From: PMichaels@aol.com
Date: Tue 16 Jul 1996 - 19:20:39 EEST
Not that I want to rile the hive up again, but...
A few things regarding my Minlister cult write up:
In a private message, David Cake reminded me of a spell
mentioned (in a Babeester Gor cult write up) in Andrew
Bell's old RQ Daily. The spell was Safe Drunk, and so long
as the caster was roaring drunk he or she was immune to
attack (all attack rolls would fail.) I think this sort of
ability is closer to Trickster than Minlister, and IMG
there is a well known Second Age Eurmali named Pungey
who had the Heroic Power of never being harmed in any
way while completely intoxicated. It is said that he
alone wandered unharmed through the Dragon's Feast at
the end of the Dragon Kill War, and he was careful to
never again be sober after that. Unfortunately, he
drowned a few years later in the Nochet Lhankor Mhy
temple. It seems the scholars left him alone with a full
barrel of wine.
I had a chuckle over Dave Pearton's proposed spirits of
reprisal. Thanks.
Loren Miller feels it is unrealistic for Brewers to take
the geas "never harm a bee," since it would make it
difficult for Brewers to gather honey.
Leaving aside the question of geases not making life
difficult, I question the assumption that full-time
devoted Brewers have the time to also be full-time
devoted beekeepers. Since I don't think Brewers actually
do the honey gathering, I see no problem with a Brewer
taking a vow to never harm a bee. (Obviously, as Sandy
so aptly points out, a beekeeper _cannot_ take such a
vow.)
I think that either other members of the Brewer's clan
keep an eye out for wild hives ("Gee, Uncle Merten will be
_so_ happy we found this hive! He hasn't had the chance
to brew a proper batch of mead since the year Cousin
Krista got married!"), or someone else in the clan is a
full time beekeeper. The former is probably the case in
places like Brolia and the East Wilds, while the latter is
probably the case in places like Sartar and Heortland
(especially along the Goodale Path, where many Brewers
own and run inns.)
Rob Stoll suggests that Brewers may make the following
trade with trolls: the finished product (mead) for the
raw material (honey). While this seems reasonable at
first glance, it doesn't make sense when you consider
that trolls can drink gallons of human beer and mead and
not get drunk. But that doesn't mean that Brewers (or,
more likely, his clan) don't trade other things for trollish
honey.
When I first accepted the idea of Brewers having a geas
relating to bees (from a friend who suggested it), it was
because of mythic reasons. The idea was that Minlister
did not harm bees because of their importance to his
sisters, the Grain Goddesses, who provide him with the
raw materials he needs to perform his special magic.
Because of this he was later able to learn the secret of
turning the bees gift (honey) into yet another drink
(mead).
Unfortunately, I have since learned the dangers of making
assumptions (like the importance of bees to grain
plants), as well as the fact that wheat is self-
pollinating. I have not yet confirmed whether or not
barley is also self-pollinating, but I suspect it is.
For those who want to keep bees important to Minlister,
and keep the "never harm a bee" geas, honey can be used
in brewing beer in place of corn sugar, malt, or extract.
I imagine apple honey is used in such a way around Apple
Lane. (In fact, the honey of bees who pollinate certain
special Aldryami plants may be part of what is needed
for one or more of the magic beers. Perhaps the beer
which does not subtract from combat skills requires the
magic royal jelly of the giant bees.) As an extra bonus
for those of you (such as Joerg) who argue for Sartar
beer containing hops, bees _do_ pollinate hops!
For those of you who want to remove the "never harm a
bee" geas, maybe the geas is "really" something else,
such as "never defend yourself from a bee." Or maybe the
geas doesn't have anything to do with bees. (But I'm not
thrilled with Loren's proposed vow of "serve no brew
that discredits the name of the cult, nor... reveal brewing
secrets to outsiders." For a geas, it's just too...
practical. It's like having Issaries Merchants vow that
they will sell no item at a price that discredits the name
of the cult, nor reveal bargaining secrets to others.) Or
maybe the geas is different for every brewer. Or maybe
brewers don't have geases. After all, as a comment from
RQDU which Greg agreed with goes: "The cult write up is
only a guideline."
(Actually, the comment was a question, to which Greg
responded "Yes.")
Peace,
Peter
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