From: David Cake (davidc@cyllene.uwa.edu.au)
Date: Wed 16 Apr 1997 - 05:27:34 EEST
The Troll defends his Basmoli
He says
>What was then cool was that other publications then came out and
>flatly contradicted them, and we began to see that what was true from
>one culture wasn't from another.
and then immediately afterwards
>I am sorry if I ruined people's Basmoli, I just really liked these
>hsunchen as not just believing with their heart and souls that they
>were lions, but showing the physical attributes of it.
Looks like you've missed the point - if the Basmoli have the
physical attributes of a lion, then that is NOT something that is
culturally relative. Either the Basmoli look like lions, or they don't. The
Basmoli's lion nature becomes not cultural belief, but objective truth.
>What the Basmoli believe and the article is
>to create Basmoli characters, is that they are lions, full stop, end
>of discussion.
Well, I don't the Basmoli actually believe that anyway (obviously,
they are not physically lions) but I do think that they believe they have
lions souls. But if the Basmoli really physically are like lions, then
everyone else is going to believe they are lion beings too, because they
aren't human beings anymore. And as I said, human beings who believe they
are lions are cool and Gloranthan - lion human crossbreeds are yet another
funny little half-human race.
>Hey, you don't like it, just understate the physical characteristics,
>ok?
Nup. I don't like it, I disbelieve it.
Or rather, change it. I've already stated my opinion - if it
occurs, which is rare, its something that happens as a side effect of
Basmoli magic use. But Basmoli are human innately, and a child born of
Basmoli under normal conditions who uses no Basmoli magic will be
completely and utterly human. Basmoli heroquesters and so on will transform
in all sorts of ways, though.
(and for the record, Tom, when you brought up the idea on this list
many moons ago several people criticised it then, and said we didn't
believe it, me included. Why should we have changed our opinions now?)
Cheers
David
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