Telmori: Pure and Cursed

[Runeblogger]

1 hour ago, Brian Duguid said:

Also relevant to another comment in this thread, S:KoH pg 256, Sartar softened their curse so the local Telmori "would not act like Chaotic monsters".

Thank you! I was wondering how they worked as bodyguards with the curse, but this solves it.

[Alex]

1 hour ago, Brian Duguid said:

Also relevant to another comment in this thread, S:KoH pg 256, Sartar softened their curse so the local Telmori "would not act like Chaotic monsters".

Top centrist-ruler cunning thinking.  Arranging to have chaos monsters that have the good manners not to act like chaos monsters!

[French Desperate WindChild]

It is clear our glorantha may vary, so my answers are not a "challenge I'm right you're wrong", just a gentle share of perspective 😛

I say that as we (4-5 people ?) are answering and answering from to almost opposite postion ("big advantage with few issue" vs "big problem with few gain")

 

On 1/1/2022 at 8:11 AM, Darius West said:

For a start, the Telmori move in tribes and don't normally associate with non-Telmori much.

Yes they are a tribe, but I (maybe wrongly ?) consider there are other "people" in the land or neighbourhood, humans, elves, other hunshens, spidres...  Even with few relationship,there are relationship. For example, the "riskland campaign" shows that you (human) may create some relationship with the telmori.

 

On 1/1/2022 at 8:11 AM, Darius West said:

The fact remains that a rope or a decent set of manacles is a nice transportable form of restraint for those times when the wolf is likely to become a problem,

I agree you are able to "fix" it, but that is a curse too :  you waste 1/7 of your time, chained to not cause problem, unchained and ... you don't know what happens.

On 1/1/2022 at 8:11 AM, Darius West said:

but the fact is, you're chaos tainted, and likely don't overly care who you hurt, much like an ogre.

yes they are tainted, but (in my glorantha ?) I don't see them like ogres: ogres full time nature  and "morale value" is to be "humans" eating humans and bring chaos (one interesting play could be ogres who try to fight their nature by the way, with all the issue they may have. )

Telmori nature is to be hunshen and their "morale value" is to have a beast behaviour, not a rabid wolf behaviour. As rabies is illness, Telmori 1/7 "power" is for me curse.

On 1/1/2022 at 8:11 AM, Darius West said:

I doubt the Telmori hunt their cursed.

no, no. I did not speak about Telmori hunting their cursed, but others (neighbours). Of course if there is nobody else than telmori (but there are in my glorantha) that is not an issue.

 

On 1/3/2022 at 11:35 AM, Darius West said:

You seriously can't see how that could be of immense military advantage?  How about this?  You infiltrate a group of cursed Telmori behind enemy lines so they are in position by Fireday, hidden in an area where the enemy's logistics can be threatened.  They then burst out and slaughter their livestock, caravaneers, mounts or whatever, and the enemy now has to deal with a group of freely roaming berserk werewolves in their territory.  When the rage wears off, the survivors can use their hunter skills to slink back to their own lines until next week.  There are endless variations on this trick, but you can always guarantee your enemies have no end of trouble on Wild Day.

I agree for the military impact during a war. It is a great advantage for sure, even if you don't know exactly what will happen, it will surely disorganize your ennemies forces, feared their people, etc... but there are war time and peace time. And the issue, for me, is the "curse" is during war and peace time. If you are alone no issue (but in this case, no reason to go to war), if you are not alone, well we already shared it

Note that clearly, a pragmatic empire containing and dominating some telmori tribes may use them with all the interest you described.

But the telmori themselves, in this kind of empire will be more or less chained (don't move from your "reserve" or I hunt you, chained your guys to be sure they will follow my rule when I don't need your power, etc...)

 

in fact it is a worse version of Hulk or a "better" version of Jekyll and hyde. Personaly I consider both of them as curse : the sacrifice is very important for the power, even so great power. Big gain, too much pain to not call it a curse

[Darius West]

11 minutes ago, French Desperate WindChild said:

In fact it is a worse version of Hulk or a "better" version of Jekyll and hyde. Personaly I consider both of them as curse : the sacrifice is very important for the power, even so great power. Big gain, too much pain to not call it a curse

I think we are pretty much on the same page actually.

Personally, IDK that keeping somebody bound up for one day a week is that much of a curse.  It isn't overly burdensome on the community, unless they get free... So don't let them get free.  It is a nuisance to the one who is cursed, but a lot less so than a medical condition that could strike without warning at any time.  Arguably it is less of a burden than actually committing to training for 1 day a week with the militia.  I suppose I'm a glass-half-full kinda guy.

Now had Tanisor's curse randomized the day on which the transformation would occur...THAT would be a curse. If the curse also drained all the RP that the Telmori had, even more so.  Predictability is what makes things manageable here imo.

Edited January 5, 2022 by Darius West

[Kloster]

51 minutes ago, Darius West said:

Personally, IDK that keeping somebody bound up for one day a week is that much of a curse. 

The problem I see is simple: Who would bind the cursed if the tribe is, as it seems, composed entirely of Telmori? The last that has bound all his clan would be alone and can not be bound, so will go to rampage.

[Akhôrahil]

On 1/4/2022 at 8:48 PM, Brian Duguid said:

Also relevant to another comment in this thread, S:KoH pg 256, Sartar softened their curse so the local Telmori "would not act like Chaotic monsters".

This is interesting, because it suggests that violent as the Sartar Telmori are (just check t11L), they're well-behaved compared to other Cursed ones.

[Joerg]

I think that apart from giving the Telmori a new king with Ostling Four-wolves, the promise was that a future Prince of the lineage of Sartar would end the curse.

The Wolf Runners in the skinned wolf pelt version might be that relief.

Hon-eels solution in the Pelorian lowland was to turn the local Telmori there into four-legged wolves all the time. Curse solved. Problem, not quite.

[Akhôrahil]

2 hours ago, Joerg said:

Hon-eels solution in the Pelorian lowland was to turn the local Telmori there into four-legged wolves all the time. Curse solved. Problem, not quite.

Does that mean they still have crazed invulnerable wolves every Wildday? That seems like it would be bad and the wolves need to be killed (preferably on other days) anyway?

[Joerg]

6 hours ago, Akhôrahil said:

Does that mean they still have crazed invulnerable wolves every Wildday? That seems like it would be bad and the wolves need to be killed (preferably on other days) anyway?

No, the curse was consumed by the transformation. At least that's how I understood what I was told.

It isn't quite clear to me where Hon-eel did this - whether in Doblian or in Tarsh. Other than that, her vita in the Redline History doesn't mention her being active in a region with potential Telmori presence.

[Brian Duguid]

On 1/10/2022 at 11:27 PM, Akhôrahil said:

(just check t11L)

My reading of t11L was that the non-Telmori tribes are as violent as the Telmori, both having carried out or attempted genocidal massacres, and that it was more about how people act when racism gets entangled into a tribal blood feud. The reference to Sartar having softened the local Telmori curse seems to appear in S:KoH and nowhere else, so I'm happy to consider it might be in error.

Has anyone played a game where the players are Telmori, and did the cursed/pure ones thing come up?