Re: Eurmali Questions

From: TTrotsky_at_aol.com
Date: Fri, 27 Nov 1998 18:27:22 EST


Rich Ohlson:

<<If a trickster has to "voluntarily become an outcast" does that mean they
have to tell everybody that they are in fact a trickster?>>

     The majority of Tricksters, as with other Orlanthi, are not going to leave their clan community, so everybody will know that they are a Trickster anyway. Those who do leave will mostly act in an obviously Tricksterish way, so they won't need to tell anyone either - it will become obvious after spending any significant length of time with them. There will be exceptions, though, since Tricksters cannot be so precisely tied down into one way of behaving IMO.

<< I've played in campaigns where the tricksters hid their cult allegience,
and even
 joined other cults.>>

      The first would imply the latter, surely? Pretending you're in a cult when you aren't doesn't sound very easy or healthy (people are going to notice at the HD ceremonies for a start) so if you want to hide your cult allegiance the only way to do so for any length of time is to actually join some other cult.

      The only alternative would be to pretend not to be initiated into any cult at all, with all the huge social disadvantages that that carries in Orlanthi society. Indeed, people may well assume that somebody who isn't in a cult is really a Trickster, even if they don't otherwise act that way - its just such a weird thing to do.

<< Should this be allowed? >>

     The real question is whether or not other cults will allow Tricksters as members - even if you don't tell the priests of your allegiance, the god would know, resulting in a nasty case of the spirits of reprisal if such membership is forbidden. So, basically, there are three options here: 1) Orlanthi cults do not permit Tricksters to join. This obviously applies to cults like Humakt, IMO, but its less clear for some others. I've always assumed that Tricksters are, by their nature, outside of normal Orlanthi society, and thus cannot join other cults, but I can see possible arguments against this.
2) Tricksters can gain an ability that allows them to join certain other cults without their 'true' affiliation being apparent. Obviously, they couldn't advance to the priesthood, but they could hide as initiates. I'm not convinced by this, as it sounds suspiciously like one of the effects of Illumination, but there could be a case for it.
3) At least some Orlanthi cults do allow Tricksters to join. Orlanth and Ernalda would be the most obvious candidates, because of their essentially universal nature.

<< Is there any reason why a village shouldn't just lynch a PC trickster?>>

     The other PCs. Other than that, no - Tricksters have no protection under the law.

<< Is there any reason why PC's should even try and defend their trickstercompanion
?>>

     That's up to them. Its always helpful for a Trickster to have an important patron, to protect them from getting beaten up, and one or more of the other PCs could well fill that role. Remember that Tricksters do have a useful role in Orlanthi society, having a post in most tribal rings and being responsible for thinking the unthinkable, as it were. And, of course, there are quite a number of HeroQuests that involve Eurmal (even if he only gets beaten up or generally ridiculed) so they're handy to have around for that reason as well.  

<< Finally, does anybody have any good (or bad) Orlanthi jokes? You know,
"Orlanth, Humakt, and Eurmal entered a bar..." kinda stuff. >>

     I think its a safe bet that the Orlanthi don't - this would be pretty sacrilegous stuff. "An Orlanthi, a Humakti and a Trickster enter a bar..." is, of course, a different matter. And you can bet that the Torkani, frex, tell Yelmalion Jokes.

     OK, that's probably not what you were asking, but I'm feeling pedantic...

Forward the glorious Red Army!

     Trotsky


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