All about Broos

[Qizilbashwoman]

4 hours ago, lordabdul said:

Interesting but kinda weird to me because Runes already drive personality traits... that would reinforce gender stereotypes similar to the "women are moody and bossy" we get on Earth.

I so firmly believe that runic assignments at puberty are about social expectations, and that's why you end up with Theyalans being Earth/Wind but not Praxians, where you get, say, Llamas with a ton of Water but other runes as well. But then you get the Dara Happans, who are Earth/Fire! And once the Red Goddess appeared, the Moon rune started to appear where she was popular. And there's always people who break the expectations significantly, about 1 in 7 in Theyalan cultures.

During your initiation, you choose your rune. But it's not like it is out of nowhere. There's an entire society you grew up in. It's the whole gender is constructed, but so is language, and yet both are real, only for magical things.

Like the Broo who was so unhappy with their Chaos rune they traded it in for a Water rune...

Edited November 18, 2019 by Qizilbashwoman

[Lordabdul]

1 hour ago, Qizilbashwoman said:

I so firmly believe that runic assignments at puberty are about social expectations

[...]

During your initiation, you choose your rune. But it's not like it is out of nowhere. There's an entire society you grew up in. It's the whole gender is constructed, but so is language, and yet both are real, only for magical things.

That's an interesting spin on the concept yeah. I can see it being a good base for social commentary. I'm currently trying to write a scenario based on a young Orlanthi whose initiation rite sees the Chaos Rune as one of his awaken Runes. This is extremely rare and the clan would typically kill the young lad (S:KoH p71) but of course in this case he manages to escape. I might tweak his origin story a bit...

[Sir_Godspeed]

2 hours ago, Qizilbashwoman said:

I so firmly believe that runic assignments at puberty are about social expectations, and that's why you end up with Theyalans being Earth/Wind but not Praxians, where you get, say, Llamas with a ton of Water but other runes as well. But then you get the Dara Happans, who are Earth/Fire! And once the Red Goddess appeared, the Moon rune started to appear where she was popular. And there's always people who break the expectations significantly, about 1 in 7 in Theyalan cultures.

During your initiation, you choose your rune. But it's not like it is out of nowhere. There's an entire society you grew up in. It's the whole gender is constructed, but so is language, and yet both are real, only for magical things.

Like the Broo who was so unhappy with their Chaos rune they traded it in for a Water rune...

I like this a lot.

There's a saying my anthropology supervisor used to say: "Culture works a bit like this: you can try to do whatever you want, but you can't *want* whatever you want." This is obviously a generalization, but main point still stands.

Basically, kids in different cultures probably grow up with a fairly good idea of what the different runes entail personality-wise, and so upon initiation, it sort of becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy. Like Harry Potter and the Sorting Hat or whatever

[Lordabdul]

"Harry Potter and The Sorting Hat or Whatever" was actually the tentative title for the first book but it was rejected by the publishers.

[Qizilbashwoman]

2 hours ago, lordabdul said:

That's an interesting spin on the concept yeah. I can see it being a good base for social commentary. I'm currently trying to write a scenario based on a young Orlanthi whose initiation rite sees the Chaos Rune as one of his awaken Runes. This is extremely rare and the clan would typically kill the young lad (S:KoH p71) but of course in this case he manages to escape. I might tweak his origin story a bit...

this is actually a potential scenario in the Eleven Lights - have you read it? The Red Cow have an ogre bloodline.

[Lordabdul]

3 minutes ago, Qizilbashwoman said:

this is actually a potential scenario in the Eleven Lights - have you read it? The Red Cow have an ogre bloodline.

Oh really? I only skimmed it. Thanks for the heads-up.

[Qizilbashwoman]

Eugh, might be Coming Storm, can't remember, sorry @lordabdul

Coming Storm page 14 (Chapter II, sidebar)

Edited November 19, 2019 by Qizilbashwoman

[Akhôrahil]

12 hours ago, Qizilbashwoman said:

K I so firmly believe that runic assignments at puberty are about social expectations, and that's why you end up with Theyalans being Earth/Wind but not Praxians, where you get, say, Llamas with a ton of Water but other runes as well.

My interpretation is far more naturalistic. You’re not “assigned” a rune - you already have a runic make-up, with different runes having different strengths within the person, and this is brought forth in your tattoos at initiation. If, say, a God Learner would break a person apart into his or her runic constituents, an Orlanthi male would (typically) consist of more air, and a Dara Happan one of more fire. I’m assuming that Waertagi kids are already green or blue, because that is the elemental make-up they already have. 

Much of this runic make-up is surely hereditary, and other is reinforced through rituals, but I seriously doubt you get to pick and choose your runes. Even within the bounds of social expectations.

[Sir_Godspeed]

1 hour ago, Akhôrahil said:

My interpretation is far more naturalistic. You’re not “assigned” a rune - you already have a runic make-up, with different runes having different strengths within the person, and this is brought forth in your tattoos at initiation. If, say, a God Learner would break a person apart into his or her runic constituents, an Orlanthi male would (typically) consist of more air, and a Dara Happan one of more fire. I’m assuming that Waertagi kids are already green or blue, because that is the elemental make-up they already have. 

 

I feel like this is the version the in-universe people mostly believe, and perhaps the one the rules books give off, but I'm not a huge fan of what is essentially genetical predestination by a different name, personally.

[Qizilbashwoman]

2 hours ago, Sir_Godspeed said:

I feel like this is the version the in-universe people mostly believe, and perhaps the one the rules books give off, but I'm not a huge fan of what is essentially genetical predestination by a different name, personally.

Agreed. Maybe the Dara Happans really believe their men are made of Fire but I think that's mostly bollocks. We know from how characters are generated in-game that socialisation plays a big role in how your runes turn out! And yes, that's about rules, but still. Orlanthi culture is all about choice: nobody can make you do anything, and the narrations around Vinga's stories alone tell us about people giving The Rules the finger.

Also, initiation is shown in the Red Cow bits to be about choice as well. Those with the temperament for Cacodemon are described as being angry and sexually frustrated - dangerous, I'd say-, but they are given a choice to do something terrible during their initiation.

They have to choose to do it, though. Their rune personality is not assigned, it's based on what they decide to do during initiation.

[g33k]

I think that some things are inborn; mostly tendencies & inclinations, not locked-down fates.  Even a newborn infant is not a blank slate equivalent to every other newborn.

I think that some things come from how you are (and aren't) raised, & sundry external influences.

I think some things come from the choices you make, or don't make, what you decide; what you make of your life.

This is true in My Glorantha, just as I think it's true in the RealWorld.

But when we inscribe our Adventurers onto character sheets, the player is the primary arbiter (within the rules) of what goes where, and why.

[soltakss]

On 11/18/2019 at 4:25 PM, Qizilbashwoman said:

why did i think Chalana Arroy's White Ladies were women and male members were the magic-less Arroini Bonesetters? Was that older lore that got retconned?

I don't think so.

Cults of Prax has Lay Member Requirements of "Anyone with a sincere wish to heal may join the cult. The sincerity is checked with Divination. Even creatures of Chaos have been known to join, and the legendary Wild Healer of the Rockwoods is a Broo.", Initiate Requirements of "The candidate for Initiate status must have 90% ability with one of the Healing Arts mentioned earlier, and make a roll of (Skill % + [INT X 5%]) /2 on D100 or less to pass the test given by the Priestesses. They need not have been a lay member before becoming an Initiate, as long as they swear to live by the dictates of the cult on becoming Initiates.", rune Lord Requirements of "The Rune Lord of Chalana Arroy must be an Initiate with 90% ability in the three Healing Arts, plus knowledge of Healing 6 as battle magic or Potion, and at least one Poison Antidote at the level of 20." and Rune Priestess requirements of "The healer candidate must be an Initiate with a Power of 18.", so no gender requirements for any level.