From: John Hughes (nysalor@yahoo.com)
Date: Tue 08 Jun 1999 - 11:32:36 EEST
THE SAD TRUTH CONCERNING THE GAMLAK
Heys Folks
Darval and others have been discussing gamlaks and what they might be.
These beasties are not in fact mentioned in KOS at all, but are an
invention for my Far Point Lagerwater campaign, and have been mentioned
(peripherally) in several articles and short stories. The most relevant
references are:
- - "1621 Fall of Whitewall. Gamlaks sing over Ironspike." (Far Point
Chronology, QL1).
- - " I remember standing entranced with mystery as the gamlak sang above
trees older than time. Something long-dead awoke within me with that song,
and afterwards the world was different." ("Exile 1614", QL1).
- - And a response to the Lawspeaker's question in "The Finest Music"
(Convulsion '95 booklet, and posted to the Digest).
""What is it, do you think, that is the finest music in all the
world?"....
"The song of the gamlak under the red moon", said Arson Hunted-By-Bear,
for he was never afraid to kiss the trickster.""
I found the auroch speculation fascinating, as the parallels weren't
something I'd considered before. In fact (IMG at least), gamlaks are manta
ray-like flying creatures, several metres in length. Otherwise silent, at
various unpredictable times they sing together in 'choirs' (collective
noun) producing a haunting and ethereal music that can have profound
effects on listeners. Gamlaks were first sighted by the Bluefoot shortly
after the invasion of Sartar. Because of their singing, and because they
do not seem to have a digestive tract, many regard them as chaotic and
kill them whenever possible. (They do not register as Chaos magically, but
the effects of their singing have been likened to Nysalorian (of course)
Illumination). More practically, they are valued by hunters for their
extremely smooth, leather-like skin, which reflects all the soft
translucent colours of the rainbow.
CAMPAIGN SPOILER - (Antti, Alistair, Pip, don't read this).
<CS>
In the GM view of things, the mysterious gamlak are in fact draconic in
origin, and are either the now carnate aberrant thoughts and emotions of a
dragon OR something to do with the draconic reproduction cycle. They are
part of the campaign's big story, to do with the Vinga-led rediscovery of
the Youfish cult of Orlanth Dragonfriend, the alliance with the dragonewts
and the empowerment of the monster Argrath Dragon Pawn.
</CS>
In regard to gamlak, auroch and other beasties, remember that many parts
of Sartar (and especially the Far Place) are essentially frontiers where
the competition between human settlement and megafauna is still seeking a
new equilibrium. After hundreds of years free from human occupation, the
'beast wilderness across the ghost line' is again settled. While not as
traumatic as the first human occupations of say, North America or
Australia, the effects at the top of the food chain are still profound.
The great aurochs are gone from the southern hills, retreating to the
north and into the isolated upland meadows. When you also consider the
(environmentally-recent) release of the beastmen from the Youf zoos, there
is no doubt that the Sartar ecology is still in upheaval, and that beast
tribe disappearances and explosions, discoveries and rediscoveries will be
common for centuries to come.
Cheers
John
__________________________________________________________
"There was a muddy centre before we breathed.
There was a myth before the myth began,
Venerable and articulate and complete.
From this the poem springs: that we live in a place
That is not our own and, much more, not ourselves,
And hard it is in spite of blazoned days."
Wallace Stevens. "Notes Towards A Supreme Fiction"
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