From: Sergio Mascarenhas (sermasalmeida@mail.telepac.pt)
Date: Thu 13 Nov 1997 - 12:46:38 EET
Tines remembers us of the amazons of Dahomey in GD v5.n220. May I suggest
the excelent book The Vice-Roy of Ajuda (I think that's the english title -
I only know the Portuguese translation) by Bruce Chatwin? It has some
wonderful descriptions of how powerful and effective these amazons were.
And it is also very useful to make us understand how the mixing of
different cultures can turn vrong.
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I've been trying to define the difference between the different types of
creatures in Glorantha. This is what I come up with:
1. Types of creatures and special rune
List of the great categories of creatures and wether they have or don't
have a special creature rune.
Types of creatures Special Rune
- - Humans yes
- - Dragon kind yes
- - Beasts yes
- - Birds no
- - Insects no
- - Fish no
2. Mixed vs. separate intelligence
This means wheter in a single population of a species of a given type of
creature you find intelligent and non-intelligent specimens (or, to be more
precise in RQ terms, free intelligence and limited intelligence).
If the species has mixed intelligence a percentage of the population will
have free Int and the remaining part of the population will have limited
Int. If the species has separate intelligence it will develop into two
separate populations, one with free Int and one with limited Int.
Types of creatures Intelligence
- - Humans separate*
- - Dragon kind separate (?)
- - Beasts mixed
- - Birds mixed
- - Insects mixed
- - Fish mixed
3. Type of 'skin'
This is specialy important to distinghish how the intelligent members of
each species develop the need of wearable objects (cloth, etc.). This need
affects the relation between the creature and his environment.
Types of creatures skin cloth jewerly
- - Humans unfured skin yes yes
- - Dragon kind scales limited yes
- - Beasts fur no/limited yes
- - Birds feathers no yes
- - Insects shell no limited
- - Fish scales no no
4. Technology
Wether the intelligent members of the species have access to technology and
the degree of complexity of that technology.
- - Simple tech is based on extensions of the natural characteristics of the
creature (like a spear, an hammer, etc.). It doesn't include tools too
produce other tools (let's call it second level technology), neither
machines.
- - Complex technology includes tools to produce tools (second level tech)
and machines.
Types of creatures Technology
- - Humans complex
- - Dragon kind complex
- - Beasts simple
- - Birds no/simple
- - Insects no/simple
- - Fish no
5. Communication and thought**
This represents the thinking and communication skills the species develops.
They are:
- - Emotional (ability to live, understand and communicate emotional states)
- - Abstract (ability to live, understand and communicate reasoning)
- - Holistic (ability to live, understand and communicate the relation of the
self with the whole in Glorantha)
There are four degrees: (-) meaningless, (b)asic, (i)ntermediate,
(a)dvanced
Types of creatures Emotional Abstract Holistic
- - Humans i a i
- - Dragon kind a b / a a
- - Beasts i / a b b / i
- - Birds i b b
- - Insects i - / b b
- - Fish - / b - / b b / i
* This can explain the difference between normal men and the unintelligent
men herded by the morokanth: they are of the same species but existed in
separate populations. The limited Int populations was ill prepared to
survive and would have disapeared completely unless the morokanth started
to herd them.
** This is not based on any rwpsichology studies. It is my empirical and
uninformed description.
Any comments?
Sergio Mascarenhas
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