From: MOBTOTRM@vaxc.cc.monash.edu.au
Date: Sat 14 May 1994 - 22:52:54 EEST
G'day everyone!
Nick:
>Seems eminently sensible to me. That's how I'd treat Lunar organisations of
>almost any size (department, regiment, empire) so as to get the theocratic
>Empire's feel across. Like, I think Citizen of the Lunar Empire is the lay
>member status in the Red Emperor's cult; anyone else like that? (This Q. is
>especially aimed at the Equal of the Apostles, MOB). Or is it too much a
>mechanical/literal interpretation of RuneQuest's flawed cult rules?
Note the "Red Emperor" article in Tales #8 (which I cobbled together from a disparate collection of Greg's notes): it says, "The Emperor is worshipped by as a separate divine entity, apart from his mother, by the common populace of the Empire. It is very easy to become a lay member of his cult, and most cults will include it without notice to their worshippers." A bit like when the priest says a prayer for the Queen as part of the prayers in an Church of England service. (As Her Mag had actually awarded him an MBE, the minister at the Uniting Church* I once attended is an ardent monarchist and he once popped in a prayer to the Queen during the service. As I am an ardent republican - as in, someone who believes Australia should be a republic, not someone who voted for George Shrub - I was surprised by this liturgical ambush, so I didn't "amen" that bit).
In Roman times, everyone was expected to revere the Emperor as divine, and most would go through the motions of the official Emperor worship and then head off to get more satisfying spiritual satisfaction elsewhere (Mithraism, Eastern mystery cults, Isis worship, etc). As long as you accepted the Emperor as divine and didn't grouse about it, there was no problem. Of course, the early Christians (and Jews) refused to acknowledge the Emperor's divinity, and so were persecuted in all sorts of creative ways.
I see Red Emperor worship as being somewhat like this - it is just assumed that as a citizen you naturally acknowledge the Red Emperor's divinity and authority; if you don't and this is made public, you would be stripped of your citizenship. And as you're likely to be an Orlanthi too, who not only refuses to acknowledge the Emperor but also denies the Red Goddess's power and subjugation of Orlanth, you'd best run off and join the other rebels in the hills before the authorities catch you.
*The Uniting Church is one of the largest denominations in Australia; an amalgam of the Methodists, Presbyterians and Congregationists that took place around 15 years ago. I no longer attend the Uniting Church.
A most mouth-watering debate - thanks Sandy for, er, bringing food up.
On the topic of hot 'n spicy foods, Brandon writes:
> One exception to the "unvaried staples means spicy food" idea in Glorantha
>might be Sun County. I have always viewed them as having mostly a barley-based
>diet; yet I picture the stoic Sun Domers as making a virtue out of the
>simplicity and predictability of their diet rather than seeking to vary it.
>"I raise good barley and strong sons for the glory of Yelmalio.".
>Any thoughts?
Just as the Sun County is considered boring, flat and dull, so too is the cuisine, for the reasons Brandon mentions. The nobs - eg. the Count and his cronies eat more varied and exotic stuff, especially since the influence of the Lunars in recent years. However, Sun Domer "feasts" and official functions are dreaded affairs, as the dull, predictable fare has to be trundled out so the Count can ostentatiously show his affinity with the common man to all present. Lunars dragooned into attending these events often bring a hamper of highly spiced goodies to sup on in their guest chamber after the "banquet".
> I have always pictured wealthy Lunars as eating a diet reminiscent of
>wealthy romans, including the decadent excesses seen in some households in
>late imperial era. I imagine such things as High Llama Necks stuffed with
>Zebra Sausage and the like.
Yum, yum! Here's another delicacy, popular in another highly civilised part of lozenge, the Holy Country (originally published as a Notes from Nochet entry in in Tales #7):
"Forcemeat" (by MOB):
Herd-man can be served in a variety of ways, most of which can be found
on Anchoritenus's list of morally objectionable foods*. Yet it is
considered highly indecorous if the presentation of the dish gives the
eater even the slightest suspicion he is eating eating herd-human. Even
when the cook's intention is not to deceive, and the guests are fully
aware herd-man meat is on the menu, in civilized company no one will refer
to the dish without a euphemism. In Pavis, the butchers peddle it as
"mock pork", in the Holy Country it is known as "forcemeat".
With a candour which is often revolting, Malhawi Habatat describes a feast of almost obscene novelty in which forcemeat was served, at the court of the great Demivierge of Rhigos.
"The naked brutes were paraded before us, glazen-eyed and stupid, yet our lady had personally selected them for their classical proportions and they had of course been well-oiled and depilated of all body hair. Following the lead of our mistress, each guest selected a herd-human of their choice, which was brought to their couch and made to go through a series of poses. That certain guests used the beasts for sexual purposes before they went to the pot I will for our lady's honour not answer. Later that evening, each guest was served a dish of "forcemeat" cooked to their whim, and although hands, feet and, inevitably, genitals graced the plates as garnishments, everyone of course pretended not to notice.
"Old Glaucon (the head cook) always complained that our mistress liked her herd-men far too lean for the best eating, but it was she who had them imported from Prax at tremendous expense. He later found himself trussed up and sold to the morokanth, after our lady discovered that he had been substituting human actors in the posing, and putting his plumper herd-men in the pot. She always did enjoy making the punishment fit the crime."
*See "Seven Favorite Foods", TALES OF THE REACHING MOON #6.
Yuri and other Japanese RQers asked if Restore Health was reusable by Chalana Arroy Healers, and cited the fact that River of Cradles says that Orlanthi rune levels get such spells resuably as proof that this is the case.
I agreed, though I based my interpretation on the fact that the RQ2 equivalent of this spell was reusable.
However, Sandy, who actually helped write the RQ3 rules notes:
>The intent of the rules is as follows: Restore Health is a one-use
>spell. The Chalana Arroy (and Ernalda) Restore Health magics given to
>Orlanth as an associate are NOT reusable, but one-use.
OK, rules fiends, make a note of that in RoC!
> Spell Trading does not allow the trading of one-use spells
>except under special circumstances. For instance, as a gamemaster I
>would permit it if the Spell Trading was one-use for that purpose.
OK, if we assume that Restore Health is one-use after all, I can blandly assert that Princess Anderida got her Restore Health spells via Spell Trading this way (obviously she knew a very obliging Issaries priest!)
> In Old RQ, one-use spells were traded all the time using
>Spell Trading. This was an abuse that led to serious problems among
>GMs in California (after a while, every cult had every spell), and
>this is why the practice was stopped with RQ III.
This was never a problem in the RQ2 campaigns I played in back in the days of yore, but I guess these were pretty low-level affairs compared to some of the games that went on at the time. Takes for example, this description of a game at a Californian con found in WF #11: "...my character had the awful choice of having either no magical protection or no spirit protection up [my characters usually have a choice of *neither*]. Fortunately there was another party member who had Countermagic 10 [!] and a POW Enhancing 10 crystal [!!], so my character was able to have 20 points of Countermagic (with Extension II) [!!!] to go with 2 points of his own Spirit Block [!!!!]. Then a discorporate Thanatari allied spirit spotted him (Concealment [Concealment? This character has got Concealment on him too!!!!!] is no protection from a spirit's perception of sources of POW) and hit him with a 2 point Rune Spell backed up with 20 points of POW [!!!!!!], thus blowing the Countermagic and leaving my character with no protection from spells [poor bugger!]. My character's POW was not overcome by the Sever Spirit [!!!!!!!] so he survived the spell.
Phew, what a game this must've been!
Sandy - tell us more about these "Gift-Carriers" (is that what they're called?), who did or do nasty things to people who know the Lightbringer Secret...
While I was in New York someone who claimed to officially know the Lightbringer Secret explained it to another person while I was present, but preoccupied with something else I wasn't really listening (honest!) Are they gonna come after me? My wife was there too, and although I'm sure she heard it, as a resolute non-RQer (though she did have fun tax-collecting in HotB) she is completely uninterested in what she was told. Should I tell her to watch out too? (Of course, I have no way of knowing what was said that night is the TRUE secret!)
Attention Aussie RQers!
I no longer have in stock copies of either "Rough Guide to Boldhome" or "Report on the Fall of Boldhome." Sorry, what copies I did have went to those who responded quickly after the issue #11 mail-out; some even sent there orders by express post to ensure they'd get what they were after.
I still have limited copies of:
Cheers
MOB
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