RE: East Islands sailors, taboo passengers and squid.
Here are some real world harbingers of ill luck among seafaring folk.
Hares,
Pigs,
Cats (Ships cats were very rare) - Rats ironically were a good sign?
Dogs,
Horses,
Spiders,
Mentioning four footed animals at sea,
The word 'swine',
Finns and Laplanders were wind weavers and thus dangerous (Orlanthi!)
Red haired folk, flat footed folk and lame men (Aberdeen specialities these)
The number 54,
The first monday in April (Cain's Birthday) - Perhaps translatable as Wachaza
Day?
31 December, or Judas' Day of Betrayal.
The second Monday in August, the day of the destruction of Sodom
Fridays, never begin a voyage on Friday (Fire Day?) Priests, Lawyers,
It makes you wonder how they ever got to sea.
RE Navigation in the East Isles.
I like the idea that they use the same system as the Polynesians. The Navigators of the Polynesians are highly respected and powerful people, especially thos of Tonga. They are so familiar with the ocean that they can navigate using only their normal senses. They watch the ocean very carefully, not only with their eyes. Ears perceive sounds which tell him about the way the waves and the foam move and hit the ship, scent tells them of any changes in the smell of the sea, while the feet are used to tell how the ocean swells. Routes are memorised through stories, reflecting the nature of the sea scape: The presence and species of sea birds, the shapes and colours of clouds, the shape and frequency of waves, the colour, smell, taste and 'thickness' of the sea. This skill was so pronounced that an experienced navigator could quickly use his knowledge to fix his location, even after a storm. (Jan Knappert's - Pacific Mythology has a good section on this).
In Glorantha the presence of unusual and magical features would only go to enhance the Navigators skills. Who could get lost with such distinctive features as the Berzarngay Boil, Dang Leng dang (The Standing Waves), Magastas Pool, the Doom Currents of the Sshorg Sea and the hot waters of the Togaro Ocean? I also like the idea of this skill because it has a better myhical basis than compasses etc. The stories would perhaps be recorded in a special way, a song, a dance, inscribed upon cowrie shells, told from father to son. There are also some similarities to this sense of Glorantha Space as that used by the Praxians in Greg's articles on that topic.
SQUID:- The squids are cool! Don't forget that the Vorumai Tsankth pirates have magic that emulates the crushing power of the squid (Bind Ship). I watch a program recently about some guys strapping cameras to Sperm Whales in the hope of filming the really big Giant Squid. There were some smaller varieties (1-2 Meters) that attacked their prey in shoals and scared the crap out of the local fishermen and sharks!
Cheers Simon.
End of The Glorantha Digest V6 #332
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