From: Paul Honigmann, Oxford, UK c/o Mystic Musk Ox (MAB@SAVAX750.RUTHERFORD.AC.UK)
Date: Wed 13 Oct 1993 - 01:14:50 EET
> From: Mystic Musk Ox <MAB@SAVAX750.RUTHERFORD.AC.UK>
> To: RUNEQUEST <RUNEQUEST@GLORANTHA.Holland.Sun.COM>
>
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------
> Hi, Paul asked me to send this stuff into the digest. If you have any
> comments, flames etc, please send them to me and I will pass them on.
> cheers, Mark.
>
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------
From: Paul Honigmann, Oxford, UK
Subjects: Elves; new spells; Request for info on Red Emperor, Lunar religious
knowledge test.
Date: 29-9-93
ELF PSYCHOLOGY
Have you ever thought about what it must be like to be a sentient
plant? I've been trying to differentiate them from humans as much as possible
and playing them as follows.
Consider how Aldryami have an Earthsense that lets them tune in to how those around them, particularly plants, feel. This is a curse as well as a blessing - ears are useful, but can be a source of pain near a jet engine. When they enter an area cultivated by humans, they feel the Unnaturalness of it all: the monotonous monoculture of a crop in a field, the creepy deadness of the area (humans don't understand how to maintain its fertility), the painful feeling of plants being forced to grow in stupid positions and the hideous unbalanced feeling of crops planted in Straight Lines.
Straight Lines are a major neurosis for elves. Having them around
is like hearing fingernails down a blackboard. As soon as they walk into a
human-controlled area, they feel disorientated and worried by the background
'distress' feeling of surrounding plants, and as they enter a village -
constructed from houses with walls of murdered plants, full of Straight
Edges such as barns' and houses' corners, and the smell of burning wood, like
some Mostali hell - they feel frightened and nauseous. Young elves (under 35)
can't enter villages, they are terrified by their grotesque alieness. Only the
bravest Aldryan can enter a major town, full of packs of insane humans
radiating stress, fear, hunger and hate. If the humans find life difficult in
cities, why do they live there? Then there's the towering buildings on either
side, giving a semi-underground feeling of claustrophobia and unnatural
Straightness. Not many elves can nerve themselves to enter houses.
Q. Why *didn't* the elf cross the road?
A. 'cos it was straight.
The following is bound to be controversial as it Defies the Holy
Script of Chaosium ('normal elves get on OK with dark elves') - Dark Elves
follow the goddess Mee Vorala. They cultivate fungi, rots and other forms of
life that parasitise plants. Now how do humans behave towards Malians? What's
more, dark elves associate with trolls. There's nothing so despicable as
traitors.
The stench of burning fires must be like smelling rotting corpses to a human (though rotting corpses probably smell pretty good to elves).
Elves are used to living without houses or other permanent structures so they find it difficult to grasp the idea of permanence, such as the human obsession to order everything politically, categorically, and aesthetically into some final Absolute Eternal Empire or scheme. They live in a world of Change and Cycles, where everything dies and is reborn, where struggling to maintain the status quo is seen as a juvenile Dwarvish trait. And when you live hundreds of years, there never seems to be any urgency, so unless there's a threat to their forest, elves seem very laid-back to humans (except in towns!).
All this implies that the renegades humans tend to meet, who *can* enter towns, are a bit strange by the standards of their kin. Instead of going hysterical, they accept the human surroundings. Presumably, like PC dragonewts, they are clinically insane. So I suggest you give any renegades who operate freely in towns an insanity, like Call of Cthulhu: for example, paranoia about other elves; burying themselves each night; elaborate neurotic rituals such as compulsive washing, counting or arranging of objects; liberating flowers from gardens; self-destructive habits reflecting their deeply disturbed psyches; etc.
A final thought on Aldryami world views. They were the foremost supporters of Nysalor in the First Age. The Arkati wiped out all other organised illuminated groups, but they never eradicated the Aldryami. Even now, no elf would consider joining a Darkness cult such as Arkat. What terrible plots are these animated vegetables nurturing even as you read?
ELF PHYSIOLOGY
Ever considered how plants are much more resilient to damage than
animals? Chop a branch off and they don't care much. So what about elves not
being affected by shock if a limb's lopped off, or even saying that they're a
bit zombielike and if you destroy a location, it doesn't count against total
hit points. If you want to be really nasty, you could say that they've got no
vital hit locations at all - a distributed nervous system, perhaps - and
chopping their head off simply removes most sensory input, except Earthsense.
I'm not a pro-elf fanatic, by the way, in fact I dislike them intensely! I've always detested them because back in my AD&D days, Rule Players went for half-elves because they got loads of advantages, then played them like Super Humans. I've simply had to think about the horrible little weeds recently because my players are beginning to interact with them.
Back to the subject in hand: I've been trying to emphasize the alien Plantness of the Aldryami, and describe them as distinctly unhuman. They generally have barky skin, leavy hair etc and aren't as symmetric as humans. I've got one related to nettles (seems to have a furry skin, but touch it and ow!), one with four spindly arms of which one is one long spearlike 'jabber', ones with symbiotic moss covering them, a thorny warrior type, etc.
That's enough on motile plants, now I'd like to go on to some other subjects:
NEW SPELLS
Loudmouth / Amplify / Echo: Spirit magic, variable, passive, duration
special.
This spell is only available to Donander and Kyger Litor cultists. It
can be cast on yourself or another, or an instrument. One point doubles the
volume of the target, two points trebles it, four points quadruples it, eight
points quintuples it (geometric progression: you're unlikely to find anyone
with more than eight points.) The spell lasts until the end of the song or
tune, so a concert might take several castings.
Some cults have specialised versions that work only on the cult instrument, for example Yelm cultists can Amplify harps. It is rumoured Orlanthis have a version which can amplify belches. Which reminds me of:
Fart: Divine, 1 point, reusable.
This Eurmal spell allows the caster to emit a dreadful stench for 5
rounds which does not affect them, but all others within 20 metres must make
a CON*3 roll or vomit, pass out or be otherwise incapacitated, which is
usually enough time to make a getaway. Eurmal originally used this spell
to escape his father Ratslaff (having just stolen this spell from him), and if
the caster should abuse the spell in order to harm the targets, he must make
a CON*1 roll himself.
Mask Scent: spirit magic, passive, 1 point.
This is only available to shamen (and thus their tribesmen) and the
Hunter cults. Its use is obvious.
Dead Mens' Tales: Divine, reusable, 1 point
Available to Irippi Ontor and Tien priests, (Tien is a subcult of
Thanatar), this ritual allows the caster to look into a corpse's eyes and
see an image of the last thing they saw. The caster needs Light (or in the
case of Tien, Darklight) to illuminate the subject's retina.
REQUEST FOR INFORMATION ON THE CULT OF THE RED EMPEROR
I've seen this mentioned in the Digest from time to time, but never seen
a description of the cult itself. Can anyone send me details on the 'net,
care of Mark Buckley?
INITIATION TEST FOR LUNARS
So your players have finally qualified for Initiateship / Priesthood in
Seven Mothers. They assume that just because they've read the rules, got the
paper qualifications and served their time, they're automatically accepted.
Seeing as most players cheat and read extensive Glorantha material to help
them survive, - sorry, to help them role play their characters better -try
this little test to see how much cult lore they've really learnt. (If they've
already qualified, maybe their High Priest could give them a spot check...)
RELIGIOUS KNOWLEDGE TEST
Time allowed: 30 minutes
No Divinations allowed
i. Your name: (1 point)
ii. Date: (1 point)
iii. What is your favourite colour? (1)
iv. Name the Seven Mothers. (7)
v. Which of the Seven's priestesses are called Priestesses of the Full
Half? (2)
vi. Who is the Conquering Daughter? (1)
vii. What are the 7M cult runes? (2)
viii. In which city was the Red Goddess born? (1)
ix. What is the blood of the Goddess? (1)
x. Who is the most famous son of the Goddess? (1)
xi. Who are the parents of the Goddess of the Reaching Moon? (3)
xii. What happened at Castle Blue? (2)
xiii. Name the phases of the moon. (7)
xiv. What Solar year is the date of the birth of the Red Goddess? (1)
xv. How long is a Wane? (1)
(3)
xx. What do you think the purposes of the 7M are? (7)
xxi. How do you reconcile the use of chaos (such as the Crimson Bat) with
the professed cult aims of spreading peace, understanding and
prosperity? (2)
Humakt, Pelora, Issaries, Primal Chaos, Yelm, Anilla. (9)
xxiv. Why is the scimitar superior to the straight sword? (2)
xxv. What is the place of Yelm in the Universe? (1)
xxvi. What is a Selene? (1)
xxvii. You are an initiate of 7M and a priest of 7M tells you to kill someone.
A Priestess of the Red Goddess tells you not to. What do you do? (1)
ANSWERS
Xaron and She Who Waits (NOT Anilla, the Blue Moon).
v. Yanafil Tarnils.
Yara Aranis - 1 of the 3 points for remembering that) xii. The Goddess fought her enemies, won, and thus earned her place as a
full deity in the universe.
xiii. Black; Dark; Dying; Crescent-Come; Crescent-Go; Empty Half;
Full Half; and Full Moon.
xiv. 1220 ST
xv. 54 years
xvi. Wildday
xvii. Hwarin Dalthippa and Yara Aranis (2 points)
xviii. Red, of course
xix. GM's should listen to the player's rationalisation and mark them on
role-playing ability.
xx. See xix.
xxi. See xx.
xxii. She Who Waits is one of the Seven Mothers, unlike Anilla, but SWW may
have been a priestess of Anilla. However, her subcult is shrouded in
mystery: those who know for sure aren't telling. If the PC flatly
states facts about Anilla, have them checked out by the Inquisition -
how do they know this?
xxiii. Orlanth: No. Gbaji: No (but Nysalor yes!). Yelorna, Humakt: their
official cult line is Neutral to Lunars, ie No, though there is an
ongoing rivalry. Pelora: Yes. Issaries: Yes to non-chaotic Etyries,
but Neutral (No) to other Lunars. Chaos: Neutral, so No (one could
argue that individual chaots vary so much the question is inapplicable
for this cult). Yelm: Yes. Anilla: Yes.
xxiv. See xxi. This was discussed at length in the RQ Digest. Suitable
answers might be: it represents the crescent of the Goddess so it is
like carrying her with you; it represents the multitude of paths
(curves) to the Truth, whereas barbarians only understand / believe in
one; or mundanely, 'cos you can reach 'round peoples' sheilds with it.
xxv. He is the eyes and mind of the Goddess. Praise him!
xxvi. An elemental summoned by a priest of the Blue Moon. Let the PC burble
on, noting down all they know of these innermost secrets of the Lunar
faith, and then turn the report over to the Inquisition.
xxvii. You do what your priest of 7M tells you to do. In a cult heirarchy,
discipline is important. If the 7M priest chooses to ignore the Red
Goddess' priestess' advice, that's his look out; you can always cover
your back by reporting him to his superiors later. The relationship
between cults (like Yelm priests being superior to Yelmalion ones) only
affects rune levels or higher - if the 'higher' cult continually
meddled in the lesser one's affairs, sometimes without knowing the full
facts, nothing would ever get done.
SCORING:
00-04: Crucifixion
05-14: Candidate for Danfive Xaron prison legion
15-26: OK for Lay Members
27-34: Acceptable for Initiates
If anyone particularly liked that quiz, I've got a Fire/Sky version suitable for Yelmalio, etc too - contact me via Mark Buckley.
Paul Honigmann.
From: RuneQuest-Request@Glorantha.Holland.Sun.COM (RQ Digest Maintainer)
To: RuneQuest@Glorantha.Holland.Sun.COM (Daily automated RQ-Digest)
Subject: RuneQuest Daily, Wed, 13 Oct 1993, part 2
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Sender: RuneQuest-Request@Glorantha.Holland.Sun.COM
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