There is another famous example of a "This World" Heroquest in the travels of Biturian Varosh (Cults of Prax), in which Biturian's caravan is attacked by a gang of Zorak Zoran worshipping trolls, and he is saved by a passing Yelmalian Rune Lord (Rurik) and his retinue. Biturian said that Rurik was obviously on a Heroquest at the time.
To me, this suggests the possibility that a heroquester might come across mundane events (unless the Zorak Zorani were looting the caravan for a higher spiritual purpose?) which coincidentally(?) serve as a station in their quest -- unless Rurik chose to leave the path of his quest to battle the Zorak Zorani? Also if this little battle was a station in Rurik's quest, was it also part of the quest that Rurik could expect a decent reward for fighting off the Trolls?
I am not surprised that Biturian did not consider this question, because what would he know about Yelmalian heroquests?
Are there other incidents in the travels of Biturian Varosh which might correspond to other people's heroquests? * The Yelmalian ritual Biturian is dragged into (as suggested earlier)
* The baboon ritual Biturian witnesses in the Daka Fal chapter; and
* The appearance of the fragment of Genert in the Issaries chapter -- if becoming a desert tracker is an (involunary) Garzeen Heroquest in this world? (It certainly involves a high commitment to emulating one of your god's myths) Alternatively are the Desert Trackers more of a sub-cult than a group of worshippers living out one particular Heroquest? Are the Desert Trackers both things at the same time -- membership of the sub-cult is conferred upon people who attempt the Heroquest * The Eirithan ritual at the Paps which is interrupted by Trolls and Morokanth
Which side of the (blurred) line between ritual and heroquest do each of these episodes come?
Bit of a non-sequitur I know, but thinking back to the Eirithan incident in Biturian Varosh I am a bit surprised that the matriarchal Morokanth became involved in an attack on the Holy of Holies of the Eirithan religion, and in concert with allies from outside the Praxian tradition to boot.
Maybe these were Morokanth who worshipped Zorak Zoran? A significant minority did according to Cults of Prax, though the Book of Drastic Resolutions later suggested that the Morokanth had a violent berserker cult of their own which Trolls perceived as a Morokanth version of Zorak Zoran, the name of which escapes me).
Indeed the possibility did occur to me that this incident based on a view of Morokanth society that is no longer canon (that some Morokanth did worship Zorak Zoran, so might team up with Trolls from the same cult?) Would the story come out differently if it was written in an official source today?
Assuming that there still is a significant minority in Morokanth society (how big is it?) which worships Zorak Zoran/something similar, how does this element relate to the Waha/Eiritha-worshipping rest of Morokanth society? Is it like relations between the Kyger Litor and Zorak Zoran cults? Or is it more like relations between mainstream Waha/Eiritha and the Storm Bull berserkers within the human tribes of Prax?
I for one would be fascinated to know what the real story was on this occasion. Who were the Morokanth invading the Paps, and what were they doing there? By way of an epilogue, what would Morokanth who follow the Way of Waha and Eiritha think of the 'loose cannons' who bring the Morokanth nation into even greater disrepute with the human tribes who follow the Way?
Richard Hayes
From: ian_hammond_cooper <ian_hammond_cooper_at_Pslk1NurKBN0sUOm6djUqzSDjVqdP0wIcGiBgNDnPy4S5ar2scU_-4Vw-PrsKplizmMUmqkxkrEytp9WyX0Ab-rNwm2bIfCU.yahoo.invalid>
To: WorldofGlorantha_at_yahoogroups.com
Sent: Saturday, 30 July 2011, 9:18
Subject: Re: HeroQuest Questions (I'm sure there is apun inthere somewhere)
> The biggest one is about being drawn into someone else's heroquest. I get the theory (I think) but have great trouble understanding what this is like from the perspective of the character being drawn in. <
I believe we have seen a couple of examples of this over time
- For a This World heroquest, sometimes people seed the terrain with opponents. They hope that these people will be the one to be drawn in. This is the Sun Dome Temple capturing Biturian Varosh and making him play the role of an opponent. You do this so that you can pick something you can beat. Sometimes you might find it is not these folks, but something else, more surprising, that that magic draws in. This is straightforward - someone captures the PCs and puts them in the ritual, playing the part of their god "or we'll kill you"
- Folks just rely on the magic of the ceremony to draw something in. The summons of evil is the Orlanthi way of doing this - pull in the enemies you need. The problem is that you really can't be sure who will show up to fulfill the role, which creates a lot more risk. For the participant who is drawn in, the skill would be in making this seem 'natural'. I suspect that in many cases people are doing their own myth, not participating in your myth, when this happens. It is just that the two have a cross-over point where you provide opposition to each other. To emulate this, I would give the hero's community a need to do their quest, I think that is more the nature of the magic, and that results in them being providing the opposition to yours. So the PCs enemy clan might be doing the Quest to Steal the Tin Ram's Fleece, but you need opposition from the "Bad Breath Vadrudi" who Destor beat. They try and draw the PCs clan in to being the Vadrudi, so they can
beat them in a heroquest challenge there. Meanwhile the PCs herds are dwindling, and you tell them the priest says the clan should do Ulanin's Seven Raids heroquest, which always helps them birth better cattle. He tells them that they have a chance to beat up the Ram Men in a heroquest challenge and steal the tin fleece.
I don't think this matters if you are doing this world or other side, in both cases I think the quester decides what form it will take.
One issue with the other side version though is: how to the PCs know, that they were really facing up against their neighbors who weere on their own quest. Well one way is they hear about it afterwards; hey did you hear that the other clan tried to do the Quest to Steal the Tin Fleece, but it failed and so and so got badly beaten in a heroquest challenge and lost loads of his air magic. The other is the notion of a 'face dancer' that is someone who always tends to get drawn in to your quests, by symmetry and you begin to recognize through the mask of the gods that they wear. It's like your ability to recognize an old friend in a costume or disguise. Something about their mannerisms seems to shine through
> The other (lesser and more mechanical) problem is with deliberately failing stations on a heroquest. Assuming a band of PC's correctly identify a station as 'Orlanth was beaten up by Kygor Liter', how would you actually play this in a way that was fun for the players?
I think these kind of stations are best seen as choices over contests: what are you prepared to sacrifice to get your goal.
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