Re: Orlanth the Farmer; etc.

From: David Dunham <dunham_at_...>
Date: Fri, 21 Apr 2000 21:12:41 -0700


David Boatright answered me

> >Hmm, I don't recall Orlanth the Farmer in RuneQuest.
>
> This is very worrying come from you David. All this devotee this
> and devotee that divorced from
> the culture and the fact that farmers are now classed as bystanders
> makes me feel HW is
> taking a step back to RQ2.

I don't see how it's so worrying. Am I losing my memory? I'm not aware of any Orlanth the Farmer stuff in RuneQuest (the Riskland campaign had farmers but not a subcult thereof).

I'm well aware of Orlanth the Farmer (aka Barntar) in PenDragon Pass, and I think KoDP shows something of the importance of farming in Heortling society. But neither of these are RuneQuest.

I think there's a lot more cultural milieu in Hero Wars than in RuneQuest, and I think Thunder Rebels is going to have to have Orlanth the Farmer...

> >I have wanted to create a clan ever since I saw the latter half of
> >Robin's walk through of the process at the last Convulsions ...
>
> Ahh, has this been dropped from the core books.

It was never in the core book, it was in either the Orlanthi players book or the Sartar campaign pack (here my memory is going).

Jeff wrote

> > That's your perogative, of course, but in Glorantha lone heroes
> *can* stomp
> > through masses of troops (hell, in stories from the real world they do,
> > too - look at the Song of Roland or Lancelot's rescue of Guenever for
> > examples).

> Gilgamesh.

To be pedantic, Gilgamesh isn't a lone hero (he has Enkidu, his Best Friend), and I don't recall that he stomped through any massed troops (though I don't doubt he could have).

How about Steinthor Thorlaksson from the Eyrbyggja Saga [p.121]

        They found the rock difficult to attack. After they had been fighting for some time, Thord Blig ran up to it and tried to lunge with a spear at Thorleif Kimbi, who was always to the fore. Thorleif took the spear on his shield, but the thrust was so powerful that Thord slipped on the sloping ice block, fell backwards, and slid away down from the rock. Thorleif rushed after him, meaning to kill him before he could get back on his feet. Wearing spiked shoes Freystein Bofi ran forward to join Thorleif, and Steinthor moved quickly towards them. He flung his shield over Thord as Thorleif was about to strike, and with his other hand he took a swing at Thorleif, severing the leg just below the knee. At that same moment Freystein Bofi made a thrust at Steinthor's belly, but Steinthor saw it coming and leapt in the air so that the spear went between his legs. All three things Steinthor did simultaneously, just as we've described. Then he struck at Freystein with his sword, and the blow landed on his neck with a loud crack.

	"A nasty one, that, Freystein," said Steinthor.
	"Yes, it was," agreed Freystein, "but not as bad as you 
thought, it's done me no harm." He was wearing a felt hood with a piece of horn sewn onto the collar, where the blow had landed.

        Freystein started back to the rock, but Steinthor told him not to run if he wasn't hurt, so Freystein turned and they attacked each other again. Steinthor kept skidding off balance because the blocks of ice were steep and slippery, while Freystein stood firm on his spikes and was able to strike hard at him again and again, but at last Steinthor got in a blow just above Freystein's hips, slicing him clear through.

Ken

>> > http://vassun.vassar.edu/~sttaylor/Cooley/
>>
>> Cool resource, though I prefer Kinsella's translation. (More earthy, didn't
>> leave out the smutty parts).
>
> What? The site I mentioned doesn't _have_ the smutty parts? Well ain't
> _that_ a kick in the head.Especially seeing as how the whole culture turns on
> the 3Fs; Feasting, Fighting, & Fornicating.

Most of the public domain translations are old (sort of by definition), and are from an era where people didn't translate the naughty bits. For example, the Saxo Grammaticus that's on the web leaves one passage in Latin that the modern translator renders (it's in the insulting contest).

Wulf asked

> Now, how can you gain a NEW Feat without
> gaining a new Affinity, and therefore without becomming a worshipper
> of a new deity, and gaining ALL that deity's Affinities? And how can
> such a gain be 'Related to Session', since I see no way to use an
> Affinity or Feat unless you ALREADY have it?

If you, during the game, improvise the Sunrise Dagger Throw, you can write it down with a hero point and it will never be considered improvised again.

David Dunham <mailto:dunham_at_...>
Glorantha/RQ page: <http://www.pensee.com/dunham/glorantha.html> Imagination is more important than knowledge. -- Albert Einstein

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