RQ Digest Discussions 7 -------------------- From: rfm@Eng.Sun.COM (Rich McAllister) Subject: RQ discussion 6 Re the recent discussion about "does Countermagic block Healing": as a house rule, we say it doesn't. Otherwise Countermagic becomes a fairly nasty offensive spell -- you cast it on your wounded enemies so they bleed to death. This just doesn't seem right. We also bagged the old RQ2 rule about having to wait so-many (don't even remember the number) rounds between Healing spells, for similar reasons. Otherwise what you do after cutting somebody's arm off is cast Heal 1 on it to prevent anybody from applying Heal 6 for a while... which turns Healing into a limited version of Seal Wound. Again, this seems counter to the "spirit" of the spell. Of course, a way of getting around these problems without changing the rules is just to distribute Dispel Magic matrices fairly freely as treasure.... Rich -------------------- From: paul@vulcan.phyast.pitt.edu (Paul Reilly) Subject: Re: RQ discussion My players keep changing their minds on which way they are going, so I am furiously "designing ahead" of them. Here are some initial notes on Loskalm which I'd like to submit for discussion; I'd be happy to clean these up and hopefully incorporate some people's suggestions (if you'd like to make them) in some future issue of the Digest. - Paul Reilly General Notes: First, see the entry in the Genertela Book. Population: c. 3,200,000 (c. POP 32,000) Capital: Northpoint; religious capital Southpoint. Society: Before the Syndic's Ban Loskalm was a feudal Hrestoli state prone to the same sort of corruption and vice that afflicts most countries. A fortunate series of strong-minded and ethical rulers combined with the isolation imposed by the Ban promoted the transformation of Loskalmi society into something approaching a practical implentation of the idealistic principles of the prophet Hrestol. Modern Loskalm is a successful idealistic state. Its success is based on the honorable enforcement of rational personnel selection criteria in business, religion, and civil and military government. Cynics maintain that such a system could only evolve in a fully isolated state and that the system is inherently unstable, soon to devolve into power-hungry men grabbing and holding the high offices available. However, no one can deny that the system is currently working extraordinarily well. Loskalmi society is pervaded by customs and stories designed to promote the service ethic. The ideal Loskalm citizen would be happy to stay home and farm, minding his own affairs, if only duty did not call him to various unpleasant tasks, e.g., being King. As soon as his labors are done, the ideal citizen is supposed to thankfully retire to the farm; many public figures actually do so, giving up power voluntarily. Most Loskalmi at least pay lip service to these ideals. Where a Rokari Count would say: "Servant, fetch me my ermine robe," his Hrestoli equivalent might complain "I suppose that in order to present our province in the proper light I must wear the ermine robe while meeting the Ambassador. Horace, would you be so kind as to bring it here?" Similarly, a Hrestoli Knight might say "If only I had not been chosen to bear the burden of Knighthood I would not have to attend these tedious parties." Within the Kingdom of Loskalm there are four important hierarchical organizations, each concerned most with the affairs of one caste. The government, headed by the King, oversees and administrates the other three in some ways, and handles "official" contacts with outsiders. The military is responsible both for defense of the kingdom and keeping order at home. The Church is responsible for the spiritual welfare of the people, for overseeing the use of sorcery, and for insuring adherence to the principles of Hrestol and Malkion. Finally, there exists a class of people whose titles could be translated as "co-ordinators" or "seneschals" who oversee mundane matters of production and supply appropriate to the Farmer caste. Note that each organization includes member of various castes and that the leaders of each are Lords in their own right. Military: 11 units each of 2000 Knights and 3000 Men-at-arms during the era of conflict with the Kingdom of War. Considerably less earlier, especially in the years immediately after 1582. The tax base of Loskalm is strained to support the military of 1621 but appears to be able to sustain this level of effort indefinitely; any further expansion of the military will involve noticeable cuts in the standard of living or erosion of Loskalm's capital endowment, however. An example of the tremendous expense involved in maintaining this army can be seen by examining horse feed alone. Each Knight in the army needs at LEAST two horses; the average is four. Additional horses for messengers, wagon teams, etc. number over 20,000. Thus the army has over 100,000 horses, each of which eats ten times as much food as a man. (This food must be produced by agriculture, since army horses are typically "on duty" and may not forage on low-quality grass for hours every day.) Thus a minumum agricultural production sufficient to feed one million people must somehow be found for the horses in a country of just over three million. All these figures are based on conservative estimates and assume perfect storage and distribution of grain and hay; the actual figures are no doubt much higher. Half of the Loskalm farmers' production is probably going directly to the military. Before the Ban each province of Loskalm fielded its own independent military, and local lords often had small military units loyal to them personally. The King had a following about twice the size of any provincial Count's and spent a lot of time discouraging rebellion by a show of force. Now the military has become very professional and is loyal to the Kingdom as a whole. Every man in the army knows that advancement is fair and based on ability, and that they will be given useful tasks not beyond their ability to accomplish. The esprit de corps is very great. Each province is responsible for maintaining one "legion", currently consisting of 200 Grand Knights, 1800 Knights, and 3000 men-at-arms. Each legion has perhaps the same number of attached non-combat personnel; for example every knight has his own squire to maintain his horses and equipment at peak readiness and to assist him in battle in emergencies. In addition, there are three special legions. Two are directly maintained by the King of Loskalm and are directly descended from the old national army; one is the specially organized legion consisting of Grand Knights, mostly from the militant Church orders. This legion alone represents one of the greatest concentrations of sorcerous power in Glorantha outside the Brithini lands. Borrowing a leaf from the Lunar magic regiments (who in turn based the idea on certain "forbidden" God Learner ideas) this legion is beginning to learn to combine their powers in a synergistic way to produce miraculous- seeming effects. Religion and the Church: Hrestoli Malkionism. During the Ban the religion of this kingdom became extremely orthodox and virtually all adherents of alternative forms of Malkionism and of various pagan faiths were "strongly encouraged" to convert to the state religion. The Church and the government are so intertwined in each other's affairs that foreigners often consider them to be one organism; however, there are two distinct hierarchies involved. The Church in Loskalm has taken on many of the functions that are served by countryside pagan cults such as Ernalda in other, less orthodox, Hrestoli lands. Loskalm has an almost bewildering profusion of Saints and there seems to be a patron Saint associated with almost any activity; many of these Saints actually seem to serve the function of the pagan gods. In a few cases, they ARE pagan gods; for example, St. Fronela of the Fields. Her story indicates that she was an early woman of Brithos who left to teach the arts of agriculture, particularly the cultivation of (insert whatever the Grain Goddess Fronela's grain is here). The primitive tribes there learned from her for many of their own lifetimes and afterwards remembered her as a goddess. She had tried to teach them of the ways of the Invisible God, to whom all worship should be directed, but during the Darkness they became confused and took to worshiping Fronela directly. Hrestoli know better; they worship not the Saints, but they do revere the holy dead who are in the bosom of the Invisible God, and they will ask them to intercede with Him on their behalf. Any superficial resemblance between these right-thinking followers of the Invisible God's Saints and pernicious sinful pagan cultists is purely coincidental. Also in the array of supernatural beings known to the Hrestoli are various Demons and the Damned. Demons are malignant entities formed when the null- ness of Chaos interacts with the basically personal and sentient fabric of Glorantha. These entities take on a semblance of life and spirit but at the core are essentially empty manifestations of the Void. Common Demons include Lust, Vengefulness, etc., who operate in the realm of the mind and emotions, and a whole host of lesser demons who tend to possess individuals or objects and infect them with the emptiness of Chaos. This empty core sucks at the fabric of the Invisible God's Lawful Creation and spews it into the Void; from this draining the demons can derive a fraction of the lost "beingness" and apply it in some trivial way, such as the so-called "chaotic features". Long ago, duringor even before the Ice Age, the amoral Brithini and their opponents the Wakbothi somehow learned to control this draining process by abusing the powers of sorcery. This was the origin of the various Tap spells and certain related spells; they are forbidden because they eat away at the fabric of the One God's creation. Tapping is completely prohibited, even of chaotic beings. Other chaos-based spells are either prohibited or discouraged depending on their exact function. The Church very largely controls the teaching and practice of magic in Loskalm with the exception of a very few state-supported "tower sorcerors" and their pupils. The training of would-be Grand Knights in magic is almost entirely in the hands of the Church, as is the training of the Wizard-Priests of the Invisible God. All mages entering into their training in the more advanced arts must first spend time learning of the Philosophy and Ethics of Magic. ( New Knowledge Skill, Hrestoli Ethical Philosphy. Base 25% for Hrestoli- raised people, 05% for others. This skill covers both abstract ethical questions, such as "When does the potential for good consequences of an action outweigh the actual harm done by it?" and the practical applications of this knowledge to various situations. Success in the skill will solve simple ethical dilemmas well-known to Hrestoli philosophers or bring to mind applicable examples (sometimes with apparently contradictory messages) when used on tougher problems. A special success will allow the resolution of knotty moral dilemmas, while a critical success can bring a genuinely new insight if the problem is new or relatively rarely encountered. This skill can be abused to justify an apparently unethical action to a moral Examiner with a skill penalty such as x 1/2 for a "questionable" action or a more intense penalty for obviously wrong actions. This skill is taught to Knight and Wizard candidates; those applying for Lord status should have this skill at 75% or better. This skill can improve by experience. There are a number of related skills, such as Hrestoli Moral Philosophy, Rokari Ethical Philosophy, and Lunar Ethical Philosophy, each with a "relatedness" modifier.) Caste Status in the Church The Hrestoli affirm that each person who been given the appropriate abilities should, if they wish, rise through the four castes. Everyone in Loskalm starts out as a Farmer; however, within each caste there are many stations and occupations available. Within the Church there are many paths; some begin and end within the bosom of the Church, others lead the devout out into the World. Farmer Caste in the Church The Church includes several orders of monks and nuns who, as novices, actually spend years or decades primarily serving as actual farmers while also learning as much of the higher religious doctrine as seems meet and proper to the Abbots or Abbesses charged with their care. In addition to these, the Farmer caste in the Church may include several other types of person. One of the most prominent is the Acolythist, usually a young man or woman who assists a Wizard with his sorcerous and religious duties, serving some of the same functions as an apprentice and/or "altar boy". Other church Farmers include scribe's assistants, various craftsmen in the Orders, and the Squires of Knights in Military Orders. The Knight Caste While to many outsiders the idea of Knights participating in the formal religious life of the church seems strange, it is only natural to the Loskalmi. Besides the fighting Knights, the church includes some "knights" of a rather different nature. Healing skills may be substituted for violent ones in qualifying for Knight caste due to the "military" applications of these skills; thus a High Healer sworn to non-violence could successfully "graduate" from the Knight class and qualify for sorcerous training without ever lifting a weapon. Certain Church orders are sworn to non-violence and follow this path. In additon to the Church Militant, the Knights of Loskalm turn to the Church for instruction in the arts magical. The Church treats the training of these Knights as an important duty and tries to impress upon the Knights the vast responsibility that comes with the attainment of such power. Occasionally a Knight-in-Training is deemed unsuitable for handling great magical power; the typical Church response is to quietly shunt him into magical dead ends or to teach him spells that are difficult to abuse, such as healing spells. The Wizard Caste Obviously this is the Caste most often associated with the church in the minds of the public and of outsiders. Full Priests (and some Nuns) in the church are always of Wizard caste and must qualify as such; not all of them concentrate in learning the sorcerous "blessings" however. Many, having earned Wizard status, are content to go out as parish priests and serve in this capacity for the rest of their lives. Church Wizards perform not only the obvious religious functions of preaching and conducting religious ceremonies but (as is common among religious figures in Glorantha) also perform apparently "secular" duties. This is part of the all-embracing nature of Hrestol's religion where every act can be performed not only for the self but also for the One God. Priests serve as court Wizards, as advisors, as healers for the public, and even as "commercial" magicians. Note that the basis of Western society in Glorantha is not only economic but also religious and spiritual; religious duties and economic necessity are inextricably entwined. The Church in Loskalm is not cordoned off into a separate sphere which ordinary people visit on Godday and holy days; it is a living force which penetrates deeply into the lives of noble and commoner alike. It is not at all unusual for a wizard-priest to set up what looks like a combination of a commercial venture and a church to alien (e.g., Earth) eyes; to the Loskalmi the business is itself a religious venture. Remember that Hrestol preached that each caste had Work which it could perform to glorify the One God and thus sanctify the Work and themselves; a Wizard's spells are just as holy as his Blessings in church when both are performed with devotion. For that matter, the weeding and plowing of peasants, the righteous battle of Knights, and the good administration of government are also all Holy Works when performed with devotion. Note that the Wizard caste includes some secular members. The Lord Caste Church leaders, like all Hrestoli leaders, are de facto member of the Lord Caste. Typically the Church leaders are highly adept sorcerors and deadly warriors (or talented Healers) in addition to being at least competent administators. The Church leadership works with the civil government. Church officials serve as advisors at every level of government; the Ecclesiarch at Southpoint is in some ways as important as the King at Northpoint. Cooperation between Church and State in Loskalm is currently very good, almost frictionless. Church leaders in the Lord caste have titles that we might translate as Ecclesiarch ( at the Kingdom level), Bishop (at the County level), General (the head of an Order), Monseigneur (at the city level), and Abbot or Abbess (the head of a separate religious establishment housing dedicated Church personnel). Those lower than this in the hierarchy are typically considered to be of Wizard caste. Law and the Church The Church in Loskalm is subject to the law of the land; however, magic is considered the proper province of the Church and magical offenses are tried under Church law. Most of the Church laws and the penalties for breaking them correspond to common sense if one takes into account the background of the Malkioni world-view; for example, worshipping pagan gods is considered simply to be granting some of your spiritual power to ancient and irresponsible sorcerors with the moral standing of two-year-olds. This is clearly an anti-social act and must be discouraged. Setting up a pagan temple in Loskalm is giving these bozos from before Time a magical beachhead in the midst of a peaceful country and is not to be tolerated. -------------------- From: Martin Crim Subject: Re: RQ discussion 6 Reply to Glen: Trolls "usually have gray skin, often mottled with other shade, such as orange or green." Elder Races Book, p. 54. I realize that the illustrations in Elder Secrets and Troll Gods are so ugly that they actually deter people from using them, but one can always place something over them; the rest of the books are somewhat useful. Another thought about Damage Resistance: Criticals penetrate "magical armor." Damage Resistance is not magical armor. It's a spell that protects the target's body by forcing damage to overcome the spell's intensity. The spell description does not restrict the type of damage. That doesn't mean that the target is immune to falls and cold, etc. It just means that the target will freeze to death slower, may survive a fall from just about any height, might not take damage the first round he falls into the pit of acid or lava or what have you--but the damage will eventually get to him. And even a fist attack will succeed 20% of the time against a DR8. A critical with an arrow will succeed 95% of the time. So why crock an already crocked spell? -------------------- The RuneQuest(tm) mailing list is a courtesy of Andrew Bell. All opinions and material above are the responsibility of the originator, and copyrights are held by them. 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