Re: Dragons, dinosaurs and digging deeply from John Hughes on 2001-06-18 (Glorantha Digest Vol 08)

From: John Hughes <nysalor_at_primus.com.au>
Date: Mon, 18 Jun 2001 14:11:19 +1000

Heys folks

Ben Wagoner, thanks for that great piece of speculation on Sartar.

DRAGONS, DINOSAURS, DIGGING DEEPLY In moments of strictly non-orthodox speculation, I've mused on the possibility that the pockets of dinosaur-type creatures that inhabit parts of Dragon Pass -

desire to be left alone, thank you very much, and achieve this by herding humans (their dominant competitors). Humans don't know they're being herded, they simply conceive it as 'not building steads by the Upland Falls, or by the Ancient Pasture, cause they get trampled a lot and the cattle get mutilated'.
spend their time alone in unorthodox forms of draconic meditation (cause at base, that's what they are) which occasionally manifest unusual reality effects in their vicinity. This leads to their grazing and hunting areas being declared 'weird', 'taboo' or just 'too dangerous' by the clans, which also helps to keep the two competitors apart.
have an uncanny ability to not be noticed, and to *go away* either into hibernation, into the earth (The Lost Worlds of Far Point...) or onto the Other Side. Option 3 is my favorite, as it neatly fits into my ongoing 'large scale migration don't work on a Lozenge' rant. Option 2 has great scenario potential, esp. if the subterranean caverns are *on the way to* or *in* the Other Side.

Earthshakers? Do they mind being domesticated? Do they notice? Or do they regard it as some form of puberty ritual in which they make big marks in the earth, wear neat stuff and get to bellow at Heortlings with pointed sticks. (The similarities with Orlanthi puberty rituals will be obvious to discerning readers.)

I explored some of this in campaign once, but Danwyr Can't-be-Moved became Danwyr Squished-Between-Toes, and that was enough dinosaurs for one campaign.

John 'Can you channel a steggie?' Hughes

nysalor_at_primus.com.au                 John Hughes

Music, states of happiness, mythology, faces belabored by time, certain twilights and certain places try to tell us something, or have said something we should not have missed, or are about to say something; this imminence of a revelation which does not occur is, perhaps, the aesthetic phenomenon.

- Jorge Luis Borges, "The Wall and the Books".