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Prax and the thousand questions about the place.


Noita

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3 hours ago, Iskallor said:

Who and what is the Dawn Beast?

The best reference is in Borderlands and Beyond p232. It's one of Seven Great Magics of Prax, and will appear in the Prax book - (

"(Life rune) The Dawn Beast. The Dawn Beast was a magic animal, the last or only one of its herd. This uniqueness gave it great powers of support. When it was butchered it would feed whole clans. As long as its parts were put back together correctly, Eiritha would send it back the next morning, whole and again ready to be eaten. The Dawn Beast is often found with a High Priestess of Eiritha."

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15 minutes ago, Iskallor said:

Was there a picture/counter of it? 

A player in my game has mentioned she would like to run in to it at sometime.

This scan of the counters has it in the section "Trèsors" in the top right corner of the left block. (Identified through a digest post in which Stephen said that he might have used the image of an elephant instead.)

(And I misremembered the author of the Dragon Pass rules - that was Robert Corbett.)

Telling how it is excessive verbis

 

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The Bete de l'Aurore counter isn't very inspiring. The Great Treasures of Prax vary between incarnations. I'd suggest it looks nearly like one of the finders own herd beasts, but an extinct version. e.g. long haired impala, Short necked High Llama, or whatever you think is cool - just not the white goat on the counter.

Bete de l'Aurore.png

Edited by David Scott
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49 minutes ago, David Scott said:

The Bete de l'Aurore counter isn't very inspiring. The Great Treasures of Prax vary between incarnations. I'd suggest it looks nearly like one of the finders own herd beasts, but an extinct version. e.g. long haired impala, Short necked High Llama, or whatever you think is cool - just not the white goat on the counter,.

This might get interesting when you have a mixed party of Praxians making the discovery, but maybe it is the Eiritha priestess who provides the shape matrix.

Personally, I prefer the idea of an alien herd beast - maybe even resembling Jaldon's steed.

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Telling how it is excessive verbis

 

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  • 1 month later...
50 minutes ago, Iskallor said:

So what kind of weather can my poor players be expecting in the Wastes during Dark Season? It's the first day of the season for them, their light/fire magic is weak and the shadows are lengthy...

Looking at GtG, you could get hard, cold winds coming down from Pent to battle the Urox Storm which seems to hover over the Wastes and blow into Prax.  I'd expect cool to cold nights, where you might get dew or frost on the ground in the morning (White Princess, Dew Maid pass by and calm the immediate area).  The farther north in the Wastes, the more likely to hit colder winds or a battle between cold bitter winds and stinging dust winds.  Probably a good time for dust storms farther south in the Wastes perhaps with stinging clouds of copper.  Otherwise probably mild, seasonable temperatures.

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  • 4 weeks later...

In the scheme of things, most of the major and minor tribes will have a founder and a protectress/mother. Whether they are still around is another matter. The Bolo Lizards clearly have Eiritha as their mother, and so a protectress, Pavis GtA page 50.

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Matriarchal, they emphasize the Eiritha traditions over that of Waha 

Their founder at this point is unknown, but unlikely to be Storm Bull. Yelmalio and Daka Fal are their most popular cults (30%) after Eiritha (80%), so likely some kind of sky spirit/god was their progenitor and Daka Fal points to the fact that they may be dead.

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  • 3 months later...
4 hours ago, Iskallor said:

What are the Pavic Tradition spirit societies?

The core Pavic Tradition originates from the Period of the 17 Foes of Waha. Pavis was turning slowly into the Big Rubble, nomads roamed within the walls and those who survived turned inwards. As with most societies in Glorantha, ancestor worship is core of the Pavic tradition. Those who had helped people survive were revered and there special skills and magics lived on. The people were turning from civilised bronze age city dwellers into survivors, blasted back to the stone age. The spirit societies that evolved (doubtless from nomad contact) are very similar to Daka Fal worship, with known ancestors, such as Mani, Opili, Kagtang and any of the Pavic leaders from that time. Black Fang of course, and Florian the Gardener who helped those survivors grow small patches of food amongst the ruins. Keep the numbers low, the tradition isn't a big thing.
There are no nomad spirit societies present, and don't forget that the Zebra people are actually Praxians. I'd even have a small spirit of Pavis himself available with one charm - something like stand firm. Although Pavis isn't a spirit, it's more like a magical side effect of his association with city.
 
 
Edited by David Scott
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  • 1 month later...
On 15/09/2016 at 7:18 AM, Iskallor said:

Before Yelmalio came to Prax the nomads followed Golden Daughter. Is she still worshipped?

Makes sense that nomads would have female followers.

The simple answer is yes, Praxians call her Sun Daughter (as per the Guide). The key society here is the inter-tribal Sky Gazers society. Although they can see the spirits in the night sky, they can only contact those who came down to the Wastes in the Great Darkness and helped. This is where the fun starts - did sky being x come down in the Great Darkness? Well if you manage to contact them - they did. There is some evidence of Yelmalio / Sun Daughter doing this. So there will be some initiates who manage to receive magic from her. As with all minor sky beings, it's normally only one or two charms. Beware Drastic Prax is not correct - it's Lightfore/Sun Daughter/Yelmalio and Ourania/Yelorna.

Numbers-wise there are about 21k Sky Gazers amongst the Praxians, 50% are women.

Impala 15k

Sable 4.7k

High Llama 160

Bison 200

Morokanth 200

Agimori 60

Rhino 45

Ostrich 150

Unicorn 31 (special - 30 women / 1 man)

Baboons 25

Bolos 260

Zebras 20

Pol-Joni 50

Basmoli 6

Newtlings 0

As a rough guess perhaps 1% have a Sun daughter charm.

 

Edited by David Scott
corrected lightfoot to lightfoot

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5 minutes ago, Iskallor said:

I wonder how Sun County folk would deal with a group of all female Sun daughter worshippers dropping by

I don't think they would even notice them for what they were (@MOB may have more to add to this). Remember the Star Gazers is a secondary society catering for those with an affinity for sky spirits (read - has the sky rune). Amongst the Impala's they are likely to be Eiritha followers as their primary society (70%). In the Sables it's an even split between Eiritha / Helpwoman / Daka Fal (30%).

More interesting is the interaction between Praxian Yelmalio initiates and female Star Gazer society members who are in touch (have charms) with Sun Daughter. Light Khans may marry Eiritha priestesses, who may in turn have a connection to Sun Daughter. I imagine that they would just see Yelmalio/Sun Daughter as different aspects of the same god. Light Khans are not allowed to dress up as women so can never take the part of Sun Daughter in any Sky Gazers ceremony - they would clearly be the best choice.

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2 hours ago, Iskallor said:

Could a woman worship Yelmalio as her primary tradition but as Sun Daughter?

Yes, why not? This is the realm of MGF storytelling. I've built this kind of thing into the background. More when I get home...

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One of the themes of the spirit societies of the Praxian tradition is that of splintering. By default spirit societies are controlled by shaman who can head more than one spirit society. If a shaman contacts a spirit and has a new revelation or is exposed to a new experience like a foreign cult's spirits or gods they can propagate these new revelations through their followers. If these new ways of working continue after the shamans death, a new society can form. Shamanism is a practical set of tools, what they have experienced has to work for others or it's not of any use. This is how many Praxian societies formed.

In the case of Yelmalio, the Sky Gazers already knew about the existence of Sun Daughter. Some initiates were able to get a few charms from Sun Daughter so there was a connection. It's likely that a shaman had already experienced that Sun Daughter had come to the Garden in the Great Darkness (and saw Yamsur's death IIRC). But that was a minor event and not as great as the other star beings' work, but it set the stage for when Yelmalio arrived in the Second Age:

Quote

 There were several skirmishes with Sable and Impala clans as the land they settled was part of their migration paths to the Paps. The long spears and shield cover of the Sun Domers effectively stopped the charges and hail of arrows from the mounted Praxians. Likewise the skirmishing tactics of the Praxians stopped the advance of the Sun Dome infantry. Neither side did much damage to the other. Within ten years the Praxians and Sun Domers had settled into the usual pattern for the region and were trading food and weapons to each other.

and then

Quote

Once the temple was built, some Sable and Impala riders realised that the Sun Domers god was one of their own spirits, Sun Daughter, with a different name - Yelmalio. Praxians from the Sky Gazers cult began to learn magics and new archery skills from the invaders, and so the Yelmalio cult took hold amongst the tribes. The nomadic ways of the Praxians were the antithesis of the civilized Sun Domers. But the settlers could not deny their connection. This strange spread of their cult protected the Sun Domers from the wrath of the tribes. Waha himself spoke out for Yelmalio "Sky spirit, newcomer to our land, keep your warriors safe as your brothers and sisters did in the Great Darkness”.

There's only one extra piece you need to play your character. The Unicorn tribe is where women can go and break gender based limitations. Waha will not speak out against them. I think you can play a Sun Daughter (Yelmalio) initiate as some kind of revelation that the templars are deluded and that she's been a women all along. Becoming a spirit talker of the Star Gazers would help (there are no shaman). I don't think other Praxians would bat an eyelid, but i'd avoid Sun County just in case.

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How does the Unicorn tribe exist in Prax/Wastes? Do they raid? They certainly don't eat Unicorns. 

Are there clans?

Do women from other tribes leave home and join them?

How do the other tribes feel about them?

The Lunars would surely be interested in them.

So many questions....

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