The discussion on adpotion practices has been interesting but what I would find
more useful as a GM (sorry if I'm offending any non-gaming Glorantha purists)
would be the form different cultures adoption ritual take.
To kick things off I'll describe a brother adpotion ritual I used in the campaign
I run.
A pc, Gywdden the Hairy, had saved the life of a young bison clan warrior called
Zug in a battle against some trolls. Full of the enthusiasm of youth, Zug invited
Gywdden to become what the one person amoungst the pc's who spoke any praxian
described as "his brother". Thinking that this would be both fun and useful
Gywdden aggred so a time and place was set to meet up with the rest of Zug's clan
and preform the ritual.
The time arrived and so did the Yellow Hoof clan. Zug and Gywdden were taken into
a tent where rainbow grass was throw on the fire (ahh, the sweet smell of burning
rainbow grass). For the next six hours the pair sweated it out while his "family"
was entertained by the rest of the clan. When the time was deemed auspicious the
tribe "holy man" (once again the language difficulties made for approximations of
titles) invited those close to both Gywdden and Zug into the tent.
More spirits were summoned and could be seen moving through the smoke as one of
the effects of rainbow grass is to allow people to see spirits. The holy man and
his apprentice both held up daggers which then had powerful magics cast upon them
(big bladesharp for those interested). Zug and Gywdden then had their arms held
behind them as they knelt on the ground forcing their chests outwards.
At this point the forigners were expecting some sort of tribal markings and a
little bleeding so when the holy man plunged the dagger into the chest of Gywdden
cutting through the ribs like bison cheese they were a little shocked. His
friends later informed him that the look on Gywdden's face as the holy man held
his still beating heart up in front of him was worth the price of the ticket by
its self. The hearts were then (quickly) swapped and major healing magicks
applied.
Now, everynow and then, Gywdden's heart will race and he and his friends will
wonder what Zug is up to. When this occurs they have taken to throwing helpful
magics upon Gywdden just on the chance that this will help Zug out of whatever
scrape he's in.
The point of all this rambling being that if you have a Glorantha where healing
magics can do things like reattach limbs (which I realise not everyone does) you
don't have to limit yourself to cutting your palms and shaking hands. It also
exploits a game mechanic (you are not dead till strike rank ten) but I guess
transplants and such the like are successful (under much different conditions) in
the RW.
So gywdden is now a member of the Yellow Hoof clan and Zug can find kin in the
hills of Sartar because a part of them does belong to those places. It certainly
should make you think twice before sponsoring any old person into the clan...
So what form would a Sartarite addoption take? Are the Pelorians so sofisticated
that it's just a legal contract? Do Mostali just file off the serial numbers and
claim that they've had this unit out in the back shed for years?
bye
Hugh
Hugh McVicker
IT Manager
MacFarlane Burnet Centre for Medical Research
61-3-92822107
hugh_at_burnet.edu.au