Re: ZZ in the City, Elder Races, Dendara, pre-Lunar Pelanda?

From: Nick Brooke <Nick_Brooke_at_compuserve.com>
Date: Tue, 20 Jan 1998 04:03:40 -0500


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Panu responds to Vesa:

>> No sane human leader would let ZZ's into his town !
> Yes they do. Pavis has lots. Whitewall too.

Ever hear of Balastor? Gerak Kag? The Conquest and Occupation of Pavis? Which support the initial contention: no sane human would let Zorak Zorani into his town. That Pavis was totally *wrecked* by invading trolls does not in itself invalidate that contention.

Likewise, everyone knows the "rebels" in Whitewall are imbeciles, willing to take any stupid risk in their stubborn resistance to the Good Empire. And -- surprise! -- they have trolls in town? Well, I side with Vesa in this case too.



and to Peter:
>> There are some places where the Elder Races and humans live side
>> by side.  But most outsiders visiting these places are glad that
>> they are not living there.  =


> And people therein are happy, and more Gloranthan than the others.

Only if being "more Gloranthan" means being "less natural", or "less human" to put a finer point on it. And I dislike this assumption. To me, the natural antagonism between Elder Races -- mutually and toward humankind -- is an all-too-welcome feature of Glorantha. Compared, at least, with all the *other* FRP games on the market, where the only significant differences between player-character species are ear size, toe hair, and precise range of infravision...

____ ______
Carl wonders about Yelmic gods:

> Er, when did Dendara become a goddess of the Air? All published
> sources I've looked at say she's an Earth goddess...

Check out the Glorious ReAscent of Yelm and the Entekosiad. Her symbols on the Gods Wall, and her "confusion" or identity with Entekos, make this pretty convincing. Despite the GoG and ItG shortforms, Dendara is *much* more a good-wife goddess than an Ernalda-style agricultural goddess. Think Hera, not Demeter.

> Also, would there really be Umatum worshippers in Peloria?

I believe not, as Umatam is an Enemy God, and a pretty darn old one at that. He seems a downright unlikely candidate to receive worship today, however you slice it.

___
Pam on Lunar Pelandans:

>> "I would like you to join me in the sacred pleasure by the most >> profound ritual of cosmic acceptance in worldly form" "

> This attitude sounds close to the old Pelandan one - not surprising
> as that is one of the source cultures for the modern Lunars.

And/or one of the cultures co-opted by the Lunars as offering a handy philosophical counterpoint to Dara Happan formalism and rigidity. I'm still unconvinced that the Lunars are a "logical" outgrowth of everything  that came before in Peloria -- there's something very *NEW* about what the Seven Mothers brought into the world, and I'm always suspicious when they point to "previous manifestations" and the like (as, how would we know they were prior manifestations if the Lunars themselves didn't point it out? And, once they do, *they've* made the connection, in the classic HeroQuesting fashion -- so if we see it too, it's undeniably *there*).

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Nick
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