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, Wed, 24 Aug 1994, part 3 Sender: Henk.Langeveld@Holland.Sun.COM Content-Return: Prohibited Precedence: junk --------------------- From: sandyp@idcube.idsoftware.com (Sandy Petersen) Subject: Re: RuneQuest Daily, Tue, 23 Aug 1994 Message-ID: <9408231613.AA18958@idcube.idsoftware.com> Date: 23 Aug 94 04:13:34 GMT X-RQ-ID: 5833 > I've often wondered if strolling players in Kralorela present >morality plays based on the life of the belt-buckle salesman who >became Godunya, the Dragon Emperor Further speculation on the origin of the belt-buckle salesman may be squelched (or maybe not) by the revelation that a certain Francis G. S. was a belt-buckle salesman in the late 60s. Al Bundy indeed. *scoff* >If David Cake is a 'False David' and we start 'worshiping' him >(writing letters, buying him beer, etc) Eventualy he might >demonstrate effective publishing powers and spontaneously start his >own Zine! Ultimately resulting in a cosmic war between the two remaining Davids, of course. Primarily fought on the hero plane. Dave Cordes (another superfluous David): >you could have a Great David Scramble. Just take Davids: Cake, >Gadbois, Hall, Dunham, Cheng, Baur, Cordes, Pearton, DeKruger. Would >this make a good Trollball Team? Who would be the ball? Kemren(?) says: > IMO, Etyries was one of the four subcults established by Issaries >at the dawn of time Yes, I think so, too. But I also think that the cult has undergone a Mighty Change since the advent of the Red Goddess. SANDY'S SPECULATIVE HISTORY OF THE ETYRIES/ISSARIES CULT FIRST AGE: Etyries was one of the Four Sacred Subcults of Issaries. I'm not sure exactly what her role was, but it might have been Enhancer of Value, in which she'd take some item, fancy it up, and then it would be worth more when Garzeen took it to sell. SECOND AGE: The God-Learners settled on Issaries as a highly useful cult for their purposes, and proceeded to edit said cult to perfect it. First off, they realized that they didn't need ALL the cult members to try to resurrect Genert, and tried to eliminate that particular cult stricture. They failed, but were able to restrict it to just one subcult. Second, they decided to make the Issaries cult parallel with the Malkioni social structure, perhaps to make them more acceptable in the west, or just as an experiment, or maybe because that was how the Jrusteli culture was organized. So Spare Grain became the "farmer", Goldentongue became the "wizard/speaker/priest"-equivalent, and Garzeen became the "lord". In order to have a "warrior" rank, they invented the infamous Issaries Rune Lords, which are by the early 1600s almost unknown, but still known in cult doctrine and rules, so occasionally show up. Also, the Rune Lords become the fourth "son" of Issaries, mentioned in p. 59 of CoP. To complete the parallel, Etyries became the "female" part of the system, losing her earlier unique role, and becoming a catch-all for any women who joined Issaries. Maybe there was even a half-hearted attempt to split her apart from the rest of the religion. Later on, women began joining Spare Grain, Garzeen, Goldentongue, etc., and Etyries became even more obscure. THIRD AGE: Issaries remains fossilized in his Second Age structure. A barbarian woman, stuck in the now-tedious Etyries subcult, travels to Peloria and learns of the Red Goddess's teachings. She is inspired, goes on heroquests, and revitalizes the Etyries subcult, in the process basically breaking off from the standard Lightbringer religion, and making herself identified with her goddess. Keith Smith: >Orlanth is given the spell of Darkwalk, which all sources state he >stole from Kyger Litor. Although Kyger Litor has no such spell, >Argan Argar does. How does one account for this? Kyger Litor lacks the spell BECAUSE Orlanth stole it. The bastard. >In RQ3 the only god which confers an invisibilty-type spell is >Annilla. Annilla teaches Conceal, Invisibility (the spirit spell), and I think Vision, too. These spells were removed from the general lineup because gamemasters everywhere hated when their players used the damn things. "Ahead you see an ominous fort, manned by newtlings." "Okay, I cast Vision and explore the entire layout before our assault. Then we cast Concealment and sneak over the walls and get into the treasure room." *groan* Obviously there's ways around these spells, but it's a pain to have to do it. Alex Ferguson >[elk are] Not like what kind of deer, exactly? They're in the deer >family, last time I checked. Maybe I've lost the thread of this >thread, but doesn't it blithely state in G:G that there are Elk >hsunchen in Pralorela? When an American (the bulk of native English speakers in the world), such as Greg S. or Sandy P. uses the word "elk" he is not referring to the beastie with palmate antlers, a swollen nose, and huge size -- the largest of all deer. Instead, he is referring to Cervus elaphus, which is large and potentially dangerous, and a small, puny, variety of which is known in England as the "red deer". Elk are behaviorally and genetically not similar to American whitetail or mule deer. I can't speak for fallow deer. Elk are in the same family as mule deer, but so are moose, so your argument that Pralori should be moose "to make them more different than the Damali" holds little water. Yes, there are elk Hsunchen in Pralorela. They are Cervus elaphus. There are also moose Hsunchen in Pralorela, and Fronela, and anywhere else that has cold swamplands for them to enjoy. But they are less numerous than the Pralori, who are proper elks. Damali = [small] deer (I'm not sure what type, but I don't picture them as fallow deer). Pralori = Cervus elaphus, a member of the deer family. Bullwinklings = moose, also members of the deer family. I wouldn't be surprised if Trowjang had Hsunchen of the mouse deer tribe. Itty bitty antlerless deer with huge fangs. >> I would never have an entire Duck Kingdom in a major important >>place in my campaign. >This seems to imply that Duck Valley has just been Sandied Down. >After all, the Ducks are a Sartarite tribe, therefore they have a >King, therefore it's a Kingdom. Eat me. You know what I meant. >Sandy and I may have to form an Alexandrine League Luckily, I am a Sanford, etymologically quite dissimilar from Alexander, so I should be safe from this dire threat. ---------------------