The Colymar Campaign and the Star Heart

[soltakss]

On 10/28/2019 at 3:01 PM, David Scott said:

The Star Heart is the mystery that allows men to survive I fought we won, although not everyone actually has a Star Heart, your belief in it gives you to hope and power to survive. The women's equivalent are the secret words given by Ernalda, all women are given their secret words, but they need not be embodied within them. In this test just change the words Star Heart to Secret Words, or if you want to be more HQG call them" I am the Goddess", "Whispers from the Goddess" or "Ernalda within" or what ever goddess the Hero follows.

I'd allow a female PC to awaken her star Heart the same as for men, it sounds like a very Vingan thing to do.

Whether you could have both star Heart and secret Words depends on your game. I'd allow it, if the woman awakened one and then the other through gameplay. So, a female PC could have heard Ernalda's secret Words, then turned to Vinga's Path and then awakens her Star Heart as a Vingan. Alternatively, she could be a Vingan and awaken her Star Heart, then leave Vinga's Path, once her vengeance has been satisfied, returning to Ernalda and then awaken her Secret Words.

6 hours ago, Bohemond said:

So how do you make a task like weaving a tapestry as interesting as fighting a band of broo? I haven't tried to tackle that yet, but I have a few ideas. 

In my last Gloranthan campaign, one of the tasks set by the Feathered Horse Queen was to make her a present with their own hands. she had previously confided to Mello Yello that she liked woven things, so he made her a shawl and built in some magical powers into it, or rather the other PCs did. It was the best gift, in her eyes, and Mello Yello won that particular round of the Marriage Contest. He won the whole Contest in the end, becoming the King of Dragon Pass, but that was the most memorable of his tasks.

To make something interesting, you make it important. you get the PCs to invest time and energy into it. You get them to increase skills and use magic to make it better. 

 

[Bill the barbarian]

23 minutes ago, soltakss said:

He won the whole Contest in the end, becoming the King of Dragon Pass, but that was the most memorable of his tasks.

Well, I’ll be a monkey’s uncle!

[Qizilbashwoman]

1 hour ago, scott-martin said:

I am rarely happy with Man rune

It's a Person rune. Man in the sense of "sentient being".

1 hour ago, scott-martin said:

whether / how many broo are "female"

I believe approximately 1% but I'll have to check. Thed hates them as a twisted Mother Goddess so they flee to Mallia (another twisted Mother Goddess) for safety.

Sadly, nobody wants to engage in intercourse with a broo. (Broo males don't engage in intercourse; their "penis" is a stinger that implants a larva in the flesh rather than preying on female animals in the specific way rape brings to mind.) Thankfully (???) they can birth diseases or summon spirits to breed with. I don't know what the result of these pregnancies is.

Before Chaos corruption, Broo were like goat beastmen FYI.

[Joerg]

Ancestral broo are the equivalent of the minotaur, at least in my Glorantha. I have yet to find evidence for female minotaurs, and think that minotaurs are pretty similar to unicorns and satyrs in their reproduction.

This sort of begs the question where the ram people went - those with ovine heads, or at least rams horns and hooved feet. Or whether they were the foes of soon to be domed Dara Happa.

(But then Ttrotsky argued on his synapsidae blog that sheep are just weird goats, and that antelopes are some goat-like intermediary between goats and bovines.)

6 hours ago, Qizilbashwoman said:

(Broo males don't engage in intercourse; their "penis" is a stinger that implants a larva in the flesh rather than preying on female animals in the specific way rape brings to mind.)

The biological term for something like this is "ovipositor" ("egg-planter", where the difference between egg and larva is negligible if all the egg is covered in is a membrane), and usually such an organ is attached to the female of the species. e

The Pierson's Puppeteers of Niven's Known Space/Ringworld reproduced like that, with their true males fertilizing the quasi-male females who then parasitically impregnated a third non-sapient related species herded by them for that purpose (the equivalent of herd-men).

The ancestral broos might have been similar to the Pierson's Puppeteers. In the Green Age world, this form of parasitism wasn't evil or lethal, and a similar externalized procreation is easily forgiven for species like unicorns or nymphs under Green Age conditions. Being eaten was a mere inconvenience, usually restored on the next morning.

7 hours ago, Qizilbashwoman said:

Thankfully (???) they can birth diseases or summon spirits to breed with.

The other sex of the broos has no ability to give birth. Their refuge in the cult of Malia results from the association of Malia and Thed as part of the Unholy Trio.

 

There is of course Ron Edward's take on Thed as goddess of rape, stressing the female perspective of being the rape victim without having (much of) the physical ability to retaliate in kind. One unfortunate side product of that article appears to have been the mis-understanding that only females would be endangered by exposition to broos.

Marginalizing male-sexed victims of rape (especially trans-females). We usually refer to Thed as female, as mother of broos, but I am not that convinced that Thed had a defined gender, and it might have been the experience of Ragnaglar's crime that pushed her firmly into the female role. A forced arrest of gender in addition to an unwanted pregnancy, a pile of personal horrors.

 

Ron Edward's article makes quite a few good observations how having this gruesome element in the game can be a necessary inconvenience for players raised in a "political correctness" environment that externalizes any contact with icky subjects. But then, such players should avoid the Underworld and Chaos, too, for those terrors can - and really should - be triggers of primal terror, too. There is no point in visiting a padded and tempered version of Hell.

To get the curve back to the thread topic - the experience of the Star Heart is the confrontation with that terror. Cosmic as much as invasive personal.

The Cult of Ernalda is an Underworld cult, too. Female initiation has quite a lot to cover, too, and might cover the experiences of sharp penetration (a benevolent cutting of the hymen, for instance, as in the Betan female adulthood rites described in "Memory" in the Barrayar SF novels by Lois McMaster Bujold - possibly an origin for the horribly distorted and perverted rite of female circumcision) and the experience of being eaten alive as part of the one-ness with the goddess. Robin Laws's Uralda quest in King of Dragon Pass has the trial of the biting things, and something similar might be part of the female initiation, too.

 

I do wonder how much the (full) secret of the Star Heart differs from Illumination. Unlike the rage of Storm Bull it isn't an evasion, but a full confrontation, though not an immersion. The story in Prince of Sartar almost reads like what Nysalor did to the Black Eater.

[Qizilbashwoman]

11 hours ago, Joerg said:

Marginalizing male-sexed victims of rape (especially trans-females). We usually refer to Thed as female, as mother of broos, but I am not that convinced that Thed had a defined gender, and it might have been the experience of Ragnaglar's crime that pushed her firmly into the female role. A forced arrest of gender in addition to an unwanted pregnancy, a pile of personal horrors.

Edwards' essay is interesting but should never be canonical; it's like putting a live grenade in the books. And yes, it lacks depth. But it was interesting when he wrote it.

My take has always been that Thed is Rashoran/a's face before Illumination, and that Thed is transmasc, not transfeminine. She is forced to be the Mother, yet hates Her femininity. Thed is trapped because Gods can't change; this mask is eternal despite Rashoran/a's Illumination and liberation.

I agree it's an ovopositor. Nonetheless, it's clear that it's an unsubtle cock, rather than something non-mammalian. It just works like an ovopositor. I wanted to be clear without distracting.

11 hours ago, Joerg said:

The other sex of the broos has no ability to give birth. Their refuge in the cult of Malia results from the association of Malia and Thed as part of the Unholy Trio.

They give birth to diseases, at least. That's a thing. (It's always sad when you're sterile and want to give birth.)

[Joerg]

9 minutes ago, Qizilbashwoman said:

My take has always been that Thed is Rashoran/a's face before Illumination, and that Thed is transmasc, not transfeminine. She is forced to be the Mother, yet hates Her femininity. Thed is trapped because Gods can't change; this mask is eternal despite Rashoran/a's Illumination and liberation.

These non-binary terms are like learning a new language from a completely different culture. (At times I find it easier to understand Japanese honorifics - and I don't speak Japanese.)

Looking up the definition, I don't think I am with you on the definition, although I follow your "hates their femininity".

There can no identity between Thed and Rashoran. Thed was a disciple, one of the last disciples Rashoran had. (Rashorana is used only for the aspect of Sedenya. Rashoran is not the male form of the name, that would be Rashoranus or Rashoranum.)

And Thed participated in killing Rashoran, and it wasn't a suicide. Then she repeated her rape experience out of willful malice and calculation.

9 minutes ago, Qizilbashwoman said:

I agree it's an ovopositor. Nonetheless, it's clear that it's an unsubtle cock, rather than something non-mammalian. It just works like an ovopositor. I wanted to be clear without distracting.

My point is that broos perceived as "males" are de facto parthenogenically reproducing females with an ovipositor. The broos differently sexed are the other sex. Basically, they are the useless males of the species. The gender and sex of her rapist husband. Does anybody wonder why Thed hates them and denies them her magic?

Thed's children use the transmasc and transfemine pronouns. Thed herself is denied that.

9 minutes ago, Qizilbashwoman said:

They give birth to diseases, at least. That's a thing. (It's always sad when you're sterile and want to give birth.)

They are breeding diseases. Also a form of creating life by your will, but a lot less personal.

At least I have yet to develop any parental instinct to anything I grow in a Petri dish.

[Qizilbashwoman]

38 minutes ago, Joerg said:

Thed participated in killing Rashoran, and it wasn't a suicide.

Rashoran trying to free His younger self and being murdered isn't unlikely. Also, myths don't always make sense. And Rashoran didn't exactly end. But anyway, YGWV

[Shawn Carpenter]

2 hours ago, Qizilbashwoman said:

Edwards' essay is interesting but should never be canonical; it's like putting a live grenade in the books. And yes, it lacks depth. But it was interesting when he wrote it.

Thed as written is a live grenade in the books. This isn't the same world in which her myth was originally written.

[Qizilbashwoman]

2 hours ago, Shawn Carpenter said:

Thed as written is a live grenade in the books. This isn't the same world in which her myth was originally written.

"Thed as written" is currently the Glorantha Sourcebook, as RQ:G only calls her "Mother of the Broo". I believe this quote counts as fair use but I will edit it if for some reason it doesn't.

Quote

Prior to the Lesser Darkness, Thed was an important goddess. She was the wife of Ragnaglar, who later was called the Mad God, and their children were the broos, who then were untainted by Chaos. Together with Ragnaglar and Mallia, she schemed to introduce Chaos into the world in the form of the Devil. The Unholy Trio had found jealously and pride in themselves, and they dreamed of usurping the functions of the world, and of becoming its unchallenged rulers.

Thed herself was the mother of the Devil, and his malevolence twisted and distorted her in childbirth. She participated in the wars of Chaos, and her broos aligned with her. During the war, Ragnaglar was slain by the Storm Bull, Mallia left the conspiracy, and Kyger Litor defeated and skinned Thed. The Devil finally was slain by the Storm Bull and cast into Hell, where Arachne Solara devoured him. Thed dispersed to all the dark corners of the universe, including Prax.

Her formal description will be in the cults and gods book for RQ:G, which I have not seen. I can only judge by this description, which is extremely careful.

Edited November 2, 2019 by Qizilbashwoman

[Shawn Carpenter]

That version is better, in my opinion, at least.

[Bohemond]

On 11/1/2019 at 12:27 PM, Qizilbashwoman said:

Ok first: that baby epic is fucking amazing.

Thanks! I was fairly satisfied with the way it all worked out. 

On 11/1/2019 at 12:27 PM, Qizilbashwoman said:

This, I think, is honestly two separate questions.

First, it conflates the work men do as "fighting", which I think we all agree is not an accurate representation of the main way men spend their days but rather an idealised vision from heroic narratives blown up over the ages. Mostly men hunted, grew crops, cut woods, built things, and so forth, with conflict being a part of their role.

What I mean is that traditional gaming has tended to privilege masculine adventure stories over other possible options. It draws off fantasy tropes that involve the (male) Hero's Journey, Conan, Tolkien (esp. given the way TSR rampantly violated copyright in the 70s), and similar material. And while Glorantha has made huge strides toward gender inclusion, there is still a tendency for the new material to tend to favor the masculine adventure format.

On 11/1/2019 at 12:27 PM, Qizilbashwoman said:

But mostly it's an underlying conflict in the gaming world in the first place. Coming as it did from wargaming, many trad games - of which without a doubt RuneQuest is one of the most traddy - focused on actual fighting, not on conflict. As if conflict didn't involve all the things it could. (HeroQuest is not at all the same.) There are literally people churning out settings that use intensely popular systems focused on emotional struggle, like Powered by the Apocalypse - Monster of the Week is basically Buffy, where supernatural conflict is a stage for dealing with trauma, interpersonal conflict, love, sex, and breakups. Some games are about communities trying to survive a hostile world - the absolutely hair-raising Dream Askew/Dream Apart is a double game about life in the fantasy shtetl and life in the queer community after the apocalypse.

These games, and a bjillion more, have fighting (because everyone loves punching evil in the boob), but it's got the same resolution rules as every other conflict: will the crops grow this season, will i befriend the white deer, will i pass my initiation, will i do the ceremony right, will i swim the river or drown? it's all the same. (The current incarnation of RQ is much better about this, to its credit.) A Quiet Year is a fascinating exercise in a limited-period community-building ttrpg.

Yes, I agree that in the past decade or so many new approaches to game have opened up. And I agree A Quiet Year is an awesome game, though not an RPG in the traditional sense. 

On 11/1/2019 at 12:27 PM, Qizilbashwoman said:

So the real question is: what conflicts are interesting to your players? And how do these reflect in player choice of character roles?If you have many interesting conflicts, maybe it's okay in your Orlanthi society that stabbing shit is for Men (including Vingans) and defending the stead proper is for the bloody-handed Gorites and their axes. Women all have knives, they're not helpless, but they fight different battles. Maybe "Man" is what Orlanthi call Wind rune people and "Woman" is for Earth-rune people. After all, that's why we have initiation: the gods see who you really are deep down. Who cares if you have a beard (or don't want to: we have pregnant mare's urine for that), you're a Woman if you have Earth, like Barntar.
 

Canonically, Barntar has Air rather than Earth. I like the idea that Barntar is the Earth equivalent of Vinga, but that's what the consensus is, 

The idea I'm contemplating is how you make the the act of weaving as dramatically interested as fighting broo. We have lots of examples of how to combat dramatic, but few examples of how to build a scenario that climaxes in weaving (or a similar 'domestic' activity like that). There is a lot of emphasis on Ernaldan weaving, both in terms of the Mundane World and the God Plane, but we're given no scenarios to translate that into game play. The Chalanan myth about the Hundred Healing that I posted half a year ago was my attempt to make the act of healing dramatically interesting enough to center a scenario on it.  

 

[Bill the barbarian]

1 hour ago, Bohemond said:

The idea I'm contemplating is how you make the the act of weaving as dramatically interested as fighting broo. We have lots of examples of how to combat dramatic, but few examples of how to build a scenario that climaxes in weaving (or a similar 'domestic' activity like that). There is a lot of emphasis on Ernaldan weaving, both in terms of the Mundane World and the God Plane, but we're given no scenarios to translate that into game play. The Chalanan myth about the Hundred Healing that I posted half a year ago was my attempt to make the act of healing dramatically interesting enough to center a scenario on it.  

 

P’raps a quick trip to Marion Zimmer Bradley land might help though I am more in favour of traveling the Earth Seas, especially the later years for this kind of muse Hell, anything by Ursula K. LeGuin should suffice. 

 

1 hour ago, Bohemond said:

The idea I'm contemplating is how you make the the act of weaving as dramatically interested as fighting broo. We have lots of examples of how to combat dramatic, but few examples of how to build a scenario that climaxes in weaving (or a similar 'domestic' activity like that). There is a lot of emphasis on Ernaldan weaving, both in terms of the Mundane World and the God Plane, but we're given no scenarios to translate that into game play. The Chalanan myth about the Hundred Healing that I posted half a year ago was my attempt to make the act of healing dramatically interesting enough to center a scenario on it.  

 

Thanks for expressing something I have often thought.

Cheers.

 

PS Thanx for the topic!

Edited November 3, 2019 by Bill the barbarian

[Sir_Godspeed]

Well, some clues can be taken from the stories that actually feature Ernalda herself. They are frequently based around cleverness, ingenuity, leadership and ensuring cooperation (ie. diplomacy by any other name).

For a storyline to feel compelling, there needs to be a sense of consequence (if I fail, then...), and urgency (this can't wait, because...), and agency (What I need to do is...). And while this will probably need some work to work out the nitty gritty, I believe there doesn't have to be as large a difference between weaving a tapestry (or at least gaining the means/opportunity to do so) and going on an epic combat quest.

Moana is frequently brought up here as a great example of something that fits the mold of a Gloranthan Heroquest, for example, but it's not often mentioned how female-centric it is as a narrative. The main character is a woman undergoing the transition from childhood to adulthood, the supporting/mentor character is a wise woman, and of course famously the villain turns out to a be a deeply wounded female entity that's lashing out in anguish, and in the end the solution to the problem turns out to be recognition, restitution and healing. Also there are some cool fights in there, which is fun, admittedly.

You could probably add some other Disney princess movies to a list of female-centric narratives and adventures, like Frozen, although there's a lot to be learnt from Disney on how NOT to do things too.

I'm also thinking of classical fairy tales from my own childhood, like White-Bear King Valemon, which, while I'm sure it's not some paragon of feminism, is predominantly a story of a girl going out to save her "Otherworld" boyfriend from an evil castle through her wits and magical gadgets gifted to her.

Again, this doesn't go into the nitty gritty mechanics of gaming, but if you have a game that can simulate persuasion, trading, or say, riddling or puzzle-solving (through observational stats or through actual puzzles, what do I know),  then this doesn't strike me as too different from simulating a fight. As for conssequences - don't always make Violence An Option. Or perhaps, make it decidedly the inferior one, if you want to put the Ernaldan perspective front and center (obviously, as stated above, a Vingan perspective does fine with fighting scenarios, but that's not really what we're looking at here). Did the PCs fail to convince the Giant to lend them the thread spun from a thing that no longer exist, and it burst out into a fight? Well, tough shit, because this isn't something you can just loot off his corpse. That string is gone now. You goofed up, time for plan B - whatever that is.

I don't know - I might just be saying obvious things for seasoned game masters and developers as I did earlier in the thread - but I just don't think "mechanizing" things outside of combat has to be some totally other beast than mechanizing combat. Consequence, urgency, agency. That's how they pull off making the scene where the nerdy character deciphers a dead language, or draws up the designs for the device that will bring the heroes back home in movies cool. I think it can be done for weaving a tapestry too. Maybe work in the journey of gathering the materials as mentioned above, or make the weaving itself something that can go very, very wrong. Oops, you wove the sequence where Ernalda drives off the Gorgerlings incorrectly. Better pull out some tricks, because the God Time is going to reach out and mess with you. Or better yet: to weave the tapestry, you need to reenact the myths, mechanically-speaking. It shows understanding of them.

Anyway, rambling off a bit now - but I trust it can be done, and can be done awesomely.

EDIT: I guess it's worth adding that this mentality applies to pretty much any non-combatant. Want an epic Barntar quest? Have your Barntar pull feats of strength like build a wall separating two tulas in a limited time, take on a giant in a merry armwrestling competition to gain grazing rights around his hill-home, calm down a raging bull that's been bewitched, or whatever. He doesn't even need to fight, just do Barntar-y stuff, only awesomely. Same with whoever else.

Edited November 3, 2019 by Sir_Godspeed

[Bill the barbarian]

47 minutes ago, Sir_Godspeed said:

Well, some clues can be taken from the stories that actually feature Ernalda herself. They are frequently based around cleverness, ingenuity, leadership and ensuring cooperation (ie. diplomacy by any other name).

yeah, what i said about Ms LeGuin, all that applies!:)

[Joerg]

Jordan's Wheel of Time has the concept of weaving threads of (variously flavored) power into magical seals. There are a few scenes where this weaving or the taking apart of these have the intensity of a "cut the red wire! No, the green one!" faux bomb disposal scenes or the thrill of the real ones.

Things you may need to weave may develop their own will and resistance. Possibly more appropriate to basket weaving than textiles, but the principle is the same.

Weaving the impossible into a cloth or basket is a typical impossible task, and we all know that the third person attempting the impossible task is going to make it 9 times out of 10.

[Ufnal]

I think it was somewhere in Claude Lévi-Strauss that I read about a childbirth-helping ritual where the shaman described how they magically entered the woman's womb and journeyed through her body, meeting various spiritual powers inside it and finding clever ways to overcome obstacles in their journey, until they arrived before the entity that was preventing the childbirth and made it relent. This is an interesting template of turning midwifery into a HeroQuest-level adventure.

This is also what I love about the Blood over Gold setting and why I keep thinking about making a rewrite of it - the main mythic cycle of the dominant culture there is about communication, overcoming natural and non-natural obstacles that are rarely evil only hostile, discovering ways to make exchanges profitable for both sides, to communicate with aliens and to address alien entities in such a way that is conceivable to us and acceptable to them.

[Bohemond]

10 hours ago, Joerg said:

Jordan's Wheel of Time has the concept of weaving threads of (variously flavored) power into magical seals. There are a few scenes where this weaving or the taking apart of these have the intensity of a "cut the red wire! No, the green one!" faux bomb disposal scenes or the thrill of the real ones.

Things you may need to weave may develop their own will and resistance. Possibly more appropriate to basket weaving than textiles, but the principle is the same.

Weaving the impossible into a cloth or basket is a typical impossible task, and we all know that the third person attempting the impossible task is going to make it 9 times out of 10.

One thing I've done in that vein is create the Troublesome Ewes, three of Navala's daughters who refused to come when their mother or Ernalda call them and so Ernalda cursed them to be trouble-makers and always unhappy. They plague the Orlmarth flocks because you cannot easily see which of the ewes are descended from the Troublesome Ewes. They wander off, they get themselves hurt, they lead stampedes (basically,. they're Sheep Juvenile Delinquents). Even their wool is difficult to work and requires special songs to be able to card and spin and weave it easily. 

[Bohemond]

13 hours ago, Sir_Godspeed said:

Moana is frequently brought up here as a great example of something that fits the mold of a Gloranthan Heroquest, for example, but it's not often mentioned how female-centric it is as a narrative. The main character is a woman undergoing the transition from childhood to adulthood, the supporting/mentor character is a wise woman, and of course famously the villain turns out to a be a deeply wounded female entity that's lashing out in anguish, and in the end the solution to the problem turns out to be recognition, restitution and healing. Also there are some cool fights in there, which is fun, admittedly.

You could probably add some other Disney princess movies to a list of female-centric narratives and adventures, like Frozen, although there's a lot to be learnt from Disney on how NOT to do things too.

I'm also thinking of classical fairy tales from my own childhood, like White-Bear King Valemon, which, while I'm sure it's not some paragon of feminism, is predominantly a story of a girl going out to save her "Otherworld" boyfriend from an evil castle through her wits and magical gadgets gifted to her.

 

 

The feminist element of Moana is one of the things I really loved about it. The Princess and the Frog has some nice bits to inspire shamanic Glorantha, btw. It's very clear that Dr Facilier is bargaining with his 'Friends' and not commanding them.

As a kid, I always loved the fairy tales that featured girls, like East of the Sun, West of the Moon. Somehow those stories always seemed more heroic to me than the ones like Jack and the Beanstalk, maybe because since girls weren't supposed to be warriors, they had to be extra clever instead. As a nerdy kid from an early age, I think the idea of winning purely on wits appealed to me. A lot of fairy tales have very heroquest-y elements to them, 

[Bohemond]

4 hours ago, Ufnal said:

I think it was somewhere in Claude Lévi-Strauss that I read about a childbirth-helping ritual where the shaman described how they magically entered the woman's womb and journeyed through her body, meeting various spiritual powers inside it and finding clever ways to overcome obstacles in their journey, until they arrived before the entity that was preventing the childbirth and made it relent. This is an interesting template of turning midwifery into a HeroQuest-level adventure.

 

That is a GREAT idea. I am totally going to steal that at some point. 

[Ufnal]

1 hour ago, Bohemond said:

That is a GREAT idea. I am totally going to steal that at some point. 

Glad you like it! I think it's from Levi-Strauss's Structural Anthropology, the essay about the effectiveness of symbols. 

[JonL]

The tale of Tam Lin comes to mind as well.

Tam's savior doesn't have to beat up or kill the elves to win. She instead has to find the steadfastness within herself to hold fast to her love in the face of all the horrible glamours. 

Standing firm in the face of terrifying craziness is a solid (so to speak) Earth approach to the Alone in the Dark challenge.

 

[Sir_Godspeed]

Something that could be pretty amazing of done well is incorporate a lot of the ideas above, and after hours and hours of (real time) playing with a very Ernaldan mindset, forging alliances, calming foes, tricking opponents, indimidating rivals, etc., you offer a PC the chance to just clock a particularly annoying NPC the f**** out. WHAM. No one sees it coming. Total subversion of tropes.
"What?! There's always another way!" the Ernaldan says with an expression daring anyone to criticize her, nursing bruised knuckles, in a rare moment of post-violence gratification.

I dunno, the thought made me chuckle.

[Qizilbashwoman]

39 minutes ago, Sir_Godspeed said:

Something that could be pretty amazing of done well is incorporate a lot of the ideas above, and after hours and hours of (real time) playing with a very Ernaldan mindset, forging alliances, calming foes, tricking opponents, indimidating rivals, etc., you offer a PC the chance to just clock a particularly annoying NPC the f**** out. WHAM. No one sees it coming. Total subversion of tropes.
"What?! There's always another way!" the Ernaldan says with an expression daring anyone to criticize her, nursing bruised knuckles, in a rare moment of post-violence gratification.

I dunno, the thought made me chuckle.

"Violence is always an option" applies to Ernaldans equally, and anyone who forgets that Earth people carry Very Large Knives deserve what they get. Sure, Wind people are the raiders, but knives are an essential part of every person's kit for both practical and self-defense reasons. Sometimes you don't just trick; sometimes you cut their throats.

[JonL]

2 hours ago, Sir_Godspeed said:

Something that could be pretty amazing of done well is incorporate a lot of the ideas above, and after hours and hours of (real time) playing with a very Ernaldan mindset, forging alliances, calming foes, tricking opponents, indimidating rivals, etc., you offer a PC the chance to just clock a particularly annoying NPC the f**** out. WHAM. No one sees it coming. Total subversion of tropes.
"What?! There's always another way!" the Ernaldan says with an expression daring anyone to criticize her, nursing bruised knuckles, in a rare moment of post-violence gratification.

I dunno, the thought made me chuckle.

Ah, I see she knows the Enferalda Drops a Jerk secret.

[dvdmacateer]

On 11/1/2019 at 10:21 PM, Qizilbashwoman said:

Sadly, nobody wants to engage in intercourse with a broo. (Broo males don't engage in intercourse; their "penis" is a stinger that implants a larva in the flesh rather than preying on female animals in the specific way rape brings to mind.) Thankfully (???) they can birth diseases or summon spirits to breed with. I don't know what the result of these pregnancies is.

Where does the idea that Broo males have stingers and that they only target female animals come from?