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, Thu, 02 Jun 1994, part 4
Sender: Henk.Langeveld@Holland.Sun.COM
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From: ddunham@radiomail.net (David Dunham)
Subject: Galanini/hsunchen
Message-ID: <199406011840.AA16058@radiomail.net>
Date: 1 Jun 94 18:40:13 GMT
X-RQ-ID: 4303
Jonas said
>Galanini culture seems very contradictory to outsiders - they live in a
>mixture of highly formalized solar hierarchies and primitive hsunchen
>anarchy. The leader of the tribe is referred to as the Emperor; he and most
>of the other men worship Ehilm, while the women mainly carry on the
>tradition of ancestor worship on the Hykim/Mikyh scheme - their deity is
>Galanin, God of Horses .
To add to the confusion, in my campaign, Ehilm worship is hereditary and
for males only. Whether you can worship is determined whether your _mother_
is descended (through the female line) from the Queen who first met (and
slept with) Ehilm. Since her immediate offspring tended to be extra big and
strong and fecund, and because the event took place in the late First or
early Second Age, most Galanini qualify. I haven't yet decided who
non-qualifying males worship (I believe Sandy said many of his Galanini
worshipped Hyalor, but I don't think it makes sense to tame your kin).
And of course, the Emperor's son doesn't become Emperor, his nephew does.
(Actually, they probably use a title like Tsar instead of Emperor.)
>The orlanthi have for many generations considered it
>prudent not to anger them by riding horses, partly because they are still a
>military force to be reckoned with, but mostly because of an ingrained
>respect for these ancient allies. Fortunately, Galanini have adopted enough
>of the Solar rigidity to follow the exact letter of the law (and to not
>consider changing it), leaving the option of hitching horses to ploughs,
>wagons or chariots open.
As a consequence (and because Ralian ponies are small and don't make the
best war horses), most Orlanthi in the East Wilds use chariots. A few ride
horses, and dare the enmity of the Galanini. Ekel Field-Destroyer, thane of
the Belovaking clan, is one such; he's established a temple to Elmal
Horse-Thane to back this up. [This came about when his daughter rolled the
Pendragon family trait "Good with Horses, Riding +10," a neat case of dice
serendipity. (Family traits are inherited from the father, and tend to
express his personal interests.)]
Martins aid
> I see the Ralians preferring crushing with rocks to the
>Seshnelan and Fronelan impalement. Thus, you get these cairns
>all over the place...
Hmm, I'd already decided the East Ralios Orlanthi tended to bury in cairns
(most historical Celts did)...
Joerg said
>The ability to change into one's
>phylum seems to have been wide-spread in Godtime. ... Ironhoof
>seems to have reawakened this creating the Grazer tribe
Don't believe every myth that was invented during the Ritual of Rebirth
which Ironhoof held for the refugee horse-riders.
>King Heort with his antlers
Where's this reference?
>GRoY introduced "new" hill barbarian peoples, like the Ram people
>with their deity my God Learner secretary recognized as Heler
Are you saying the Ram people are hsunchen, or that the Dara Happans
thought they were? Also, how do you associate "their great god, the huge
iron Ram whose horns could break anything," with Heler?
>Re: Praxian (and other) religious virtues
> Here, to go with the Malkioni virtues/tendencies by caste
>(above), are some other cultural virtues
>Hsunchen: Generous, Honest, Trusting, Valorous
I'd given them (as a culture) Cruel +1, Pious +2, Suspicious +2, by analogy
to Pendragon's Picts, but haven't worked out the Hykim virtues yet.
Edward Ott asked about the Garhound contest:
>the baboon ended up winning
>any body have a good idea of what the garhound reaction should be.
A _female_ baboon won? I imagine Garhound would go into mourning, convert
to the Lunar religion since Orlanth has obviously abandoned them, ignore
the results because the baboon had to have cheated, or other drastic steps
due to such a horrible outcome.
---------------------
From: gadbois@cs.utexas.edu (David Gadbois)
Subject: God Learners: Good, Bad or Ugly?
Message-ID: <19940601194342.2.GADBOIS@CLIO.MCC.COM>
Date: 1 Jun 94 09:43:00 GMT
X-RQ-ID: 4304
From: alex@dcs.gla.ac.uk
Date: 31 May 94 19:55:52 GMT
X-RQ-ID: 4281
After all, the events of the Godtime are obviously historical facts,
preserved and embodied outside of normal Time by the compromise as
the Godplane, and only intervening time and muddle-headedness has
obscured the details so that they appear to the untrained observer,
to be different, or even conflicting "myths".
Exactly! If the God Learners had not done their thing, I suspect that
the Third Age (whatever that would have been) would have been the last.
Gloranthan myth seems to have an entropic tendency: the Godtime winding
down to a mythologically sterile heatdeath. Instead, by pulling
together and organizing fragmented myths, the GLs gave Glorantha a new
lease on life.
I think that the event that caused the Age of Illiteracy was similar in
effect. Without a method for disseminating conflicting information and
with a strong doctrinaire society (Hail Harshax!), there is hardly any
way for mythology to become further unravelled.
The question then, is why did the Sending Gods object so strenuously to
the GLs? Perhaps their meddlings actually served to further destabilize
the situation.
--David Gadbois
---------------------
From: mabeyke@batman.b11.ingr.com (boris)
Subject: Catching up from the holiday
Message-ID: <199406012026.AA19108@batman.b11.ingr.com>
Date: 1 Jun 94 20:26:48 GMT
X-RQ-ID: 4305
Boris here, caught up after the U.S. holiday weekend. Lot's of
quick and meaningless comments. And nothing at all about pantheons (oops,
well, almost nothing ;-)
____________
In X-RQ-ID: 4212, Jonas Schiott had some wonderful stuff about the Ralian
Eastern Wilds. More, please.
____________
In X-RQ-ID: 4211, JARDINE@RMCS.CRANFIELD.AC.UK (Lewis) gives game stats
for true dragons. I liked it, but think that even with a crit dodge, the
character would escape barely alive, not just singed. Otherwise, it was
great (nearly choked to death laughing, truth to tell).
____________
In X-RQ-ID: 4220, Paul Reilly writes about eating chaos stuff:
>However, it is possible that they could eat something spuffy
>and survive unmutated: first, their weak stomachs might be unable to digest
>the thing fully in which case the human could wind up untainted but
>leave behind some spuffy feces.
Wow! What a great name for a Broo rock star! I can see it now, Spuffy
Feces and the Broo Droppings! Hear all their hits, such as: Bad Moon On
The Rise, Having My Baby, Friend of the Devil, and more, on their smash
album, Goats Head Soup.
____________
In X-RQ-ID: 4224, our beloved sage Nick wrote about Hero Questing:
>(Our Puissant Red Goddess Herself did this to Orlanth: he contested against
>Her as he had done against Yelm, not realising that She was more subtle and
>skilled by far. Praise Be! She triumphed where the Old Sun was overthrown!)
I like this a lot, and it ties in with plans I had for my hero-level game
(if and when I ever restart it). The Red Goddess can be cast in the role
of Yelm in heroquesting, but one will have to be ready for her tricks...
____________
In X-RQ-ID: 4225, Close friend of Little Elvis writes:
>On the back of the pink Gloranthan Player (?) Book is a picture of a
>village dwarfed by a dragon's head.
>
I always thought that the warriors there must be reknown for their bravery.
I mean, if you grew up next to a dragon, nothing much less is likely to
frighten you.
____________
In X-RQ-ID: 4230, Argrath@aol.com, High King of Dragon Pass and all around
nice guy writes:
>Re: Doggies
> Quite agree. Why don't you write some of these up?
I think that various tribes would have bred dogs for lots of different
uses, based on local conditions. For instance, the Lismelder, living near
the Upland Marsh, might have retrievers, similar to Labrodors perhaps
(which probably annoy the heck out of the wereducks, since they'd smell
similar to normal ducks). Large, friendly, love to swim and fetch.
The Torkani, given their troubles with the Telmori, probably have *big*,
mean, nasty wolfhounds. Maybe they can't hurt the werewolves, but they
can chew up the real wolves that run with them. And with a few points of
Irontooth, they are effective vs. the werewolves as well.
On the slopes of Wintertop and the Storm Mountains, perhaps dogs similar
to St. Bernards are bred. Tribes on the edge of Prax might have breeds
similar to greyhounds, to chase down the plains animals. And I think that
there are many breeds of sheperds, varying from tribe to tribe, some
similar to Collies, to Australian or German Shepherds, to Old English
Sheepdogs, etc. Each tribe would of course insist that their breed is the
best, and there might even be herding competitions at fairs.
____________
In X-RQ-ID: 4233, Nick puts on his Bard hat and tells the tale of Yinkin
the Shepherd. Loved it, as I loved the Fox King story; please tell us
more, please!
____________
In X-RQ-ID: 4245, Argrath@aol.com (King of ..., etc) tells us of the
Moroanth ThumbQuest. I think that the thumbs should come from the loser
of the contest. And they can't be regrown, either; if the loser want's
new thumbs, make them go on the quest.
____________
In X-RQ-ID: 4256, CryptoMatt@aol.com comments:
>Speaking as a cat person myself, I'm not sure that I accept the idea of
>herd cats either. However I find it hard to accept the idea of hunting
>cats, yet according to Dorastor Land of Doom, they exist.
The arabs trained cheetahs to hunt in North Africa; I'm not sure if they
bred them for this, or just captured them. So there is at least one RW
example.
____________
In X-RQ-ID: 4286, Argrath@aol.com (you know who he is) says some really
cool stuff about different breeds of alynxes. I liked it. One thing to
think about for all the "Orlanthi are alynx hsunchen" types out there is
this: if (as one popular theory has it) the human halves of the hsunchen
tribes were made by the beast ancestors to give their descendents allies
to help them survive, then Yinkin never needed to do this. His offspring
already had allies, i.e. his brother's descendents.
____________
In X-RQ-ID: 4290, Graeme Lindsell wrote:
> How would the Earth Worshippers kill? Burial alive and defenestration
>I could see for the Dark Earth worshippers.
What, they bury them, then dig them up and throw them out a window? Or
do they defenestrate them first? Either seems excessive. ;-)
However, I do see the Gor types taking the Hanover Fisk tone with their
enemies. "Hangings too good for him! Burnings too good for him! He
should be ripped into itsy-bitsy pieces and buried alive!".
----
Boris
---------------------
From: 100102.3001@CompuServe.COM (Peter J. Whitelaw)
Subject: Thanks.
Message-ID: <940601220907_100102.3001_BHJ54-1@CompuServe.COM>
Date: 1 Jun 94 22:09:07 GMT
X-RQ-ID: 4306
Matt, Sandy, Joerg.
Thanks for your thoughts on MR mechanics.
I can well imagine, as Sandy mentions, that when running several NPC's the
bookkeeping can get mindbending.
However, I shall blow the dust off my RW set and endeavour to synthesise the
perfect solution sometime.
If I have any luck (don't hold your breath) I shall post the results.
*****
David,
Thanks for your feedback on the virtues.
I wasn't sure about Honest for Daka Fal either but it seemed about the most
appropriate of an unsuitable remainder. I had actually thought of maybe
plumping for 'Suspicious' since Shamen (of Daka Fal) would tend to be
stick-in-the-mud traditionalists resentful and suspicious of outsiders and their
incomprehensible beliefs and customs.
As an experiment we have assigned the following passions for our Praxian nomads:
Love Clan 3d6
Love Tribe 2d6
Storm Bulls lost a d6 on each roll and Waha/Eiritha types gained a +2.
Also:
Honour (Deity) 3d6
We have found that these Passions can suggest different perspectives to the
players when roleplaying characters. This is particularly useful when players
are running more than one character (as is often the case in our small group).
For example, we have two Storm Bulls in our group. Yezerian is a grizzly old
veteran of many chaos hunts and has the scars to prove it. Not a penny to his
name he has accumulated some impressive trophies (including the right hand of
the Khan's nephew but that's another story). Valigor is some years younger and
greener and has recently joined the Bull having adopted Yezerian as something of
a role model.
Now, Yezerian has a very high Honour Storm Bull (17) whilst Valigor's is just 6.
So, instead of having two braves doing that Bull thang, we now have Yezerian,
who is dedicated to the Bull and seeks to emulate his revered god in every way
that he can and Valigor who, it would seem, is more of a chaos hater and sees
the cult as just a vehicle in which he can achieve his ends of seeking to
eradicate chaos in all its perverse manifestations.
This latter view is little short of blasphemy to Yezerian who is forever pushing
and goading young Valigor into concentrating a little more on the 'means' than
the 'ends' with the result that these two are often at each others' throats as
they are at anyone elses.
Of course, this is not to say that these characterisations are only going to
occur when one uses traits and passions. After all such development is what
role-playing is all about but the system can provoke thought about facets of a
charcters personality or outlook that had not previously been considered.
I also find the traits and passions particularly useful for those members of my
group who are not that familiar with Glorantha - it certainly gives them a few
pointers as to what constitutes 'normal' behaviour for one of their
culture/tribe/clan/religion etc.
*****
Are there any UK readers who have a copy of the RQ2 Companion that they might be
prepared to part with for a sufficiently large wad of cash?
If there are (vain hope I expect) would you private e-mail with your asking
price?
Many thanks.
****
For those of you following the Taskan Empire notes recently posted, there are
more to come. These focus on the religions of the Empire and will clarify
references made to deities such as Bast, Tethis, Gomorg and the like in the
notes that have, thus far, been posted.
I expect to have time to prepare these for posting by the weekend
All the best,
Peter :-%
---------------------
From: DevinC@aol.com
Subject: Re: RuneQuest Daily, Wed, 01 Jun 1994, part 2
Message-ID: <9406011901.tn715897@aol.com>
Date: 1 Jun 94 23:01:20 GMT
X-RQ-ID: 4307
Devin Cutler here:
Sandy writes:
" I always play that different spells have different sensory
effects. I haven't bothered to figure out exactly what effects are
visible for each spell. (Disrupt is a long thin beam, healing is a
greenish glow, for the most obvious.)"
I have always run disruptions that are visible as a manifestation of the
player's cult if he received the spell through a cult spirit. For example,
Orlanth's disrupt would manifest as a little lightning bolt, whil one from,
say, Kyger Litor might be a bolt of acid or darkness, and from Yelmalio (even
though he doesn't give the spell) might be a bolt of flame.
On the subject of God Learners:
I know well and good what the God Learners did, but less clear is WHY they
did such things. In other words, why create a monomyth? Why try to combine or
switch gods?
Was the whole God Learner thing just a case of rampant, cultural curiousity,
or was there some driving imperative?
BTW, someone mentioned that the GL Secret might be "it's a game" as an
off-the-cuff remark. Well, it seems that I have heard this before suggested
as the REAL Secret -).
Regards,
Devinc@aol.com
---------------------
From: NDROBINS@NDROBINS.FIN.GOV.BC.CA
Subject: Conversion in RQ
Message-ID: <9406012321.AA0880@NDROBINS.FIN.GOV.BC.CA>
Date: 1 Jun 94 23:57:34 GMT
X-RQ-ID: 4308
My GMing in Glorantha is going well, and I'm finding subplots appearing
where I least expect them. In fact, one of them is going so well
I'm scared about how to handle now. Players can lead a game in
the most interesting directions.
I'm running a small party of Pavic apprentices that are all about
seventeen and learning how to be independant. Two are Pavis
initiates, another Chalana Arroy, and the third is Sartarite refugee
worshiping Vinga. They've know each other for a few years now,
and hang around together as much as their free time allows. After
about five sessions and some cameos from some of Pavis's more
colourful characters (Olaf, Griselda) they have started to take an
interest in anti-lunar activities. Great, I think, what with Strangers
and Prax and other supplements, I have stuff to keep them going
for years.
Then the fun starts. The apprentice brewer, a bright but perhaps
naive chap, decides to get some language training. Of course, he
doesn't have any money, but goes to do it anyway. Soon he
is enrolled in lessons at the Irripi Ontor temple learning how to
write New Pelorian (he could already speak it, but is an illiterate).
They agreed not to charge him providing he is willing to attend
their weekly 'services' and stay for the entire course. He is.
He figures that learning from the Lunars will allow him to better
understand them and help the Sartarite cause by undermining them. Oh the
confidence of youth.
In my eyes, it is the perfect opportunity for the Lunars to do some
subtle conversion on an impressionable youth. Paul Reilly published
something that Finula wrote that showed a nice conversion. Does
anyone have any hints about a good way to get the character
converted and have the player start realizing it only once it has
happened. The player is reasonably experienced but may have the
character 'back out' inappropriately if I handle it too harshly.
Neil, novice GM
_______________________________________________________________
Neil Robinson NDROBINS@NDROBINS.FIN.GOV.BC.CA