Re: Where in Glorantha

From: BEThexton <bethexton_at_...>
Date: Thu, 15 May 2003 17:36:59 -0000

>
> For a slightly cosier version of this, think of lava beds below the
> Glacier - huge domes melted into the ice from below, with islets
> peeking out of the icy torrent which gets occasionally steamed up
> where it encounters new volcanic activity.
>
> You get to see no sky, just the icy dome above. There is light -
> diffuse, through the ice, depending on the season. You'll get
things
> like ice-encased Aurora Borealis. It will be possible to raise some
> kind of crop (something like rice-paddies in the melt-off puddles?).
>
Penguins, I definitely see penguins! Seriously though, there are lakes deep under ice in Antarctica where there is enough diffused light to support a low level eco system (algae and krill). With a little better light levels and extra heat, the lakes of melt water could probably support quite healthy ecosystems, blending whatever arctic and Antarctic creatures you like (hopefully including penguins, after all, they are happy nesting in rocks). Once you put in things like seals and sea lions then you can support creatures that live off of them, like polar bears do. Also there would be "sea birds" and other creatures that fish the waters, and creatures that live off of those. The people may get a lot of their food from the waters (it would help compensate for anemic crops).

A couple more specific ideas. For these people, the darkness might never have ended. "Once life was good, then the sun was eaten by (cultural bad guy), and it got colder. The ice closed in, but (cultural hero) found the lava vents, and showed us how to live near them. Eventually the ice covered the whole earth except the small area near the lava vents, and eventually it even roofed over us. Because we never lost faith, light returned, to help us live here. Here we preserve the world, in hopes that the cold times will leave eventually." In other words, they could think they are the only people in the world (but see * below). They could even be the remnants of mighty civilization from long ago, or maybe they were never more than hunters.

The ice is always melting near them, and sometimes things will be released this way. In the more dramatic sense there could be creatures that were preserved in the ice and come back to life when thawed. But also more immediately useful things, like seeds or even tools. The devout think that (cultural hero #2) still looks after his/her people, fighting eternally the ice and finding treasures that he/she delivers through the ice, even if he/she can't break through in person.

• A few heretics wonder at the nature of some of what comes through, nothing like what the stories tell of, and wonder if the whole really is covered with ice or not. This could be especially the case if say, suddenly a few non-survivors of a Kalikos ice-breaker expedition were found, wearing weird symbolism showing a red moon in the mythical sky, something none of the stories mentioned.

There may be people whose profession is scavenging the melting edges, securing whatever is released before it gets washed away by melt water. These could be the equivalent of stick pickers, hoping to glean something of value, they could be professional and respected folk, or they could mostly be part of the religious structure, with everything being found first coming to the "priests" (or whatever their religious powers are called)

Running water carves tunnels in the bottom of glaciers. Depending on the season, some of these may occasionally dry up. The very daring may travel deep into the ice through these routes, seeing what they can find. There could even be different domes that are only joined in this fashion, so they can communicate (or raid) only when the tunnels dry up, and travel between them is always fraught with the danger of sudden floods. There could even be stories of one or two domes with which all contact has long been lost, but everyone wonders if they are still there and will we find a tunnel to them some day.

Finally, even if there are some stunted trees (and there doesn't need to be any at all), your idea of no fire is cool. To reinforce that, perhaps sometimes some patches of air are flammable (in pseudoscientific  terms call it clouds of sulphur dust, in magical terms call it some sort of spirit), so even if they can make fire, it is very dangerous because you never know when the very air around it will ignite (this probably happens over the lava beds sometimes too).

I love the idea of this setting, I hope some of my ideas help to inspire you further!

--Bryan