Ay, Caramba.

From: Argrath@aol.com
Date: Sat 25 Jun 1994 - 20:58:17 EEST


Re: Rune Magic

     This is a rather abstract thread, so I'm going to inject some game-stuff into it. Ready?

     In Mike Dawson's game, a trickster initiate had to steal something in order to gain a divine spell from a shrine he was visiting.

     Peter Michaels has suggested (off the Daily) that a mini- heroquest be required to gain divine magic. I suggest that a pilgrimage be a common variety of mini-heroquest, or RuneQuest (as someone has suggested).

     Example 1: Mandibles of Doom, a Gorakiki-beetle priestess, lives in the Indigo Mountains with her tribe and minor temple. To get the Kropa Transform Self spell, she must travel to the Great Temple to Gorakiki-beetle in the Castle of Lead. This trip is conducted as a pilgrimage, during which she can eat nothing but beetles and beetle chow, wear nothing but beetle chitin, and speak to no one who is not a G-b initiate.

     Example 2: Lodi the Wind Voice lives near Wilms Kirk, where he serves in a Major Temple. Even though Wind Warp is available at that temple, he goes to the Old Wind temple to sacrifice for it. This may be because the High Priest told him to, or because he thinks he'll get a more effective spell there, or simply out of piety.

     Example 3: Warlry the Shaman of Aldrya gets a call to tend a wartree for a season. At the end, he finds that he loses a point of POW and gains a use of Animate War Tree. (Note: Warlry's player told the GM he wanted to sack for AWT, and "tending for a season" is not full time.)

Re: Indian castes

     I don't know of any good detailed source, Cullen; do you live close to a university? Actually, a decent public library should have something.

     The castes are a prime example of how people think of themselves as members of a group, rather than individuals, throughout most of the world and history. Individualism is a concept not very prevalent among the masses except in the U.S., where we're all different together. (Note to furriners: I live here, I get to criticize it. You don't hear me making nasty comments about "Perfidious Albion," do you? ...Except for just then, of course.)

Re: devotion

     Another place you get people giddy with love for their god (in Paul Reilly's phrase) is India, with its popular Bhakti (devotion). See the article in the Abingdon Dictionary of Living Religions.

Jesper Wahrner says:
> I want a Glorantha that is a closed, fully functioning world
> that works as a literary creation and which I can play in.

     Hear, hear; well spoken.

Re: Paul Reilly's Malkionism

     Very interesting. Too bad you hit the wrong button just as you were getting going.

Re: Sandy's Lunar Copperheads

     Laughing Out Loud.  Great stuff for a campaign.  
     In Eric Bracey's campaign, the Lunar weakness (which the PCs
were aware of, but never fully exploited) was their corruption. Everybody we met was bribeable (aside from Fazzur Wideread, and he was blackmailable, though we didn't try). Not that the Sartarites were paragons of integrity. In fact, one of the PCs formed an Intifada-analogue to kill collaborators. "We're not talking about killing Lunars," he said. "We're talking about killing our own people." (He was a very scary character, and a Storm Bull.)

Re: changing Red Emperor

     See the Gloranthan Lore Auction transcript, coming soon in David Cheng's RQ Con book. I thought you were there, Paul.

Re: Graeme answering Alex answering me about elven Yelmalians

     I hereby endorse Graeme's ideas about the origin of some Yelmalio geases. I think that the elf cult influenced an existing Sun Dome cult, rather than merely spread among the humans. This might have occurred in the First Age, when everybody was friends.

--Martin



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