From: Nick Brooke (100270.337@CompuServe.COM)
Date: Sat 28 May 1994 - 14:53:07 EEST
> The divinatory information from Gaumata's Vision at the very least
> tells you pretty much without uncertainty that a village somewhere in
> Sun County has been corrupted with Chaos. When I ran the scenario, this
> was deduced by the players instantly without any thought whatsoever.
Our players "deduced" that Gaumata the Strange had eaten too much seafood the evening before. One muttered, "And when I woke up, the sheets were all damp", as the recitation concluded. Since they were all Sun Dome Militia, under orders to check out Black Rock Village, their interpretation didn't matter that much. Some of the most hilariously wrong speculation that day came from the attempt to work out why all the women were walking around pregnant and healthy-looking, while the men were dull and listless -- I can't explain Steve's theory about "filthy sticks sticking out from their bellies" here, as this is a family newspaper. But for a Yelmalion, it's hard to imagine anything more Chaotic...
> Finally, it seems that the only Agimori met in Prax are men+1/2. Is this
> the case? Perhaps, knowing the journey from Pamaltela to Genertela would
> be dangerous, only men+1/2 were taken, and that men+1/2 always breed
> true. Any thoughts?
Think I covered this a while ago. The Agimori in Prax are hard-line old- timer warriors, a bit like a human culture of Humakti would be. Back in Pamaltela, you can see their whole society and there's only a few of these guys. My personal belief (unsupported by the rules and writeups) is that being a man-and-a-half is more a cult thing than a racial thing: we know from John Boyle's write-up that you can be "adopted" into the Agimori, and gain some of their "racial" advantages from this quasi-initiation. Which suggests to me that all the advantages may be Cult Benefits or the results of a long-term Enchantment caused by living among the men-and-a-half.
Perhaps.
Humakti (almost) always breed true -- if there's no other cult to join. (And, per yesterday's post, if they can breed at all). I'd imagine the numbers of old-style pure Agimori men-and-a-half have been dwindling in Pamaltela ever since the Dawning.
> In my campaign right now, the Block is cracking and something evil is
> starting to seep back into the world.
Heh... A pity that RQA#3 didn't mention the labyrinthine Jrusteli mines which were tunneled out *inside* the Block. Gotta get your Truestone from somewhere, after all... sure, there's no risk to the environment. We can clean it up *after* everything goes wrong (they said). Now, we can see the results...
> Hmm, maybe the Vadeli were Blue Meanies?
Yesss!!! And Vadeli women inspired the Western phrase "Scarlet Women".
Jonas sent in his First Age history of this region. All good stuff! More, please! It's not explicit there, but do you believe (as I do) that all the -korion peoples of contemporary Ralios are the descendents of settlers who came from Dorastor through Karia? Seeing the names, I thought of England's kingdoms of Sussex, Wessex, Essex, Middlesex, all deriving from Saxony? It seemed to be compatible with your narrative, and may be a nice gloss on it. Though I'm not sure how it meshes with the Elephant-Men, who emerged later.
> With less rain, the D. Happans must be pretty good at irrigation - and
> they must be quite fond of their river.
Yes. All true. Oslira is probably more worshipped than any land goddess in Dara Happa; Dendara is primarily a marriage-goddess (something like Juno or Hera) rather than an agricultural deity. Look at Sun County for hydraulic despotism on the cheap...
If David Cheng is still selling them, the RQCon programme book included a list of most attendees' addresses divided up by State. Something like this could be the seed of your Directory.
In this, G>> is Gary, C> Cullen.
G>> Assuming that Malkionism changes and has changed with time, the G>> originally divinely-inspired caste system might start backing up on G>> the religion's philosophy itself. The idea of Virtue being different G>> for each caste...
C> I REALLY like this idea, something like:
C> peasants = humble, obedient, loyal, etc C> knights = loyal, brave, honest, etc C> lords = loyal, wise, charming, etc C> wizard = loyal, powerful, modest, etc
I like it too, and your expansion of it. Looks like a good way to go. The Hrestoli are going to have fun with the shifts from caste to caste: "No, my son, when you were a farmer it was right for you to act thusly. But now you are a soldier, and it is no longer proper for you to flee battle, disparage your own martial prowess, and defer to the wishes of the village headman."
Another word for "Caste" is "Order", and this was used a lot in the Middle Ages to explain society. Could be it's a variant term used by one of the minor sects...
C> I'm assuming that Malkioni have a text... maybe they DON'T if its all C> oral then distortion is very easy! (Pardon my thinking outloud)
Sure. Pardoned. I think there was no single accepted text of the collected Prophecies of Malkion (and their associated historical/mythical documents) compiled through all the First Age. The God Learners wrote the Bible! Part of the secret of their success (no, not *that* Secret!). Speaking of which,
C> Psst... by the way, my feeling is that the GL secret is that the gods C> didn't exist at all before the God Learners...
Well, the Invisible God didn't... <g>
At least, not in the scientific/logical form we now recognise. If there was anything, more likely He was a Big Beard in the Sky. The GLs puzzled over "His" powers and nature, and evolved the modern Malkioni doctrines that all mainstream churches (other than the Stygians, Carmanians, the Holy Country cluster and all others that spring to mind) have at their root.
I know Joerg differs, but I think there is no distinction between the early Return to Rightness Crusade and the later God Learners. The very first God Learners used their techniques to learn about God. Then they turned them to bind demons into servitude, or cast them utterly from the world. Compare to King Solomon binding the Jinn. But in their later years they lapsed into bloated heresy and decadence, worshipping graven images and having zillions of concubines and so on. So their Empire was overthrown by the Wrath of God manifesting all over the place. A good cautionary tale for Malkioni, which allows them to have been Good to start with, Bad at the end.
> In our campaign, it is 'unclean' to eat the 'human' part of a Walktapus.
> Here's why: The Walktapus has a strange form of reproduction. [etc.]
Euuurrgggh! So horrible, it *has* to be True!
> If kids grow up in that village, I would imagine they play a game
> called "Poke the Dragon with a Stick"
Also fun and True. Bloody kids: they'll be sorry when the Hero Wars start.
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