Cradle & Gold Wheel Dancers from Smith Harald C on 1998-02-06 (Glorantha Digest Vol 05)

From: Smith Harald C <smith.hc_at_mellon.com>
Date: Fri, 6 Feb 1998 12:05:00 -0500

richard asks: Once again, all help greatly appreciated. My questions are in number
letter pairs.

> 1a: "Gold Wheel Dancer": There may or may not be a GWD aboard. Where can
I find out about these things? What would have happened to it during SunStop?

Supposedly at the Sunstop (per The Broken Council Guidebook) there was only one remaining Gold Wheel Dancer--Speaking Wheel. In the Broken Council LARP, said GWD (played by myself), became the voice or song of Nysalor (writeup in the RQCon II Compendium). I think it has been noted elsewhere that Speaking Wheel is supposed to have disappeared at this point. He would have been in Dorastor and not on the Giant Cradle. One of the facets of Gold Wheel DAncers was that they could transform to become any form, though typically they turned into useful tools--in the end they always took some final form as a tool/weapon/etc though they were very peaceful folk and noted for their learning of other's ways. I think that there would have been a guardian aboard, though since Cradles continued into the Second Age without the benefit of GWDs, that the guardians either were some other being or differing types of beings until the time of Pinchining (since the GWDs would retain a memory I suspect of how the Elder Giants created their young). If you follow the Baby-turned-Cwim theory then maybe the Guardian was some sort of since unknown being with a large head and no body (maybe a Granite Head or some other mountainous being) and the guardian and baby merged through a corruption of chaos.

> 6b: "Refuge": Where would HelpWoman have taken the child? There's
Strockbjorn out in the Wastes. I would prefer (for campaign purposes) south towards the mouth of Zola Fel. The child would have had to remain hidden - or somehow un-noticed all this time.

Maybe your helpwoman was really the midwife of chaos (that would be Malia I believe) and took the baby to Malia's Stool.

If you prefer the baby to still be alive and active, but only toddler stage, then I think HelpWoman would have led the baby to the Plateau of Statues or maybe somewhere near the Krjalki Bog in the center of the Wastes. Otherwise, there is too much likelihood of the baby having been founds centuries ago.

Harald

Those are just my thoughts on the matter.