From: Sandy Petersen (sandyp@idcube.idsoftware.com)
Date: Mon 08 Nov 1993 - 08:28:10 EET
> Did the Sables line up with the Praxians, then turn on them, or did
they join the Lunar
> lines before the battle commenced?
The current story amongst the anti-Lunar Praxians is that the Sables lined up with the other animal nomads, then turned on them. Of course, it's in their interest to make the Sables look bad. It's clear that the Sables fighting on the Lunar side was a big surprise to the other nomads, but it's still possible that the Sables came to the battle, summoned by the council of Khans, but when they arrived went immediately over to the Lunars.
The Sables don't bother to deny that they joined the Lunars, and it's no big deal to them whether they switched before or after the battle commenced. They gloat over the fact that they were on the winning side, and sneer at the idiots they tricked. Of course, inter-tribe "loyalty" has never been too important in Prax anyway.
Loren Miller sez:
> In hot, dry climates you want some real covering, though not
Is this really true? Does anyone have any facts to back this up? I know that the Dinka in southern Sudan, the Bushmen in the Kalahari, and the Australian Aborigines don't seem to wear many clothes. The Amerinds of the U.S. Southwest weren't overdressed, but they didn't go as bare as tropical Indians. Certainly they'd go without shirts frequently.
> Other than the major tribes, and Unicorn, Zebra & Bolo Lizard, what
There's the Ostrich and Rhino riders, which are about as minor as they come. Nose-horn and Plains Elk are supposedly extinct. Long-nose is practically extinct, but a friend of mine ran a great scenario in which the last few members of the Long-Nose tribe were trying to herd their only surviving elephant through Prax to the salt swamps along the coast. Lunar assassins were chasing them and trying to capture or kill the elephant for some arcane reason. Everyone loved the scenario and the idea of a tribe with a "herd" of one. After this scenario, I've never been willing to claim that the Long Nose are completely extinct.
Some folks claim that there are few "kangaroo" riders in the High Wastes. Supposedly, the animals ridden aren't really kangaroos, but a leaping Pamaltelan animal that can teleport. I'm not sure whether there really is a tiny group of lost Pamaltelans in Prax, or whether some elderly nomad heard about the teleporting animals (they're real enough in Pamaltela) and started telling tall tales. I guess I won't have to decide for real until I need them for some Wastes scenario I'm writing.
Incidentally, the troll Mantis Riders that were remarked on a while back aren't really a tribe. Some of the insect-breeding trolls in Dagori Inkarth have giant mantises, and have learned to ride them. They are kind of a secret, and the trolls aren't particularly interested in having the human foes of Sartar know that they have a unit of Mantis Riders, getting ready for the big troll attack, whenever that is. Still, word leaks out.
> But the ... [Prax & Wastes nomads] ... trade-off, both on a
> seasonal cycle, and whenever the [tribal alliances] shift.
This is true to a great extent. One of the ancient historical facts
about Prax is that whatever tribes are currently the most powerful
get to live primarily in Prax, while the others are shunted to
Geoff Gunner (in a private message) sez:
> where did the inspiration for Jack o'bears come from? American
> mythos ? Just having got one waiting in the wings for my poor
> innocents, I got to wondering who was responsible for the
> monstrosity. As the book says, 'an exotic talent not to be sneered
> at.' It could be last orders soon for the party.
> Ducks I presume to be re: Donald.
Jack O'Bears come from Hungry Jack, the dread monster of WBRM. Most of the original monsters of RQ came from WBRM Exotics. The idea was the Hungry Jack had spawned these creatures.
Ducks descend from the earliest days of WBRM. When Greg was trying to name all the cities on the map, he gave a friend the privilege of naming one of the towns. The friend said, "Duckberg." Greg winced and said, "How about Duck Point?" The friend said, "Okay, but it's gotta have ducks in it." And that was that. The Ducks probably owe more to Howard the Duck than to Donald, but I suppose Howard wouldn't have existed without Donald anyway.
Geoff Gunner also sez:
> A creature *that* cynical, *that* depressed, *that* obnoxious is
> a boon to every fun-loving referee the world over. 'A duck a day
Concur. I never fully understood the folks who hate ducks. My parties generally fear and hate ducks. Not because they're tough to defeat (hah!), but because if you DO get beaten by the damn things your friends never let you live it down. Maybe the duck secret is that refs (in general) love 'em, while players (in general) love to hate 'em.
Graeme Lindsell sez:
> most cultures that have lots of slaves practice agricultural
> slavery, since in premodern cultures this is what occupies most of
> the workers. China was notable for giving its peasants a fairly
> high social status, as compared with Europe through most of it's
> history. If Kralorela is the same then it is practically a free
> society. Do you know how women are treated in Kralorela?
This is basically an accurate appraisal, though the peasants still don't have any money, just "status". I think that women in Kralorela are basically subservient. The Emperors are pretty much male, and the Exarchs mostly males. The important deities are either sexless or male. However, the oppression of women decreases as you go down the social scale. A peasant woman is the equal of any man, owning her own goods and living her own life, if she so chooses. A rich man's woman is carried around on a palanquin, grows long fingernails, etc., and otherwise kept from getting into trouble. A noblewoman lives her whole life in a palace, has every whim attended to by a host of human and nonhuman servants, and may never see the sky for weeks on end. Any upper class woman who tries to burst these confines can do so, but obviously suffers social, religious, and possibly economic opprobium by so doing. In effect, she "lowers" her status, but gains freedom.
> In TOTRM No8 (The Chaos Feature) the various gods are grouped by
> type. I think Ompalam is typed as Seductive, with Gbaji and
> Sessiene (sp?) the chaos god of submission
Nonetheless, I do not consider Ompalam to be a chaotic god, any more than Malia. He certainly has no strong objection to chaotic entities, and they can join his cult. I think that once you take the first step and start worshiping a cult that most people agree is evil (like Malia), it becomes much easier for your society to accept other evil cults (like Krarsht, Seseine, etc.) which are outrightly chaotic. Just Say No!
Seseine is the chaos goddess in charge of incubi and succubi, for some reason more plentiful in Pamaltela than Genertela.
Ompalam does indeed make chaos palatable. Wouldn't any of YOUR less ethical PCs like to have magic that could force other people to do their bidding? Ompalam does try to foster the "slave mentality", but I think it does so more by encouraging fatalism than by giving the slaves drugs.
Gark the Calm is the chaos god of zombies, but usually shows up under a different name. His priests tell the mass of oppressed people that they alone can give them freedom and peace. Then they lead them off to a secret place. Presto, all his converts now have freedom and peace. You'd have to be in great despair to join him knowingly, I agree. Basically, you need to prefer oblivion to continued existence.
Nick Brooke sez:
> and their [the Brithini] descendents are the Malkioni peoples of
> the West.No? That's how I'm coming to see Malkion's prophetic
> mission in the Great Darkness: he taught the Brithini an
> alternative way of living, that involved having children and
> accepting death.
re: Vormain
The description of Valzain in GoG was written by Greg. HE might have been thinking of Melnibone.
The Brithini can have children. But they don't, unless ordered.
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