From: Joerg Baumgartner (joe@sartar.toppoint.de)
Date: Wed 20 Apr 1994 - 17:24:48 EEST
Ed Wallman in X-RQ-ID: 3698
> Sandy, Sen of Peter replies:
> I should admit that I do not play these games, and my favorite
> campaign was RQ vikings. So personal preference is playing a large
> part here. But I still look at the options available to Orlanthi
> compared to Malkioni. There are seven or more "personas" to choose
> to emulate in the society. Each has rich myths and varying levels of
> accomplishment. Orlanthi PCs are usually from any of these cults. Malkioni
> PCs are from a max of 4 types, and the Invisible God never did or does
> anything until you are dead. What a role model!
I continue to disagree. The Invisible God created the world, and did little more - ok, so he's out as a role model. So is the Red Goddess - or how many of your characters are born by a bunch of magicians forcing a Godtime spirit into a human shell, and finally gather some dirt and become a stellar body?
Like in Lunar religion, the side-characters of the (quite rich) Malkioni myth provide the role models. The easiest (and most boring) role models are Hrestol the knight and the four sons and one daughter of Malkion: Talar, Zzabur, Horal, Dronal, Menena. They are the equivalents to Orlanthi Orlanth Rex rulers, Orlanth Thunderous priests, Orlanth Adventurous warriors, Barntar farmers or Ernalda women. More than 85% (an Orlanthi "all") belong to these cults.
Your characters tend to be eccentrics, chosing minor or different deities? Then let's visit the purely Malkioni array of saints. Paslac and Gerlant Flamesword double as saints for rulers, Arkat and Talor for warriors, adding to the Hrestol - Horal schisma, Xemela is another major female saint competing with Menena, Valkaro makes a good second choice for a wizard. You want something for real outsiders? Consider Worlath, Humct, Ehilm, although this is bordering on Stygian or Henotheist Malkionism. More choices for wizards? Well, there's Rokar, founder of his sect, and doubtlessly the Galvosti and Boristi have similar founding heroes, pardon, saints.
You want more sects? Paul Reilly described the differences between Junoran and Loskalmi Hrestoli after the Thaw quite drastically. The Jonating wizards subject themselves to the Ecclesiarch in Southpoint, although their sect thoroughly differs in vital points. The Castle Coast Hrestoli are probably a lot more linealist than their Loskalmi counterparts, only they allow more freedom and caste mobility than the Rokari.
You want different fighters? In Loskalm there seem to be oodles of knightly orders, each devoted to a different aspect of chivalrous duties. Specialized priests? Like specialized wizards, only out of own choice, or because the home monastery put its weight in education this way.
> I guess my complaint here would get down to the lack of published
> material. These two items are not in the published materials so they have
> to be made up (i.e. more work). There are few mentions of social upheavals
> in the western cultures, and the overall impression I get is that society is
> stable (social structures, not political). Fuel for social conflict is
> heaped upon every Orlanthi chapter. But then, there are more
> Orlanthi chapters so maybe just that is the problem.
This lack could partly stem from an expectation that people were able to make up the more familiar feudal society themselves. The west is better off than the Lunar Empire, anyway - it is detailed in the Genertela Players Book.
> Yes, but here is my gripe about Malkioni sects. Some comparisons:
[...]
> MALKIONI PEASANT: Why are the Galvosti evil?
> MALKIONI WIZARD: Their wizards tap non-Malkioni. These wizards make
> up less than 5% of population, you probably will never meet one, and
> they don't really tap our people, but they are EVIL! PURE EVIL!
You phrased this extremely lamely. About like this:
ORLANTHI FARMER: Why are the illuminates evil?
ORLANTHI PRIEST: They don't hurry to kill chaos. These illuminates make up less than 5% of the Empire's population, so you'll probably never meet one, and they won't really iluminate you, but they are EVIL! PURE EVIL! You'd get a less than enthusiastic response.
Whereas:
ROKARI SERF: Why is the Hrestoli sect evil?
> What do we know about these heresies? Their descriptions are ho-hum.
> Their differences seem to revolve around a single spell (tap) that
> not only the average person will not know, but probably only the more
> powerful wizards will. Maybe I just have trouble relating to a
> society model that would do things like burn down the Jewish quarter
> for the shaky reasoning that they killed Christ.
Well, think of medieval history, the religious dissenters like Wiclif's followers or the Czech Hussites, who were bloodily persecuted, only because they had dared to use a translated version of the bible the farmer class could understand. Now think of the Hrestoli - Rokari schisma...
> The only real interesting heresy is the Stygian heresy which is
> described like all the rest in a paragraph here and there.
It's certainly the most controversial group of heresies collected into one paragraph. I'll see what I can do about that...
> Again, my gripe might just be lack of material. But that is why I
> am anxious to see in the TOTRM Malkioni issue. Just two issues off
> so that would put its arrival date in June, 1999. :-)
Unlikely. With Convulsion '94 and its main theme, the 7th Ecclesiastical Concile, held at Sog City, a flood of Western material is going to wash down on us, and maybe Codex 2 with lots of Western stuff will beat it with its arrival.
--
-- Joerg Baumgartner joe@sartar.toppoint.de
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