[Glorantha] Still on the subject of demigods

> From: donald_at_grove.demon.co.uk (Donald R. Oddy)
<snip>
> I think you are exploring on the edge of what anyone knows about
> Glorantha. I can't recall any mortal children of gods in any
> publications, no doubt someone with a better library than mine
> will disagree if I'm wrong. So whatever you do is going to be
> deciding what applies in your Glorantha and may be contradicted
> by canon in future although it's sufficently exotic I feel that's
> unlikely.

The HeroQuest mainbook talks about demigods on page 128, and Arcane Lore has also been quite helpful.

> >The question here is this. Feats are gained and performed by identifying
> >and emulating a deity. Yina is a Yinkini demigod. Is it possible for a
> >demigod to worship & emulate a different god than his/her parent? It
> >sounds much harder than it is for a mortal. A demigod has a very strong
> >identity as a magical creature herself.
>
> You could take the view that this is like leaving a cult and
> joining another although I'd probably go with it varying depending
> on the god they wish to worship. Niskis or Desemborth would have
> sufficent similarities to Yinkin for there not to be a big penalty.
> Conversely Humakt would be horribly difficult.

Yes. I talked further with the player, and she quite liked the idea of the character having strong innate magic, but being limited othervice. Her magic comes from

1. hersef
2. her siblings
3. her parents (Yinkin's magic, and her heroic mothers charisma) <speculative>
4. her identity as a thunderbrother

She could parhaps learn to imitate a fellow thunderbrother to a lesser degree.

e) Grandparents. Fralar isn't in good terms with the shadow cats, but Kero Fin is an interesting idea. The player talked about eventually wanting to climb Kero Fin and meet her grandmother! :D

1. also has interesting possibilities. Her "shadow walking" feat could eventually be developed into an affinity.

[Gavain]
> Again we are in the OurGWV. Maybe the way forward is to use their best
> Yinkin magic as the resistance to learning other gods magic. If they
> persist then they may risk loosing some or all of their demigod magic.
>
> Another way to play it is to think of these demigods as disciples of
> Yinkin and there are strict regulations on them using other magic.
> Though I wouldn't be so draconian, they are their own gods and will want
> to expand their magic, much as other sons of Yinkin have done.

Yes. So far I've gone the route that "their own thing" is a power they developed in their initiation. The initiation actually had them living through storm age and through the greater darkness, establishing their identities in the heortling otherworld. Each of the four demigods has an innate power, and can use Yinkini feats with ease. The innate power is the "own thing" and something they can develop. It's only moderately powerful now, but they are still very young (15 years old, in fact).

Four teenage demigods is quite a chore for a small hunter clan of 600 people living in the foothills of Stormwalk mountains. :) The next thing that is happening, is that the siblings are going to avenge their mother, who was killed when a rival clan tried to steal some of the kittens.

The clan is an offshoot of Harmast Barefoots Alynx (or Shadow Cat) clan, so they have a strong heroquesting tradition to draw on.

        -Adept Received on Tue 20 Feb 2007 - 15:30:55 EET