[Glorantha] Re: Mostali/Ducks/Centaurs/Elder Races

[Simon Phipp]

Richard Crawley:

> A couple of questions came up during discussions on the GloryGeeks list:
> 
> Clearly Clay Mostali are made of something humans would recognise as flesh.
> What about the "true mostali"?  Do Iron Mostali appear to be made iron?
> Does the "skin" of a Quicksilver Mostali flow like liquid metal?

I've always played the true mostali as being made up of their respective
elements, not as metal men but as something different. However, it is very
difficult to get to meet true mostali. Since Quicksilver mostali can become
virtually anything they like, then they could change their appearance at
will, presumably, Terminator 2-style.

> Also - how big are true Mostali?  I believe that dwarves are stunted
> compared to the real thing.  Should my model of Isidilian be bigger than
> the
> Citadel dwarf I'm using at present?  How big is the "statue" at Dwarf
> Knoll?

We always played they were bigger than normal humans. At least the ones with
machine guns and bazookas were, when we met them ....

Rick Meintz:

> For me, I believe that Ducks and Centaurs existed before the Dawn. Ducks
> were sentient birds that were servants of Yelm. Centaurs I am fuzzy about,
> but they strike me as being Men/Horse shapeshifters, probably Hsunchen, who
> are stuck in mid-transformation. Both are essentially cursed races, for
> different reasons, but with similar outcomes.

Well, Ganderland appeared on the very early maps of the Godtime. I always
thought of the pre-time ducks as being mighty in stature, and any modern
ducks who HeroQuest back to Ganderland would be in for one hell of a shock
when they see "proper" ducks.

> The EWF tried to restore both races to their original Golden Age status
> through their experiments, with somewhat different success levels. They
> didn't find a way to restore the ducks powers of flight, and their attempts
> to make the Centaurs back into Hsunchen got stuck mid-stream. Stitching men
> and horses together didn't create the end product desired. Neither did
> restoring the ducks flight powers, but with less visible effects. The ducks
> and centaurs of the Golden Age were both more powerful. Encountering one of
> the uncursed versions could prove interesting, and I'm sure they are
> encountered via Heroquests. If ducks or centaurs had successful
> heroquesters working to correct their curses, they may over time be able to
> get back to Golden Age powers. Much like Cragspider and others are trying
> to break the troll curses. Mistress race trolls are to trollkin what
> current ducks are to Golden Age ducks, at least on a simplistic level -
> mere shadows of their former glory and often the source of disdain and
> ridicule. 

I'm not sure how many ducks/centaurs are trying to renew their races.
Centaurs are pretty good the way they are, obviously superior to both humans
and horses. Ducks know they had a proud tradition, stretching back before the
Dragonkill, and most of them don't give two quacks about Ganderland, except
to know that they once had a huge empire.
  
> One potentially interesting Hero wars plot line could involve Ironhoof
> trying to Heroquest to get a Golden Age pure centaur mate, with which to
> reinvigorate his species. With Ducks I am less sure what they could do.
> Nobody has ever put forth a definitive "here's what they did wrong to get
> cursed" theory, which they could then HQ to correct or overcome.

I always thought of Ironhoof as the Stallion of all the centaurs, so he would
be continually refreshing the species by mating with as many females as
possible. Would he have much time for HeroQuesting as well?

Perhaps Ducks don't know why they were cursed, or who cursed them. Nobody
told them. They think it's because they helped Orlanth against Yelm, but they
might be wrong. Perhaps they were cursed just because they were ducks.

> I would love to see one of the Elder Races break their curse or restore
> their fortunes during the Hero Wars. It seems a little one sided to just
> have all of them continue to struggle into oblivion, and just succumb to
> the power of Man. That seems a little too much like Tolkien's take on his
> Elder races. The "now is the time for men" theme has already been done. No
> reason we can't be a little different than that.

Well, that's what seems to have happened to the trolls - they all go away,
except for a few at Cliffhome. Perhaps they don't break the curse, but they
do get to return to Wonderhome to live.

> Speaking of Elder Races, Moon Design Publications (that's me) wants to
> publish (and has in the works) a number of Elder Race source books. The
> three biggies are Elves, Dwarves, and Trolls. A potential 4th source book
> would be for Ducks. Shannon Applecline continues to make progress on his
> Aldryami book, James Frusetta is dusting off his work on Uz, and we've made
> some early inquiries into the Mostali book with potential writers. Ducks,
> Centaurs, etc. are all still currently up for grabs. While Trolls, Elves
> and Dwarves may each end up getting a 128 page treatment via a main source
> book, I feel that many of the other "lesser" elder races could each easily
> fill out a 64 page sourcebook. The real problem is finding a lead writer
> with good ideas to head each one up. If anyone is interested in writing for
> such a project, please contact Mark Galeotti and myself.

Well, you have to have a new version of the Kyger Litor cult to christen any
new Gloranthan launch, it's traditional.

Having different Troll/Elf/Dwark Packs would be good, and well overdue. HQ
has concentrated on humans for far too long. Having a combined pack for the
other elder races sounds familiar (Elder Secrets), but would a 64 page
sourcebook be enough? If you have ducks, centaurs, minotaurs, telmori, ogres,
newtlings and dragonewts, with the other minor races lumped in as one, that
gives you 8 sections, each 8 pages long. 

Still, it's good news that more things are coming through. Let's wait until
Next Year.

Peter Metcalfe:
> Isidilian appears like a normal dwarf but again that's probably him
> hiding his true nature.  I didn't know there was a statue at Dwarf
> Knoll.

In ToTRM, I can't remember which one, it describes Dwark Knoll and says there
is an Iron Mostali who guards it and appears to be a statue of a dwarf.

See Ya

Simon