Darius West

Someone needs to join the HPLHS.  That's fine work !

I am seeking the input of other Keepers, allow me to explain...

In my C'thulhu Campaign it is now early October 1921 and one of my players' characters has purchased the islands of North Cat Cay, south of the Biminis, for the purposes of development and hired Frank Lloyd Wright to build him a resort down there.  Frank was all too happy with the opportunity to work as (historically) he was down on his luck at the time (somewhat as a result of one of his staff becoming a berserk axe murderer... I KID YOU NOT!).  The character has a cunning plan to do with supplying the Rum Runners of the Bahamas with cheap sloops produced in Boston, and a steady supply of cars to drive around Nassau which are sold at auction.  Frank just mailed him to say that he has, unfortunately, "discovered" something while digging the foundations for the building that is supposed to house the utilities.  The discovery is large blocks of stone much like the Bimini Road discovered historically in 1968.

I am opting for the interpretation that the Bahamas are part of sunken Atlantis as per the Bermuda Triangle supplement.  My current plan is that the building that has been discovered partially includes the sea wall of the island, and that North and South Cat Cay are both accumulated sand on top of these structures, but North Cat Cay also has the ruins of a Pharos style light-house that has collapsed, a la Ostia.

I am interested in suggestions to spice things up and how other Keepers have interpreted Atlantis within the CoC setting.  My preference is to keep the threat level low to mid range, and crucially to build a sense of wonder so players will WANT to investigate further afield in the region.  The aim is to bait the hook and whet their appetites.  I am the sort of Keeper who likes to give my players plenty of rope so they can hang themselves stylishly.

So please, I would love to read any suggestions you care to make.

I loved the monster hunter version of Magasta in "Strangers in Prax".

I also love the sheer weirdness of Gorakiki the giant Insect Goddess of the trolls.

I also find it funny that those pathetic Orlanthi are just misinterpreting the worship of Shargash... typical.

Cult spirit spells are a LOT cheaper for initiates and there is a Spell dividend for long term membership (provided you stay up to date with your tithes and prayers).  On the other hand you can sometimes find a Shaman who will teach you a few tricks in return for coin, or seek spells from other cults and pay the premium.  Spirit magic is a market like any other in Glorantha, albeit a bit more exclusive and expensive and esoteric.

Second Age Glorantha has a LOT of info on Draconic cults, and by extension the Dragonewt way and Draconic cults.  Also, crested dragonewts are NOT the trollkin of the Dragonewts, a great dragon rose and ATE Gbaji's curse on the Dragonewts.  Crested dragonewts exist at the base of the spiritual tradition of the Dragons, and their souls are going to learn the importance of the lower eschelons of the "Pyramid of Maslow", finding food, hiding from threats etc.  

While serpents are associated with rivers, it might also be mentioned that serpents also have Earth associations, and of course there are mutant chaos snakes too.  

Potentially Waha goes to the Paps and there makes claim on his kinship with the Earth to gain control of serpents. In their turn the Goddesses of the Paps in council underground speak about poor dead Genert and Tada his son.  Now all that is left of Genert is hyenas, but one of those hyenas is unusually large and intelligent.  Find a way to bring that beast alive to the secret place beneath Tada's High Tumulus and we will speak further of the mysteries and help you with this serpent that troubles you.

I have always imagined that Pol Joni initiations are akin to what happens in the movie "A Man Called Horse".  Plenty of CON rolls involved to remain conscious.

With regards to Orlanth's evil Uncles... they weren't chaotic... you don't have to be chaotic to be an a-hole, but many a-holes are chaotic.  The evil uncles myth is now part of the Orlanthi boys-to-men initiation ceremony, as is the I Fought We Won battle.  These HeroQuests have been watered down, and now emphasise co-operating against greater threats.

As to the beginning of the world, which version are we going to believe here?  

I mean let's consider the Chaos point of view for a moment.  Arachne Solara didn't destroy the Devil, she merely rebirthed him as Time.  Time is now an expression of entropy and things winding down.  The older things get the more they decay, and that is the hand of the Devil.  Gods live outside the effects of time, and so are immortal, but what happens when their cult atrophies away and is forgotten?  Time corrupts everything, and every 600 years he comes, the Destroyer, to unmake the world.

As to the Red Moon, they are just sweet natured, tolerant, cosmopolitan liberals.  When it comes to Chaos, they don't see it as intrinsically evil, it has just been poorly raised and badly integrated into society.  Yes chaotics have some very unwholesome appetites, but they have useful skills too.  What we need to do is give them a social context where they can excel in their skills and gain a sense of their own worth and that they are appreciated for their contribution.  Now I know that a broo that looks like an enormous bouncing penis with fangs, and has manners to match is hard to see as a sentient creature in its own right, but look at it from their perspective... unloved, un-nurtured, no opportunities, no education, no clean water, no hope, no future.  Admittedly its prospects outside the army aren't great, but if you donate just 1L a week extra on your Seven Mothers tithe to the "Save the Chaos Children" Fund, you can help poor Thrudthed have a future, a Lunar future in the Lunar way, and not wind up in another senseless victim in a cycle of endless aggression best expressed by the Endless Battle in Prax.  Don't play into the recalcitrant attitudes of the Stormbulls, there is always another way citizens.

I am very eager to see what is done with the new Rune based sorcery in RQ 6  ( I think I must have missed RQ 4 and 5 somehow, lol).

I don't think there is such a thing as an "orthodox Orlanthi".  I mean... my tribe are the Orthodoxy, surely... I mean we have those Dinacoli with their awful Brangbane ghoul lineage, then the weird Colymar and their bizarre mating with swans and foxes, and that's just our neighbours (is it any wonder we raid them?) About a third of Orlanthi love dragonewts and another third hate them etc.

Now obviously there have been efforts to codify Orlanth worship into a more organised religion, with really large temples and high priests and increased centralization, but this is more to satisfy the appetites of priests and kings than anything else.  Your classic example of this is Lokamayadon.  Orlanthi DON'T respond well to being ordered about.  Nobody can make you do anything... so the teaching goes.  Now someday there may be Kings in Sartar and the Heortlands again, and Orlanth help us that he doesn't try to make us do things.  I mean don't get me wrong, an Orlanthi tyrant's boot is better than a Lunar boot anyday, but I'd rather not have boot for dinner all the same... unless it has been a notably bad harvest, in which case... you make do.

Now to the point of the Aeolian Church.  The folk of Hendrikiland obviously have their reasons for wanting to emulate the Rokari who have shown up.  Now obviously the Rokari have unusual magic, but they can't be sorcerors because they have this Invisible God they worship, and that they are always trying to get us to worship.  But Saint Aeol had this bright idea, that Orlanth is Air, and you can't see air (even less when he has the sandals of darkness on), so Orlanth must be their Invisible God.

So the benefits are that we get to copy their knights and their book learning, but we keep our Orlanth and our identity, and we make their ways our ways.  It is a bit like how the Sikhs formed as a result of the conflict between Islam and Hinduism (though the Muslims did turn around and slaughter them subsequently because they still weren't sufficiently "of the book".) 

The thing is that an Aeolian is not a sorcerer... they are a weird sub-sect of Orlanth...  and probably less galling than those tongue splitting dragonewt lovers, or those troll loving Kitori...(Bleaugh... body modifiers and racial out-breeders... this is what happens when you live so close to the Chaos on the Syphon River I tell you)  And you must admit that the addition of elite heavy cavalry thane-knights has been good for Jansholm.  The Storms know we need all the help we can get with the Lunars, so who cares if they think the Invisible God is actually Orlanth.

Now everyone knows that Delecti is a sorceror... he lives in a swamp surrounded by the undead and does weird forgotten magic.  And we all know that the folk of God forgot are pretty suspicious, but we all know they really worship Luck.  So let them cast their oracle dice and go to their casino and pretend they are atheists.  If you ask me, the real danger of sorcery comes from those Lhankorings and their book learning into things that goodly folk were never mean't to know, obscene mysteries, unspeakable revelations, knowledge about chaos... how many are secret Thanatari (spit!)... now THAT'S sorcery !  

The fact is that a guilded labor system is pretty universal in human cultures across Eurasia.  The Romans and Greeks had them, so did the Egyptians.  The Indians had them.  The Chinese had them and so did Japan.  

The notion of a guild is that it is as much a school of quality training as it is an industrial monopoly.  The notion being that if you sign on for an apprentice and stick it out, you will become a journeyman and become a recognised practitioner in your own right.  There are often strong familial ties within guilds, and often parents would sell their children to become apprentices with a fair hope that their kids would be better off as a result.  

The point of guilds were that they acted as monopolies on certain goods, and as a result they were responsible to the leadership in whatever form it took for filling contracts, so if the Emperor needed 80,000 spears asap, they could call on all their skilled workers and fill the contract and everyone in the guild shared the remuneration according to rank and effort.

The other thing was that nearly all guilds had a patron saint or deity

Of course Guilds were also often pretty corrupt.  In Japan the guilds often tattooed members, and many of them became the foundation of organized criminal syndicates.  In China the Tongs were "mutual prosperity societies" i.e. guilds.  And notably in Byzantium the fist non-skilled guild was the Dock Worker's guild who paralyzed that city with a stand off against the legions until they got recognition.

Obviously guild papers are only relevant within the jurisdiction where the guild operates, however situations create wiggle room.  For example if you are a skilled smith and you set up in a city where your papers aren't recognised you will likely get in trouble with the local guild... on the other hand if the Emperor wants 80,000 spears and it is all hands on deck, perhaps you can pay a fine and guild dues and the guild will recognise your papers.  Similarly some guilds may have international connections.

The crucial thing is to remember that a Guild is more than a little like a cult and IS often attached to a cult, and similar in its dynamics to any other human tribe or society that operates in an urban setting.

I figure that all broos are random hybrids.  When you say a goat broo, how many generations do we mean ?  You can never be sure.

I have always thought that Aldryami were a quiet people.  Their language like a susurrus of a breeze through leaves.  Seldom more than a whisper.  Which helps when you're ambushing trolls.