I was reviewing some of Greg's writing about the Dragonewt Pantheon (http://www.glorantha.com/library/elder/dragonewtsmythos. html#ancestral-dragons) and Simon Hibbs' webiste about the kingdom of ignorance and had some of my old notions about the 'newts changed.
RECENT DISCOVERIES
-- 'Newts are individuals pursuing their own enlightenment -- they
are not part of some robot hive-mind
-- Newts have to make personal choices between exercising their
potent magic and pursuing this enlightenment.
SOURCES FOR TYING ORIGINAL CHARACTERS TO COMPLEX CULTURE
1) 'Newts have Relationships to their race, their culture and their
particular communities -- but like all HeroQuest characters they are
individuals in tension with their own cultures as well as enemy
cultures. These tensions should intensify as the Hero Wars grow
2) 'Newts have particular cultures, affected by their ancestry from
one of the 6 Ancestral Dragons (Being, Thought, Spirit, Experience,
Silence, Secrets). Individual newts purusing their path to dragonhood
may find themselves in accord or discord with the biases that their
ancestry gives them.
3) Newt nests might have allegiances with one or more True Dragons,
and like any other HeroQuest relationships, these allegiances
condition the actions of individuals.
MYTHIC/MYSTIC ASPECTS IMPORTANT FOR DRAGON CHARACTERS Dragon divinity exists outside of the physical world of the elements and is both part of and out side of the cosmic compromise. Thus they don't partake of the religo-ideoloico struggles between element or form affiliated races (Growy Elves vs. Makey Dwarves, Dark Trolls vs. the Air/Sun affiliated humans, etc.). They also have a different attitude towards Chaos than the elder races -- which might bring them closer to some Lunars. Here is the relevant myth.
"The primary action of the Cosmic Dragon is his conflict with the monster called Orxili... It attacked and grappled with the Cosmic Dragon as it meditated, trying to interfere with its composure. For a moment the Cosmic Dragon was disturbed, but the dragon power is as unchangeable as the Void and Orxili was doomed. The Cosmic Dragon set forth the Six Principles and with each recitation one of the monster's limbs was torn off and cast into emptiness. ... The body of Orxili was placed in the center of the world and the Cosmic Dragon set it spinning and wrapped itself about the body, cutting it off from the outer, more mystical realms. The body inside changed and grew, and was called the Cosmic Egg."
CONCLUSION: Glorantha was made out of Chaos, and the entire created
world is a distraction from the mystic completeness of Ourobouros.
Chaos is just one part of Creation.
IMPLICATION FOR CHARACTERS: They are trying to get out of Creation
and they will not regard Chaos foes as the greatest imaginable
obstacles to their mystical illumination. Orlanthi (and Uroxi) will
be most displeased if/when they learn this.
CHARACTER MOTIVATION
The classic texts provide a series of readily-playable motivations
for every 'Newt character. Like mystics, they must accomplish these
religious objectives without the use of heroquests. Every type of
Newt will be faced with a series of personal challenges and decisions
that could make for some very good role playing.
-- From "Elder Secrets"
"The life of a dragonewt consists of always bettering himself,
mastering his emotions and reactions to events so that he may advance
to the next stage of being. Each stage of dragonewt development
requires that the dragonewt constantly strive to master specific
emotions and personality traits.
* Crested Dragonewts: The crested dragonewt must master his
Aggressive-Passive, Brave-Cowardly, Energetic-Lazy, Stubborn-Docile,
and Unreliable-Dependable personality traits.
* Beaked Dragonewts: the beaked dragonewt must have mastered his
Curious-Apathetic, Leader-Follower, Impulsive-Cautious, Nervous-Calm,
and Suspicious-Trusting traits.
* Tailed Priest: [must master] personality traits that allow him to
deal with the outside world: Honorable-Dishonorable, Greedy-Generous,
Impatient-Patient, and Extrovert-Introvert.
* Full Priest: The traits that he must master include: Clever-Dull,
Innovative-Conservative, Optimist-Pessimist, and Constructive-
SPECIAL NEWT RULES
1) Dragon Magic
-- "Anaxial's Roster" simplifies the treatment of Newt magic. There
is a single Dragon Magic Affinity governing all of the magic that a
particular Newt might have.
-- To create more refined magics you might want to break up Dragon
Magic into 6 discrete "Dragon Affinities" (Silence, Secrets, Dragon
Being, Experience, Spirit, Thought)
-- You could treat Crested magic (default 15) as Common, Beaked as
Initiate (default 20), Tailed as Devotee (default 5W), and Full
Priest as Disciple.
-- Those non-Draconic races who imitate the Dragons usually stick to
the Dragon Being affinity. They are more interested in claws, wings,
and fire than they are in mystic insight.
2) Spiritual Pollution
-- Every use of Dragon Magic retards the Newt's spiritual protest.
But HQ isn't preoccupied with book keeping, so here is my solution.
** Every time a 'Newt raises a Dragon Magic affinity by 1, it has to
increase one of its Dragon Flaws by 1 **
-- This provides a game-mechanical reflection of the costs/benfit
payoffs of Draconic Magic use
3) Dragon Virtues and Flaws
-- Take Greg's list of opposed traits. Treat them as Personality
traits.
So a begning Dragonewt would be rated
VIRTUE FLAWS Aggressive13 Passive 17 Brave 13 Cowardly 17 Energetic 13 Lazy 17 Stubborn 13 Docile 17 Dependable 13 Unreliable 17
4) Character Progress/Reincarnation
-- Newts must strive to overcome the flaws inherent in their current
state of being. We don't want to go to the zero-sum Personality
mechanics of Pendragon and Pendragon Pass, so we can simply use the
positive acquisition of more traits to counteract the flaw.
** Before being able to progress to the next stage of being,
every 'Newt must overcome all of its Dragon Flaws by raising it's
corresponding Dragon Virtue to 8 points higher than the Flaw.
That means 6 personality-related ratings of 5w2, providing that the
character hasn't been going berserk with Dragon Magic.
-- The good news is, reincarnation in a higher form removes the Flaw
while leaving the Virtue intact. In other words, advanced Newt
characters would be richly-developed personalities and not 2-
dimensional Lizard Men.
-- A newt who has become very skilled will come back as a mere
crested. But imagine a newt who has been around 10 times. An uberskilled
little crested would be a nice surprise for PCs
-- Excessive magic use could result in regression, perhaps even
dropping out of the Dragonewt Cycle and getting reborn as a
Magisaur. So lets say that any `newt pushing any Dragon Magic
affinity (or the single Dragon Magic affinity in the official rules)
10 points above the default level will come back as a Magisaur in his
next incarnation.
DRACONIC HERO QUESTS
Perhaps a spiritually advanced `newt must run some kind of HeroQuest
before reincarnation. All of the flaws and virtues would have to be
brought into play. "Deadlands" forced Harrowed PC's to play through
their death and resurrection and it was a lot of fun. Why not bring
that over to the lozenge?
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