RE: The Glorantha Digest V7 #478

From: Bob Stancliff <stancliff_at_ccgnv.net>
Date: Tue, 21 Mar 2000 09:35:33 -0500


>- --Peter Metcalfe
> The RQ3 rulebook states there are only several
> Rulers in a town-sized cluster which makes less
> than 50 rulers for all of the dragonewt towns
> plus a further twenty or thirty rulers in the
> Dragon's Eye itself. Since the Dragon Pass units
> consist of roughly a thousand strong each, the
> full priests are negligible in DP terms - I suppose
> they lead the various units and act as the
> Inhuman King's Bodyguard.

        This fits the normal hierarchy pyramid. The fact that the pyramid still exists suggests that dragons still return occasionally to lay new eggs. Otherwise most, if not all, of the 'newts would have walked their mystic path to dragonhood by 1600, or just been wiped out as weak stragglers. The fact that the Dragonkill occurred proves that the cities are still important to the dragons.

        Dragonnewts are not an expanding race since they don't breed. They have to wait for a female dragon to repopulate the nest. They don't fight for territory because their racial goals are to transform, leave the world behind, and explore the cosmos. As mystics, they minimize their contact with the world while still demanding their right to exist.

        I have always been bothered by the 'newts hiring out mercenaries to the lunars, so in my game, this military aid was coerced by the lunars and resented by the 'newts. To restore their karmic balance they covertly aided Orlanth by arranging for Olaront (dragon friend) to find the EWF banner and join with Argrath of Pavis, founder of the order of the White Bull. They rode the Giant's Cradle to the sea and Olaront is teaching Argrath the dragon way while they restore the worship of Orlanth Dragon friend.
>------------------------------

>Gian
> In my playing, Stikkle effectively won the contest
> (beating the regular PC, an advanced Orlanthi)
> even if he lost this particular event (the mounted
> duel). For a year or so the Garhound Militiamen
> were forced by their new leader to scramble the
> region without rest in order to "discover
> and destroy any chaos nest".

        In our third Garhound, a PC Storm Bull won, and had a similar effect. His new wife didn't like him much so he spent a lot of time wandering the countryside with a file of militia, looking for trouble. He got a couple of guys killed that year, and the rest of the militia got some good weapon training.

> At the end of the year, Stikkle was drunk by his
> own comrades to inhibit him from participating
> the Garhound contest again... :-)

        You failed to notice the rule that says a previously married person can never compete. He is no longer eligible to enter.
>------------------------------

> And why are the Vendref so gutless? They're almost
> like the equivalent of Oasis people in Dragon Pass.
> If they're ex-Heortlings why don't they join up
> with other Heortlings and rebel? Or are they just
> simple people who are happy to be farmers?

        Ask yourself why feudal serfs didn't rebel. They were oppressed, killed for little reason, taxed to the edge of starvation, but they rarely complained. As long as they could feed their families and enjoy some peace they accepted their lord's rule.

Stancliff (the other boggle)


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