Since the topic of Pamaltela and the Doraddi has come up recently, I though I'd post a bit of the campaign log from David Dunham's Umathela game. The hero band is Umathelan, a barbarian (Orlanthi) culture related to that of Wenelia. In the course of a heroquest (following the myth of a minor fire god, Bersochek), they crossed most of Pamaltela from north to south. They encountered a group of Doraddi along the way.
Clearly the Doraddi aren't African, but they occupy a niche analogous to the Zulu (just as the Umathelans seem to occupy a niche analogous to native Americans of the Eastern Woodland cultures).
Rob
[Myth: While crossing the plain Bersochek also met a group of
wanderers. He was
excited to find them, but they were suspicious.]
Indeed, the group of six Doraddi we met were wary to meet some 25
strangers
with horses. Drelon went out to greet them, using his Talking Staff to
help
communicate with them.
[Myth: They challenged him to beat one of them in a contest, any
contest he chose.
So Bersochek took a small piece of bronze and said, 'Heat a fire, and
we
will see who can pound this the flattest. I bet you I can pound it so
flat,
it will have only one side left!']
Their leader, Yarwa Djabi of the Stick-Nose Spiderweed lineage, did
challenge us to a Meeting Contest. We chose pounding bronze, with
Huzen as
champion. We realized a bit late that we had an excellent smith but no
fuel
(although someone suggested burning Burnt-Black Boy), and Warechan
flailed
around the plains without finding anything burnable. Fortunately,
Gerdar and
some others had time to return to the forest and grab some. Aided by
that
_at_#()$&% anvil that he's been lugging for miles, Huzen crafted a
tolerably
good bronze Möbius strip, which compared favorably to the lumpy
pancake of
the wanderers.
Then, we learned to our surprise, it was their turn to propose a
contest,
and only Filth-That-Walks (a Chaos god, as it turns out) would refuse
to
take part. They chose knot tying, and while Warechan's results were
functional, our opponent created an intricate tangle that untied with
a
single touch to the right spot. So the Meeting Contest ended in a
tie, a
good result, because it meant that neither side had to grant a boon to
the
other.
At their suggestion we celebrated with a small feast, following the
wanderers' call-response songs (Drelon [I think] and Gerdar are
accomplished
singers) and trying to nod at the right times in their stories. One
was a
woman, Bani Shasa of the Ringtop Wildweed lineage. With her was her
brother
Tsilu Shasa, who gave Gerdar's horse some nasty looks. Both are of the
same
lineage and have their hair up in a topknot bound by a metal ring.
The
others include:
a.. Yarwa Djabi, who proudly wears a lion skin and has two hunting dogs
b.. Ingwana Tukul, of the Fingertip Purple Clover lineage, who wears
five
white dots made with fingertips. We learned that his dogs were killed
by a
carnosaur
c.. Sukro Ichewa, of the same lineage as Ingwana, who has a
hollowed-out
elephant tusk full of strange items.
d.. Kiru Jumgala, of the Square Spiny Trefoil lineage who has a
square
scar. He's very quiet, communicating with his dog mostly with hand
signals.
They asked many questions. Our horses made them wonder if we were from
the
Six-Legged Empire (probably the God Learners), and they wanted to know
if we
had the Wood Monsters where we live. They asked about our errand, and
were
pleased that we were trying to strike a blow against the slavers, for
they
themselves have no slaves and war with the Fort People who do.
Their most suprising question: what is our lineage? We all named our
bloodlines, but learn later that this isn't what they meant.
Effectively, we
have no lineage as far as the Doraddi are concerned, and for some
reason,
that pleases Bani. She begins to look over Drelon and Ruvak intently,
and
asks if they have children. (Ruvak replies that only a woman would
know for
sure...)
For our part, we learned that the oasis Sees At Night lies two days
away,
and Bani and the others were willing to take us there. The oasis is
famous
for Sees At Night beads, although they have become rare since Hon
Hoolbiktu
used so many saving the Doraddi from the God Learners. The wanderers
confirmed that to the south lies the Scorched Earth, a burned land
full of
Chaos monsters. Beyond it live bomonoi, fire spirits (Oshia thinks
they
might be promalti), who battle the monsters. Both occasionally come
into the
plains, although this appears to be rare. Many miles to the east,
suprisingly, lies a genuine "kingdom of the Blues" called Zamokil,
quite
literally a dream come true for Mali, the young guide we picked up in
the
jungle.
We crossed the plains without problems. Along the way we encountered a
very
large picked-over carcass, an herbivore to judge by the peglike teeth
in its
dog-sized skull. The Doraddi told us that the body (which is about as
long
as a horse) was munched by hyenas, doglike creatures whose jaws can
crack
bone, although only vultures were working on it at that point. Along
the way
Ruvak befriended Bani's dog, a sheltie-sized beast who was more
approachable
than the hunting dogs with the group.
After two days tramping the flat, clover-covered plains, we were
pleased to
at last see the oasis, a camp of skin tents and reed huts surrounded
by
green gardens and herds of goat-sized animals. It's currently
occupied by
about 100 people and guarded by three formidable-looking, axe-wielding
young
women. Once again we faced a Meeting Contest, and began with smithing,
but
this time against a professional who made a delicate bronze crêpe.
Alas, our
champion's attempt to toss a ball through a small hoop, their
challenge,
ended with superficial injuries to onlookers.
That didn't prevent another feast, however, and soon we were before
Amaka
Ngoro of the Ochre Triangle Twobloom lineage, king of the Komonora
tribe,
who happened to be at the oasis then. He wore a crown of white salt.
With
the aid of his talking stick he asked many of the same questions as
the
wanderers. He explained that the quest for the Sees At Night beads
involve
descending into the earth, befriending the Grandmother, fighting a
monster,
finding the proper bead, and -- minor detail -- pulling one eye out
to
receive the bead. We pass for the moment.
The king gave us salt as a gift, and also a relayed a request: Would
Ruvak
marry Bani?
"You mean preside over it?" asked Ruvak.
"No, as the groom," replied the king.
"For how long?" asked Ruvak.
"For life, or until one of you must retire to an oasis," the king
replied
patiently.
Bani apparently has a tough time finding partners, because she must
marry
inside her very rare lineage, but can't marry close relatives who
share her
lineage -- her brooding, horse-hating brother is right out. Ruvak, a
blank
slate lineage-wise, is the perfect pick (although he says it's the
boar
grease -- Drelon should have tried some).
There were a lot of concerns. Ruvak wondered if Bani was really a
good
sow --she doesn't have beady little eyes, and there wasn't much
snuffling
around before courtship. He also thought about Chirasa, still in the
hands
of the slavers, hoping for him to rescue her. He consulted Oshia,
whose
first reaction is "What took you so long?"; she has been watching him
watching girls for quiite a while. As for Bani, she was concerned that
Ruvak
was too young to care for her and teach her. But Ruvak concluded that
Bani
is sufficiently sturdy, tough, and plucky, and she was apparently
eager to
settle.
As for the others, Drelon wanted Bani's help on our path south, and
Macha
said that she was not of a taboo bloodline. Gerdar warned Ruvak that
he must
do what was right with his god, not what was expedient for the quest,
but
somehow we thought that Morlotes the Boar (whose feats include
Impregnate
Sow) would probably be OK with it. So Ruvak agreed, possibly urged on
by
distant cries of "Take one for the team."
[Myth: Bersochek spent a long time with them, helping them make things
and enjoying
their hospitality.]
It was only three weeks until Sacred Time, so we did enjoy the
hospitality
of Sees At Night while waiting. People were constantly arriving and
leaving,
giving Drelon a good chance to trade feathers for handcrafts, salt,
ivory,
and cut stones. [I'm not sure if Drelon focused on one of these, or
something else.] We saw many couples with large age differences --
younger
men with older women, older women with younger men -- which might
explain
Bani's concerns about Ruvak. The permanent residents were generally
folk too
old to wandering the plains, except for those axe-wielding babes, whom
Macha
found have some distant affinity to Phausia swordswomen like herself.
There
was less affinity all around with Ruvak's future brother-in-law
Tsilu, a
warrior who serves Vangono the spear god and who got into several
fights
while we were there.
The other Burning Men spent the three weeks well. Ruvak worked hard on
the
language, and on the necklace that he and Bani had to make for the
wedding.
Drelon also learned the language, while Warechan hunted for his keep,
carefully avoiding the tame tanuku or milk antelopes of the oasis.
Warechan
also pestered the locals with questions on how to survive on the
plains, and
on how to find our way south. Huzen broke up the weapons and armor we
took
off the Fort People to make spear, javelin and dart heads for the
locals,
who much appreciated them. He also worked on wedding presents for the
couple. Gerdar practiced with his weapons, and worked on his tan in
preparation for the Land of Fire.
Warechan pursued myths of the Blues, trying to find out why some are enslaved and some free. He picked up one like the following:
Balumbasta raised the mountains to the north, to protect us against
the Wood
Monsters and all the other bad things that always come from the north.
Then
the mountains were invaded by trolls. The god of the Blues went to
fight
them, but came back with a broken leg. Then Pamalt went, and he gave
the
Troll God a broken leg. The result was a court case, which Pamalt won.
The ceremony itself was somewhat disturbing, as were surrounded by
alien
spirits who participated in the ritual. But it ended at last with the
declaration that Ruvak and Bani now "walk the same footpath". Huzen
gave
Ruvak a shield with a boar's head and a border of dogs, while he gave
Bani a
dagger with a dog's head on the pommel. Gerdar gave them a pair of
valuable
rings, explaining that this was the Malki way of blessing their
union.
Ruvak's "family" (the other Burning Men who aren't Blues) all
received
antelope hooves decorated with feathers and beads from the Bani's
family,
and Ruvak and Bani received a number of additional gifts. Burnt-Black
Boy
spent the celebration hanging around the food and drink; it was
fortunate
that the locals couldn't understand what he was saying about them.
As we enjoyed the wedding feast the old folks tried to explain the
system of
lineages, which appears to be right up there with God Learner
theories in
simplicity. Lineage doesn't follow bloodlines, for one thing, and
children
end up with completely new lineage in some cases. All lineages are
associated with a plant (Ringtop Wildweed, in Bani's case) that goes
on the
graves of people with the lineage. I doubt any plants from our home
qualify -- even plain old grass is considered an evil thing of the
God
Learners down here. We learned to listen particularly to older women,
who
pick the chiefs and also can recall them. Again and again we heard
that "bad
things come from the north". The locals don't like the jungles or the
spirit-abusing Fort People, and consider us worshippers of Baraku, a
difficult storm god. Their own gods are Pamalt's Necklace, and have a
story
like that of the Lightbringers, but it's a secret for initiates.
[Myth: He was tempted to stay there, but at last remembered his sister
and told
them he must leave. He left able to run lightly with the wind as they
did,
so that only the fastest creature could keep pace.]
The antelope hooves turn out to be antelope spirit fetishes, with
magic for
running and for evading predators. The shamans explained how to
befriend the
spirit in the fetish to make the magic more powerful. Most of us were
wary,
but the fetishes might turn out to be important in our quest. So with
the
new couple we at last set out, heading eastward to a river that drains
into
the lake of Banini. May Keraun the fickle Good Wind bless our path
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