(Message rqd:12) Return-Path:Received: from Holland.Sun.COM (sunnl) by homeland.Holland.Sun.COM (4.1/SMI-4.1) id AA08158; Mon, 12 Jul 93 17:16:29 +0200 Received: from glorantha.Holland.Sun.COM by Holland.Sun.COM (4.1/SMI-4.1e) id AA25785; Mon, 12 Jul 93 17:16:17 +0200 Received: by glorantha.Holland.Sun.COM (4.1/SMI-4.1) id AA01736; Mon, 12 Jul 93 17:15:29 +0200 Date: Mon, 12 Jul 93 17:15:29 +0200 Message-Id: <9307121515.AA01736@glorantha.Holland.Sun.COM> From: RuneQuest-Request@Glorantha.Holland.Sun.COM (RQ Digest Maintainer) To: RuneQuest@Glorantha.Holland.Sun.COM (Daily automated RQ-Digest) Reply-To: RuneQuest@Glorantha.Holland.Sun.COM (RuneQuest Daily) Subject: RuneQuest Daily, Mon, 12 Jul 1993, part 2 Precedence: junk Status: RO The RuneQuest Daily and RuneQuest Digest deal with the subjects of Avalon Hill's RPG and Greg Stafford's world of Glorantha. Send submissions and followup to "RuneQuest@Glorantha.Holland.Sun.COM", they will automatically be included in a next issue. Try to change the Subject: line from the default Re: RuneQuest Daily... on replying. Selected articles may also appear in a regular Digest. If you want to submit articles to the Digest only, contact the editor at RuneQuest-Digest-Editor@Glorantha.Holland.Sun.COM. Send enquiries and Subscription Requests to the editor: RuneQuest-Request@Glorantha.Holland.Sun.COM (Henk Langeveld) --------------------- From: JLROGERS@utkvx.utk.edu (Jim Rogers) Subject: Sacred Kingship, and Others Message-ID: <01H0FI0KINBM8Y506V@utkvx.utk.edu> Date: 11 Jul 93 17:40:23 GMT X-RQ-ID: 1261 Gang, As a first time writer, but long-time reader of the Daily, I want to take time to schmooze a bit. Congratulations to all for the generally high quality of submissions to the Daily. If the RQ Renaissance sticks, it'll be due to your efforts in large part. Now to business. Both Greg F. and Joerg B. wrote thoughtfully on the concept of Gloranthan rulers, and their relationship to "sacred" duties thereon. I fully agree with the concept that there is little use in Glorantha (or our own mythology) for a non-sacred ruler. Kings, tribal spokesmen, Emperors (Red or otherwise), and even Godunya, are political representatives of their people, invested with political power by the consent of their people. Thus, they channel a lesser (tribal) or greater (Godunya) amount of the magic of Glorantha, bound in myth and ceremony, as the holders of that particular office. Note that in different cultures, different forms of "election" of ruler will determine legitmacy of rule. While most of Glorantha (unlike most of Terra) sanctions hereditary succession of some kind, electoral succession (as sanctioned in Terra) would also carry the same weight. Thus, when acting in their capacity as ruler, the capacities of the rulers far exceed the bounds of normal folk, to Heroic levels, as seen in Dragon Pass. I think that there is some kind of calculus for determining the stature for political rulers, based on number of subjects (or citizens), but I think that I will leave that for the God Learners. "Ah, yes, but what about usurpers?" Clearly, though they might hold office, conduct ceremonies, and claim authority, they do _not_ benefit from this channeling of power into their political office. It is illegitimate. Their power is limited to their own, plus the support of close followers. They can, however, gain legitimacy. Thus, Richard the Tigerhearted's weak showing against the Lunars, and, possibly, Starbrow's miserably failed revolt. In order to gain legitimacy, either beginning a new rule, such as Sartar or Pavis, or claiming legitimacy, such as Argrath, takes Heroic efforts. That is, the claimant must invest a large amount of his being into the mythic aspect of the culture that he would claim to rule over. In doing so, the populace would be "converted" to the new rule, and lend it the necessary "magical" power that established rulers possess. Postscript: I wondered after writing this, if the principle involved in legitimate rulership and power claimed thereon, would also be true down the scale, to temple heirarchies, local nobility or city officials, even sheriffs. I welcome commentary, rebuttals (hot or not), or small pats on the back. Thanks for providing the forum. Jim Rogers --------------------- From: joe@sartar.toppoint.de (Joerg Baumgartner) Subject: SotB-Thanatar Question Message-ID: Date: 12 Jul 93 07:42:44 GMT X-RQ-ID: 1262 Hooray, SotB is available in my supplier's store, too. Finally... I don't know if anybody mentioned this before, but in SotB's Thanatar cult write-up there is the RQ2-style minimal POW requirement (15 for Runelords, 18 for priests). Was this just a slip when reediting the write-up? Or does this requirement apply only for becoming Rune rank, not staying Rune rank? How well does this fit with RQ3 (or for that matter RQ4)? It certainly reduces the value of a Thanatar head for priests more than for Runelords, if a Rune rank has to maintain the POW-requirement, since a Runelord can have up to 6 spells reusable per head, the priest only up to three. (Remember the increased POW-max from RQ2 is gone in RQ3.) Quite a pity, too, that the minor heads have gone; I liked the idea of a couple of heads rotting on the Thanatari's belt. A side note to knowledge thieves and assassins: were the (Aldryami) knowledge assassins who wiped out the special God Learners sect in Fonrit and Umathela related in any way to the Thanatar cult? -- -- Joerg Baumgartner joe@sartar.toppoint.de --------------------- From: A.J.C.Blyth@newcastle.ac.uk Subject: Re: RuneQuest Daily, Sat, 10 Jul 1993, part 1 Message-ID: Date: 12 Jul 93 07:53:03 GMT X-RQ-ID: 1263 >From: awr0@aberystwyth.ac.uk >Subject: This may be of interest >Message-ID: <9307091612.AA01619@deca> >Date: 9 Jul 93 18:12:28 GMT >X-RQ-ID: 1250 awr0@aberystwyth.ac.uk writes the following. >The question really comes down to how legal is it? In a nice world, >it would be great to be able to publish your own material as you see >fit stating that the material is un-official, and it would be nice >to send off the adventure to e.g. AH and have them say 'Sorry it's >crap, or hey this is great, here have and official endorsement!' Take a look at Game Master Publications - so long as you put a disclaimer in saying that RuneQuest is a TradeMark of A.H. and that this is *not* and official RuneQuest publication they they can not do a thing about it. If people are interested I will post the official disclaimer for them. I myself am in the process of try to get some stuff published and again if people want I will let them know how I progress. Regards Andrew.