Peter Metcalfe <metcalph_at_...>:
> Philippe Sigaud writes:
>
> > I'd like to write some adventure taking place in Beast Valley, for a
>
> > group of beastmen. So I'm going back to basics, wondering about their
>
> > society and more particularly, their magic.
>
> > I suppose they are animist ?
>
> Most of them are. A few, such as ducks, are not and considered
> beyond redemption.
It would be for a demo game, maybe in a small local convention (or maybe just
for a 2-3 sessions game between friends, somme time). I don't intend to disgust
them by making them play ducks.
(not entirely true, as my players did enjoy once to play a troup of humakti
ducks, playing sort of "full feather jacket". I still have nightmares about it)
>
> > I also suppose the Lady of the Wilds is
> > one of their main spirits ? But I don't know much beyond that. If
> > anyone has idea about a Beastman Tradition, I'll take it.
>
> Arachne Solara is the major entity in the Beastfolk pantheon.
Is she (it ?) ? I tried not to use her, seeing Arachne Solara more as a cosmic
law (a bit like gravitation) than something giving you magic.
What are the benefits ? To know your place in the cosmos and the subsequent
feeling of well being ?
Divination magic ? Destiny/Fate ?
> My ruminations on the beastfolk (in Tradetalk #7 IIRC) was the
> wars of Man and Beast destroyed the peaceful oneness of the
> Green Age and that only the beastfolk (because of their dual
> natures) are truely able to know peace and bring it to others.
Yeah, sure. I do intend to put a Minotaur Peacebringer in the group. With an axe.
> From this it follows that the beastfolk must integrate (in a
> non-rules sense) both their human (rational thought) and beast
> (primal passion) natures to know the Green Age. A Centaur, for
> example, typically indulges in archery, poetry and the lyre to
> get in touch with his human nature while for his equine side,
> he gallops through the woods.
I suppose I will put some 'flaws' like 'Will of the beast' ou 'Bestial Pulsions' on their character sheets.
> Even though they are animists, I do not believe the beastfolk
> use fetishes - the imagery looks wrong to me.
do they ? I don't have such qualms. I like the idea of tatoo or scarification containing some magic. I also like the idea of beast parts (or ancestors parts), like fur, horns, nails, etc.
Music also. I suppose it's OK for an animist to have a fetish made of song or music ? percussions, lyrics, lyre ? Instead of having a spirit of Long Horns bound in a little sack, a minotaur may know the Horn Song, for example.
> Instead I think
> they gain their magic through participation in their grisly
> hactatombs. Here the Beastfolk tear apart the sacrifices (both
> man and beast). The torn fragments of the sacrifices then grow
> back together into godlike creatures that tear the dancing
> beastfolk apart. When the beastfolk finally come to their senses
> the next day, they are alive and whole and the sacrifices are
> gone. Depending on how well a Beastfolk is attuned to his
> dual natures, the sacrifices might have bestowed him with new
> magic when they remade him. The new magic is related to the
> nature of the beastfolk - the magic that a centaur knows is
> different from the magic that a minotaur knows.
OK. Doesn't seem too different from integrating a spirit, from a Glorantha and rules PoV.
> The secret of the beastfolk religion is to come back to life
> through a hectatomb even if you were killed far away from it.
Then some may be quite old ? Or at leat may have memories dating back from the Empire Age or even before.
> > btw, it seems reasonable to me to imagine some 'exchange' process
> > concerning magic and spirits between beastmen and grazers. Of
> > course, on a small scale, but I suppose nevertheless that some (rare,
>
> > PC ?) centaurs may have some fire/bow magic coming from hte
> Grazelands.
> > Does that seem OK ?
>
> Some leakage is always possible but generally the Grazer magic
> is only usable through strict taboos and respect for the ancestors
> while the Centaurs have a different attitude on almost everything.
> For such reasons, I don't expect the exchange in magic to be easy or
> cpmmon.
understood. I supposed that, due to the 'mythical' (in both sens) common ancestry, some grazers may know beastmen magic and the other way round. horse magic, for example.
Philippe
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