Re: Androgeus from David Scott on 2012-09-17 (World of Glorantha)

From: David Scott <sciencefish_at_...>
Date: Mon, 17 Sep 2012 10:32:19 +0100

On 17 Sep 2012, at 09:46, David Cake <dave_at_...> wrote:

> Has ANYTHING been written about the third superhero of the Dragon Pass boardgames, Androgeus? Or is the assumption just that Androgeus was an artificial creation to balance the three player version of the game, and has no place in modern Glorantha?

There's a line in WF3 The dispatches of Fadabious, "Androgeus is stronger than either empire already, once she grows fat on the blood of our borderlands, our doom is sealed.

Tradetalk 12 has a couple of references in a story.

and it's alway worth searching the archives:

From: sandyp_at_... (Sandy Petersen)
Subject: re: RQ Daily
Message-ID: <9311091849.AA22356_at_...>
Date: 9 Nov 93 06:49:46 GMT
[...]
> 1. What ever happened to Androgeus? ( aka Game construct so the 3-player game can have a Superhero for everyone )

Androgeus goes wandering around Glorantha. In one conversation I had with Greg, he contended that in the Hero Wars he (Androgeus) would only show up once in Dragon Pass. She spends a lot of time wandering around the Hero Plane, too. I've had my players meet some of Androgeus' children in my scenarios.

also

>From Nick_Brooke_at_... Sun Dec 21 11:10:29 1997
Date: Sun, 21 Dec 1997 06:43:11 -0500
From: Nick Brooke <Nick_Brooke_at_...>
Subject: Re: Tadaaki's Questions
To: glorantha_at_...

> Why Androgynous isn't mentioned in KoS though she/he is one of Super
> Heroes? (Shadow's Good Shadow may be she/he ....)

Androgeus certainly doesn't appear to feature in "Argrath's Saga", although he is, as we all know, one of the Superheroines from WB&RM/ Dragon Pass. There ain't an easy explanation for this. From the game, we *know* that Androgeus (and/or Aristos the Philosopher, his archnemesis) will play a part in the Hero Wars, but her non-appearance in "King of Sartar" is a knobbly problem. Perhaps he was left out because her deeds were unmentionable, or he never crossed Argrath's path, or she upstaged Argrath at some battle and had to be edited out of the "official history".

FWIW, you can rest assured that Androgeus *is* playing a part in the Hero Wars. As always, when "King of Sartar" clashes with our previous knowledge of Glorantha, prior knowledge wins hands-down. (There are, for the cautious, *very* few cases where this occurs).

then

>From SPetersen_at_... Mon Dec 22 20:59:20 1997
Date: Mon, 22 Dec 1997 16:46:26 -0600
From: Sandy Petersen <SPetersen_at_...>
Subject: RE: Gloranthan military
To: glorantha_at_...

Androgeus didn't come through Dragon Pass that much in the Hero Wars. In a conversation with Greg he opined that it was probable that Androgeus entered D.P. only once during the entire period. The KoS discussion just might have skipped the one or two campaigns including Androgeus as irrelevant -- after all, it's an overview. Certainly Androgeus was a major Hero Wars figure, but her main activity was elsewhere (certainly he came through Fronela, at a minimum).

Finally

>From SPetersen_at_... Wed Mar 18 22:41:31 1998
Date: Wed, 18 Mar 1998 14:34:18 -0600
From: Sandy Petersen <SPetersen_at_...>
Subject: answers to questions
To: glorantha_at_...

There's this androgynous thing wondering around the place. Does that exist in The Glorantha. Yes. Androgeus is a real creature. She has existed since the Godtime and wanders about Glorantha. In a private conversation with Greg, he said that in his opinion Androgeus only wandered through Dragon Pass once during the Hero Wars (there is a 3-player scenario in which Androgeus takes part). Most of Androgeus's important activities take place in Fronela, which doesn't mean that's where he originated. It's possible that she was trapped by the Ban, and only escaped recently when it was lifted. Thus the world got to have a few centuries free from this particular superhero.
David

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