Bell Digest v940128p2

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, Fri, 28 Jan 1994, part 2
Content-Return: Prohibited
Precedence: junk


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From: MOBTOTRM@vaxc.cc.monash.edu.au
Subject: Back in the land Down Under (where women glow and men chunder...)
Message-ID: <01H873PKWMWY9D59M5@vaxc.cc.monash.edu.au>
Date: 28 Jan 94 11:45:35 GMT
X-RQ-ID: 2913

G'day all,
Well Su and I are safely returned from our 6 week US odyssey, and reeling 
with shock at the antipodean heatwave we are now experiencing.  Using 
the Fahrenheit scale, yesterday it was exactly *one hundred degrees* warmer 
here than it was in New Jersey just over two weeks ago, when we were 
staying with Ken Rolston.

We both had a blast of a time during our travels, which took in 
LA (pre-earthquake), Seattle, Victoria BC, New York, Columbia, Washington 
and San Fransisco.  I particularly enjoyed meeting so many people whose 
names I only knew from e-mail, and catching up with others who I haven't 
seen for some time.  And I look forward to seeing you all again next year, 
as I hope to be able to make it to RQ Con 2 in San Fransisco!

Highlights of the trip:
*Night skiing at Snoqualmie Pass in Washington State (I had never been 
downhill skiing before, but my friend said heUd teach me.  When we got 
to the top of the slope, he pointed me in a downwards direction and 
said "Learn".)

*Trollball on Sunday morning - 9 am and 9 degrees (F)!

*Home of the Bold: The look on Harvar Ironfist (Mike Dawson's) face when he 
was brought before me expecting to be executed for trying to light 
Sartar's flame and I greeted him with a cheerful, "Harvar, my good 
fellow!"  (As he *failed* to light the flame, why bother upsetting 
Gordius's Grand Design which was progressing so nicely at that 
stage?)

*Meeting someone who likes Vegemite even more than Australians brought 
up on the stuff - Finula McCaul was eating whole spoonsful of the stuff 
at the Eat at Geos Trollfood fest (where it was labelled "Finest Extruded 
Tar from the pits of Blackwell"), so I gave her the jar!  Bon appetit 
Finula!

*Braving snow, sleet, black ice and maniac drivers to visit the mansion 
and museum of mad Mr Mercer in Pennsylvania with Ken at the wheel.

*Shovelling snow out of the Rolston's driveway

*While in San Fransisco, getting Stephen Martin to talk about something 
other than that G-world for more than 5 minutes.

*Going on a book-buying binge with Greg and Nick in Berkely.

*Buying fossilised turtle crap at the Dead Animal parts shop in Haight, SF.

*My wife Su, a resolute non-gamer, enjoying herself in Home of the Bold as 
the Lunar Tax Collector.


Lowlights
*How I felt the day after I went night skiing.

*Wasting one hour of my life waiting in line so I could climb to the top of 
the Statue of Liberty (Su didn't want to, but I wouldn't listen).

*Arriving at 3.30am and seven hours late in San Fransisco (even worse 
for Stephen Martin, who was waiting to pick us up!)

*Falling sick on News Years Eve, *before* the drinking and revelry 
began.

*Comedians in a NY club making jokes about the bushfires here, and us 
not knowing what they were on about as we hadn't seen a paper or the news 
for days.

*On our first day Su orders a sandwich as she is not feeling "all that
hungry".  It comes about the size of a dinner plate and about 18 inches
thick!



We have of course thanked them personally, but I would like to publicly 
proclaim the following people as Kind and Generous Hosts, who really 
made us feel welcome on our travels: David and Elice Dunham, who make 
a mean salmon chowder; Dave Cheng, who shared his tiny apartment 
and magnanimously let Su take the bed; Ken & Pat Rolston, who showed 
us the northern stars and kept their insane Christmas decorations up 
especially for us to gawk at in appalled wonder; Stephen & Carol 
Martin, who took us to the see where the ewoks live (the Red Woods; 
and Greg Stafford and Suzanne, where we learnt how to pronounce "27" 
properly at a local Vietnamese restaurant (ask Greg).


I am preparing a detailed account of the trollball game, including the 
rules Nils Hammer and I nutted out at 1.30 am on Saturday night.  I am 
also finishing up Gordius's defense speech at the Lunar 
Inquisitorial Commission, held to work out who to blame for the events 
at Boldhome.  I'm confident Gordius will get out of this unharmed,and 
maybe even with a promotion (it's a shame the only priest with Truth 
spells was confined to his tent with a virulent attack of Uleria's 
Measles while Gordius took the stand).  

Cheers
MOB

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From: brandon@caldonia.nlm.nih.gov (Brandon Brylawski)
Subject: Re: RuneQuest Daily, Thu, 27 Jan 1994, part 1
Message-ID: <9401271445.AA29312@caldonia.nlm.nih.gov>
Date: 27 Jan 94 14:45:01 GMT
X-RQ-ID: 2914

With regard to Yelorna in Dara Happa :

Yelorna is the chaste Goddess of the Night Sky and an integral part of Yelm's
pantheon. While She and her worshippers are not thought much of by followers
of Yelm and Yelmalio, they cannot deny her rightful place as one of the solar
gods, albeit one subservient to Yelm in all important matters.  Every Yelm or 
Yelmalio temple has a shrine to Yelorna in it, although often placed in a poor 
location (nearest the privy or cooking area) and usually accessible primarily 
through a side door. Any priest of Yelm can officiate at a Yelorna ceremony,
but it is an insult to ask one to do so. On Yelorna's holy days, usually 
whichever priest or acolyte is lowest on the s**tlist gets the job. In solar
society, Yelorna worshippers often function as soldiers (in Yelorna-only units,
of course), as scouts, couriers, hunters, and guards for important women
(i.e. foreignors or wives of important men).

Brandon

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From: fkiesche3@aol.com
Subject: Re: RuneQuest Daily, Thu, 27 Jan 1994, part 1
Message-ID: <9401271354.tn161649@aol.com>
Date: 27 Jan 94 18:54:26 GMT
X-RQ-ID: 2916

Greetings All:

Did anybody out there get a Digest for Saturday (January 22, 1994) and/or
Monday (January 24, 1994)???

If so, could they e-mail copies to FKiesche3@aol.com???

Thanks much!!!!!

Fred Kiesche
(FKiesche3@aol.com)


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From: ANDERSJC@howdy.Princeton.EDU
Subject: RQCon
Message-ID: <59307E8748F@howdy.princeton.edu>
Date: 27 Jan 94 21:16:11 GMT
X-RQ-ID: 2917



Janet Anderson posted this for Paul Anderson:
    I loved rqcon! The snafus at the beginning were simply the sort of thing to 
be expected the first time something new is tried, and will vanish - I trust- 
when whatever bug it was is found and fixed. (Fix Bugs is a trollish skill, you 
know . ;-|) The only thing I regret is that. needing to eat and sleep, I didn't 
get to talk to enough people.  

    We will  almost certainly not be able to afford a trip to Oakland, 
unfortunately. RQCon East 9-15 months from now?

                   ****SPOILER NOTE on HotB*****
    I very much enjoyed Home of the Bold. Indeed, I -not my character- 
heroquested during the last three hours of it; Greg Stafford is quite right, 
FRP can be heroquesting. I do _not_ count the imposed structure of the story of 
Romne and Juliana (:-(), which was fun, but the following three cases: no 
sooner had I been reunited with my love, and I was apologizing for letting her 
ring go astray, than JD Brightstone finally found that it was worthless  and 
gave it back to us; for perfectly rational reasons, I warned Prince Temertain 
of the DOOM that was upon him (I was trying to get him to stay around and help 
make peace, but I had in honor to be obscure); and wandered crazily (after all, 
I was in love with a *ptyh*Lunar, and was bound to defend her against my own 
people) into the last night, past the entire Lunar army, past the vampire-
killing, and past a Lunar patrol safely (must be the Red Goddess's respect for 
the mad).


    I don't know what this flap over Elmal is; that history has the most 
accurate feel of any FRP polytheism I have ever seen. I am much impressed with 
KoS; thanks, David. 

   There does seem to be an idea missing from the richness of Orlanthi society, 
especially if it were inspired by Celtic/Cymric sources, as someone has been 
arguing on the net [sorry, I don't have my digests to hand]: the lineage, the 
Colymarssons, the _Cenell Colymar_, which consists of Colymar's agnatic 
descendants.  
 
    This is a different group than the Colymar Tribe. Some Colymarssons don't 
belong to the Tribe; they went to Pavis, or the Sun Dome, or even as close as 
the Culbrea or Malani, and were accepted there. More importantly, many or most 
Colymar tribespeople are not Colymarings. Some never were, for their 
forefathers came with Colymar, without being his brothers; some were accepted 
as groups, like the Hyalorings; some came as individuals, or families, and 
Colymar received them; some descend from freed captives.

    Being of Colymar's lineage would be of limited importance inside the tribe, 
and none outside, so that outsiders would have difficulty recognzing the 
distinction. This problem is compounded by tribesmen identifying themselves as 
simply 'Colymari' rather than by lineage, since the former is more important 
and often more honorable (unless they are appealing to their outside kindred, 
or discussing marriage). But it would be appropriate for the King and the 
Chiefs of certain clans to be Colymarings, by birth or adoption; and marriage-
geasses are (strictly) on lineages, not clans.  

    On diseases: Creeping Chills can certainly be lethal if your CON < 10; and 
bout of disease should fatigue you immensely. For those who want a nastier 
disease: a disease _is_ a disease spirit, which you resist with your CON. A 
book disease has a POW of 10, so the resistance chance = 5*CON; but there's no 
reason why all diseases should have that POW. I'm trying 6+D6, and diseases
caught from a case have 1 POW less than their mother. Then there's Pocharngo's
Plague.... 

    As I said, I didn't get enough time to talk at the con, so I still have 
some


                           RuneQuestions


    1. On CoP p.77 it says that Orlanth "led a strong army of immortals with 
many allies.  The gods of light continued to fight back, led especially by 
[Yelmalio] in Peloria...." and continues with Yelmalio's wounding.  Since the  
discovery of the Elmal\Yelmalio (or is that Yelmal\Elmalio? :-))  schism:

    a} does this story still exist?
    b} who tells it?
    c} what is the name in brackets?

    2. Many proper names are formed with suffixes -ela (like Genertela) and -i, 
like Kralori, Basmoli. What Gloranthan language are they from? if they are, as 
I suspect, Jrusteli, what was the contemporary name of the High council of 
Genertela? what is the native name of Kralorela (Hsi-hia?) etc. etc. 


    3. Where did the wise Giants intend their cradles to go?

    4. In Glorantha-Pak (III,16) it says that feminine Orlanthi tasks include 
"cooking, sewing, and starmarking". What _is_ starmarking? Tattooing? 
Astronomy?  

    5. Who teaches Ceremony among the Orlanthi, and to whom?

    6. What is Pamalt's arrow-shaped '|` Rune? 

    7. How would a Gloranthan institute a "Creative HeroQuest" like saving 
Pharaoh?

    8. If you use the RQIII teaching rules, how many NPC's tend to turn up to 
split the costs of any given lesson.


    9. I would like to know why some rules were changed for RQIII. These are 
mostly ones I don't much care for, and look like they were changed for 
`simplicity', but  I would like to know, lest it turn out that there was 
a loophole fit for an allosaurus:

      Lay-memberships dropped (as game-mechanics) It seems natural IMO 
to have Gustbran, for instance, to have apprentice smiths as lay members, 
journeymen as initiates, and master-smiths as priests.

    APP instead of CHA.

    A shaman having to have a fetch with more POW than all his controlled 
Spirits, with the result that the very good (but not world-class) shaman in 
Apple Lane now has a fetch with the grotesque POW of 61.  

    Ceremony for non-ritual spells/an (untrainable) casting chance for spirit 
magic (which already has a min. 5% chance to fail).

    etc.,


   10. And, so that all things may go by tens forever, what ritual is performed 
with several pigeons and a small mirror? I thought this group would know. It's
not in Thorndike.  

















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From: paul@phyast.pitt.edu (Paul Reilly)
Subject: Re: RuneQuest Daily, Thu, 27 Jan 1994, part 2
Message-ID: <9401272313.AA06531@minerva.phyast.pitt.edu>
Date: 27 Jan 94 23:13:57 GMT
X-RQ-ID: 2918

  More on Praxians/ Hsunchen:

  I had always thought of Uncolings as being very like the Earth's Lapps, in
much the same way that Kralorelans are like the Chinese, etc.  If this is not
so (Sandy says that they never eat their totem animal, the reindeer) then
what are they like?

  Oh, and what do they live on?  From where they live they seemed perfectly
suited to living on reindeer, large herds of which should be roaming around
up there.

  I had thought of the Uncolings as being halfway between hunter/gatherers and
herders, again basing this on the Lapps.  This would put them somewhere between
Praxians and Hsunchen on the developmental scale.  (Note I do not say which
end of the scale is 'better'.)

  - Paul Reilly

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From: malcolm109@aol.com
Subject: Glorious Reascent of Yelm
Message-ID: <9401271952.tn202087@aol.com>
Date: 28 Jan 94 00:52:50 GMT
X-RQ-ID: 2919

I just finished reading the Glorious Reascent of Yelm, and I have to say that
I'm kinda confused. I hope others more enlightened can help me out.

What confuses me is that while Yelm, Lodril, Lokarnos, Dendara, and Pole Star
are mentioned, the majority of the book is composed of the stories of
countless other gods that we've never seen before. This doesn't bother me,
but I can't tell wether or not all these other minor gods are currently
worshiped in the Lunar Empire or the Triopolis since the ReAscent is a 1st
age source.

Any ideas....

Malcolm 

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From: carlf@panix.com (Carl Fink)
Subject: Hsunchen and Human
Message-ID: <199401280322.AA16431@panix.com>
Date: 27 Jan 94 17:22:08 GMT
X-RQ-ID: 2920

joe@sartar.toppoint.de (Joerg Baumgartner) talks about Hsunchen, and
about how Praxians are in fact like them.

  Well, I think there's a misunderstanding here.  I have no problem with
the idea that Praxians are *similar* to Hsunchen in some ways.  Zzabur
is on record as saying that all non-Brithini humans are descended from
animals, so perhaps *everyone* is descended from Hsunchen.

  Would anyone object if I were to bring up _The Glorious Reascent of
Yelm_ here?  I know a lot of people haven't seen it, but there are
things in there I'd like to talk about.
       

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From: jjm@zycor.lgc.com (johnjmedway)
Subject: Magic, Justice and Tormented Death
Message-ID: <9401280456.AA23068@hp0.zycor.lgc.com>
Date: 28 Jan 94 04:56:14 GMT
X-RQ-ID: 2921

----------------------------------
Joerg Baumgartner in X-RQ-ID: 2905
>>  
>>  Sandy Petersen in X-RQ-ID: 2895
>>  >Remember that practitioners of Lunar Magic get an enhanced range on  
>>  >their spirit magic -- don't think they don't use it. 
>>  
>>  How many illuminated Redlander phalangists do you expect to have in the 
>>  file? Illumination is a prerequisitive for getting Lunar Magic (joining 
>>  the Red Goddess directly), and we are told as well that the most Lunar 
>>  citizens don't.

I don't like it that only a very tiny number of folks have this ability.
This may be a memory failure, but weren't the Seven Mothers allowed these 
manipulations in CoP?


-------------------------------
Sandy Petersen in X-RQ-ID: 2906

>>  Alex is quite exercised over just what the cult of LUNAR JUSTICE  
>>  would be. IMO, not everyone has such a cult. More to the point, who  
>>  settles court cases. I have three separate suggestions. 

Also, don't forget one of the primary figures of Truth, Justice and the 
Pelorian Way: Yelm.


>>  ...
>>      Or how about using one of the Lunar Examiners?

Who are they?


>>  	Perhaps each of these three systems is used for different  
>>  types of cases. For instance, Danfive Xaron might act as judge for  
>>  criminal cases, the Lunar Examiners for ecclesiastical cases (common  
>>  in a theocracy like the Lunar Empire), and civil cases by the 7-judge  
>>  council. 

I do like this division of the courts. Maybe the DX assigns the sentence,
leaving the issue of Truth to a Yelmic judge, and keeping the judge from
soiling himself with such mundane matters as ordering floggings, crucifixions,
etc.

Also, in the provinces all of the courts may be combined. In 1624 Boldhome,
according to messrs> Hall and Jacklin, there was a single Lunar Magistratus,
Leonidas of Darleep, a Yelm priest.


>>  John Medway whines re: Yara Aranis's parentage: 

"Whines"?! Indeed! Hrrmpf!


>>  I was with Greg when we worked out the nature of the Pelorian Earth  
>>  religion, and it was clear to us then that Gorgorma had to be the  
>>  demon that mothered Yara Aranis. She was as yet unnamed in the early  
>>  descriptions of Yara Aranis, but when we saw the missing slot in the  
>>  Pelorian religion (hmm. "We need a Malign Earth Goddess to keep the  
>>  solar jerks in line."), the connection to Yara Aranis was obvious. If  
>>  that be a "Greg" so be it. 

With Alex's comment today:
>>  Hence the answer to my question is a): she's worshipped by Pelorian peasants
>>  when they're Being Oppressed, which certainly makes her an Enemy Diety of
>>  the Pentans...

This clicks.

One of Gorgorma's, um, charming aspects is the Second Mouth spell, and 
somewhere I remember reading/hearing that Yelm priests cannot resurrect
those whose genitals are not intact. And the Pentans, being Solars, have
similar beliefs, I would suppose. Hence Gorgorma = a big nasty.

And, admittedly, it sounds like my idea of Tormented Death.

So is there a Bobbitt subcult?


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