Guide to Glorantha Group Read Week 12 - Shiyang

[David Scott]

Shiyang Province discussion here!

Don't forget Colin Driver's epic maps and the artwork.

https://basicroleplaying.org/topic/6746-guide-to-glorantha-group-read-week-12-kralorela/

https://basicroleplaying.org/topic/6747-guide-to-glorantha-group-read-week-12-deep-discussion/

https://basicroleplaying.org/topic/6720-guide-to-glorantha-group-read-week-12-errors/

[davecake]

I would love to know more about the Emerald Fish Lord and his Masked Spirit Dancers. 

[davecake]

WangBiao, King Violent Wind, is probably the local version of Orlanth.

[davecake]

The Three Dragon Pagoda story sounds like large scale geomancy. Which is great, because I've always wanted the Kralori to have large scale geomancy. 

[davecake]

Xianguanghui seems to essentially be Kralori Innsmouth. Xian guang could conceivably mean something like 'auspicious radiance', which is reminiscent of starry wisdom. Yuan sou means Marsh, so Yuansou Ebeide is Obed Marsh, who brought the Esoteric Order of Dagon, and worship of the Deep Ones, to Innsmouth, which is rather a giveaway. 

Exactly who are the equivalent of the Deep Ones in Glorantha is a good question. 

[davecake]

Yaanek Mountain - this is a reference to the Edgar Allen Poe poem Ulalume, which besides Yaanek mentions ghoul haunted woodlands frequently.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ulalume

Edited September 21, 2017 by davecake

[davecake]

I'm going to mention the terrestrial Nanai people, who live around the border between Russia and China. They distinctively make clothing from fish skins like the people of Xun Yupi. They have shamans, who specifically revere tigers and bears like people of Yongmincheng. Shamans of that area are often depicted with pointy hats, like the leaders of Xun Yupi. I'm sure we'd find more matching anthropological detail that matched if I had time to look and knew the area. 

[Brian McReynolds]

6 hours ago, davecake said:

Exactly who are the equivalent of the Deep Ones in Glorantha is a good question. 

Piscoi Mer-men perhaps? Malevolent 'Fish-men' who despise 'air-breathers' seems like a close match.

[Joerg]

7 hours ago, Brian McReynolds said:

Piscoi Mer-men perhaps? Malevolent 'Fish-men' who despise 'air-breathers' seems like a close match.

Piscoi Triolini aren't reported for the Sea of Fog, at least none of the three kindred known to us (Malasp. Ysabbau, Gnydron). Kahar's Sea has its own, non-Triolini merfolk, the Zabdamar, offspring of Thrunhin Da (aka Harantara) and Kahar.

I would go for the water-breathing Waertagi - they are able to interbreed with humans while leaving an inheritance quite similar to the Innsmouth look, with bluish-green patches of skin or scales and spikes. (In fact I have this as part of the character concept for a Pelaskite of mine.)

The problem is the location. Kahar's Sea of Fog isn't known for a Triolini presence, and the local Zabdamar aren't quite a match for the Deep Ones.

Selkies aka Barred Seal Hsunchen might have been an alternative, but they are listed as extinct.

 

The cult was imported (I assume recently, after the Opening) from the East Isles, and sounds like an antigod cult. Now both the offspring of Vith and Gebkeran and the alien deities of elsewhere are collectively called antigods, so this isn't much to tell us about the entities behind it.

There are Triolini in the East Isles - two major Ludoch tribes, and their ancestral deities including Triolina, who might fill the "Secret Traditions of Life " role.

Fertile intermarriages of humans (other than Waertagi, who already are half-Triolini by descent) with piscoi or cetoi merfolk haven't been reported. On the other hand, we have numerous cases of niiads mating with all manner of non-Triolini partners, possibly including less-than-demigod humans. Still, such offspring could at best be born in second generation now. Which might be all that is needed to display full Deep One characteristics, at least occasionally, and the urge to settle below the waves.

Another interesting way could be the Triolina magic of assuming the (general, not necessarily specific) shape of an entity one has consumed. Returning to one's original shape needn't be perfect all the time, so an Innsmouth Look might be accrued over repeated uses of this ability.

 

[jajagappa]

4 hours ago, Joerg said:

The cult was imported (I assume recently, after the Opening) from the East Isles, and sounds like an antigod cult.

I'd suggest some branch of Andin demon from the East Isles, which definitely fall into the antigod path.

[Joerg]

2 hours ago, jajagappa said:

I'd suggest some branch of Andin demon from the East Isles, which definitely fall into the antigod path.

Are there any maritime or submaritime versions of the Andins?

They come across as an independent breed of Underworld man-rune demons analogous to the trolls, maybe less hostile to Chaos (if at all), and they might have a variation analogous to the Sea Trolls. In that case, it will be interesting how they manage to intrude into the Zabdamar waters under the mystical protection of Thrunhin Da.

[GianniVacca]

On 22/09/2017 at 8:48 PM, Joerg said:

Are there any maritime or submaritime versions of the Andins?

I think Andins come in all kinds of ways and figures.