alex startles me with his bravery

From: Steve Lieb <styopa_at_iname.com>
Date: Fri, 05 Feb 1999 16:51:32 -0600

Mike Mittman argues that Orlanthi aren't the only ones who fly:
>>Jeff Richard also argued that Orlanthi are the only flying people.
>>While I'm sure most Orlanthi believe that, the hawk riders of
>>Dykene, the wyvern and moon boat riders of the lunar empire,
>>the sorcerers of the west, the imminent masters of the east would
>>all disagree (well, maybe not the imminent masters, they would
>>claim that they are not people, they are dragons).
The Jeff ripostes: (email, repost, get it? hee hee)
>First thing is first, the Orlanthi are the only Glorantha humans for whom it
>is true that a significant portion of their population (roughly one in
>fifty) can actually fly.

I'd disagree in essence (the Brithini come to mind), but the main thing is that this is irrelevant. If one in 1000 *can* fly, or one in 10k, then you have enough to make it a cottage industry, really. What's the proportion of apiarists in a population - yet we have honey. (To use an admittedly quickly-imagined example - there are probably better ones.) And I'd wager a fellow with an ability to make such maps would make a HECK of a lot more $$ than a beekeeper. Thus a more attractive field, albeit the qualifications are high.

>Pretty much all other cultures simply levitate up
>or down.

Where do you get this idea? I don't agree, and even if I did, levitation works just as well for what we're talking about...

>As for folk who ride beasties or thingies - they are pretty damn
>rare. Besides that, I strongly doubt that they are used for making accurate
>maps.

Yes.

>Even if they were, only the Moon Boat constitutes a relatively stable
>platform for making the map. All of the others would result in a map from
>memory - hardly the most accurate of things.
Agreed - but I can imagine one of the more important functions of the Moon Boats (since I can be done concurrently with other tasks) is to provide intelligence info - i.e. MAPS.

>

While I realize the source material the Orlanthicentricity of this discussion is understandable, it's discounting most of the world. I'd in fact agree with Jeff and go further to say that, even if the Orlanthi *did* have the resources to get accurate maps, they wouldn't care (as Keith mentioned earlier).
In fact however, there are sorcerers, wizards, witches, priests, etc all over Glorantha who would actually strive for such an accomplishment (being able to fly to draw good maps), much less accept it as a handy by-product of a developed spell, skill, or talent.

>Second, for most people capable of doing the previous feats (Orlanthi
>godtalkers, levitating Pelorians, etc.), making a geographical map is not a
>priority. A Pelorian mystic (re: illuminated Red Goddess worshipper) can
>levitate because she has transcended the material world - not exactly
>someone who is likely to care about accurate maps. And so on.
Again, I think a rather narrow viewpoint. I would agree however, to his two examples.
>------------------------------

Alex excoriates Mike:
>It comes down to how appropriate one feels the existence of "good maps"
>are to the setting, and perhaps more so, some of the rules-rape wheezes
>one might propose to try and prove they _must_ exist, would be more
>like it. I think you'll find it has _not_ been suggested that accurate
>maps wouldn't be useful, in fact, quite the reverse in many ways they'd
>be _too_ useful, given the supposed nature of the world and the
>experience of adventuring in it.

Not to be considered a rules-rape wheezer (on a regular basis anyway), but my point in starting this entertaining thread was to point out that: 1) maps are broadly and specifically useful (uncontested, apparently?) 2) if you have a need, and the means to satisfy that need, it will be satisfied, subject to limitations or better uses of the required resources. 3) ergo the magical abilities available in Glorantha are too common NOT to have been used in this way, and rather frequently

Other than that, I've forgotten where we started.

However, I refuse to debate with someone brave enough to drink the Aer Lingus OJ. I thought they just gave it to us to hold in case more lubricant was suddenly needed somewhere on the plane... - -Steve Lieb
styopa_at_iname.com
*arch-advocate of the Glorantha Ordinance Survey*

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