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Are we allowed to ask questions about lore? If not, pretend all the question marks in this post are periods, I guess. I’m just starting to read about Glorantha, and of course the first thing I skip to is the ducks. I keep seeing people online referring to the Durulz as being cursed, and grim, and doomed, and existentially just plain unhappy. What’s that about? What is the nature of the curse? I know they live next to an undead filled swamp, but that’s not really a curse, now is it? That’s just choosing a lovely place to live. How are they doomed? Are they destined to go extinct or something? Why are they so grim and depressed? Fighting undead should make you determined and resolute, maybe a little hard edged, not a mopey goth teenager, right? Also, are there any canon novels or short story collections set in Glorantha? I find that a better way to initially get into a setting than just reading an 800+ page encyclopedia of an alternate universe straight off the bat. I posted this here and not in the runequest thread because I honestly have no interest whatsoever in the rule system at this time, hope it’s not too out of place.
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Dec 14, 2020 19:54
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Nigmaetcetera posted:Are we allowed to ask questions about lore? If not, pretend all the question marks in this post are periods, I guess. There's an active RuneQuest thread? Search only shows me one that's already been archived. Seconding questions about in-world fiction. The closest I have is King of Sartar, which is supposedly written as a self-contradictory mythology rather than an easily accessible novel. I'm playing King of Dragon Pass as another way of accessing the lore.
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Dec 14, 2020 20:07
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Nigmaetcetera posted:Are we allowed to ask questions about lore? If not, pretend all the question marks in this post are periods, I guess. Ducks were once like any other bird of the celestial court, but got cursed by Yelm for being ugly and singing bad. They lost their ability to fly and also started birthing live young instead of laying eggs. This understandably pissed them off and is why they all worship the Orlanthi pantheon now. They also didn't pick a "lovely place to live," Delecti the necromancer moved into the swamp at least a thousand years after the ducks started living there. Their grimness and depression is being over-exaggerated by some thread posters, I think, though recently in the canon the ducks got blamed for Starbrow's Rebellion and the Lunars unleashed a genocidal pogrom called the Duck Hunt upon them. I think Greg Stafford planned a couple novels in the setting and released excerpts from them but never a full one. Most of what he's released is all from the Lunar perspective, making them unintelligible unless you've cooked your brain in the deep cosmology of the setting too.
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Dec 14, 2020 20:09
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Nanomashoes posted:They also didn't pick a "lovely place to live," Delecti the necromancer moved into the swamp at least a thousand years after the ducks started living there. Sorry for impugning the honor of the ducks, like I said I just started trying to get into it. Shame there’s no official long-form fiction. Guess I’ll play king of dragon pass like Absurd Alhazred suggested, but I’m not looking forward to it, I suck at those kind of games. Maybe I’ll find a trainer or something.
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Dec 14, 2020 20:18
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The Duck Hunt's ultimate objective was to secure a reliable river supply route down to Esrolia.
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Dec 14, 2020 20:21
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Nigmaetcetera posted:Sorry for impugning the honor of the ducks, like I said I just started trying to get into it. Six Ages is far more forgiving than KoDP
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Dec 14, 2020 20:33
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Ok, my strong piece of lore opinion is about Golarion, the primary world of Pathfinder, a slightly generic kitchen sink world. You thought all undead except ghosts were automatically evil, right? You’re all grotesquely wrong and your position is borderline bigoted. One resident of the libertarian hellhole Kaer Maga in Varisia, a vampire gangster by the name of Victae Kobaru, is canonically lawful neutral according to City of Strangers, the first edition sourcebook on Kaer Maga. This is not commented upon in the book, implying that it is not in itself particularly unusual for Mr. Kobaru to be non-evil. He is featured prominently in the tie-in novel The Redemption Engine, and does not engage in any evil behavior, so it’s clearly not a mistake in the sourcebook. He does not eat people, instead having a harem of beautiful young women he feeds upon. This is strictly voluntary, and it is not implied that they are compelled magically to stay with him. Rather, they each hang out with him for a period of several years because he’s rich, a reasonably nice guy all things considered, and he teaches them to be wizards. So far, not evil. His gangster activities are also limited to information brokering (not evil), and iirc paying people to gather dead bodies from the river for sale to necromancers for the manufacture of unintelligent undead, which is legal in Kaer Maga and is thus morally equivalent to running a soup kitchen. He’s drat near a saint compared to most people in the city. Because one intelligent undead is not evil, it is therefore feasible and in fact likely that many intelligent undead are not evil. Despite being abominations against the natural order of Life and Death as established and maintained by Pharasma, they could very well be pacifist followers of Sarenrae, just trying to make their way through unlife. So, the next time a ghoul screeches “SOOOOOOO HUNNNGGGGRRRRYYYYY!!!!!!” at you through rotten lungs and runs toward you baring their teeth and wagging their tongue from a rictus grin, maybe pull out some beef jerky from your pack instead of a holy symbol and holy water, huh? This message is brought to you by the First United Church of Urgathoa (reform) Nigmaetcetera fucked around with this message at 21:32 on Dec 14, 2020 |
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Dec 14, 2020 21:13
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Golarion is my favorite generic fantasy setting. You've got your paladin country and your demon country and your not!Europe continent and your not!Asia continent, sure. Then you've got a "country" of barbarian tribes that fight with laser pistols and power armor looted from a crashed alien megaship. You've got a planet in the outer solar system infested with the undead servitors of a hyper-advanced civilization that destroyed itself in a necromantic singularity. The God of Law has a vault of universal forms that will be used to recreate the universe if it's ever destroyed - which it will be, when the moon Groetus ever descends over Pharasma's boneyard. And that's not even getting into how Rasputin and the Russian Revolution are technically part of the Pathfinder canon, because they appear in a module along side Baba Yaga. Even the generic "adventurer's guild" organization has more flavor than I expected. The Pathfinder Society masquerades as disinterested archaeologists and treasure hunters, while effectively operating as a mercenary army and counterintelligence agency dedicated to advancing its own power and influence across the planet.
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Dec 14, 2020 21:27
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mellonbread posted:Golarion is my favorite generic fantasy setting. You've got your paladin country and your demon country and your not!Europe continent and your not!Asia continent, sure. Then you've got a "country" of barbarian tribes that fight with laser pistols and power armor looted from a crashed alien megaship. You've got a planet in the outer solar system infested with the undead servitors of a hyper-advanced civilization that destroyed itself in a necromantic singularity. The God of Law has a vault of universal forms that will be used to recreate the universe if it's ever destroyed - which it will be, when the moon Groetus ever descends over Pharasma's boneyard. And that's not even getting into how Rasputin and the Russian Revolution are technically part of the Pathfinder canon, because they appear in a module along side Baba Yaga. I suggest reading the Salim Ghadafar novels by James L. Sutter. Salim is an atheist from Rahadoum who is forced through a series of improbable events to work as an inquisitor for Pharasma. Also, the second book features a pair of gay monks in a Dom\sub relationship, which is apparently a part of their religion, which is pretty memorable. Also features the aforementioned vampire gangster. The Alaeron series and the Rodrick & Hrym series by Tim Pratt are pretty good too. The first book in the Alaeron series contains a bunch of action in Numeria, with lots of it happening in the crashed spaceship fragments themselves, and the second book features a bunch of fun in not!Sub-Saharan Africa, all starring a surprisingly powerful and resourceful alchemist. The Rodrick & Hrym books are the story of a thief and his best friend, a talking sword (who is either a reincarnated white dragon or a linnorm, I think the author forgets which), out to get rich. Obviously these ain’t high literature, but they’re fun, and all available on audible. The short stories that set up the main characters for all the series are available online for free, but I don’t remember what they’re called and I’m realizing I’m not talking about lore anymore. Here’s a relevant link: https://pathfinderwiki.com/wiki/Pathfinder_Tales_suggested_reading_order
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Dec 14, 2020 21:57
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Nice. I'll come back to this if I need reading recs.
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Dec 14, 2020 22:22
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Looking into Glorantha novels and apparently there's been a small number, all published in limited runs (400 or less!) with no ebook. Good luck getting your hands on them.
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Dec 15, 2020 01:41
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Nigmaetcetera posted:Are we allowed to ask questions about lore? If not, pretend all the question marks in this post are periods, I guess. There's the excellent webcomic Prince of Sartar that serves as an excellent introduction to Glorantha as a setting
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Dec 15, 2020 02:04
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Nigmaetcetera posted:Also, are there any canon novels or short story collections set in Glorantha? I find that a better way to initially get into a setting than just reading an 800+ page encyclopedia of an alternate universe straight off the bat. I posted this here and not in the runequest thread because I honestly have no interest whatsoever in the rule system at this time, hope it’s not too out of place. The unofficial Lore of Glorantha blog has a good smattering of the good Glorantha stuff.
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Dec 15, 2020 05:12
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drrockso20 posted:There's the excellent webcomic Prince of Sartar that serves as an excellent introduction to Glorantha as a setting I’m checking it out, but it keeps switching to German and\or randomly going back to the beginning when I click next. Kind of irritating. Will check it out more tomorrow. Thanks for the suggestions y’all.
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Dec 15, 2020 05:58
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Nigmaetcetera posted:I’m checking it out, but it keeps switching to German and\or randomly going back to the beginning when I click next. Kind of irritating. Will check it out more tomorrow. Yeah that happens on the first page for some reason, once you get past it it works fine.
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Dec 15, 2020 06:18
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If anyone still cares about 13th Age, the Great Gold Wyrm isn't sealing the Abyss from destroying reality out of noble altruism. By single-handedly preserving the existence of the world, literally sitting atop its impending destruction, the Wyrm claims the world as his hoard in the ultimate act of dragon one-upsmanship. That's it. That's the whole reason. Plus it's where all his stuff is.
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Dec 20, 2020 07:48
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Nanomashoes posted:limited runs (400 or less!) Oh no. I guess everyone’s Glorantha really is their own.
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Dec 20, 2020 18:57
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DalaranJ posted:Oh no. The history of Glorantha material publishing has been characterized by many Good Business Decisions, such as: -Finally getting good artists
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Dec 20, 2020 19:20
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In Phase World, Prometheans are the same race as the Dominators. The Dominator is just a third stage of their racial metamorphosis. It is not all a coincidence based imprudent use of Scott Johnson's art to represent two diametrically opposed races rather than a single one.
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Jan 13, 2021 01:43
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Nobilis 4e should round Lord Entropy out by giving him a fourth, extremely random Estate like The Number Seven or Ink, making him less laser-focused on being a dick to protagonists.
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Jan 19, 2021 04:06
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Rand Brittain posted:Nobilis 4e should round Lord Entropy out by giving him a fourth, extremely random Estate like The Number Seven or Ink, making him less laser-focused on being a dick to protagonists. Player logic would then dictate that the associated Noble of that Estate is the most irredeemably sinister of the bunch and to be avoided at all costs.
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Jan 19, 2021 19:23
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Lambo Trillrissian posted:Player logic would then dictate that the associated Noble of that Estate is the most irredeemably sinister of the bunch and to be avoided at all costs. Possibly, although then you’d have to have Joktan be a non-evil stand-up comedian or something.
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Jan 19, 2021 19:48
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My hottest deep lore take is * 40k has a million zillion books * The excuse for any inconsistencies between these books is that they're all in-universe propaganda pieces * Propaganda's purpose is to glamorize and empower the subject, while making the enemy seem dangerous and weak simultaneously * 40k's sources show a universe that is completely coming apart at the the seams, with every other person being a vile monster, and the only thing holding it together is the iron will of the fascist Imperium * The real world has examples of propaganda that portray America/Britain/Russia/etc. as the only thing holding together a rotten corrupt world where every other person is a vile monster * The real world, for all its horrors and miseries and so on, isn't actually that bad. I mean it is, but people still live in it, and eat dinner, and go to the movies, and generally chill out. * Therefore, 40k, as a propaganda piece that shows its own universe at its worst, must also not be that bad - people likely still live in it, eat dinner, go to the vodcasts (or whatever), and generally chill out. Extending from that, it probably means almost every faction is WAY more chill than they're portrayed - I mean, you can't have ANY kind of livable universe where every moment is a total orgy of death and hatred at all times. Warzones are nightmarish, living under [faction X] is terrible, there's mass crime and pollution and other horrible things - but, like, that's not different from reality. Ciapha Cain kind of backs me up on this, but my deep lore guess is that since everything is propaganda, everyone is propagandized, so the whole universe must be at least a LITTLE more functional and survivable than its shown to be. I mean, can you imagine how hosed up a person would think Earth is if their only point of reference was Tom Clancy novels?
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Feb 5, 2021 07:13
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The Tyranids, Orks, or Chaos are absolutely going to kill everyone some day. But, y’know, so is global warming and cancer.
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Feb 5, 2021 09:39
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Mimir posted:The Tyranids, Orks, or Chaos are absolutely going to kill everyone some day. But, y’know, so is global warming and cancer. I mean, again, literal propaganda. Half of what we "know" about ANY of the three of them could be entirely made up.
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Feb 5, 2021 15:56
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