Sorry for the long lag time. I have been trying to post to the Glorantha
Digest for over two weeks, with no success.
Nils asked about Wind Children. I think we gave them a minute or two of
coverage at the "Black Sheep Races of Glorantha" semimar at
GloranthaCon-Victoria. However, I don't remember any specifics.
A few of my personal thoughts:
* Wind Children have typically been depicted at lithe, probably because
of the belief that flying beings need to have very light bones (The buxom
female Wind Child in the WB&RM/Dragon Pass rulebook is an obvious
exception). Evidence: RQ2 stats; STR = 2d6, SIZ 2d6. After some
considerable thought, and discussion with Eric Rowe, we now believe this
to be bunk.
- The attribute most associated with the Storm rune is Strength. Wind
Children have lots and lots of Storm in their souls, certainly more than
humans. Why is it that they are not then portrayed as burly, rippling
with muscle? In My Glorantha (IMG) now, male WC will look like Sylvester
Stallone with wings, and females like Bridgitte Nielsson (sp?/Sly's former
wife, no?). In fact, female WC will look _just like_ the Dragon Pass
babe. RQ STR stat equivalent of maybe 3d6+6. Oh, and they'll use real
swords too. None of this sissy rapier and sling like the RQ rulebook
sez.
- Going further with the Storm rune connection. I think it reasonable
that beings with lots of Storm in their souls become more emotional, more
forceful, more ~tempestuous~ even. Is this not much like Father Orlanth,
frequently needing earthy Ernalda to talk sense into him? I now believe
that Wind Children boast more heartily than the most obnoxious human Urox
worshipper. They are impulsive and violent: "Violence is always _the
first_ option". Wind Children never speak softly, they always yell.
- Eric came up with a nice twist on their pseudo-Orlanthi culture. The
opposite of their Sartarite ground-dwelling neighbors, Wind Child men are
the more calm of the sexes. WC women are constantly "hen pecking" the
men, berating their manhood, calling their boasts lies, chastising their
laziness, goading them into action. Only a heroic human male could
tolerate such treatment from his wife. While WC males might have brief
daliances with human women, such pairings almost never last; human women
just don't have enough "spunk" to hold the attention (or respect) of WC
men.
- There are so few Wind Children not because of their breeding rate, but
because of their high mortality rate at all ages. The rough horseplay of
the children frequently leads to fatalities. The men sometimes die in
foolish attempts to do the impossible (hold back a rockslide, piss on Yelm
as he rides across the Sky, wrestle the Crimson Bat to the ground). They
attempt these things because their wives dare them to. The truly
impressionable ones have too much pride to back down from such challenges.
Also, their "violence is always the first option" attitude leads to fights
that might have been better left unfought.
Back at RQCon-San Francisco, some guy had the luck of being the sole Wind
Child in the Broken Council LARP. From the look of him, he proscribed to
the old, outdated view of how Wind Children look and act. But I could be
wrong, as I didn't interact with him too much. I was playing an Argan
Argar troll, and with Wind Children being claustrophobic, he wouldn't come
down into our caves.