Shiningbrow

There's a different pic with Communication... I think when the OrlanthI show up.

I thought about Illusion after posting.

Sorry , specifically in relation to not having it's own rune... That's all 😋

All the other characteristics have their own elemental Rune... But not poor old Charisma (the D12 of stats). Personally, I don't like the idea of using any Rune (like in character creation), especially because that would allow any sorcerer to have the spell! (And it's got some very nice advantages!) I'd thought Harmony or Fertility/Life... Or even Man. But...???

Sorry, I'm having a hard time understanding how a system of magic that requires intense study of formulae (possibly also symbology and abstract concepts and associations between them) and the ability to design new spells, isn't benefited by having a higher intelligence. Especially since sorcery spells are limited to Read/Write (p388). I do get the logic of it not impacting other magical skills (except for Spirit Lore) and spirit magic... But not Sorcery. Sure, maybe that's just me...

I was going to use fish scale, but thought it'd be too easy. Then I decided to use dragon scale, but it was too hard. So, now, I'm trying out bronze scale...

Unless referring to sorcery...

Ok... So now the spirit doesn't actually "teach" the spell, and each and every individual instance of the spell is unique? If so, sure, that explains the difference in fees. But, it's a *HUGE* change, and has other consequences. Could that spirit be unmerged? What's the deal with forgetting a spell? Or upgrading? The above implies one spirit per point of spell...

Quick question to start a heated argument... Are tithes supposed to be incurred on all items given to PCs? Or just the work stuff done? So, if a clan chief gives a nice armband as thanks, is the supposed to be included in the tithe (by some other means)? Also, if the clan leader (or similar) sends you out on some sort of mission (e.g., Smoking Ruins), is that counted as time spent serving the cult (given how closely it ties in with daily community life)?

??? I'm pretty sure the shaman tracks down the spirit, fights it, and forces it to teach the spell to the intended recipient... So, no scarcity involved. Also, I'd hazard a guess that the same X6 bearing spirit is probably the same one to call upon for all of X1-X5 as well... If it's a priest (GL, RL) teaching the spell, since it will be a cult spell, they'd have that spell in mind anyway... Sure, some amount of supply and demand (not every Humakti will know Bladesharp 6), but I'd imagine every Humakti Rune level (the ones required to teach as part of the job) will have Bladesharp 3, so that supply and demand / scarcity argument fails, as does the spell capacity. Again, teaching X1 is effectively the same as teaching X6...

It takes the same amount of time and effort to get a spirit (or by other means) to teach X1 as X6. So, why does X1 cost 50L, but X6 cost 300L (plus intervening points with subsequent price increase)?

Is there reason for the price increase merely "because I can"?

I certainly hope that's true... Otherwise, really, you'd have to be quite old before even attempting just 1 HQ, given the number of years it would take to get into the many hundreds of % required to be effective (rather than merely lucky). Although, a rather obvious way around that would be via the supporting cast - the MPs (or POW???.. Or both???) that the support team send during the ritual increases your skills in some ratio... I suggest this to be thematic.

P278 has this, specifically in reference to a God-Talker, but presumably relates to everyone.

Getting back to.the point... And leaving the sticky end behind?

It's also possible that it is sorcery (in RQ3 terms, Form/Set), but he's only willing to use it very sparingly. Animal heads on pommels is incredibly specific... The Form/Set is relevant, because under those rules, you'd have to name the metal. The description of "pommels" is somewhat broad (unless it just assumed bronze). If using RQ3 rules, that'd mean multiple spells. And from a description above, Piku can work any metal... Sure, there could be a very specific spellsong "shape animal head in metal", possibly with a size limitation... But, would that be something TEB pass down and have access to across the lands? If so, Piku isn't the only one. And that, in itself, would be an identitifying characteristic... (So if the dwarves want them dead, that's not a call-sign they'd be leaving regularly). (Sure, neither is having a huge blue tattoo in the middle of your forehead...). (Just thinking along those lines, mostly for PCs - perhaps the act.of tattooing the eye allows them to create a "signature" of their choosing... Remembering that the tattoo is supposed to be a sign of mastery) What I think I'm trying to say is - much hasn't been said (intentional or oversight??) about him, and thus them. The limited information really isn't enough to draw a full conclusion.

And on that, we disagree (but, obviously, needing to assess each individual film on its own merits). The clergy made the story about a Christian myth. This doesn't really tally with likely history, nor the actual time period. So, for me, heavily full-plated armoured medieval knights ruins it as much as the Christian overtones for a 5-6th century setting... Removing the pagan beliefs is basically the same as removing Orlanth.

I mean more with the interactions between the people (ie, the sort of things that made it a better film). Not just relying on big names and spectacles.

I just picked it up last night. I'm a bit curious about the initiation sections... I've read that Ernalda is going to accept males (non-nandan) to Initial level... Will this be reflected or the section re-written later? (Possibly the same question regarding women and Orlanth, who aren't Vingan) I'm definitely liking what I've read so far, especially with the design in mind!!! A more personal and nuts and bolts approach.

Absolutely! That's why I prefer The Mabinogion version... Or at least Clive Owens' movie version (with John Matthews - practicing shaman, teacher, and Arthurian scholar/author as technical expert)

IIRC, Troy: Fall of a City was a bit better than Brad Pitts' version... A bit more down to earth and realistic. If we're mentioning Vikings, then also The Last Kingdom (although, the time is off by a few centuries).

Except... King Arthur was supposed to be 6th century... Hence why I asked.

True, but it appears to be much much less standard than in the Empire, and even the lower castes aren't doing too well either. From what I've understand, getting out of serfdom in Orlanthi culture is a lot easier than in the evil empire (of course, there will be different levels). But in theory (and probably practice) there's far greater class mobility amongst the barbarians than these more "civilised" moonies.

Well, that's been an argument in RL for a very long time... Is it better to be a slave in an advanced culture, or free in the boonies? And, yes, yes we do!

Somehow, what I wrote came out to be the exact opposite of what I meant... No, I was referring to the decidedly unequal society of Dara Happa... and the still strong patriarchy when questioning Ali's "gender equality" claim of the Lunar Empire. Sure, they may be less unequal now, but we can argue about the equality levels of Orlanthi (which have numerous female leaders) against Lunars (which had/have some important female personages). You can. I don't think that "imperial expansionism, but culturally inclusive" trumps "not empire building at all".