From: Mike.Dickison@vuw.ac.nz
Date: Fri 12 Aug 1994 - 09:02:33 EEST
One of my players has a Damali PC from Pralorela, and I've been doing some
thinking about the various deer hsunchen. These are the three types, from
the Players Book.
Damali Deer Kralorela, Pralorela Pralori Elk Fronela, ?Pralorela Uncolings Reindeer Fronela
I'll get to the questionmark soon. So what are these animals actually? (I'm using the Latin names here only for convenient reference. The Gloranthan equivalents may differ from their Terran namesakes, but we've been given no reason to think that).
Dama dama (none) Fallow Deer Brown with white spots Alces alces Moose Elk Big heads, broad antlers Cervus sp Elk Wapiti Large red forest deer Rangifer sp Caribou Reindeer Big domestic tundra deer
OK. It seems obvious that Damali have the Fallow Deer as a totem (the name is a giveaway), though it might well be the Axis Deer (a related species) in Kralorela. The Uncolings are likewise easily placed, though whether their totem is the domesticated Lapp reindeer or the wilder caribou is up for debate.
The problem is with the Pralori. I assumed that US conventions held, and their totem was the American elk, a giant race of the European red deer (stats in the Creatures Book, ditto for Fallow Deer). But Martin Crim's excellent writeup of the Hykim cult states that the Pralor totem "resembles the Old World elk, not the New World wapiti", ie; the Pralori elk is a moose.
Now I personally have some problems with that. 1) Pralorela is not the right country for a moose. Fallow deer come from Mediterranean, and reindeer from the frozen north, so they are rightly placed on Glorantha, but moose should be found in an ecological Canadanalogue. Rathorela? Ice Bay? Thrice Blessed? 2) As Martin points out a few lines later in his writeup, Pralori and Damali are often confused. It's hard to confuse a moose with a deer. 3) Moose are funny-looking. 4) I like the idea of a nested set of deer species, and want to emphasize the kinship of the deer peoples in my campaign (see below).
I'm sure Sandy can illuminate us here. Here's what I do in my campaign, for what it's worth.
Pralorela used to be inhabited by elk (wapiti) people in the Cold Days, but now only Damali live there. Pralori live further north, in Erontree, and Uncolings further north again, around Winterwood and the tundra. All three trace their ancestry back to the Great Deer folk, a now-vanished beast people whose totem was the Megaloceros, a.k.a the Irish Elk/European Giant Deer (vernacular names again...) Most of you would have seen Megaloceros antlers in museums - they have a 12 foot span or so. It looks like a red deer on steroids, six feet high at the shoulder.
The deer people have had their forests cut down and their lifestyles torn apart by civilised folk with metal and money. I have the Damali in particular resembling the 19th century Maori, as a major trade route flows right through their lands. Young people defect to the towns, clans compete for trading rights, settlers wanting land and timber play one clan against the other, and so on. As a reaction against the inroads of civilisation, the shamans of the three deer peoples have embarked on a lengthy ritual to revive the Great Deer Spirit and revitalise their followers.
I have no idea what will happen. Great Deer might still exist in Pamaltela. They might prove to be the Great Trolls of the Hsunchen. The whole thing might spark fanatic Ghost Dance or Hau Hau cults amongst the otherwise peaceful hsunchen. The Great Deer might return, but historically were open country animals and might prefer to live on the cultivated plains. The ritual might have to be performed in an ancient holy pace, now a city in Ralios. Whatever, there's enough travelling and ritual to fill up the rest of the campaign if I let it.
Comments, anyone?
BTW, the Damali player has just been told by a wandering prophet that the world will end next Dark Season. That's the date I've scheduled Kaxterplose to be sacked by Harrek. Anyone interested in my version of Kaxterplose? Given that Slontos is due to be Gregged, it's almost certainly without any official basis, but I like it.
Mike Dickison
adzebill@matai.vuw.ac.nz
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