intelligence a percentage of the population will have free Int and the remaining part of the population will have limited Int. If the species has separate intelligence it will develop into two separate populations, one with free Int and one with limited Int.

Types of creatures Intelligence

This is specialy important to distinghish how the intelligent members of each species develop the need of wearable objects (cloth, etc.). This need affects the relation between the creature and his environment.

Types of creatures skin cloth jewerly

Wether the intelligent members of the species have access to technology and the degree of complexity of that technology.
- - Simple tech is based on extensions of the natural characteristics of the
creature (like a spear, an hammer, etc.). It doesn't include tools too produce other tools (let's call it second level technology), neither machines.
- - Complex technology includes tools to produce tools (second level tech)
and machines.

Types of creatures Technology

This represents the thinking and communication skills the species develops. They are:
- - Emotional (ability to live, understand and communicate emotional states)

There are four degrees: (-) meaningless, (b)asic, (i)ntermediate, (a)dvanced

Types of creatures Emotional Abstract Holistic

Any comments?

Sergio Mascarenhas


Powered by hypermail