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, Sun, 28 Aug 1994, part 1
Sender: Henk.Langeveld@Holland.Sun.COM
Content-Return: Prohibited
Precedence: junk
X-RQ-ID: Intro
This is the RuneQuest Daily Bulletin, a mailing list on
the subjects of Avalon Hill's RPG and Greg Stafford's
world of Glorantha. It is sent out once per day in digest
format.
More details on the RuneQuest Daily and Digest can be found
after the last message in this digest.
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From: CHEN190@csc.canterbury.ac.nz (Peter Metcalfe, CAPE Canty)
Subject: Re: Antirius/Yemalio/Elmal
Message-ID: <01HGF2X7JZ7CED292Y@csc.canterbury.ac.nz>
Date: 28 Aug 94 10:23:52 GMT
X-RQ-ID: 5905
Pam Carlson wrote
>GRoY also mentioned that Shargash fought Orlanthi/Elmali at one point. All
>through GRoY, Shargash is depicted as being restrained by Antirius; although
>Shargash resents this he never breaks free. If Antirius=Yelmalio=Elaml, how
>could S be controlled by Antiriusyet used against Elmal?
>Therefore, Antirius isn't Emal, and Antirius most probably isn't Yelmalio
>either.
This is a valid set of points raised and I attempted to explain it by the
following proposed version of events as to what really happened.
1) Antirius dies after being mortally wounded at the Hills of Gold. I am
presuming Zorak Zoran rips out his heart making it a very bloody affair to
satisfy all aspects of Solar God being wounded at the hill of Gold. Normally
he would have been able to waste Orlanth and kick the crap out of ZZ with one
hand tied behind his back but the six wounding errors got to him...
2) Shargash now free rules Dara Happa. It seems from the history that Manimat
fled Dara Happa with seventy families, not so much as Dara Happa was
uninhabitable (the last part of the dome breaks after his coronation and he
rules Dara Happa for 239 more years), but because the basis of his right to
rule (by Anitirius is now dead). A new 'unmentioned' reign of Shargashite
Emperors rules from Alkoth. This lasts for 178 years until 'Shargash destroys
the World'.
3) Antirius is captured and brought to life by the Elves of Winterwood forest.
He is renamed Yelmalio.
4) Yelmalio meets Orlanth on top of a river and they fall in. Yelmalio swears
to becomes Orlanths friend and they travel back to Kerofinela to warm Orlanths
people. Yelmalio is known as Elmal. This is KoS p195.
5) Elmal is left in charge of the Orlanthi when Orlanth goes to find Ernalda.
He then sends emmisaries to see if Dara Happa is still all right. Shargash
recognizing his old dominator rebuffs the emissaries (who are naturally in that
troubled time armed) and a myth is born that Shargash stopped the raids of
Elmalus and the Vingkotlings. Elmal is discouraged and presumes that manimat
and his followers are lost.
>Therefore, does Yelmalio = Elmal? The names are pretty similar. And there
>are sun dome temples in Sartar - both are the only acceptable solar dieties in
>the Orlanthi pantheon. But does Elmal has fire spells?
Elmal according to KoS p196 gives "...blessings upon the earth, good barley
crops, healthy horses, and winter protection". I interpret Winter protection
as when the light in the world is weakest. The Orlanthi already have Mahome
and Gustbran to give them fire.
You must note this is the version of the cult in King Tarkalor's time and it
probably has not changed much since the dawn. "Blessings on the earth" and the
"Good Barley crops" I interpret Elmal has having obtained these secrets with his
time among the elves (and his marriage to Ernalda?). The bleesing on horses
came much later. Orlanth is seen as deciding the *Heortlings* needed a steed
to ride and not the Vingkotlings. I presume that this is the result of a
Heortling king heroquesting for a stead to ride and having obtained the secret
from Elmal. The myth (mentioned on page 223) might even be the other side of
the battle in the sky in GRoY p40 and have occured during time. Orlanth tames
the horse and rewards it to his loyal thane Elmal. Note that the Yelmalions of
Praxian Sun County do not have any spells relating to horses although we know
that they were required to do so when originally gifted the land by King Jhoraz
Kyrem.
>Maybe Yelm had a lot of fiery sons by all those concubines whom the DH's fail
>to acknowledge because they weren't out of dendara.
True. Daga is nowhere mentioned in the GRoY despite him being the child of
Yelm and Molanni/Entekos. (I presume his worship was to bring warm air during
the great darkness). Yelorna is the daughter of Yelm and Ernalda (who appears
to be Rernalada in the GRoY). The only concubine I believe that Yelm did not
father a child upon would be Verithurusa for reasons the commentator makes
allusions to.
>Better yet - highly secret bastards of Dyazatar?
True! Vrimak is cited in Heroes (vol 1, issue ?? Writeup of Hykim) as being
the child of Dayzatar and Hykim. Perhaps a god learner who was pissed off at a
dayzatarian monk decided to prove that Vrimak was his child...
---------------------
From: strauss@hopper.itc.virginia.edu (John Strauss)
Subject: moonshadow
Message-ID: <199408271053.GAA23215@Hopper.itc.Virginia.EDU>
Date: 27 Aug 94 02:53:46 GMT
X-RQ-ID: 5906
Who can see the moon?
Well, when I first started playing in Glorantha, '83, we all assumed
that the moon, being new, was only visible in areas where it had
worship. Our characters knew that the moon was slowly rising higher
and higher as the empire grew and the lunar cults gained more
power.
So, when 7M missionaries first visited an area, the moon would not
be visible there. As the 7M cult gained acceptance a red glow would
form on the horizon. In Prax, the moon is clearly visible low and
to the northwest in the year 1620. But there was little to see in
1600.
Some odd things were possible because of this worldview. Krogar
Wolfhelm, for example, was secretly a Telmori. He didn't know this
UNTIL the moon peeked over the horizon. He was ashamed of his
unwelcome chaos curse and fought vigorously to stop the lunar plan
to establish a Temple of the Reaching Moon in Pavis, which would
have supplied enough power to lift the moon high enough to see
clearly. I still have this image (never played) of Krogar fighting
his way up the steps of the temple, tears streaming down his face,
just as the place activated and he was bathed in full moon light,
transforming to a werewolf before a shocked group of players and
then running away into the night.
We really didn't know much about the TotRM, as none of us had
played White Bear Red Moon. That might have modified our view, I
dunno.
Moon rocks were important, and any 7M priest worth his salt had
one. It let him use rune magic as described in CoP in non-lunar
territory. Inside that territory, they had a one point rune spell
that made the rock give off a full moon glow for 15 minutes.
Later writings made it obvious that we had wandered away from the
mainstream. But I confess to a sentimental attachment to the idea
that new things don't exist in Glorantha until people in your
region believe in them. In fact, that premise was the foundation of
my first tenative looks at what heroquesting might be about.
Darragh (is this a perversion of "david") sez:
>I've just finished reconstructing Nomad Gods from some
>photocopies we got from Greg (pile of questions on it but I'll
>leave them until some other time, if anyone is quite familiar with
>the game could you let me know so I can pick your brains on it?)
>but I'm a little unclear as to what revisions/ errata/variants
>/link rules there may be out there.
I also have a Nomad Gods built from photocopies. I haven't yet
built a usable map out of the pieces I have or made counters. I
second Darragh's request for info on this game.
John Strauss (NOT subject to GL combinations with John Sapienza. It
just wouldn't work.)
strauss@hopper.itc.virginia.edu
---------------------
From: MOBTOTRM@vaxc.cc.monash.edu.au
Subject: Mob of MOB
Message-ID: <01HGFAJQKLAU8ZGZET@vaxc.cc.monash.edu.au>
Date: 28 Aug 94 11:12:43 GMT
X-RQ-ID: 5907
G'day Everyone,
____________
Ollie's Book
I actually got a copy of Aegean Bronze Age from Oliver when I was staying with
him in York, and when we were there he got a letter from the publishers
saying that the first print run had sold out and a second was to made.
Oliver momentarily overcame his traditional English reserve a gave a very
American style WHOOP!
I highly recommend this book, and if you buy, you will learn Oliver's
impressive string of middle names...
_______________________________
Red Moon Over Pavis: Moon Boats
Someone wrote:
>Tell them to look at the cover of Strangers in Prax. There are the
>Coders disembarking into Pavis, and above the moonboat is a small red
>billiard ball aka the Red Moon. Of course, this could just be artistic
>license...
Yes, the small red billiard ball is meant to be the Red Moon. The artist has
taken a bit of artistic license in my opinion, in that I would imagine that
the Red Moon is somewhat lower in the sky, and probably a little bigger
than is depicted here.
Nick Eden:
>Nah, that isn't the red moon. Thats the bit of moon rock that supports
>the moon boat by being pulled back towards the red moon. Look at the
>lines of the boat.
Nah, it is meant to be the Red Moon - at least that was what was specified to
the artist - however, if you want your Moon Boats propelled that way
it's fine by me. However, I postulate that Moon Boats ride *on* moon beams
projected from the moon itself and don't need lumps of moon rock or
balloons or whatever to either propel it or make it float. Inside the
Glowline Moon Boats are very effective, but beyond they are vulnerable as
they are very slow on crescent days and can't fly at all on dark days. In
my next Jaxarte tale he'll be taking a ride in a moon boat, so I'll get
a chance to expand on my theories!
__________
Jarst Daro
Chris Wehman asks:
>I will be playing Jarst Daro(an NPC) in the Garhound contest(From RoC) in
>about a week and I had heard that someone had posted an excellent
>unofficial write-up of ogres, i.e. physiology, habits, society. I was
>wondering if someone could email me that in the next few days at my email
>address as it appears above.
Paul Reilly and Finula posted some excellent stuff on ogres to the Daily
a while back, and some of their material ended up in "Shadows on the
Borderlands": 'Eat Your Enemy in Secret'. You might also want to grin a lot,
show off your pearly white choppers, and hang around the mock-pork-on-a-stik
stand!
________________
Issue #8 covers:
David Gadbois explains:
>Actually, there were two covers for the U.S. edition of Tales 8. One
>was the grotty Mark Baldwin Chaos hell-pit seen in the UK edition and
>the other was a much more subdued picture of a Lunar soldier drawn by
>Dan Barker.
Dan's picture was not commissioned for the cover - Dr. Mark was given the
task. Although after the page 3 dryad debacle of issue #4 Mark obeyed
David Hall's "No Nipples" rule, after we saw what he did with the cover
we cold feet and substituted Dan's picture. Now that I've seen what Dan
has got away with for the Wyrms Footprints book, I don't know what we were
worried about...
>--David "not Baur, Blair, Blizzard, Cake, Camoirano, Cheng, Cordes,
>Cowling, DeKruger, Dunham, Edison, Hall, Hayes, Hixon, Leighton,
>Millians, Pearton, Radzik, Shubert, Simkins, Straub, Wible, or Williams
>but" Gadbois
--MOB - not "...of sheep", "...of kangaroos", "...of broo", nor a Germanic,
Visigothic or Barbaric, but a mob of MOB.
---------------------
From: igorlick@bnr.ca (ian i. gorlick)
Subject: Chaos cults ; Tradetalk
Message-ID: <_28470_Sat_Aug_27_12:45:41_1994_@bnr.ca>
Date: 27 Aug 94 08:45:00 GMT
X-RQ-ID: 5908
According to Nick Brooke in X-RQ-ID: 5859 we won't be getting a new
version of Vivamort for a while yet; and the "Shadows on the
Borderlands" writeup of Thanatar was the final official word. IMO the
writeup of Thanatar in Shadows on the Borderlands was disappointing.
Since I happen to feel that these are two of the most interesting
chaotic cults out there to prey on foolish adventurers, I have written
up my own versions of them over the last few years.
I am willing to share these with anyone who is interested. They are
rather long so I am reluctant to toss them on the Daily (35k for
Vivamort 80k for Thanatar). If there is interest then I will send them
to individuals or to the Digest.
Fair warning to those interested: some of the details of cult special
magic are still not worked out to my satisfaction, so you will not be
getting complete play-tested and ready-to-play material.
---
I will explain my disappointment with the "Shadows" Thanatar writeup.
The writeup did manage to simplify some of the confusing parts of the
old Cults of Terror description. This was good. However, I feel that in
simplifying matters it went too far and some of the flavour (or should
that be "stench"?) of the cult was lost. The differences between the
aspects of Than and Atyar were not emphasized except to specify which
spells each aspect got.
I was looking for a writeup that would build on those differences and
make it clear that the cult is a semi-successful fusion of two radically
different approaches to their god glued together by a rather shakily
defined third aspect. (It hasn't been explicitly stated anywhere, but I
assume it was some God Learner who created Thanatar from two previously
existing cults.)
----------------------
Tradetalk
To those who are busy debating whether Terra's version of Tradetalk is
English or American, may I propose a third contender:
Canadians are being hired throughout the world to act as radio and
television announcers because Canadian English is clearly intelligible
to most English speakers around the world. Something which can not be
said of the highly idiosyncratic modes of speech common in many regions
of Britain or the USA. Sorry guys, but the true Tradetalk is Canadian.
Take off, eh!
---------------------
From: igorlick@bnr.ca (ian i. gorlick)
Subject: Newtling worship
Message-ID: <_450_Sat_Aug_27_13:20:05_1994_@bnr.ca>
Date: 27 Aug 94 09:19:00 GMT
X-RQ-ID: 5911
To Michael C. Morrison in X-RQ-ID: 5901
Apple Lane included a Newtling Father god who was injured in the Gods
wars and needed help to recover some severed parts. The local tribe of
Newtlings apparently worshipped him but I guess that he could not extend
his power further because of his injuries. If he was restored then he
probably would become their dominant deity.
(Idea bubbles up from my subconcious: Could that Newtling Father be some
sort of fallen dragonewt? That would explain the mysterious link between
the Dragonewts and Newtlings. If he was the first dragonewt to fall,
then that would explain why dishonoured dragonewts are reborn with the
skills of a newtling. Can anyone build on this idea?)
Currently Newtlings mostly worship local river deities and certain
water-related spirit cults like Frog Woman and River Horse. These are
written up in Borderlands (out of print). Were they reprinted in River
of Cradles? I can't remember and I'm at work so I can't look it up.
I've been running a newtling character off and on for some time now. His
only religious avenue has been Zola Fel. If we can come up with more
options then I would be keen.
I suppose that Diros the Boatman would be an option, many bachelor
newtlings make their living as boatmen. Has that cult ever had a
complete writeup?
---------------------
From: ddunham@radiomail.net (David Dunham)
Subject: Aleci, Elmal, Flood
Message-ID: <199408280204.AA05690@radiomail.net>
Date: 28 Aug 94 02:03:59 GMT
X-RQ-ID: 5912
Sandy writes
>I like the name "Aleci" for moose hsunchen and will institute it in
>my campaign. Thanks, Jonas and one of the many Daves.
I've always considered myself the Source of the David rune.
1. Gods of Glorantha is the source of information on rune Sources, and I am
the only David mentioned therein.
2. Despite misidentification by an owner of the Obnoxious Pedant rune, I
possess the David rune, not the debased form, the Dave rune.
Although the Aleci (Moose Hsunchen) only entered my Ralios campaign by a
lucky die roll when we were determining who had fostered Konall "Moose Boy"
Ekelsson, I'm glad they did!
Here's all I know about them (I've posted some of this before).
There are about 1500 Aleci in the East Wilds, divided into three clans:
Ochre Top, Roseberry, White Hare. Aleci are +2 to SIZ, -1 DEX, +2 CON (this
in Pendragon terms).
Tramak is the chief of the Ochre Top clan, a huge, somewhat clumsy man.
Hruktuk is the leading shaman of the clan. He dresses in women's clothing,
and his wife hunts. One of his notable spells lets him shake an oak tree,
bringing down a rain of acorns.
The Aleci clans are nomadic, splitting into family groups most of the year.
In Dark Season and Storm Season their camps tend to be larger, perhaps even
the entire clan. There's no fixed pattern to their wanderings, but they
tend to be found in the same moist woods and lakesides as the moose. As a
consequence, they fish more than most Hsunchen.
Methe the Traveller, devotee of the Speaking God and member of the
Belovaking Clan Ring, has this to say about them (actually, the Hsunchen in
general):
All of the Hsunchen tribes worship their totem animal. Their god
provides magic to turn into that animal, but it's difficult to cast, and
they usually do it only once a year. Sometimes the transformation isn't
complete -- I had a hard time not laughing when I saw one of the Aleci
walking around with the body of a man but the antlered head and four long
legs of a moose.
The Hsunchen live in large tents shaped much like our own houses.
They paint them with magic designs. Birkiska Leaves-No-Tracks, chief of the
Raccoon People, owns a huge tent all of us here could fit in. It's made
from a single skin, though I couldn't tell what animal it was from.
Among the Deer People, shamans wear the clothing of the opposite
gender. One of them told me that dressed as a woman, he was able to seduce
the more powerful spirits, or fool the weaker spirits so they didn't flee
when they spotted him. His wife took a bow and hunted to help with the
ruse.
Some of these people use flint-tipped weapons. Though not as
impressive or sturdy as bronze, they can still deal unpleasant wounds.
Strangely enough, the dragonewts of Ormsland also use flint weapons. Eurgan
made this verse:
"Beast-brothers wield black glass blades,
Dread dragonspawn does the same."
We've decided that Elmal's holy days are the same as Yelmalio's (Fireday,
Truth week), except high holy day is in Storm season.
Devin wonders
>Therefore, I am still perplexed why Yelm
>would choose to cleanse the world with an impure element (Water), using a
>Rebellus Terminus vehicle (Rain) to cause to flood a Lower and therefore
>unclean deity (Oslira).
Maybe Plentonius ascribes motivations to Yelm, when in fact Yelm had
nothing to do with the event? To Plentonius, such an important event had to
be connected to Yelm. (BTW, a very quick skim doesn't show that Yelm had
anything to do with the flood, or are we talking about a different flood?)
---------------------
From: severian@CERF.NET
Subject: subscription
Message-ID:
Date: 28 Aug 94 04:58:15 GMT
X-RQ-ID: 5913
I have followed some recent digest releases on at soda.berkely.edu
and would like to subscribe. Thanks :->