White Bull and Prax

[Soccercalle]

My PCs are visiting Prax in 1620-21 and I plan to GM the scenarios in Borderlands, the Cradle and some other scenarios from RQ1, 2 and 3. 

The old RQ products doesn't mention the White Bull society at all and the only official sources that mentions it are some parts of the Vasana Saga in the core rulebook and some sentences in King of Sartar. But I get the impression that the White Bull part of the overall campaign gets more attention from Jeff than it got from Greg.

My question is if there is any reason to believe that the PCs will hear about the White Bull when they adventure in the area. They will meet Garrath (Argrath) in 1621 and I guess that he may have a tattoo or two with the White Bull.

How would you GM it?

Edited July 23, 2022 by Soccercalle

[soltakss]

18 hours ago, Soccercalle said:

The old RQ products doesn't mention the White Bull society at all and the only official sources that mentions it are some parts of the Vasana Saga in the core rulebook and some sentences in King of Sartar.

I can't remember where we first heard about the White Bull, but the Bullocks were a unit in the Dragon Pass game.

King of Sartar mentioned it a few times, as a way for Argrath to rise amongst the Praxians.

18 hours ago, Soccercalle said:

But I get the impression that the White Bull part of the overall campaign gets more attention from Jeff than it got from Greg.

Which is fair enough. Jeff is concentrating on the story of Argrath, and the White Bull is important to Argrath.

18 hours ago, Soccercalle said:

My question is if there is any reason to believe that the PCs will hear about the White Bull when they adventure in the area. They will meet Garrath (Argrath) in 1621 and I guess that he may have a tattoo or two with the White Bull.

Originally, the White Bull was a very rare Praxian Sacred Society. It had a handful of members in each Nation, and when the members met, their steeds turned white, identifying them as members of the White Bull Society. Argrath became a member and managed to show that the White Bull Society went across Praxian Nations. so he united the Praxians by showing that they were united through the White Bull Society.

Now, Jeff's approach seems to be that Argrath founded the White Bull Society and is its leader, so he united Praxians by discovering the White Bull. This is a different approach to the traditional one, or rather my interpretation of the original one.

18 hours ago, Soccercalle said:

How would you GM it?

I used this in my Agarnauts (Oasis Folk/River Voice) Campaign.

One of the key points of the Campaign was that the Adventurers would be important to the Hero Wars, that was my aim from the start and I manipulated and beat the Players until they complied.

So, in one encounter in the Wastes, the Adventurers caught sight of the White Bull Spirit and sacrificed POW to it. They each became a member of the White Bull Society, but just gained it as a patron.

As they were members of the White Bull Society, their herd beasts turned white, even the Zebras, which caused the Zebra Rider some concern, as he was now riding what looked like a white horse. So, he tended to keep a distance away from the other Adventurers, to keep his riding beast a zebra.

A little later, they met with a group of High Llama Praxians and one of their High Llamas turned white, identifying him as a member of the White Bull Society. He was surprised, as the PCs included a Bison Rider, Rhino Rider, Zebra Rider and a Baboon who also rode a Zebra. The High Llama realised that the White Bull Society was not just for High Llamas, but was known by other Praxians.

This happened a couple of times, until the Adventurers had shown that the White Bull Society belonged to all Praxians, even Ostrich Riders.

Then there was a battle between different Praxian Nations, The Adventurers wanted Peace, so they summoned the White Bull, clearly, loudly and by name, in front of the assembled Praxians. It appeared and the assembled Praxians donated POW to join the White Bull and all their beasts turned white. They then saw each others as brethren, for the White Bull commanded that members of the White Bull Society should not make war on each other.

Finally, a group of Pentians performed the Black Net Ritual, but in reverse, so that they could reform the Pure Horse Tribe of Prax. The Praxians didn't want this, so raised an army against them. The Adventurers had gotten involved, for they wanted to ally the Pentians against the Lunars. As the two groups faced off, the Adventurers summoned the White Stallion, again very loudly and clearly and by name. The spirit appeared and the Grazelanders sacrificed POW to it, turning their horses white, but the Adventurers' Riding Beasts also turned white, as did the riding beasts of the various White Bull members among the Praxians. Thus, the Adventurers proved that the White Bull and the White Stallion were one and the same, that the White Bull Society existed among the Pentians as the White Stallion Society and that Pentians and Praxians were brethren.

In my campaign, Argrath became a bitter man. The Adventurers once sought him out and found him in Gimpy's, crying into his ale and complaining to anyone who would listen that "I could have been someone, if it hadn't been for those pesky River Voices". He played no part in my White Bull story.

 

Edited July 24, 2022 by soltakss

[Jeff]

The White Bull had been part of Greg's Gloranthan materials since at least 1981. Argrath founded it while he was among the nomads in the Praxians. As an aside, that's the reason that Garrath Sharpsword (jostle the letters around to learn who that is) is described in Pavis as:

"Garrath Sharpsword is a famous instructor who lives in Oldtown. He is known to worship Orlanth Adventurous, and has spent time among both the nomads of Prax and the wolf pirates of the Rozgali Ocean."

He founds the White Bull society in 1616. Among its early members are Yazurkial Blue Llama (at the time a fellow slave of the Bison Tribe), the Skull Bat Bison Khan Narmeed Whirlvishbane (who owned Argrath and Yazurkial, and later appears in the Biturian Vorash stories), and the Sable Khan Roneer the Hue. These three Waha khans form the core of the society and are among Argrath's most loyal and devoted companions. 

[Soccercalle]

11 hours ago, Jeff said:

The White Bull had been part of Greg's Gloranthan materials since at least 1981. Argrath founded it while he was among the nomads in the Praxians. As an aside, that's the reason that Garrath Sharpsword (jostle the letters around to learn who that is) is described in Pavis as:

"Garrath Sharpsword is a famous instructor who lives in Oldtown. He is known to worship Orlanth Adventurous, and has spent time among both the nomads of Prax and the wolf pirates of the Rozgali Ocean."

He founds the White Bull society in 1616. Among its early members are Yazurkial Blue Llama (at the time a fellow slave of the Bison Tribe), the Skull Bat Bison Khan Narmeed Whirlvishbane (who owned Argrath and Yazurkial, and later appears in the Biturian Vorash stories), and the Sable Khan Roneer the Hue. These three Waha khans form the core of the society and are among Argrath's most loyal and devoted companions. 

Thanks @Jeff I didnt mean that Greg didnt write about the White Bull. But there was very little written about it in the material that were available for me when I started playing RQ3 in the late 80s and continued in the early 90s. I think that I first read something was when I bought the first edition of King of Sartar. You can compare that to the new material where the White Bull Society is mentioned quite often. 

My question is really if there is a great chance that a group of Orlanthis PCs traveling in Prax in 1620-21 will hear about the society and if there is a possibility that Garrath would try to recruit them. (Especially if the PCs helps him with the Cradle).