Thaz Posted June 6, 2020 Share Posted June 6, 2020 Now we tend to focus on those grim Sword Ducks. But we are told that Ducks can follow Orlanth. So can they learn flight or does the curse stop them?> Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Runeblogger Posted June 7, 2020 Share Posted June 7, 2020 I'd rule that the curse is they don't have wings to fly, so the Rune spell Flight allows them to fly as any other Orlanthi. 3 Quote Read my Runeblog about RuneQuest and Glorantha at: http://elruneblog.blogspot.com.es/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joerg Posted June 7, 2020 Share Posted June 7, 2020 And then there's toss the duck... 2 1 Quote Telling how it is excessive verbis Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HreshtIronBorne Posted June 7, 2020 Share Posted June 7, 2020 In Glorantha I played in any duck that flys is slighting Yelm and his curse and gets a Sunpear to the domer for his trouble. No idea how canonical any of that is but, it is HILARIOUS at the table. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Leingod Posted June 7, 2020 Share Posted June 7, 2020 I seem to recall there's a Heroquest or something a duck can do that will grant them the power of flight if they succeed, but for the life of me I can't recall where that might have been or what it entailed. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pentallion Posted June 7, 2020 Share Posted June 7, 2020 I'm pretty sure it's canon that ducks who fly without some heroquest secret get nuked by Yelm. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Runeblogger Posted June 7, 2020 Share Posted June 7, 2020 Poor ducks...! 😔 1 Quote Read my Runeblog about RuneQuest and Glorantha at: http://elruneblog.blogspot.com.es/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
soltakss Posted June 7, 2020 Share Posted June 7, 2020 8 hours ago, Runeblogger said: I'd rule that the curse is they don't have wings to fly, so the Rune spell Flight allows them to fly as any other Orlanthi. That's how I play it. 4 hours ago, Joerg said: And then there's toss the duck... And Duck Golf! Whack! Quack! Fore! 2 1 Quote Simon Phipp - Caldmore Chameleon - Wallowing in my elitism since 1982. Many Systems, One Family. Just a fanboy. www.soltakss.com/index.html Jonstown Compendium author. Find my contributions here. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brootse Posted June 7, 2020 Share Posted June 7, 2020 14 hours ago, Runeblogger said: I'd rule that the curse is they don't have wings to fly, so the Rune spell Flight allows them to fly as any other Orlanthi. That's not the only cult that gives them that ability, there's also the Cannon cult. 2 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rodney Dangerduck Posted June 7, 2020 Share Posted June 7, 2020 15 hours ago, Runeblogger said: I'd rule that the curse is they don't have wings to fly, so the Rune spell Flight allows them to fly as any other Orlanthi. So Yelm cursed humans too? This "curse" is meaningless. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sumath Posted June 7, 2020 Share Posted June 7, 2020 2 hours ago, Rodney Dangerduck said: So Yelm cursed humans too? This "curse" is meaningless Humans never had the ability to fly to begin with. Ducks did, so they have lost something. 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PhilHibbs Posted June 7, 2020 Share Posted June 7, 2020 Personally I believe that the curse on ducks is so powerful that the EWF Great Dragon Project failed because they let a duck join the EWF. The dragon could not fly because of that. 2 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stew Stansfield Posted June 7, 2020 Share Posted June 7, 2020 (edited) Just a reminder that the mythology of ducks has always been intentionally ambiguous. This will have consequences when trying to discuss this. People can obviously favour whichever stories they wish, but there is a difference between doing that and presenting that as a single, objective Truth to all. It's worth rereading the passage in Borderlands, subsequently reprinted with minor alterations in River of Cradles: Quote "Their origins are obscure, though some tales [emphasis mine] tell of them as an avian folk who forswore their allegiance to Yelm to follow Orlanth, and were denied the sky as punishment. It is true that the majority of ducks worship Orlanth or his kin or associated gods, such as Humakt, Heler, and Ernalda." —Borderlands (1982), Referee’s Handbook, p. 25. Compare that with the original description from the first editions of RuneQuest and reprinted (with minor alteration) in the third edition: Quote "This is a race cursed by the gods during the Great Darkness for not joining them versus the forces of Chaos. It is unknown whether they were originally human and became feathered and web-footed, or originally ducks cursed with flightlessness and intelligence. —RuneQuest (2nd Edition; 1979), p. 79. The current description in the RuneQuest Glorantha Bestiary combines these, taking the above two elements and adding material from Elder Secrets of Glorantha (1988; Elder Races Book 2, pp. 81–82) for good measure: Quote Mythos and History: The origin of the ducks of Genertela is a mystery to outsiders. They claim to have once been the rulers of the world until their own sins and errors forced them into subservience to lesser races (elves, trolls, etc.) and, later, to humans. Others tell of them as an avian folk who forswore their allegiance to Yelm to follow Orlanth and were denied the sky as punishment. Most ducks worship Orlanth or his kin or associated gods, such as Humakt, Heler, and Ernalda. It is unknown whether they were originally human and became feathered and web-footed, or originally ducks cursed with flightlessness and intelligence. —RuneQuest Glorantha Bestiary (2018), p. 31. --------------- So, if people like the 'Borderlands paradigm' with regard to the Yelmic apostasy and curse, that's cool. But it's not the only story – and the consequences of other stories can be rather different. (Incidentally, the same ambiguity is also the case with keets, though their flightlessness monomyth in popular telling is probably even stronger.) Edited June 7, 2020 by Stew Stansfield 3 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scott-martin Posted June 7, 2020 Share Posted June 7, 2020 51 minutes ago, Stew Stansfield said: during the Great Darkness for not joining them versus the forces of Chaos Mighty Quackatoa, do you have record of duck people in Central Genertela before the Bright Empire and its demise? There are curses and then there are curses. 1 Quote singer sing me a given Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stew Stansfield Posted June 7, 2020 Share Posted June 7, 2020 13 minutes ago, scott-martin said: Mighty Quackatoa, do you have record of duck people in Central Genertela before the Bright Empire and its demise? There are curses and then there are curses. Not that I can recall, no? I'm afraid I'm not quite sure what you mean by this, Scott? (Though that might be the lurgy.) 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scott-martin Posted June 7, 2020 Share Posted June 7, 2020 (edited) 37 minutes ago, Stew Stansfield said: Not that I can recall, no? I'm afraid I'm not quite sure what you mean by this, Scott? (Though that might be the lurgy.) Whenever I see curses and chaos together lately I think of the Bright Empire . . . curse of kin, the Telmori curse, the mysterious "failed" dragonewt curse, Dorastor seeded with curses. Nations and tribes reshaped forever in the Dawn Age wars. So I think, when people talk about the ducks being cursed, when and how does that happen? I would not be surprised if there was a noble bird nation once, not sufficiently hostile to Nysalor and brought low. They could fly. The curse took that away and the records of their glory were lost. Maybe they were allied with the heron worshippers of the swamp belt, maybe they were a "ratite" culture. Maybe the harpies fell more or less simultaneously. And if we learn how it happened, we're a step closer to repairing it. But if anyone can disprove this hypothesis, it's you. Of course it could be just be the lurgy season. I hear a lot of gardens have gone to pollen this year. Edited June 7, 2020 by scott-martin 2 1 Quote singer sing me a given Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joerg Posted June 8, 2020 Share Posted June 8, 2020 What's wong with the washed-here keets theory? It fits the former "mighty Empire" of the Early Golden Age. The curse may be the result of the voluntary sacrifice of the keets, affecting without adding any benefit to the Genertelan population."I didn't volunteer for nothing!" 1 1 Quote Telling how it is excessive verbis Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scott-martin Posted June 8, 2020 Share Posted June 8, 2020 10 hours ago, Joerg said: What's wong with the washed-here keets theory? Yeah, now I can't help wondering if the lost remnants of the Vrimak Dynasty claimed they were from some prehistoric Ganderland and were punished for their ostentatious refusal to participate in the Dawn Wars. In that scenario others fled to the islands. Quote singer sing me a given Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joerg Posted June 8, 2020 Share Posted June 8, 2020 3 hours ago, scott-martin said: Yeah, now I can't help wondering if the lost remnants of the Vrimak Dynasty claimed they were from some prehistoric Ganderland and were punished for their ostentatious refusal to participate in the Dawn Wars. In that scenario others fled to the islands. No no no ) - Keetela aka Ganderland is for webbed foot birds only. Herons might qualify (though not necessarily those of the Enslib goddesses, or the egrets of Esel River), but the parrot folk of Forng already don't, and neither Ratites nor Eagles will do. I do have the impression that the early Golden Age had more (humanoid) bird people than humans, but somehow humans became dominant after a while. 1 Quote Telling how it is excessive verbis Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pentallion Posted June 8, 2020 Share Posted June 8, 2020 I always like the idea that unlike Keets, the Ducks of Dragon Pass were Orlanthi who became ducks to avoid the Dragonkill. Delecti had something to do with it no doubt. 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shiningbrow Posted June 9, 2020 Share Posted June 9, 2020 On 6/8/2020 at 3:05 AM, Stew Stansfield said: or originally ducks cursed with flightlessness and intelligence. What good would an unintelligent duck be at fighting Chaos? And, if it was unintelligent, how could it even make such a rational decision? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
soltakss Posted June 9, 2020 Share Posted June 9, 2020 Somewhere there is a myth about how Yelm visited the earth, looked up to see a flock of ducks flying overhead and was blinded by their filth, so cursed them. 2 Quote Simon Phipp - Caldmore Chameleon - Wallowing in my elitism since 1982. Many Systems, One Family. Just a fanboy. www.soltakss.com/index.html Jonstown Compendium author. Find my contributions here. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stew Stansfield Posted June 9, 2020 Share Posted June 9, 2020 6 hours ago, Shiningbrow said: What good would an unintelligent duck be at fighting Chaos? And, if it was unintelligent, how could it even make such a rational decision? Better than one that didn't? (The idea of the smallest, basest creatures helping fight a great ill is a fairly common one in stories, and their agency is usually more a function of instinct and perceived morality than their capacity as rational actors.) 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Akhôrahil Posted June 9, 2020 Share Posted June 9, 2020 All ducks are Pain Ducks. 2 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dumuzid Posted June 10, 2020 Share Posted June 10, 2020 On 6/8/2020 at 11:59 PM, Shiningbrow said: What good would an unintelligent duck be at fighting Chaos? In particularly bad stretches of the Greater Darkness the people of Nochet were saved by armies of unintelligent geese, the sacred animal of the elder Earth goddess Imarja though anyone who's dealt with geese must concur that a whole army of them would be frightful, intelligent or no 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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