From: Alex Ferguson (alex@dcs.gla.ac.uk)
Date: Mon 25 Apr 1994 - 01:04:06 EEST
I'm about to say something about Dragonewts again, so: \begin{wildunsubstantiatedguess}
David Dunham:
> In the boardgame Dragon Pass, if the Inhuman King is killed, dragonewts
> aren't reborn when killed. Since there's no Inhuman King in Ormsland (in
> Ralios), does this mean that Ormsland dragonewts don't resurrect?
Yup.
But I think they can still try to perform essentially the function of the Inhuman King, by a ritual involving the highest available stage 'newts. This is difficult, unreliable, and somewhat dangerous, so it's rather more like resurrection among theist human societies in practise than it is `normal' 'newt rebirth.
> Do they still have the chance to be reborn as a "higher" dragonewt form?
Not (normally) by being `reborn', no. Because rebirth isn't usual among this lot, they generally actually `evolve' [*] into the next stage in the same body. This leads to Ormsland warriors and nobles exhibiting vestigial features of earlier stages to a degree detectable to careful expert scrutiny. Only a very few reports exist of individuals who appear to be actually `between' stages, perhaps suggesting that dragonewts do not go abroad at such times. As has been noted elsewhere, higher stages are progressively less common than in Pure communities. Occassionally a Ruler stage 'newt will arise here [**], but never the fifth stage.
[*] Or as Arastekos Veermsbrane, on the whose theories and observations I base the bulk of this reply, helpfully puts it: "... endo-recapitulate draconic ontogenic transmogrification." :-|
[**] One theory has it that rulers observed in Ormsland are in fact visitors, missionaries, or settlers from Dragon Pass or Ryzel. No one likes to ask.
> (Or for that matter, as a dinosaur?)
Oh yes. This is endemic. Or rather endo-recapitulation of dr-- devolution, in the same body, is. This happens a) spontaneously; b) to 'newts being `resurrected'; c) to the 'newts _doing_ the resurrection; d) for all the usual reasons. The non-mutants hunt and kill 'em with some vigour, for many of the obvious reasons.
\end{wildunsubstantiatedguess}
% Maybe.
I asked about Ormsland myself a while back, I don't think I got any definitive answers. The broad picture seems to that it's not a pure Draconic Path community, but nor is it wholely "apostate".
Alex.
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