In your considered opinion, do you believe that the paths of Nandan the
Birthing Man might be useful for the lifting of the Trollkin Curse?
WAHHT? Men-Folk giving birth?!!! Can't be done. Them hoomens is too close to chaos, and that prooves it. What does men know 'bout birth? huh? Their Teats don't even work!!! Wahts the kid gunna eat? huh?
Yeah, I spose a man could get hissef knocked up if the magic were strong enuf... but a troll aint Uz without a mommy. You gotta has a mommy or you aint even Uz. An abomination. Chaos. Eat 'em I sez.
On a more scholorly vein, nandan paths (or something similar) might work for a troll male, but I Seriously doubt that he would have any more luck getting Uzko than a female. (Nandan children are not noted as being especially superior in any way).
Even if a Male troll were able to successfully breed, (and espescially if he had fewer or no trollkin) the Old Girls network would put an end to it PRONTO. The Mothers power is their children. They would NOT alow any Male to get a taste of that power. I suspect any male troll experimenting with "womens" magic is going to have an "accident" on very short notice. There's no way that an Uzko male is going to be allowed to have children.
In fact, (male) homosexual activity is almost certainly condemned as the height of depravity by trolls. Not just because it involves "impersonating a female" -- a clear sign of disrespect -- but also because it would be considered a "waste" of reproductive energy. Mom would NOT approve.
HOWEVER: I am convinced that the Jungle Trolls of Palmaltela have already hit on this, and in fact that Moorgarki serves as a sort of Nandan for trolls. Note the mythical justification -- Moorgarki goes to Pamaltela, and kills this and eats that, and is basically very Trollish. He is "Wounded by LODRIL's SPEAR" after which he spawns the Jungle trolls. Now any farmer in Peloria would be more than happy to let you know what Lodrils spear symbolizes. I believe that the Jungle trolls are ALL male, and that they are able to reproduce amongst themselves. They do not have trollkin, not so much because their unusual reproduction, but on acount of being a mistress sub-race instead of a dark-troll derived species. (sea trolls also have not trollkin) As gaunt and hungry as they are I doubt that any outsider would be able to get to know enough about them to realize that there are no females, and they probably still refer to their leaders and elders by female titles, giving a further illusion of normalcy.
I've seen a transcript of a Q&A session from a Con where Sandy is describing an old campaign where a (male) Dark Troll PC is captured by Jungle trolls and convinced to mate with a Dehori, and ends up with a Great Troll child. I doubt that Sandy realized at the time that this was an entirely normal (for Jungle Trolls) instance of the Great troll conception ritual. (maybe the first great troll they had seen, but certainly not the first pregnant male)
I think that the JTs are considered a cautionary abomination by pamaltelan dark trolls, ("don't do that, or you'll end up like THEM") And that any attempt to import male/male reproduction to a dark troll society would be violently suppressed.
danm
End of The Glorantha Digest V6 #87
Powered by hypermail