The Piece of Prax often overlooked

[davecake]

On 22/05/2017 at 8:51 PM, Jon Hunter said:

The ruins such as the plateau of statues suggest the garden was quite well developed and civilized in places, i think writing, runes and forms from that period would be more developed the aboriginal cave drawings.\

The Plateau and the many surrounding areas shows that the lost era of Genert was complex and rich, and probably contains many myths and peoples that we now know little about, including Mostali that very little is known about, including many gods we don't of, an otherwise unknown group of Mostali, whatever brought those damn Boggles there, and so on. The most important thing we know is that there was a great deal that was lost and don't know about. 

On 22/05/2017 at 8:51 PM, Jon Hunter said:

As I said its an area where YGMV  but there is plenty of scope for lost written forms of earthtounge to have survived here.  This would add to the regression and lost paradise theme which lies behind Prax. 

I think there is a difference between saying "writing is not normal, common or normally native to Prax", and absolutely "there is no writing in prax and the paps at all, ever, double underline."  

I always prefer to have a flexible position to allow for quirks, interesting exceptions and creative positions.  A 'normative position' establishes a setting well and allows for the deviation and variation that makes that setting varied, interesting & believable.  An absolutist position creates an inflexibility and uniformity which can limit richness in the setting.

I very much agree with the idea that a 'normative' position is vastly better than an absolutist one from a creative position. 

My normal reaction to a version of something Gloranthan that I know to be 'wrong' is that it exists somewhere. If I think it is definitely solidly false, then I think someone believes it, or someone believes it. Even the most homogenous Gloranthan religions that we know to have a strict orthodoxy  and believe themselves unchanged are still pretty heterodox and changeable (just look at the many movements that have reshaped Yelm, for example). 

[davecake]

On 22/05/2017 at 8:16 PM, David Scott said:

As for pictograms and paintings, I see much of it in a similar form to Australian art. The picture tell the story and everyone understands the symbols in the picture, lthough outsiders may not. It's not dot painting. 

Australian Indigenous art is by no means a single tradition - central dessert dot painting and 'map' or 'track' art, Northern coast 'x-ray' bark painting, ochre body painting designs. representational cave painting, etc. And of course a lot of interesting evolving traditions via contact with European and other cultures too. 

I'm guessing you mean the 'map' or 'track' style, which is symbolic rather than strictly representational (though the symbols mostly represent tracks), except you specifically say not dot painting, which makes it sound like you mean something else?  That sort of art would be a good match - part of its role is to record maps of important landmarks used to navigate around the big empty deserts. Though it also records stories, often at the same time - a story often involves a lot of travel and the series of sites where various events happen is the story in geographical form. 

 

On 22/05/2017 at 11:43 PM, g33k said:

 

 ... The Most Respected Elder has ... a smartphone????

(presumably running mhyOS )

This reminds me of great story from when we lived in Central Australia, actually. My wife (who is a doctor) attended a discussion/lecture in which the indigenous healers (some might call them shamans, their own word is ngangkari), many of whom do not speech English and have to be translated, are discussing their role and work - how they generally accept Western medicine is best for many physical ailments, but they still have many duties, including healing the sadness caused when a traveller leaves part of their soul behind and the ngangkari must travel far to retrieve and return it. A member of the audience asks how they know that someone needs them to perform this duty when they may be hundreds of kilometres away. Once the question is translated for them, they look at the questioner like he is an idiot - and hold up a mobile phone. 

[jajagappa]

14 minutes ago, davecake said:

how they generally accept Western Lunar medicine is best for many physical ailments, but they still have many duties, including healing the sadness caused when a traveller leaves part of their soul behind and the ngangkari must travel far to retrieve and return it.

Clearly a scenario in this!  Does a shaman investigating Ronegarth find a part of Lady Jezra's soul?  And how can he reunite it with her?  Sounds like a quest for PC's.