From: Jane Williams (janewill@mail.nildram.co.uk)
Date: Wed 03 Sep 1997 - 22:31:54 EEST
Stephen Martin said:
> As my only source of info on headhunting is Moorcock, and I know he
> adopted this from some Celtic practices, I had envisioned the power of
> heads to be similar to that in the Corum chronicles. Take the head of
> your foe, treat it in lime with certain magical rituals, and it becomes a
> weapon with magical power to harm the family of the victim. Probably
> one-use, and does not involve the binding of the victim's soul into the
> head.
>From what I remember of the Celtic version (accuracy not guaranteed),
there were two bits to head-taking.
One was that the head was supposed to hold the soul, and to be a source
of power. This applied as much to your own side as it did to the enemy:
the hero (god?) Bran, dying, instructed his followers to bury his head
facing out to sea as a means of repelling invaders. (Stories linking
this with the Tower of London, and the requirement for ravens to be
present there, are probably inaccurate, as the Tower was built by
Normas who invaded from the sea some time later).
The other thing I remember was the concept of using the brains only
(addition of lime might well fit) and making them into a slingstone.
This missile then had remarkably lethal properties, which I'm afraid I
don't recall in detail. But it was definitely just the brains used, not
the whole head. The skull was likely to become a winecup under such
circumstances.
On the Removal of body parts, and male organs in particular: unless I'm
reading the spell description wrongly, it has the effect of removing your
*own* organs, not those of another. While leaving said organs healthy and
functioning. So you Remove Hand, then send it under a tent-flap to grab
the jewels. Remove Ear, then send it off listening. Remove Penis, then
send it... well, Trickster has a Rapist aspect, doesn't he?
Isn't there a story about Trickster Removing several of his own organs
and then mislaying them?
Jacent Vick asked about supplements.
First off, what you obviously need is the Meints Index to Glorantha,
which would answer these questions. But let me try.
> Elder Secrets (Elder Races maybe?)
Elder Races is one book in the boxed set called Elder Secrets. Background
material of variable quality and usefulness: but then, tates differ as to
which bits are vital and which are rubbish. A few scenario ideas.
> Sun County
Background and scenarios. Good stuff.
> River of Cradles
Background and scenarios. The background is mainly a reprint of the old
Pavis boxed set, with a few bits of Borderlands, the scenario is
original.
> Strangers In Prax
Scenarios: also a source of interesting NPCs even if the plots don't fit
your game.
> Shadows on the Borderland (A reprint of the Borderlands RQII campaign?)
Sadly not. It contains three interesting scenarios, at least one of which
was published in White Dwarf earlier, but as far as I'm aware the ones in
Borderlands have yet to be reprinted.
Jane Williams jane@williams.nildram.co.uk
http://homepages.nildram.co.uk/~janewill/gloranth/index.shtml
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