> After all, when young Harsalter was forced to break a
> geas, fighting the Red Emperor, he dropped dead on the spot.
A similar question had crossed my mind: how do geases combine with Spirits of Reprisal? Do cults with Geases need these spirits at all, if they already have death-dealing results for breaking the Geas?
> ..... Maybe
> Yelmalio's relationship with birds became clear to them, particularly birds and Fire,
> and the idea of eating a bird in Fire Season now seems unnatural and unclean.
I disagree. I can see the idea behind religious reasons for this, but the PC would normally follow his cult restrictions (e.g. not eating horse, not riding an animal) without much hardship.
IMO the idea of the Geas/Gift system (in game terms) is to stop the PC from doing something they might normally do, in return for a nifty skill/spell/bonus. If/when the PC takes a Gift, they get a very useful boost, with a corresponding penalty to retain balance. It makes the PC more "heroic" and at the same time gives the player something to role-play. So in my jaundiced view, the Gift/Geas thing is just a role-playing device, though I do have to say (pre-flame!) that I think it's a good one.
Anyway, back to the point...
> If they break the geas, what attacks them is their own guilt. In the case of a Humakti
> with a Sever Spirit handy, this can be lethal. A Yelmalion discovering that nice stew
> had chicken in it might throw up, might choke (to death?), might even take his own
> life in remorse. Or something.
A good idea, but it seems more likey to me that they will have already pledged their soul in the event that they break the Geas. So when they break it, they have to pay up. It's a bit like a mortgage ;-)
> Of course, as we all know, there are people who actually enjoy doing things which
> they themselves regard as unnatural, unclean, etc.
I think this is what I meant in my comment above...
> Maybe the geasee changes with time, and the geas no longer fits the way they think
> so well. The guilt will stay, but the automatic tendency not to break the geas would
> not.
But it would be too late. They have already taken the Geas, and they have to remember the cost of breaking it - unless the "way they think" is a result of Illumination...
Alex Ferguson:
> Arf Wilson's oar:
> > Hebrew blah blah blah...Problems come when you have sounds in the language you
> > are trying to write that do not appear in the alphabet you are using.
>
> That's true. When this happens you either a) live with it; b) add
> a new letter to your alphabet; or c) write some ridiculous combination
> of otherwise innocent consonants, and insist that the combination be
> pronounced <however>.
And then you lose your phonetics!
> > Unless the name [of a god] is written deliberately wrong.
>
> That could be (thought it still requires some sort of alphabetic/
> pseudo-phonetic script to do so). The God Leaners didn't give two
> hoots about blaspheming against _other_ religions, though, so if
> they did this it might be as more of a "safety device". ("Please
> insert the 'D-chip' before proceeding with this hideous act of
> paganistic demon summoning. Thank you.")
Sorry, I meant if the worshippers of (insert god) deliberately wrote down the secret/too holy to write/speak name of their own god to stop other people from using it, thus protecting the object of their faith.
Frex: A sacred writing later falls into the hands of some unkowing or enemy scholar, he translates the text into his own language so that his people will know the secrets of this other cult. He finds the name of their god is mis-spelled/unpronouncable, so he changes it to fit his own tongue. Later still, some descendant of the scholar's culture finds the translation and decides to worship/summon/meet this god, but because the name is wrong, his attempts fail and the god is free from desecration.
I think I've waffled way off topic now, so I'll shut up.
John Murphy:
> I've had employees at my company that spoke only Spanish, which I speak
> very poorly. However, with the small amount of Spanish that I knew plus
> a lot of communication through facial expressions and body language we
> were able basic communication.
Sorry, but does this remind anyone else of "Fawlty Towers"? ;-D
> Nyslor probably had such a huge com bonus that he could communicate ideas
> to people of any language. He could speak to their heart or something
More likely straight into their minds. Which makes me ask, is mindspeech language-specific?
Alright, I am shutting up now,
Arf
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