From: Clay Luther (clay@cool.vortech.com)
Date: Mon 27 Sep 1993 - 11:19:50 EET
Actually, I have two questions:
1)
The week before last one of my players lost his character in a rather gruesome way to a gorp. Last week, he decided to create a Pelorian. During creation, he decided to create a sorceror. I had never had one in my game before, and despite all the strong opinions about sorcery, I decided to allow it. We established that his father served in the "magic corps" under Sor-Eel during the invasion on Prax, but had since returned to Peloria. His son, the new character, is a sorceror's apprentice (his father's). He came to Prax with a letter of introduction to the Sor-Eel, who promptly started using him to teach New Pelorian to the local scribes, then later sent him to Sun County to when Count Ironpike requested an interpreter/liaison. He now works under Hector in Sun Dome Temple learning about Sun Domer custom and language. [The players have joked that he is a becoming a protocol droid :).]
OK, so much for introductions...my real question lies not with the obvious and well-beaten sorcery questions, but actually how sorcery is used within the Empire. At this moment, the character is only a secular sorceror, but being from the Empire, seeing that his father was in the magic corps, and trying to put a more Gloranthan spin on his character than dictated by the generic rules, I think it is likely he is a member of a Pelorian sorcery-cult, perhaps the Seven Mothers or even the Red Goddess. I claim ignorance regarding the cults; I have not had anyone be from them in my games before and I am asking this question cold before I crack the books. Nevertheless, I was hoping for some viewpoints to read and mesh with my own ideas and those presented in GoG and other sources once I've read them.
2)
Regarding religious importance of cult weapons and armor: Another one of my players began as a non-Yelmalion Sun County person. He chose as his primary weapon the military flail. However, as several years of play have passed and he has done more and more in the service of the Sun Dome, he eventually "found his faith" and joined the cult. In play last week, he was called before the Count who placed him in command of a small expedition. At this point, he was given as set of traditional Sun Domer armaments (scale hauberk, open face helm, two spears, and a hoplite shield).
However, the player, while competent with the spear, did not immediately sieze upon the significance of them and continued to use his flail. [His flail skill is probably 25% better than his spear skill.]
I haven't quite formulated an opinion on this yet, although here are my thoughts currently: while use of the flail is neither traditional nor expressly forbidden, it does pose some problems. First, the Sun Domers fight in column and phalanx form and their tactics are based on all members of the column having spears. Second, he would certainly stand-out in the crowd for using a flail, and more conservative members of the cult would probably not like it. Yelmalio, after all, uses a spear and initiates should attempt to emulate Yelmalio in all they do. Third, I imagine their are many ceremonies in the cult which require displaying prowess with the spear -- mock combats, hitting targets, etc. If he neglects his spear now, he will find it difficult to rise higher in the cult. Third, using the flail also prevents him from using the hoplite shield...and the same arguments above apply for it as well.
Thanks!
--
Clay Luther clay@cool.vortech.com Software Engineer Kodak Health Imaging SystemsYelo's gift was a necklace of clam shells from the Ouel Stream strung on gut string with a delicate knot of reeds which performed the role of pendant.
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