From: Nick Brooke (100270.337@CompuServe.COM)
Date: Thu 02 Jun 1994 - 13:59:47 EEST
My guesses at Devin's riddles:
> 1: What was found by laughter...
Death?
> 2: Children of Time...
Mostali?
I'll have to pass on #s 3 and 4.
> 5: Weaver and assassin...
Spider and Web?
> 6: This Lord has fallen...
Yelm?
> 7: Two cows and some trees with a squid running through them lie on a
> bench and impart wisdom to the world.
That's easy: the RuneQuest Daily's regular contributors! (To protect the innocent, I'll not name names...).
Izzat Giraldus Cambrensis on the kings of Kenelcunill? (Coyly hinted at on p.53 of Pagan Shore):
: There is in the northern and farther part of Ulster, namely in Kenel- : cunill, a certain people which is accustomed to appoint its king with : a rite altogether outlandish and abominable. When the whole people of : that land has been gathered together in one place, a white mare is : brought forward into the middle of the assembley. He who is to be : inaugurated, not as a chief, but as a beast, not as a king, but as an : outlaw, has bestial intercourse with her before all, professing himself : to be a beast also. The mare is then killed immediately, cut up in : pieces, and boiled in water. A bath is prepared for the man afterwards : in the same water. He sits in the bath surrounded by all his people, : and all, he and they, eat of the meat of the mare which is brought to : them. He quaffs and drinks of the broth in which he is bathed, not in : any cup, or using his hand, but just dipping his mouth into it round : about him. When this unrighteous rite has been carried out, his kingship : and dominion have been conferred.
"Slaine the King" showed a bowdlerised version of this.
The Catherine the Great story is a lie, my sister tells me. But the queen's role in the Vedic horse sacrifice of ancient India appears to be true (cf. Gore Vidal's "Creation" and sundry notes in the Penguin Classics selection from the Rig Veda).
As an aside, while we were fighting in the Bush War, our cavalry commander, Hetman Ignatieff of the Char-Un, swore by Char-Un the Butcher and Holy Katharine, Mother of Horses. Frequently. He was an uncouth fellow, and his successor Anatoliy was no better.
> Loved it, as I loved the Fox King story; please tell us more, please!
And I love you too, Boris! I have two other finished stories, but I'll be telling one of them at Convulsion and haven't decided which, yet. One of these days I'll make up my mind, and post the other one here. I enjoy working on these converted folk-tales, as they're the stories that real people tell round hearth-fires. Not heavy-duty mythology, but simple world-defining stuff. (Plus, I can usually remember them when I've had too much beer, as Joerg will testify).
> In my eyes, it is the perfect opportunity for the Lunars to do some
> subtle conversion on an impressionable youth... Does anyone have any
> hints about a good way to get the character converted and have the
> player start realizing it only once it has happened.
Here's a very simple/subtle one. Have you read "1984"? In my Glorantha, the Lunar language of "New Pelorian" was created with motives very similar to those that led to Ingsoc's "Newspeak" (indeed, the New Pelorian for New Pelorian is "Newspeak"). It's a language deliberately designed to contain Lunar ideological messages at the most basic level. Thus it would not be possible in New Pelorian bluntly to state: "Chaos is Evil". The structure and vocabulary would not permit it. All statements come out qualified and relative to one another; balanced clauses ("On the one hand ... on the other") are natural to its structure; even word etymologies have a subtle ideological content (all religious nouns are declined as feminine, all military nouns as masculine; etc.).
Thus a character who learns to speak New Pelorian must gain some insights into the Lunar way of viewing the world. This might be as basic as a +1% Nysalor Illumination percentage, or a realisation of just why the Seven Mothers cult has Rune Lords and Rune Priestesses. Learning the Lunar way of looking at things is the *ideal* first step towards conversion. Why else would the openly missionary Seven Mothers cult teach it at a discount?
Your player has walked right into their trap!
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