From: RuneQuest-Request@Glorantha.Holland.Sun.COM (RQ Digest Maintainer)
Sender: RuneQuest-Request@Glorantha.Holland.Sun.COM (RQ Digest Maintainer)
Organization: Lankhor Mhy and Associates
To: RuneQuest@Glorantha.Holland.Sun.COM (Daily automated RQ-Digest)
Reply-To: RuneQuest@Glorantha.Holland.Sun.COM (RuneQuest Daily)
Subject: RuneQuest Daily, Tue, 07 Dec 1993, part 2
Message-ID:
Precedence: junk
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From: GRAEME@SPVA.PHYSICS.IMPERIAL.AC.UK (Graeme Willoughby)
Subject: help please and Slimestone
Message-ID: <9312062351.AB04816@Sun.COM>
Date: 6 Dec 93 19:24:00 GMT
X-RQ-ID: 2574
Hi All,
I was reading Dragon(TM) the other day and who did I see reviewing some games
there but Sandy - come on Sandy, admit you;re a closet D&D(TM) freak ("OK - so
I do a little Ranger now and then - so what, I can handle it")
Can anyone tell me the sories of Orlanth's weapons - all I know is what is
in the RoC write up of Orlanth? Or about the Yelmalian Hill of Gold quest (or
alternatively point me in the direction of a source).
Finally Slimestone:
1) regarding thousands of spirits attacking it - how do you get thousands of
spirits to do what you want?
2) regarding making it into a familiar - where does it say that the familiar
has to be willing - one of the examples is a chair, how can this be willing?
Gorp have zero INT (the same as the chair), so I dont see how it can be either
unwilling or willing. Anyway - you don't think I was going to let any of my
players make it one of their familiars do you - I was just thinking of ways to
affect it.
3) I'd like to agree with Geoff Gunnar - I'm not sure why it has 80pt acid
either - I'm not sure why it's got CON in the hundereds either - what does such
a huge CON mean - I'm sure it's never going to catch a cold! Sandy's answer
that these are expressions of its chaotic nature is a good catch all, but
ultimately tells us nothing. Of course Glorantha is just analogous to Earth so
in principle there's nothing to stop acids being able to burn through anything
at all and being of any strenght at all. What is an "acid" in Glorantha anyway
- I guess that it's something that burns like a gorp does.
Time to go
Graeme
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From: jjm@zycor.lgc.com (johnjmedway)
Subject: Look and Feel, part 2
Message-ID: <9312070323.AA03881@hp0.zycor.lgc.com>
Date: 7 Dec 93 03:23:32 GMT
X-RQ-ID: 2575
Well, I'm supposed to be readying for my finals, so ...
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Time to open another can of worms?
We "know" the Sartarites fight in warbands, and look like some amalgam of
Gauls, Goths, Vikings, ... The Greydogs, at least, wear kilts...
We recently worked over the Esrolians, Praxians and Grazelanders...
That leaves: The Lunars and the Tarshites
Lunars are usually presented as some sort of slightly-off take on a Greek
or Roman, often with a bit of Persian or other eastern influence. Why don't
we break some of this down on cultural, political and religious lines?
Tarshites and other Southern Provincials:
-----------------------------------------
Bordering the southern barbarians, the Tarshites should have some things in
common with the Sartarites. I figure that their military looks a lot like
Roman Auxilla, with some added skirmishers and horse.
They probably wear tunics, often with long trousers, while heavier troops
wear chain shirts, or less commonly the Lunar cuirass or lurica. I would
suppose that they would forgoe the leg armor, both as a holdover from more
barbaric roots ( compared with Heartlanders ), and as a result of the
Lunars needing more light and medium troops.
The shield is similar to the scutum ( an oval or oblong barbarian shield )
possibly with a central spike, and the hemit is a simple open one, or is
a skullcap with a spike or central horsetail plume ( again barbarian roots
with hints from the Dragon Pass counters ).
Dara Happans:
-------------
Old-style, moralistic and conservative, with a culture predating the ritual
of beating back Valind (?), these would have the more Persian, or eastern
look. They still wear trousers and tunics, and probably armor of linen,
spun by their dutiful (cowed) Dendara wives.
We know that the Dara Happans invented the pike block, and use units with
base-10 sizes (per The Greg). I'd say the helmits and armor look a bit
like the Sun County folks, both because they emulate birds and feathers,
and because there's nowhere else in the Sun Domers' neighborhood who could
have taught them how to dress. Modesty and propriety encourages the wearing
of trousers. (The Sun Domers dropped them, so to speak, 'cos it's hotter in
Prax.)
"Lunars":
---------
Terminology: I use the term "Lunar" (read as modern, progressive-decadent,
Red Goddess pantheon worshippers) to differentiate them from other Imperials,
such as the Dara Happans (read old-fashioned, conservative-decadent, Solar
pantheon worshippers) or Pelorian farm boys.
The "Lunars" and their Red Army/Career Ladder have developed some fairly
strong loyalty among the poor rural villagers, who would otherwise have had
to live in the muck, stepped on by Dara Happans, all of their lives. (Hence
the popularity of a religion with no earth or sky or *fill-in-missing-
niche* god.)
The "Lunars" form the leaders and political officers, if not the body of
much of the Red Army. I see them as looking mostly Graeco-Roman, though
with some oddities which make them just a bit different (most prior art
seems to support this). The tunic without trousers is sported by the more
"Lunar" folks, though cold windy days in Sartar can make men buck the
trends.
Each unit should have its own look and identity, to promote esprit de
corps. Uniforms and uniform colors differ between units, though deep red,
white, grey and black tunics and accessories are most common. In most units
the art on an individual's shield is a free choice, with suggestions in
"Recommended Forms of Display of the Glory of the Goddess and Other Symbols
of Our Lunar Faith", pages v-xxiii, of book XXIII, of Lunar Military Code,
edition CCXXX (revision V is most current).
As examples, let's look at some units of heavy hoplites.
The Granite, Marble, Jasper and Beryl Phalanxes share a common equipment
design (open helm with a moon on a central spike, plate cuirass and
greaves, round hoplite shield, linen or leather skirts, longspear and
scimitar). The Granite Phalanx sports a spotted pinkish-grey and black
tunic (suggestive of granite) and grey, black and red motifs on the
shields. The Marble phalanx has tunics made with a variant form of tie-dye
which looks like white marble (trust me, it can be done, and is pretty
low-tech) and shield art in white and red and black.
Lighter hoplite and pike units would have similar standard issue equipment,
and would also have a unit uniform. Some of these would have linen armor
dyed red or black as a unit identifier. Other light units are typically
drawn from the provinces, and are thus less regular, and would be less
likely to have a uniform. They would likely have some visible identifying
aspect, such as the use of crescent-shaped shields for the Silver Shields
and other peltast units, or other recognizably "friendly" emblems on other
shields.
And now for some things I'll not spout-off on (well not as much):
Carmainians:
------------
I have no idea. Quasi-Byzantine/Late Roman Empire?
Sylillings:
-----------
Less "civilized" than the Heartlanders, but more so than the Tarshites.
Yara Aranis Worshippers:
------------------------
I have thought that these yahoos were run naked-into-battle types. Any
other suggestions?
Great Sister's Army:
--------------------
Anybody's guess, though I gave them some mounted giant bats for scouting
in one game session...
Also: Anybody want to suggest some names for the unnamed regiments in
Nick's tally?
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