These messages are the accumulation of the messages that were sent out on the Blue Room email list between May 1995 and June 2000. A large portion of the information is directly from Professor M.A.R Barker. When the list members joined during the time the list was active, they agreed to refrain from sharing this data with non list members. When the list ended, it was urged that the data be made available to non-list Tekumel fans, and it seemed like a good idea all around. I only ask that if you download these digests, or have received them in some other way, please respect the agreements the list members made, and refrain from passing them around and instead point people to the Tekumel web site, www.tekumel.com so that they can download them for themselves, and see all the other material available on the Tekumel.com web site. Many Thanks. Chris Davis Moderator: Blue Room mailing list Creative Commons - Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs CC BY-NC-ND BLUE ROOM ARCHIVE -- VOLUME 31 [30 January 1999 - 28 March 1999] 901: More on Peeking 902: Gods of the Pe Choi 903: More on Animals 904: Chaigari Maps 905: More on Pronunciation 906: Books and Distant Lands 907: How Professor Barker is Seen on Tekumel 908: More Observations of Current Events 909: More Creatures 910: Game Aid 911: Hlutrgu as Player Characters 912: Ssu and EveCon 913: Fenul Q&As 914: Disease Transmission 915: Various Subjects 916: Paper on Tekumel 917: Weapon History and Physics 918: Tekumelani Artist 919: Non-human's Star Systems 920: The World of Petal Throne Update 921: Administrative Notes 922: Professor's Character 923: Convention and Miscellaneous News 924: More on Disease Transmission 925: More on Non-human's Star Systems 926: Upcoming Convention Tekumel Events 927: Pronunciation CD 928: Guardians of the Sojourner 929: Medals and Awards 930: Hlutrgu as PCs Reply ******************************* //901 [Moderator's Note: Chuck Monson, Geof Stone, Chaz Tompkins, Bob Alberti and ] [ Joe Zottola comments on peeking at Professor Barker's ] [ Tekumel goodies. ] Chuck writes. Having in the distant past been privileged to visit the upper sanctum at the Professor's house, I can attest that what any rational person would look at is NOT some stats from a card in any cabinet one might discover there. And one should take heed of the numerological significance of the Professor's own astrological chart hanging on the wall (when I last saw it).... Immense power held in check by a star on a horizon wasn't it? Oh, by the way, I remember a certain sword with an inscription not readily determined at the time. Was its provenance discovered and translated? [Moderator's Note: I don't know! ] -- Geof writes. This is a subject I've often wondered about over the years. Never in my many years playing did I ever seen Phil reference any note other that a small scrap of paper where he keeps track of the date from the last session. Yet, he remembers the details of encounters that happened years prior with amazing clarity. (Such events having the habit of coming back to haunt the characters later.) I have a pretty good memory, for Tekumel-related trivia in particular, but mine is not nearly as good. Thus, I would be quite surprised if a large set of notes existed. Even if such a tome did exist, it would likely NOT be in English (Urdu, perhaps?). The boxes of cards laying out in the basement have non-english notations on some of the more interesting ones. Now, some sneaky player studying Urdu just to be able to read the cards, thats an interesting rumor. (I have often wondered if this would turn out to be a great joke on whoever went to the trouble.) It would be interesting, some day, to know how accurate some of the conclusions, predictions and such made by the players actually turn out to be, though it would spoil the fun 'knowing'. I think that there are a number of players that have a good handle on things, at least in an abstract sense, but of course, there are always the misdirections and such that cloud such 'knowledge'. In any case, it sure is a load of fun trying to figure it all out, even though the temples, empires, etc. are always trying to prevent it! Osumetlu hi Vu'urtesh Clan of the Golden Bough On assignment in the wastelands of far western Mu'ugalavya p.s. Hi Phil! Hi everyone! -- Chaz writes. Ah yes, the *dark* secrets hidden in the filing cabinet. My first exposure to EPT was in high school as a miscreant and member-at-large of the Flying Buffalo Club. The mainstay of the club's activities was nuclear destruction, but we spent many hours after school slaying Ssu and running away from the OAL. In any case, the teacher who sponsored the club relegated one drawer in his filing cabinet for club archives, including such important documents as which player character launched ICBM's from the Kerguelen Islands and thus initiated..... I digress. It was the LAW that only the 'Pharoah' and the 'High Priest' could access the archives. To enforce the law, a combination lock was placed upon the bare handle of the cabinet drawer. Before the drawer was pulled, the lock was dutifully opened. Every time. It was done with secretive gestures and scowls at curious onlookers. The combination was not let out. During my junior year, the sponsor of the club took sick, and was replaced for a few days by a substitute. At some point he needed to access some of the attendance sheets held in the second drawer of the file. He waited until the following period, when the class included the Pharoah, and asked him to unlock the file, since he -the sub- didn't know the combination. For all of my days in the classroom, I never learned a more valuable lesson. -- Bob writes. Additional notes on "peeking:" 1) The person bragging about knowing "secrets" was also bragging about executing a gross breach of ethics, hospitality and etiquette. Even if he or she did not actually do it, their judgement in making such a boast is questionable... 2) Professor Barker writes his secrets in Urdu. Well, at least I think they're secrets -- I can't read Urdu, so maybe they say "This'll keep the snoopers busy!" And of course his Urdu is of the same style used by Southeast Asian doctors to write prescriptions, so even native readers would have trouble with it... 3) The Professor's comment about secrets being "in plain sight" is frustratingly accurate. I can't count the number of Homer Simpson "D'oh!"s I've uttered when something astonishingly obvious became apparent in hindsight. Anyone who doubts me should go back and read Man of Gold and remember that it was written ten Terran years before Dhichune seized the throne... -- Joe writes. In regards to Peeking, it has long been rumored that there is a Tome in Phil's attic that details the time-line of Tekumel this has never been confirmed... Phil does indeed have the "npc cards" in the basement and they are accessible to the people in the basement..However there is one problem and that is that on any of the "important cards" with the exception of the name, any important info on the card is on written in Urdu..... Arumel Hichankolel Joe Zottola ----- Chris Davis Moderator, The Blue Room blueroom@prin.edu The Blue Room's FTP site: http://nexus.prin.edu or ftp://nexus.prin.edu Available 24 hours a day, except when my PC is down, or unavailable. //902 [Moderator's Note: Al Muscielewicz offers to write up some info about the ] [ Pe Choi. We'd love to have it Al. ] Noble Ones: Hmmm...perhaps now that I have been revived I should write up a little about "The Garden", that could be the Pe Choi's "heaven" or "home planet". It could be the Hh-kk-ssa that is mentioned by Bob. But when helping my Pe Choi friend find this place he referred to it as "the garden". In the gardens of Onchash Chairon, they have a plant that came from this garden and was tended by four (?) Pe Choi. I took a clipping back to Prince R who is an quite the collector of rare plants. I have notes of all of this somewhere in my warehouse in Jakalla. Matlor, where are you when I need you? You can never find a major domo when you require the services of one. Oh well I suppose I could ask one of the spies if they have found them. They seem to have found out everything else of mine, including the "gift" from that nice little priestess of Dlamelish, but that is another story..... for now, goodbye. Tekunu hi'Qolyelmu ----- Chris Davis Moderator, The Blue Room blueroom@prin.edu The Blue Room's FTP site: http://nexus.prin.edu or ftp://nexus.prin.edu Available 24 hours a day, except when my PC is down, or unavailable. //903 [Moderator's Note: Mike Wayne sends some info about Dogs in his campaign. ] [ I add some experiences from Phil's campaign with a ] [ friend that I made. ] Dogs (and Kuni's) on Tekumel revisited: Wow! Lots of opinions on this subject. Let me state a few facts/opinions/assumptions that I'm using in developing this facet of my version of Tekumel. Some of these are in response to the various items mentioned on this list. As always it may not conform to the Real Tekumel. 1) Dogs and wolves are cross fertile and do not produce mules (ie the offspring are also fertile). There is a small but dedicated set of fans of these wolf-dogs on Terra. 2) Wolves and dogs (of any breed) are, so far, indistinguishable on the basis of DNA. Chihuahua's look just like Irish wolfhounds under the microscope. 3) Wolves are not ancestors of dogs, they are both offshoots of a common ancestor. Common knowledge for years has held that dogs are domesticated wolves, but some recent research in various fields is beginning to challenge this view. 4) Evidence has shown that dogs, when crossbred, tend to look the same. They end up about 30 to 45 pounds, with a curly (spitz type) tail, and a brown/black/tan coat like a German shepherd's. 5) In theory hip displasia could exist on Tekumel, I've decided that it doesn't. I SAID THAT HIP DISPLASIA DOES NOT EXIST ON TEKUMEL!!. I don't like hip displasia in the real world, I'm not going to have on the travels in my mind. Besides Tekumel folk at one time had superb genetic engineering and could have eliminated it. Furthermore, in this world, evidence exists that HD is the result of line breeding and failure to cull in dogs bred especially for show. German shepherd lines bred for work have far lower occurrence of HD than lines bred for show. 6) Dogs DO exist on Tekumel. I don't have my books handy, but if I remember right, they are listed for sale in Gardisiyal. I think I remember them being mentioned for sale in the market in Adventures in Tekumel vol 1. I know they are mentioned in the hunting adventure in Adventures in Tekumel vol 2 as being 'lead by muscular men in black with leashes'. Whether these men were just servants or members of a clan specializing in dogs, or something like a cult, I don't know yet. Anybody know? 7) While I don't remember for certain, I believe that some early post Cataclysm experiments with Airedales and border collies may have been responsible in part for the predjudice against blue eyes. In an attempt to breed a Chlen herding dog, Airedales and Borders were crossed with the result being a large dog (150 pounds) with blue eyes (from the collies). They also possessed a keen if very quirky intelligence. They were smart enough to escape captivity and establish themselves in the wild. Legends persist of these wild dogs that are similar to the 'elves' or 'brownies' of this world. They have been reported to do such things as start chlen stampedes in the middle of a battle, or break into wine houses and drink all the beer. Like the dolphins of Terra they have been known to protect small children in the wild. I'm sure someone out there also has legends of these semi-mythical beasts. 8) In reading Adventures on Tekumel vol 2 I came across a short scene about the "under people" of Tekumel. Supposedly a loose confederation of semi intelligent folks like the Renyu. Any body run across this in their travels? [Moderator's Note: Yes. You can read all about it in MoG. Harsan meets a] [ female Pe Choi whose mission is to contact the "Under ] [ People" of Tekumel. I also had personal experience ] [ with them when I played in a Thursday night game. A ] [ creature usually considered an animal, a Mnor. It ] [ provided food, and accompanied me to my destination, ] [ also staying on indefinitely. As you can imagine, my ] [ character became quite attached to his friend. I took ] [ to wearing it draped around my shoulders. It became ] [ clear just what a good companion he was when some ] [ creatures considered monsters were warned away by him. ] [ I went walking in places infested with Epeng, without ] [ much fear. This "Under People" thing is a very ] [ interesting topic and could enrich regular adventures ] [ in your ongoing Tekumel campaign. Even the Ngoro in ] [ MoG responded to the quest of contacting the "Under ] [ People" (Harsan ended up involved in continuing the ] [ task when the Pe Choi died (if I remember correctly). ] 9) Based on others input and on the history of Tekumel, I suspect that dogs on Tekumel fall into 2 rough groups. One is the working dogs familiar to Terra as I have previously described. While changed from their Terran form (imagine packs of Great Dane sized Rottwielers used for herding Chlen) they couldn't be to changed because a) they still have jobs to do and form follows function b) they genotype only changes so far (Great Danes and Chihuahua's are examples of extremes on earth, and both suffer from several complexes that drastically curtail their life an working ability). The other group is those animals that were engineered genetically following the Cataclysm. The ability to do this has since been (mostly) lost, but is responsible for certain characteristics common in all canids on Tekumel, such as enhanced heat tolerance and a (somewhat) opposable thumb allowing them simple grasping and climbing abilities. (NB This ability exists on Earth in a breed called Puffinhounds who use it to climb cliffs in search of puffin eggs.) Animals in this group tend to be rare and have very unusual capabilities. I look forward to hearing folks descriptions of encounters with these strange beasts. 10) 60,000 years is not really long enough, I believe, for HUGE changes to be brought about be evolution alone, but it is long enough for large changes if "sparked" by even limited early days genetic engineering. I really like the idea of intelligent cats out in the bush (and I bet they have psychic abilities!). 11) While 60,000 is short on an evolutionary scale it is a HUGE amount of time to develop the knowledge of animal training and so this is a very sophisticated skill, if not considered Noble. I recently lost my copy of "The excellent training manual for the Majestic and Graceful Kuni" (which seems to have a bibliographic reference to Alex the Parrot who uses sentences and his trainer Dr. Irene Pepperburg--great post whoever sent it!) but I seem to remember that Kuni's have a limited counting ability (1 to 5 and many) and the ability to remember individual faces. In the companion book "The grammar, syntax, and vocabulary of the the Sky Emperor known as the Kuni" I believe that the subset of Tsolyani used for Kuni's is about 400 words. A World Book article I read several years ago says that about 800 words is required for a complete language. So Kuni language is probably about as reliable as a 2 or 3 year old child. I wonder if they have ever been used as a message courier service like homing pigeons? Later! Micheal K. Wayne ----- Chris Davis Moderator, The Blue Room blueroom@prin.edu The Blue Room's FTP site: http://nexus.prin.edu or ftp://nexus.prin.edu Available 24 hours a day, except when my PC is down, or unavailable. //904 [Moderator's Note: Andrew Lorince wants to compare Chaigari Campaign notes ] [ with Chris Vickers. It would be interesting to see how ] [ two established campaigns in the same area had ] [ developed. ] reading chris vickers message regarding chaigari info posted by michal schwartz. it might be interesting to compare are maps and resource info. yuninash hi'ancholbel governor of fenul ----- Chris Davis Moderator, The Blue Room blueroom@prin.edu The Blue Room's FTP site: http://nexus.prin.edu or ftp://nexus.prin.edu Available 24 hours a day, except when my PC is down, or unavailable. //905 [Moderator's Note: Many folk comment on the pronunciation thread. Here are ] [ messages from Scott Maxwell, Brion Oliver, Chaz Tompkins,] [ >I have a WAV file made from an old tape that originally was included in the >Tsolyani Language books on my web site >(http://www.io.com/~slocum/tekumel.html). I have a PC with 30,000 (give or take 29,995) programs to run .WAV files and all of them say "Unknown file format. Pisses me off because I once got the sucker to run on a 286 machine I owned many years ago. -- Brion Oliver writes. Greets. If you are going to invest the time to record the Professor for pronunciation posterity, you really should look into some kind of digital recording. A tape recorder and magnetic tape will not offer anywhere near the sound quality, longevity, and ease of duplication/internet distribution that a digital recording will. I'm not a sound geek myself, but have friends who are. A personal digital recorder/player can be purchased, certainly, for less than $300, and possibly more like $150. You shouldn't have to purchase one, though. I'm sure cheap rentals are available at local sound stores, and even better, people who are into this technology are like gamers -- they love their hobby and can think of nothing better to do than do cool things with it. It shouldn't be too hard by advertising at local music/sound stores to find someone who knows what they are doing, with the proper equipment, who would make a professional-quality recording of the Professor available for free or a minimal cost. Or look for a music student at the University who could use the project as an independent study project at school or something. You basically just need a portable DAT or Mini-Disk recorder, and a good-quality microphone. If you do try to recruit someone to assist, I'd recommend checking their work -- anyone with the money to buy the equipment can call themselves an audiophile or even a sound engineer, and in the theater world I've encountered people with expensive equipment who didn't know what they were doing and produced awful sound. Once you have something, let me know at brion@sirius.com -- one of my best friends is the sound engineer for Real Audio and could offer assistance with compression and processing for transmission over the internet. He might even be able to find a host site for Real Audio broadcast. Don't waste your time with someone's portable tape recorder. Really. Brion -- Chaz Tompkins writes. I hesitate to (and in fact won't) make the offer before I have the equipment in place and the bugs worked out, but I am in line to get a new CD recorder. Supposedly, the better models come with recording software that allows one to easily edit out hiss, pop, and other such sound maladies. If we (collectively) can figure a way to record a proper pronunciation guide, I would be happy to transfer it to CD and distribute it at cost. I'll update the list when the capability to record is confirmed. Chaz ----- Chris Davis Moderator, The Blue Room blueroom@prin.edu The Blue Room's FTP site: http://nexus.prin.edu or ftp://nexus.prin.edu Available 24 hours a day, except when my PC is down, or unavailable. //906 [Moderator's Note: Professor Barker answers miscellaneous questions from ] [ Martin Howard. ] > 1.Would it be possible to provide some other book titles in languages >other than Tsolyani? Subject matter is irrelevant, as they would be used >as clan treasure, tomb finds, or non-player-characters study/hobby >materials, etc. There are huge libraries in many of the great cities of Tekumel! Just giving titles at random seems quite impossible -- like asking your university librarian to "name a few" of his/her books. Some histories are named in the history sections of the Sourcebook, some demonological treatises are named in "The Book of Ebon Bindings," a few military treatises are mentioned in the article "Military Formations of the nations of the Universe," and other titles are scattered around elsewhere. Almost every title you can think of has been used over the millennia. Even "War and Peace" (/qadardalikoi lel mazikikh/; this is not by a Russian novelist, however, but is a thick volume dealing with political strategy (like Machiavelli), written by Nikome hiQurondu, a priest of Karakan in Khirgar, in 2003 A.S. I think Jakalla and Bey Su both have copies. The Governor's library at Tumissa has a precis and a series of extracts. It has been translated into Mu'ugalavyani in 2217. > 2.How much is generally known about the human settlements on the >Southern Continent [Naqsai lands] - by the Tsolyani - and, is this >information restricted by the Imperium at all? There are sailors' tales and reports from a very few wanderers and explorers who have actually visited there. Not much else. These are all archived at the Chancery in Avanthar. They are not "secret" or "restricted," but a Tsolyani library is hard to use since it is uncatalogued and depends upon the encyclopaedic memory of its librarians. Most books also do not have titles printed on the spine, nor do many of them have title pages. You open a scroll or a pile of dusty pages and read the author's introductory words. A book usually begins with praise to the author's personal deity, then mentions his name, his lineage, his clan, and his patrons (if any). After that, with interminable elegance and formality, he may get around to saying what he wrote and what the book contains. At the end of this discussion he may sum it up with something like: "... And for these reasons I hasve called this execrable scribbling of mine by the name 'Green Pillars of Delight' (a treatise on growing Mash-fruit trees). > 3.Who lives in the Great Desert of Galai and the Plain of Towers, >which lies beyond? Are they a known ethnic group or has this yet to be >determined? The Great Desert is practically uninhabited, except for the hostile Churstalli; see the Mu'ugalavyani army list and the Bestiary. Beyond lie wastelands and the barrens of the Plain of Towers. Beyond these, farther west, are the relatively fertile, forested reaches of Tane (accent on the "e" -- don't pronounce it like "lane" or "Shane!") There is an article on Tane in one of the older journals, and I think it was reprinted later in one of the "nest of..." volumes. Small villages and settlements of mutually hostile tribes dwell in Tane and herd the great bumbling Bazhaq beasts, using them for food, riding, their skins for warmth and garments, and their dung for fuel. Still off to the west, at the very extremity of the continent is a settlement of great Black Ssu. THese are inimcal to humankind. Regards, Phil ----- Chris Davis Moderator, The Blue Room blueroom@prin.edu The Blue Room's FTP site: http://nexus.prin.edu or ftp://nexus.prin.edu Available 24 hours a day, except when my PC is down, or unavailable. //907 [Moderator's Note: Professor Barker answers a question about how the ] [ residents of Tekumel see him. ] >In the context of this conversation, supposing that the Professor is >'seeing' an alternate dimension, I'm curious about how the denizens of >Tekumel's plane of existence view the Professor. I seem to recall having >read something by him in which he discusses this, but cannot recall it. Are >they aware of him, and by extension, us and our plane? If so, are they aware >that there is a faction of people on our plane who study theirs by enacting >a game? >Does the Professor ever talk about this stuff, or does he remain quiet about >how he channels things Tekumelani? Or is he himself unsure of where this >stuff comes from? >brion oliver My players have sometimes discussed this with me. I cannot provide an answer. What I do is to concentrate on the area of Tekumel that I want, let my mind go blank, and "see" its geography, its cities, its peoples. If I want to get specific, I "zoom in" and look at an individual village, clanhouse, or even a person. I have no trouble in "seeing" these things, and if the player party ever passes that way again, they'll find only logical changes and developments. Just last night, Lord Sanjesh hiKirisaya returned from a long adventure to his home near Usenanu. He found his old clanmaster gone, replaced by a younger man; he found the High Scholar Priest in his temple of Thumis had died and the post has not yet been filled -- and a lot of other minor changes. As for how the Tekumelani see *me,* I should note that I am invisible and intangible to them -- like an "eye in the sky." When I want to play on Tekumel, I have to choose a "character," just like other gamers do. My earliest "player"-character is still alive and prospering (and i won't tell you where he is now). I had another, later "player"-character: a Livyani named Tarshaz Arrio, whose home is in Sraon. He's a younger brother of the Arrio mentioned in "Man of Gold." Interestingly, what *I* see and what Tarshaz sees are quite different: *I* can tell you who is waiting behind a certain door; Tarshaz is limited by his own perceptions. He thus has no special powers that are not covered by spells or talents. Regards, Phil ----- Chris Davis Moderator, The Blue Room blueroom@prin.edu The Blue Room's FTP site: http://nexus.prin.edu or ftp://nexus.prin.edu Available 24 hours a day, except when my PC is down, or unavailable. //908 [Moderator's Note: Peter Timko adds to the Observations about Current Events.] Well, well, well. Mr. Snead may be onto something here, methinks. I recall certain adventures in the seas near Haida Pakalla where magic kind of didn't work, and even eyes were a bit off their respective games. Then, of course, there is my Haida Pakallan friend who discovered after his arrival in Tsolyanu, sorcery didn't work well in his presence, and made himself the even of a few Priests of the Worm. Anyway, I would suggest that since there are these other magically "dead" zones, the Tsolyani Imperium is at work on the problem, perhaps in a round about way. Let us not forget who sits upon the petal throne in Avanthar, and that the slippery Rereshqala is also ensconced somewhere in Avanthar. Wheels within wheels, I'd bet. Let the Red Hats try to reverse 2020, and I have a feeling some black counters will be revealed with great suddenness up there in the Chakas. Peter ----- Chris Davis Moderator, The Blue Room blueroom@prin.edu The Blue Room's FTP site: http://nexus.prin.edu or ftp://nexus.prin.edu Available 24 hours a day, except when my PC is down, or unavailable. //909 [Moderator's Note: Peter Huston offers up some more creatures from his ] [ campaigns. ] Some creatures from Ye Olde Tekumel Campaign This time I'm just going to go through and paste in a few things here and there. The mock-Tsolyani names may or may not be appropriate - probably not - I developed these things some time ago. (Although I now have the language book, I don't claim any skill in its use.) Perhaps the names are in some language of the far side of Tekumel where these things live. Please remember the bulk of these were created while I was in high school, so go easy on them (and me) if they don't seem absolutely brilliant. I've included EPT stats. Ankheng - Yes, folks I went through the AD&D monster manual and placed this in the campaign. Make of that what you will. It looked sufficiently alien to me. Name: Ankheng # of attacks: 1 Damage per attack: 2-16 (plus 1-4 per turn) Intelligence: None Special Attacks: Squirt Acid (6 dice) Number Appearing: 1-6 Armor: 3 Movement: 12 (6) Hit Dice: 3-8 % in Lair: 15 Treasure: c Number in Lair: 1-6 Chneldro- A mutant offshoot of the mutant Chnel race. - inspired by that spiffy Frank Frazetta Conan painting. Bigger, smarter, and much less common. Not too huge. Only about 7 or 8 feet tall. Name: Chneldro # of attacks: 2 Damage per attack: 1-4 Intelligence: low Special Attacks: weapons Number Appearing: 1-8 Armor: 8 Movement: 12 Hit Dice: 4 % in Lair: 10 Treasure: c Number in Lair: 2-8 Dreefla - A large creature - Hippo legs, buffalo body, large, long tail with club like knob on end , fanged tusk wart hog head, very long neck. The Dreefla will only attack if surprise is involved or if it is approached. If it is left alone it will leave others alone. Name: Dreefla # of attacks: 2 Damage per attack: 1-6 plus stun/ 1-6 Intelligence: semi-intelligent Special Attacks: 50% chance that a tail strike stuns for 1-3 turns. Number Appearing: 1-3 Armor: 7 Movement: 6 Hit Dice: 6d6 + 2 % in Lair: 60 Treasure: c Number in Lair: 2-5 Snelyu - A snake like creature with a suction cup on it's back and a poisonous stinger on the tip of it's tail. It likes to hang in dark places in caves, forests, the underworld, swamps and ruins. If startled it attacks intruders with it's tail. Name: Snelyu # of attacks: 1 Damage per attack: 1-6 / 1-4 +poison Intelligence: Animal Special Attacks: tail with poison sting Number Appearing: 2-8 Armor: 6 Movement: 5 Hit Dice: 1d6 +3 % in Lair: 40 Treasure: - Number in Lair: 3-30 Crocodile - An import from some place called "Earth". I thought that some crocodiles would sit nicely and enjoy basking in the sun of Tekumel. I thought they'd really like it in Livyanu. Why deprive them? Name: 2 # of attacks: 2 Damage per attack: 1-4/ 2-12 Intelligence: Animal Special Attacks: - Number Appearing: 2-24 Armor: 6 Movement: 6/12 Hit Dice: 3 % in Lair: - Treasure: - Number in Lair: - Hyashniya - Very rare, succubus vampire woman, very beautiful, her kiss drains an EPT level from the players. She has the following powers: ESP, telepathy, control person, shape change to any humanoid of her size, create darkness with a 20' radius, and Infravision. She is classified as undead. Name: Hyashiniya # of attacks: 2 Damage per attack: 1-3/ 1-3 Intelligence: Exceptional Special Attacks: Energy drain Number Appearing: 1 Armor: 6 Movement: 12 Hit Dice: 6 % in Lair: 5% Treasure: I, Q, Number in Lair: 1 Fasinalishu - I believe I stole this from a D&D article in The Dragon magazine. I'm not sure. Please remember these were not intended for publication and written many years ago so if you find "borrowing" just tell me and I'll fess up. But here goes. Hoofed animal, badger's head (metal plates for teeth) yellow and gray color, leathery skin, carnivorous and they enjoy human flesh. They're rather cunning and have a voice imitation ability similar to a parrot's. They enjoy yelling "help. Help." And eating the helper. Name: Fasinalishu # of attacks: 1/ 2 Damage per attack: 2-7/1-6/ 1-6 Intelligence: Semi-intelligent Special Attacks: Voice imitation Number Appearing: 1-4 Armor: 7 Movement: 18 Hit Dice: 5 % in Lair: 30% Treasure: - Number in Lair: 1-6 Hypklikyani - Okay. I know fully well I "borrowed" this one from the great story "Sand Kings" which has since been filmed as an episode of the Outer Limits and shows up in some video rental stores. Giant, ant-like, telepathic, hive mind. Sometimes used as pets as they will worship their owner. Roll on NPC table for reaction to strangers. They come in three sizes. 40% small, 35% medium, 25% large. A hive of the small ones has a value of 5d6 x 10Kaitars value to a pet shop owner. Name: Hypklikyani # of attacks: 1/1/1 Damage per attack: 1/ 1-2/ 1-3 Intelligence: Animal/ Semi-intelligent/ Intelligent Special Attacks: - Number Appearing: 3-18 Armor: 6 Movement: 15 Hit Dice: 1/3 / ½ / 1 % in Lair: 80% Treasure: * Number in Lair : 5d10 / 10d / 12 d --------------------------------------------------------------------- Peter Huston ----- Chris Davis Moderator, The Blue Room blueroom@prin.edu The Blue Room's FTP site: http://nexus.prin.edu or ftp://nexus.prin.edu Available 24 hours a day, except when my PC is down, or unavailable. ------------------------------------------------------------ Christopher L. Davis Systems and Network Administrator The Principia PHONE: (314)-434-2100 13201 Clayton Road FAX: (314)-275-3538 St. Louis, MO 63131 INTERNET: cld@prin.edu //910 [Moderator's Note: Peter Huston offers up some more campaign aid stuff. ] [ This submission is a bit more rulesy than I like, but I ] [ decided to include it. Next time I'll probably opt to ] [ announce it and put it in the contrib conrner on the ftp] [ site. This message should be viewed using a mono-spaced] [ font (otherwise the columns will be messed up). ] Random Hexagon Interesting Item Generator I came up with this a while back. I consider it experimental and not something to be overly relied on. I would bet that any decent referee with the time could come up with his own points of interest just as easily. There are parts of it that are borrowed from the great old game Bushido. The intention was that players could be able to wander the countryside, righting wrongs and meeting interesting people. Referees are able to play with the results as they wish. Hexagon Type Clear Forest, Desert Mangrove Swamp Jungle, Swamp Mountain Peak Tidal Flats Mountains Percent Chance of An Interesting Item Castle 40 20 10 - Town 70 30 5 - Temple 80 40 15 5 School 40 10 5 - Inn 90 60 1 - Mansion 20 5 1 - Ruins or Underworlds 30 20 20 10 Number of Villages Per Large Hexagon Determined by % dice roll 0 0-01 01-05 01-30 01-50 1 02-04 06-10 31-60 51-85 2-7 05-10 11-20 61-80 86-95 3-18 11-15 21-50 81-95 96-100 3-30 16-100 51-100 96-100 - Towns have a population of 4d10 x 100 for population. The population of Villages is determined on a later chart. Temples (Roll 1d6 for the number of priests in a temple.) 1. local temple - 1d6 priests 2. medium size - 2d 20 priests 3. large temple - 2-200 priests 4. Monastery - 1-1200 priests 5. special shrine 6. Extra large temple - 1-1200 priests Villages –Villages come in 6 levels and have 1d12 people per level To determine level roll 1d12 on the following chart 1-3 level 1 4-6 level 2 7-8 level 3 9-10 level 4 11 level 5 12 level 6 Chance that Village has an item of special interest 01-50 Normal village 51-53 Famous Inhabitant (roll 1d6) 1. Warrior 2. Priest 3. Sorceror 4. Scholar 5. Noble 6. Other 54-56 Bandits –This village is the base of a dangerous group of bandits. 57-59 Bandits – This village is frequently raided by bandits. 60-62 Slaver Base –This village has slaves for sale. 63-65 Merchant Center – An abnormal amount of goods on sale. 66-68 Plague – This village is suffering from an outbreak of some nasty disease. 69-71 Terrorized by a notorious monster of some sort. 72-74 Bullies –There is a party of adventurers here bullying the peasants and citizens. 75-77 The peasants are particularly restless, troublesome and prone to rude behaviors in this village. 78-80 Feud- There are two gangs struggling for control of this village. The referee can determine the type of "gang." (Adventurers, priests, bandits, etc.) The key thing is the adventurers are walking into the midst of a power struggle. 81-83 Large population of non-humans in this village. (About 30-100% of the population. Referee determines the exact race and species of non-human.) 84-86 Old Legend or Rumor- Who knows what the adventurers will do when they hear this? Is it valid? I don't know. It's not my problem. 87-89 This village absolutely hates wandering adventurers with a passion. (They've had bad experiences in the past.) They might smile, but they're scheming murder. Or maybe they'll just beat adventurers over the head with their trusty peasant farming implements at first encounter. It's up to the referee. 90-92 This village has a fanatical religious society hidden in it. (Perhaps they are devotees of the pariah gods!) 93-94 This village has a local Hirilakte arena. 93-95 Some item of great magical or technological power is in the village. It may or may not be in working order. 95-96 This village has two things. (Combine.) 97-98 This village has three things in it. (Combine.) --------------------------------------------------------------------- Peter Huston ----- Chris Davis Moderator, The Blue Room blueroom@prin.edu The Blue Room's FTP site: http://nexus.prin.edu or ftp://nexus.prin.edu Available 24 hours a day, except when my PC is down, or unavailable. //911 [Moderator's Note: Peter Huston offers up an interesting treatise on Hlutrgu] [ as player characters. Again, this is a bit rulesy, but ] [ there is enough source material in here to warrant inclu-] [ sion to the list. I'll put this and your previous ] [ message in the contrib corner, too. ] Hlutgru as Player Characters (absolutely, postively, definitely unofficial Tekumel game supplement) If I recall correctly, in some early version of the Tekumel game family (probably EPT) the professor put in a note stating the player characters could not be any of the hostile races –unless of course the referee wished to set up a campaign specifically in which all players played hostile non-humans and interacted solely with members of their own species. What a cool idea, I thought. So I sat down to create these rules for Hlutgru as PCs, but only in an all-Hlutgru campaign. (Actually, I do suppose that you could use them as written in a mixed race campaign but I can't imagine it would be a smooth game, to say the least. Hlutgru after all hate everyone who is not a Hlutgru.) I never got around to using them, and now, they are clearly obsolete as everyone out there should note that the details of the Hlutgru as I describe them don't conform to what was later published as "real Tekumel". So read them. Enjoy them. Don't believe them. Feel free to borrow from them and modify them to conform to reality. In short, have fun with them anyway you wish. These rules begin with a section on Hlutgru society as I envisioned it. (Now much superseded by the release of new information from the Tekumel pocket universe, I'm afraid.) and finish with the rules themselves on generating characters. Hlutgru Hlutgru society has three classes –Upper, Lower and Slaves. Upper. Includes all priests and hunting leaders. Lower. Includes all others such as messengers, hunters, swamp farmers, etc. Slaves. Owned by the Upper class, includes scribes, servants, etc. Hlutgru are organized into tribes. Tribes are organized into loose confederations. Confederations will choose their own leaders when necessary by a combination of bullying and elections. Tribes are more equivalent to towns than anything else. It's very easy to change tribes. Physically Tough hide, 2 hit dice, 4 limbs, arms and legs can double as each other, (i.e. can throw javelins with legs.) Weigh 30 x (2d6) pounds each. Linguistics There is just one interintelligible Hlutgru language spoken in the swamps of southern Tsolyanu although there are different regional dialects and accents. In the unlikely event another group of Hlutgru is found on the planet (or elsewhere!!) it may be assumed they will speak a different language by this time. Religion Varies by location but there are three main deities. Their names are "The Hostile One" and "The Swamp" and "Fertility" Note –All Hlutgru deities everywhere advocate violence and hatred of all non-Hlutgru everywhere. The Hostile One Deity of War, hostility, non-mating and violence. Will not help his worshippers (with divine intervention, etc.) unless they are in combat with others, including Hlutgru, or just plain causing strife and confusion. The Swamp The Swamp is the embracing, loving, feminine, wet god of the Hlutgru. He/She/It controls all swamp creatures and swamp life, swamp creatures, wet weather, and related phenomenon. The worshippers of "the Swamp" (say it in a deep voice) tend to be more domestic. I.E. farmers and such. This God can still be quite violent –like the swamp itself and if you're a human, well sorry, it hates you anyway!!! Fertility Promotes expansion, reproduction and mating. There are a wide variety of other minor, regional deities and such worshipped, but these are the big three. Hlutgru Reproduction 2 sexes –male and female. There is little external difference and about 80% are female. Males suffer from a "mate or die" instinct. (Please note the Hlutgru DO NOT call this "Pon-far") Every 23 days they suffer from a need to mate. This lasts one week. If the Hlutgru does not mate then he takes damage equal to one half his hit dice in six sided dice spread out over the week long period. (i.e. roll the dice, determine total damage, divide by six for the six day Tekumelani week and zap the poor slug with that amount each day until the poor guy gets sex or dies or his terrible week ends.) –Some Hlutgru temples devoted to the swamp have sterilized temple slaves who are used to relieve such a terrible biological burden from the old and the infirm males who have no mates but have earned a respected place in Hlutgru society. Four days after mating the female Hlutgru will lay an egg mass. There are about 50-60 eggs in an egg mass. However only about 1-3 of these will ever hatch because these 1-3 hatchlings will then eat the rest of the egg mass as their first meal. (yum. Yum.) They will then grow, gaining speech in about a year and a half. They reach physical maturity in twelve years. Hlutgru Xenophobia Hlutgru hate all non-Hlutgru. This instinctive hatred is so strong that when in the presence (or even aware of) nearby non-Hlutgru, they must make a saving throw or attack them no matter how poor the odds. The Hlutgru are an intelligent species however so they do modify this roll by the odds against them. They do know that it is foolish to attack large numbers of aliens, even icky looking humans, but sometimes, well sometimes, you just gotta kill everything that walks and talks but doesn't look like you. It's just the way life is. (In pre-cataclysm days the Hlutgru hated everyone everywhere, but they did have drugs to control this instinct. Unfortunately they were only adminstered to satisfy tactical needs. Not diplomatic needs. So much for pan-Galactic brotherhood stuff. Sorry!) The basic saving throw is 15+ on a 20 sided dice. (So they usually attack non-Hlutgru a base 75% of the time. Although this may seem suicidal, it should be remember that back on their homeworld this really wasn't a common problem? After a few millenia with these guys, how many other intelligent non-Hlutgru were likely to come visiting or, if indigenous, even survive on the homeworld?) Modifiers Intelligence of the Hlutgru 06-20 -4 21-40 -2 41-60 - 61-80 +2 81-85 +4 Odds Ratio of Number of Hlutgru / Aliens 3+ : 1 -6 2 : 1 -3 1 : 1 - 1 : 2 +2 1 : 3+ +4 Satiation Hlutgru are less likely to kill all the other non-Hlutgru they meet After they've already killed a bunch. They become satiated and satisfied with a job well done. # of Aliens killed with the last week 0 - 1-2 +1 3-4 +2 5-6 +3 7 +4 8 +5 9 +6 10+ +7 Creating Hlutgru Characters Social Class chart (1d10) 1-2 Slave class (-30% from skills roll) 3-9 Lower 10 Upper (+20% to skills roll.) Sex 1-8 Female 9-10 Male Characteristics Strength- 10-90 (rolled as 1-80 then adding 10) Intelligence- 06-85 (rolled as 1-80 then adding 5) Constitution- 1-80 Psychic Ability- 1-100 Dexterity- 1-120 Comeliness- 1-100 (Only among Hlutgru or hard core worshippers of Hriyihiyal i.e. those Ox-like youth ) 2 Hit Dice, Natural Armor Class of 7. I did make a large list of mundane skills Hlutgru can acquire but it's pretty mundane. Professional Skills come in two types –Priests and Warriors (The two appropriate character classes.) Warriors 1 Spearman 2 Javelin 3 Sword/Axe 4 Mace user 5 Slinger 6 Blowgun 7 Bowman 8 Torture (new skill –see special rules) 9 Spear and dagger user (at once) 10 Catapult/ booby trap expert 11 Strategist Priests 1 Religious Ceremonies 2 Torture (new skill –see special rules) 3 –rest of list as human/ other priests- New Skills Religious Ceremonies Basically self explanatory. The Hlutgru has been trained to perform the duties of his sect as expected by other Hlutgru. He can make people happy and earn a living blessing the swamps and telling fortunes and removing curses and correcting bad fortune and such. Torture Personally, I really don't like graphic descriptions of torture, but Hlutgru do. I mean that is what Hlutgru do, after all. Therefore a Hlutgru without torture is like a priest of Vimuhla without matches, right? I have purposely, however written the following rules so that they do not produce any more icky details than are necessary to provide a feel for how Hlutgru behave. Hlutgru like to capture non-Hlutgru and torture them for long periods of time. This is because they instinctively hate them all so much. The purpose of Hlutgru tortures is non-rational. They simply wishy to take those icky, ugly non-Hlutgru and make them suffer for as long as possible. Therefore a Hlutgru who catches a non-Hlutgru and who has torture skill gets a % chance equal to his % chance of succesful spell casting to keep a tortured prisoner alive for another day (so that he can continue to keep torturing him again tomorrow.) Hlutgru with this skill get extra experience points for torturing prisoners instead of killing them outright. For each day the prisoner is kept alive the torturer gets 10% of his expected experience points for slaying him. When the poor prisoner finally dies the Hlutgru who caught him then divvy up his normal experience point value. If he/ she/ it should escape while being tortured then the Hlutgru only get the experience from the full days successfully tortured. Note this only applies to intelligent non-Hlutgru prisoners. Hlutgru do not sit around all day tormenting squirrels and cats. ******************************* Thank you for reading these. Feel free to share any comments, thoughts, etc. However, as I said they are pre-Swords and Glory (the definitive Tekumel source book) therefore many of these details are definitely not correct on "real Tekumel" and would need much reworking to ever become that way. I have no intention of doing this at this time, and merely share them for their potential enjoyment value. Thanks to all who helped bring Tekumel to my attention, and thanks to Professor M.A.R. Barker, the creator of this fascinating science fantasy world. --------------------------------------------------------------------- Peter Huston ----- Chris Davis Moderator, The Blue Room blueroom@prin.edu The Blue Room's FTP site: http://nexus.prin.edu or ftp://nexus.prin.edu Available 24 hours a day, except when my PC is down, or unavailable. //912 [Moderator's Note: Andrew Lorince comments on the Ssu and reports how EveCon] [ went. ] Re. The Ssu. I never claimed they used space travel to get to Tekumel. The Ssu are accomplished sorrcers perhaps they had the ability to manipulate the dimensional forces before coming to tekumel, but found out it didn't work well there and had to develop space flight as a result. Re. EveCon. I had an enjoyable time there and got a Tekumel rpg started. As has been my policy I accept any Tekumel characters. The first person to join me had generated a character about 6 years ago at the con, Aenon hiKetkolel of the Amber Cloak clan was a scholar of high cartography and follower of Thumis. His female companion, who had never played before, generated a character, named Chaskana hiKetkolel, who became a scholar of Ssu chose Chegarra. The third person to join had never played on Tekumel before rolled up a character of the Dark Moon clan, Tharl hiAvokian with generally good stats, a follower of Hru'u but no magic or charisima. The governor invited him to be a kasi in the legion of Shattering of Ssuyal. These set the stage when they were summoned to the governor and asked to investigate the barrier which has surrounded the city at about a 300 tsan distance since the death of Hirkane. Aenon and Chaskana were to be the primary investigators and Tharl with his cohort were to provide protection. They were given a week to get ready and were to report back to the governor at that time. about this time the next two players joined, one was a woman i know only as Erika, who played in Phil's campaign, and her companion. Saying that none of her previous characters were likely to be in Fenul genereated Misa hiKetkolel also of Amber Cloak. Her companion generated Migor hiVriddi an administrative priest of Vimuhla. On a special roll both of these became OAL operatives. Misa was to join the party using clan lines, Migor was to use his administrative skills and interest in Vriddi members of the cohort. Thral joined his cohort to find that they were all new replacements who had completed four weeks of basic training and had all their weapons issued but lacked the required armor. Migor bought a few set for his favored Vriddi and other clans offered inducements to Thral to ease up on their favorites. This is about where we ended the first day of gaming. On the second day two other players joined the group but our scholars were drawn away by other activities and the foul weather outside. Of the two new players one had part of a previously generated character who proved some use, but generated a new character Achan hiTuplangte of the Dark Water clan and follower of Sarku and a Herekesa in the cohort. The last player to join had a character who was a scout and hunter named Achan hiArusa of the High Pinnacle clan and follower of Thumis. He refused employment by the Kasi but after a short hunting trip in which they killed a Kuruku near its lair. Upon searching the lair they found an eye which tested out as an Eye of Indefinable Apprehension. The party finaly reported to the governor again and were told that they were to travel to east as far as possible looking for the barrier and to also observe Ssu agriculture if possible. After spending some time deciding if the should use barges for travel. They decided since the cohort needed additional training to travel by land and set out along the third rate Sakbe, which doubles as a dike, along the river of many cowardly men. (the river gained this name because it is said that fury of the river during spring floods is enough to turn any man into a coward). They began there journay making about 15 tsan per day. On the second day they noticed smoke to the north and upon investigating found a Woven Mat clan house destroyed by what appeared to be attack from the sky. They learned from an adjacent Green Pyramid clan house that there had been an attack from about 70 Hlaka which then flew south. They sent a message back to the governor reporting this, the next day a couple of Hlaka came to them reported that they had a message from the governor thanking them for their report and saying that this was not the first. Hlaka from Fenul were looking into the matter and that there were some indications that the attacking Hlaka were in employ of Ssu. On the tenth day out they received reports of a Ssu raiding party in the area. They spotted a small group and kept them under observation only to find that they had disappeared by morning. Thus ended the second day. Hopefully I will be able to keep this campaign going at future cons. yuninash hi ancholbel governor of fenul ----- Chris Davis Moderator, The Blue Room blueroom@prin.edu The Blue Room's FTP site: http://nexus.prin.edu or ftp://nexus.prin.edu Available 24 hours a day, except when my PC is down, or unavailable. //913 [Moderator's Note: Andrew Lorince answers some questions about his Fenul ] [ campaign. ] re your questions resulting from the game at eve con. you arrived at the village of ngalmessurakh (ssu crossing). the village head dik hi zhigau of the green kirtle clan handels all disputes in this village of about 3500 about 30% of these are of salarvyani dessent (including surrounding areas). there are no palaces here, a temple of dlamelish dominates the square with adjacent smaller temples of avanthe and belkhanu. other dieties are worshipped in clan chapels where all interested may attend services. there is no military garrison area except about a cohort of militia can be raised if needed. the third rate sakbe road/ dike along the river has maybe half a semetlkoi of guards. as far as building a cohort fort here there is considered to be no need, their is nothing out here. your estimate of costs (9000k) is probably low since the average cohort is supposed to make about 4000k per month. the village produces a better than average wine but has no other significant resources. they will report a small problem with chnelh (ape mutants) in the area but they have handled it. back at the junction with the ssu river whic you passed with no difficulty on the third day. there is marble biulding stone and some gold paned from river. there are probably other resources but the residents don't have the knowledge to identify them or the manpower to exploit them. the tower you saw 3rd or 4th day is actually in ssuyal but at the junction of ssuyal / tsolyani/ salarvyani border. re population questions the city of fenul has about 250,000 with the rest of the province supplying about a million additional. there are a large number of transients maybee another 100,000 who have fled disruptions in tsolyanu and salarvya or ssu raids. these hang around for a few months and move on. many of them have been put to work on the new sakbe road. re the potential of the province the governor is well aware of the potential. and doesn't think you need to know about tax records to carry out your mission. re the armour you purchased the empire thanks you for your support of it's legions. re location of city salarvyani of tsolyani frontier whats th difference! re fortifications along sakbe you are right that major roads have towers every 5 to 10 tsan. there are towers at about the interval mentioned, most will have a garrison of a 100 or so and contain caravanasaries plus exit and entrance ramps /stairs. you however are on athird rate road which might have wide spots to get off every once in awile but are lucky to have brest works around the mostly soil fill structure. re conscription this is not usualy done all soldiers are "volunteers" who sign on for 6 years. press ganges and such would be considered ignoble. regards yuninash hi'ancholbel governorof fenul. prepared 9 lesdrium andar lurnoiss chief scribe ----- Chris Davis Moderator, The Blue Room blueroom@prin.edu The Blue Room's FTP site: http://nexus.prin.edu or ftp://nexus.prin.edu Available 24 hours a day, except when my PC is down, or unavailable. //914 [Moderator's Note: Gavin Reid, Scott Maxwell, Peter Huston and Leonard ] [ Erickson discuss transmission of disease. What was the] [ Tekumel connection here again? I can't remember. ;) ] >It's worth noting that, although diseases carried by the Europeans caused >massive casualties in the New World, the reverse did *not* occur. Anyone on >the list know why? I don't, offhand, and the answer might be relevant here. According to a book I just read "Guns, Germs & Steel" the main reasons were the higher population density and the larger number/variety of domestic animals in Europe which permitted the evolution of nasty strains of bugs (many coming from the animals). The dense population let the bugs recur, but the locals had become (via natural selection) partially immune. Populations in the New World were much less dense and they did not support the evolution of recurring strains. The book is well worth a read, or if I could send you a rather fuller version of the analysis than this snapshot. -- Scott Maxwell writes. >It's worth noting that, although diseases carried by the Europeans caused >massive casualties in the New World, the reverse did *not* occur. Anyone on >the list know why? I don't, offhand, and the answer might be relevant here. I think that it did actually happen. There are soo many problems with diseases changing names over the centuries (like gemstones) that we cannot be sure if the disease we know and love today is the same disease that bore that name centuries ago. I have read on a debate concerning syphilis (Pardon my spelling, but I'm too lazy to look it up). From what this article said, the name "syphilis" was popular since ancient times but that the current disease we call syphilis most likely entered Europe through explorers in the New World. There are a few other "New World only" disseases that ravaged the "Old World" but most of them were more slow acting -- like syphilis -- so as to not be so dramatic as an outbreak of small pox. -- Peter Huston writes. >It's worth noting that, although diseases carried by the Europeans caused >massive casualties in the New World, the reverse did *not* occur. Anyone on >the list know why? I don't, offhand, and the answer might be relevant here. I'm writing in a field where my expertise is casual at best but here's my understanding. 1) It is controversial, but quite possible that syphillis was brought over from the New World to the Old with Columbus. 2) The Europeans had been exposed to many diseases of Asian origin, as well as plagues of all sort. (i.e. the Black Death) They had been exposed to many, many sorts of things that the Native American peoples had not. 3) There were, by some estimates, surprisingly few people, numerically speaking, in the Americas when Columbus, etc. arrived. The numbers are in great dispute, but some authorities claim that there are now just as many "Indians" living in the USA today as there were 300 years ago (although of course the ethnic groups have changed a bit with some dying out. For instance, some people claim that today's population of about 25,000 Mohawks is about what it was 300 years ago. By contrast there were probably about that many Navajos at that time, but there are now over 150,000 Navajos, and most of the groups that met the Pilgrims at Plymouth are long gone. Let me also state other experts argue that this is nonsense. They say there are many, many less Indians today than there were before the Whites arrived.) Now the point of all this is that since there were fewer indians in the Americas than there were whites in Europe, the Indians had less inherent genetic diversity in some ways among themselves. This meant that pathogens that would affect one group were likely to spread as the people had similar susceptibility/ resistance. -- Leonard Erickson writes. >>JUST what the epidemiologically isolated population of Tsolyanu needs. >But *are* they epidemiologically isolated? They're isolated from Earth, but >anything available in any of the planes of existence accessible from Tekumel >has probably wound up there at one time or another. (Hmm. Maybe those >"silver suits" are biohazard protection...) >It's worth noting that, although diseases carried by the Europeans caused >massive casualties in the New World, the reverse did *not* occur. Anyone on >the list know why? I don't, offhand, and the answer might be relevant here. Things *weren't* as one-sided as they are usually presented. It's fairly certain that syphilis came from the New World. And as late as the late 1700s it was a *lot* nastier than nowadays, because many folks still had little in the way of immunity to it. European diseases tended to be more easily spread, due to the crowded conditions in European cities. Such diseases are *too* virulent for the smaller, more spread out populations in the New World. Syphilis spreads more slowly because it requires more intimate contact. Thus it's not as likely to wipe out the supply of hosts. -- Leonard Erickson (aka Shadow) ----- Chris Davis Moderator, The Blue Room blueroom@prin.edu The Blue Room's FTP site: http://nexus.prin.edu or ftp://nexus.prin.edu Available 24 hours a day, except when my PC is down, or unavailable. //915 [Moderator's Note: Andrew Lorince covers various topics. ] epidemics: the people of polynesia and the new world were easly infected with european diseases because they lacked any immunity. in the more densly populated europe and asia people had more oppurtunity to be exposed to weaker strains of diseases and develop immunities. it is ineresting that the peaks of some new world cultures seemed to be about the same time as the vikings colonies in newfoundland. when the english and spanish first started developing colonies many native americans were killed by disease that had not even seen white men. we still don't know why some of the early colonies failed, some archeologic finds indicate disease and famine. it is interesting that experienced farmers could not provide enough food in land that should have been very fertile. then again some sources claim that the natives of the new world were diliberatly targeted with infected trade goods. then again still other sources claim that new world natives became ill because the christrian missionaries made them wear cloths which provided a good breeding ground for bacteria. as far as the lack of reverse infection evidence is lacking, perhaps the long sea voyages prevented the infected from getting back to europe. an interesting circumstance from my own experience is that while i served with the usarmy europe i was required to have annual plague inocculations. hlaka eyes: there has been a lot of disscussion about weather or not the hlaka third eyes gave them better three diminisional vision. i am reminded that many land based creatures as diverse as hlyss, dzor, and ngekka. and what about the ahoggya with eight eyes, the predators on their home world must of been something else. this also remindes me of modern radio and optical astronemy that uses arrayed tellescopes to obtain better resolution. in this case the effective size of the telescope equal to the greatest distance between the elements. obsidian: an article published in one of the scientific journals in the last few years disscussed the advantages of obsidian knifes. it seemed some docters were curious about how effective obsidian knifes were. they either made some or borrowed some from a museam or both to test. they found that they got sharper knifes that held there edge longer than the best surgical steels. when these knifes were used in surgary on living subjects there was les bleeding and wounds healed faster with less infection. as a consequence some proceedures now use only obsidian scalples. when i visited phil in minneapolis and was allowed to sit in on some of his gaming sessions i was told by some of the players that it didn't do any good to look at his notes because they were in urdu. how true this is i don't know. yuninash hi'ancholbel governor of fenul ----- Chris Davis Moderator, The Blue Room blueroom@prin.edu The Blue Room's FTP site: http://nexus.prin.edu or ftp://nexus.prin.edu Available 24 hours a day, except when my PC is down, or unavailable. //916 [Moderator's Note: Peter Gifford asks about paper on Tekumel. I know that ] [ one type of paper is made from the Firya plant. ] A quick question for the list - what do people use for paper on Tekumel? I've seen Tekumel illustrations of slate-like 'scrolls', and encountered something like this as a menu in a Thai restaurant the other day. Is parchment attached to these accordion-like plates or inscriptions made on wood or other material? For simple messages, is rolled-up paper used or envelopes? Are traditional-looking scrolls used? Any racial preferences? How about book-making processes? Would an artist use a sketchbook in the field? Many thanks! Regards Peter ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Peter Gifford ----- Chris Davis Moderator, The Blue Room blueroom@prin.edu The Blue Room's FTP site: http://nexus.prin.edu or ftp://nexus.prin.edu Available 24 hours a day, except when my PC is down, or unavailable. //917 [Moderator's Note: Marco Subias has comments on weapon history and physics.] [ This has no direct connection to Chlen hide weapons, ] [ really, but there is some interesting info. I assume it] [ is accurate wrt his sources. If others disagree, I'll ] [ let you guys discuss it via email, and report to us what] [ you decide once you finish. ] I usually just lurk (though I enjoy the list), but for once a subject has come up that I feel I can address. Chaz Tompkins writes. Many years ago I had the privilege to study fencing under a former member of the U.S. Olympic team. At one point he mentioned that the shift from broadswords to rapiers was not a brief episode of dilettantism before the adoption of the gun, but a genuine improvement in warcraft based upon advances in metallurgy. There was no "shift from broadswords to rapiers" in war. Broadswords were (largely) military weapons used in the field, while rapiers were civilian weapons used overwhelmingly by wealthy men. The golden age of the rapier was the last half of the sixteenth century and the first half of the seventeenth. As a matter of fact, after rapiers were phased out in favor of smallswords for civilian use, cutlasses, hangers, and similar heavy (mainly) cutting weapons were still in use by military forces. Weapons such as these were used during the Revolutionary War, and even until the U.S. Civil War, and after. Rapiers had gone out of style long before that time. The fact that someone is an expert fencer does not by definition make them experts on the history of weapons. A modern Judoka is not by definition an expert on the unarmed combat methods of 16th century Japanese warriors. See "The Complete Encyclopedia of Arms and Weapons" by Tarassuk and Blair, "A Glossary of the Construction, Decoration and Use of Arms and Armor" by Stone, "Swords and Hilt Weapons" by Coe, Connolly, Harding, et all, or any other good books on weaponry. I would also recommend any good books on Shakespear's time period. I of course found this a little hard to believe. Conan, after all, would rather be in a mini-skirt and pasties than brandishing a glorified toothpick. Some years later I joined the SCA and on a lark tried a bout or two of foil vs. broadsword. I was stunned to find that in single combat the foil ruled. At one point, I was up 11 touches to none. It is a little hard to account for variables such as armour, press in melee, etc. but I tell you what, it does get one's attention when 4/11 touches leave a dent in your mask, one inch in front of your left eyeball. According to what I heard when I fenced, foils are not approximations of any real weapon, and should not be compared to such in their performance. Epees approximate smallswords (pretty well too), sabers approximate cavalry sabers (badly, due to their much lighter weight and far different balance), but foils are just training weapons. Real late 16th century and early 17th century rapiers weighed the same as broadswords of their time. Rapiers were _longer_, but weighed the same, and were far less maneuverable than foils. This is part of the reason rapier fencers used a main-gauche (an oversized parrying dagger) or a buckler, or chain mail glove, or a lantern as a defensive device. Despite Hollywood movies, rapiers were not weapons that one used by themselves if one had any choice, since they were poor defensive weapons. One simply can't draw conclusions about rapier fighting by comparing it with foil fencing. Rapiers and foils are completely different in weight, balance, strength, use (rapiers almost always were point _and _ edge weapons) and application (sport vs civilian dueling), and the fact that foils are used in a straight line, and rapiers were used with no boundaries in a more circular style . See "The Art of Armo(u?)r: The Dresden Collection," for details on lengths and weights of rapiers and swords. "The Dresden Collection might be the first part of the title. Its been years since I studied it. It is also worth observing that in at least two historical sequences in our own sphere, bigger did not prove to be better. Both the Romans and the Zulus found that close formations using short weapons (thrusting swords and spears respectively) made mincemeat out of Conan and his ilk. As long as they maintained their formation. The Romans were badly defeated in Germany when they broke formation and fought one-on-one. The Romans also typically softened up their opponents with javelins (and sometimes sling stones and/or arrows) before getting into close combat. For what its worth, I've done SCA (eight years or so), sport fencing (just under two years), and (for a bit over two years) the Filipino martial arts, which focus especially heavily on the use of knives and short swords. I have also done a considerable amount of research on martial and blade-related topics, and lived in the UK for several years, and seen a good number of historical weapons close up in a few different countries. Two of my fellow students of the Filipino arts are fencers, and one has has done extensive research on Spanish rapier fencing. Marco ----- Chris Davis Moderator, The Blue Room blueroom@prin.edu The Blue Room's FTP site: http://nexus.prin.edu or ftp://nexus.prin.edu Available 24 hours a day, except when my PC is down, or unavailable. //918 [Moderator's Note: Peter Gifford asks for any ideas on a travelling artist] [ persona for Tekumel. ] Greetings Tekumel fans! Big things are afoot for the World of the Petal Throne site! There's a new set of maps on the way, a huge expansion to the Gaming Section happening soon with the amalgamation with another popular Tekumel site, and a new artist is busy creating some brand new visions of Tekumel that will blow you away!! Apart from just letting you know what's going on, I'm putting the call out for a name and potted history for an Tekumelani artist character who will be used as a pseudonym for this new artist's work. Just a paragraph or two will do, but give him a history and reasons to be travelling the countryside, risking his life to get sketches and paintings of the flora, fauna, people and places of Tekumel. My limited knowledge of clans etc makes me ask this of the more experienced and imaginative souls out there. The 'winning entry' will become this new artist's pseudonym! Many thanks! Regards Peter ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Peter Gifford ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Tekumel: The World of the Petal Throne Complex Cultures on an Imaginary World http://www.tekumel.com ----- Chris Davis Moderator, The Blue Room blueroom@prin.edu The Blue Room's FTP site: http://nexus.prin.edu or ftp://nexus.prin.edu Available 24 hours a day, except when my PC is down, or unavailable. //919 [Moderator's Note: Paul Roser asks about the Tumissa map, and lists some ] [ information about the originating star systems of the ] [ non-humans. ] Ngangmuru! First, a note about the Blue Room graphics file: I’ve tried to view/download the Tumissa map at the ftp site on several occasions - from my Mac I was sometimes able to view it (but in a greyed-out form that was only partially viewable) but not download it (I got an error message about an unexpected file-break), and from my PC I wasn’t even able to view it. Just wanted to let you know there might be a problem with the GIF file (?) -has anyone else mentioned problems with it? [Moderator's Note: I have a new copy of it from my last visit (I think). ] [ I'll try to get to rescan it soon (among other ] [ goodies). ] Now for the content portion of this message: First, my thanks to Bob for his fascinating account of his encounter with the minions of Black Qarqa. I think a Cthulhu Mythos/Tekumel crossover would be an absolutely fascinating scenario!! While I am not any sort of expert on astronomy or xenobiology, I have always been interested in the non-humans, their home-worlds and original star-systems and compiled the following list (I won't bore the list with locational info, like right ascension and declination, as this is easily discovered from star-listings). Most were easily found, but a couple, Ensis in particular, are rather obscure names, and I am still uncertain if the name Ensis was originally applied to the nebula (M42) or to one of the stars within the nebula (I took a wild stab and selected Theta Orion, since it was the largest): Ahoggya Achernar Alpha Eridani Blue Main sequence Hlaka Ensis M42 or Theta Orionis Blue Main sequence [1] Hlutrgu Algenubi Epsilon Leonis Yellow Giant Hokun Markeb Alpha Persei Blue Main sequence Mihalli Dorsum Theta Capricorni Blue-white Main sequence Nyagga Alhena Gamma Geminorum Blue-white Subgiant Pachi Lei Arcturus Alpha Bootis Orange Giant Pe Choi Procyon Alpha Canis Minoris White Subgiant [2] Pygmy Folk Mirach Beta Andromedae Red Giant Shen Antares Alpha Scorpio Red Supergiant [3] Shunned Ones Regulus Alpha Leonis Blue Main sequence Swamp Folk Unukalhai Alpha Serpentis Orange Giant Tinaliya Algol Beta Persei Blue Main sequence [4] Urunen Betelgeuse Alpha Orionis Red Supergiant [5] (for comparison, Sol, our sun, is a Yellow main sequence star, also referred to as a 'dwarf') [1] Eclipsing binary, located within the Orion Nebula (M42) [2] Binary, white dwarf companion [3] Pulsating variable, binary [4] Eclipsing binary [5] Pulsating variable I include the color and size of the stars largely as a point of reference. I have dim memories of reading about various speculations on possible biological development under other types of stars, and vaguely recall someone drawing the inference that life on a planet orbiting a blue or white star would likely develop vision extending more in the direction of the ultraviolet end of the visible spectrum (assuming that they _have_ vision as we understand it...) and a red star _might_ indicate a race with vision extending into the infrared... I know that mention has been made of the Tinaliya's use of terms indicating, for instance, speckling or patterning of individuals who appear to be uniformly greyish to human eyes, which seems to indicate perception outside the realms of our standard visual range. Similarly, the Pygmy Folk may well see into the infrared, a feature that I believe would have been highly valuable to a subterranean race. Perhaps Phil has additional anecdotes pointing to other distinctions between human and non-human senses? (Then there are the handful of biological/zoological specialists in the temples of Ksarul and Thumis who might be able to provide enlightenment...) I have in the past asked about the languages of the nonhuman races, but I would appreciate it if Phil could perhaps provide an overview of how the nonhuman races sound to humans when attempting to speak human languages? For example, I am aware that the Pygmy Folk are characterized (stigmatized?) by their peculiar high stutter (the 'two tongues' effect) and a warbling, whistling quality and the Pe Choi are generally perceived as speaking Tsolyani with a rather flat, nasal accent, and apparently have trouble distinguishing voiced and voiceless stops (/p, b/, etc. I am particularly interested in how the Shen, Pachi Lei, Hlaka, and Ahoggya sound when prouncing human languages (I seem to recall the words ghastly and grotesque used in the context of Ahoggya speech...) Many thanks for your help! Regards, Paul Roser ----- Chris Davis Moderator, The Blue Room blueroom@prin.edu The Blue Room's FTP site: http://nexus.prin.edu or ftp://nexus.prin.edu Available 24 hours a day, except when my PC is down, or unavailable. //920 [Moderator's Note: Peter Gifford announces a new section at The World of ] [ the Petal Throne website. ] I'm happy to announce a completely new section of The World of the Petal Throne website, now at http://tekumel.com Remember to update your bookmarks. Thanks to the suggestion of James Maliszewski, creator of the Jade Arch Tekumel Gaming site, his site has now become the Gaming Section of tekumel.com - "The Eye of Opening the Way". James' extensive gaming info has been completely reformatted and is now an integral part of tekumel.com. In addition to the new layouts, you can open convenient unformatted 'black text-on-white' layouts from which to print information. James will still be organising all contributions (his email address is on the main gaming index page), while I will be taking on design and layout duties. Contributions for this section are always welcome, and if you look through the section you'll recognise many names from the Blue Room mailing list. At last the background info on tekumel.com is balanced by a wealth of gaming info as well. Hope you enjoy this new expansion to the World of the Petal Throne. The site is growing all the time, and very soon I'll be adding some exciting new artwork from a professional artist to the Nonhuman Races section (Professor Barker has kindly provided me with a pseudonym and character background for the new artist). After that will come a new series of maps of Tekumel. Best regards, Peter Gifford PS As always, comments, suggestions and contributions are very welcome. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Peter Gifford ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Tekumel: The World of the Petal Throne Complex Cultures on an Imaginary World http://tekumel.com ----- Chris Davis Moderator, The Blue Room blueroom@prin.edu The Blue Room's FTP site: http://nexus.prin.edu or ftp://nexus.prin.edu Available 24 hours a day, except when my PC is down, or unavailable. //921 [Moderator's Note: Sorry for the long delay. Been under the weather. ] [ Here are a couple of short messages, but I have a bunch] [ of unread mail to go through. Expect a burst of mail ] [ to come out this weekend. ] [ This message covers some various administrative notes. ] [ James Maliszewski writes about the wav file on Brett's ] [ web site. Peter Gifford updates us on the Tekumel web ] [ site. (I apparently sent out some old messages from ] [ him). Rob (Unknown last name) also comments on on of ] [ the graphics files on the Blue Room ftp site. ] James writes... I had the same problem running the .WAV file for a long time as well. However, I found a way that seems to fix this commonly-reported problem. Simply start up the Windows Media Player and then open the file. That should do it. Simply clicking on the file and hoping that an appropriate program will recognize it and run it does not work. Believe me, I've tried. Hope this helps at least some of you. James -- Peter writes... Hi Chris - thanks for putting that last message (918) about an artist persona on the List. In the interim however, Professor Barker has kindly supplied me with a wonderful character who does the trick perfectly. And when you get one from the Man Himself, you don't need to keep looking! Also, the Gaming Section (formerly James David Maliszewski's The Jade Arch) is now all up and running - in fact I got a curious message from James asking what the hell was going on! Could you do me a big favour and post these amendments to my message so everyone doesn't get confused?? Many thanks! Peter -- Rob writes... >First, a note about the Blue Room graphics file: Iíve tried to >view/download the Tumissa map at the ftp site on several occasions - >from my Mac I was sometimes able to view it (but in a greyed-out form >that was only partially viewable) but not download it (I got an error >message about an unexpected file-break), and from my PC I wasnít even >able to view it. Just wanted to let you know there might be a problem >with the GIF file (?) -has anyone else mentioned problems with it? Yah, I notice it too. It simply looks like a truncated file. 90+% of it must be there, because it's fine down to about the last 6th of the file, however, it must have been saved as interlaced, because so long as your viewer doesn't just "bail out" on the decoding, there's enough image there to make out the details. But yes, it is a "damaged" file. (probably missing about 10-16k). (Macintosh users: GraphicConverter will happily open it, (it will complain about the LZW decode error, but it will view what it was able to decode). =R= ----- Chris Davis Moderator, The Blue Room blueroom@prin.edu The Blue Room's FTP site: http://nexus.prin.edu or ftp://nexus.prin.edu Available 24 hours a day, except when my PC is down, or unavailable. //922 [Moderator's Note: Steve Lopez identifies one of the Professor's Tekumelani] [ characters. ] > But one of your identites is Firu ba Yeker (sp?), right? I thought I > spotted you in the company of a very comely woman, well-bred, from a high > clan in one of the "Adventures on Tekumel" books. -- Steve Lopez Yes, Firu is one of my earliest characters. He has been out-of-play for years now. He was in Yan Kor, then Avanthar, and back to some monastery in northeastern Tsolyanu, where he is embellishing a beautifully calligraphed book with little coloured drawings and patterns. He is not the major early player character to whom I was referring, however; Firu is useful when I want to "see" the region where he is through his eyes. Otherwise he is too minor to play in the big leagues with Princes and mighty lords and ladies. He does enjoy occasional bursts of good fortune: e.g. making friends with the certain high-bred lady you mention. I'm sure she finds him amusing, though not someone of major personal interest to her. She's been quite helpful in many ways, such as acting as informant and accuracy checker on the Tsolyani grammar (see the back of the title page). I think poor Firu is hopelessly in love with her -- and perhaps may have gone off to the monastery in Milumanaya to "forget" her! You are close, Steve, but why not let my original character keep his little secret? Firu -- and I --would appreciate it. Regards, Phil ----- Chris Davis Moderator, The Blue Room blueroom@prin.edu The Blue Room's FTP site: http://nexus.prin.edu or ftp://nexus.prin.edu Available 24 hours a day, except when my PC is down, or unavailable. //923 [Moderator's Note: Carl Brodt is thinking of organizing a Tekumel track at ] [ a Con in California. Here are the details. His email ] [ address is included below. Further note: I was out ] [ of town all last week, and was without dialup. I have ] [ about 15 messages, half of them from the Professor. ] [ Also, Peter Gifford writes that Ilanish Charea has pro- ] [ vided him with another spectacular portrait of a member ] [ of the Swamp Folk. Head over to www.tekumel.com to see.] Dear Tekumel Gamer, I have been considering organizing a Tekumel Track for GameCon II in Oakland, CA. over Memorial Day weekend. The Tekumel Track would involve at a minimum a series of RPGs and, if I can swing it, one or two special events. Since the con is rather new and small, such an organized set of games and events would be a big deal to its organizers (of which I am not one). So please let me know if you might be interested in participating in such a project either as a player or as a GM or a miniatures player. Also, please let me know if you would like to see any special Tekumel-related events there. Thanks. Carl carlbrodt@aol.com ----- Chris Davis Moderator, The Blue Room blueroom@prin.edu The Blue Room's FTP site: http://nexus.prin.edu or ftp://nexus.prin.edu Available 24 hours a day, except when my PC is down, or unavailable. //924 [Moderator's Note: David Bailey adds a comment to the disease transmission ] [ thread. ] >[Moderator's Note: Gavin Reid, Scott Maxwell, Peter Huston and Leonard ] >[ Erickson discuss transmission of disease. What was the] >[ Tekumel connection here again? I can't remember. ;) ] >>It's worth noting that, although diseases carried by the Europeans caused >massive casualties in the New World, the reverse did *not* occur. Anyone on >the list know why? I don't, offhand, and the answer might be relevant here. >I think that it did actually happen. There are soo many problems with >diseases changing names over the centuries (like gemstones) that we cannot >be sure if the disease we know and love today is the same disease that bore that name centuries ago. >I have read on a debate concerning syphilis (Pardon my spelling, but I'm too >lazy to look it up). From what this article said, the name "syphilis" was >popular since ancient times but that the current disease we call syphilis >most likely entered Europe through explorers in the New World. >There are a few other "New World only" disseases that ravaged the "Old >World" but most of them were more slow acting -- like syphilis -- so as to >not be so dramatic as an outbreak of small pox. >-- >Peter Huston writes. >>It's worth noting that, although diseases carried by the Europeans caused >>massive casualties in the New World, the reverse did *not* occur. Anyone on >>the list know why? I don't, offhand, and the answer might be relevant here. >I'm writing in a field where my expertise is casual at best but here's my >understanding. >1) It is controversial, but quite possible that syphillis was brought over >from the New World to the Old with Columbus. >2) The Europeans had been exposed to many diseases of Asian origin, as well >as plagues of all sort. (i.e. the Black Death) They had been exposed to >many, many sorts of things that the Native American peoples had >not. >3) There were, by some estimates, surprisingly few people, numerically >speaking, in the Americas when Columbus, etc. arrived. The numbers are in >great dispute, but some authorities claim that there are now just as many >"Indians" living in the USA today as there were 300 years ago (although of >course the ethnic groups have changed a bit with some dying out. For >instance, some people claim that today's population of about 25,000 Mohawks >is about what it was 300 years ago. By contrast there were probably about >that many Navajos at that time, but there are now over 150,000 Navajos, and >most of the groups that met the Pilgrims at Plymouth are long gone. Let me >also state other experts argue that this is nonsense. They say there are >many, many less Indians today than there were before the Whites arrived.) >Now the point of all this is that since there were fewer indians in the >Americas than there were whites in Europe, the Indians had less inherent >genetic diversity in some ways among themselves. This meant that pathogens >that would affect one group were likely to spread as the people had similar >susceptibility/ resistance. See also "Ecological Imperialism", a really great book that examines all of the times germs, weeds, rats and bugs have helped Indo-European travellers dominate in foreign parts. Although I adore stories such as the Indian Givers in the US who infected blankets with smallpox, there was really no need. European invaders carried with them a veritable army of co-colonists, sufficient to displace or disrupt pretty well any eco-system on earth. Why were they so successful? It does not do the book justice, but the gist of it is "because more of us lived closer together, and we were better adapted to our bugs, and us - and them to us". In tekumel plane (does it have co-ordinates?), the equivalent would be the servitors of She Who Must Not Be Named tramping through normal space carrying their plagues, madness and evil. Motto: never accept a blanket from a pariah go worshipper. DAvid BAiley (sometimes Emra hi Gangassa, others, Midori Ito) ----- Chris Davis Moderator, The Blue Room blueroom@prin.edu The Blue Room's FTP site: http://nexus.prin.edu or ftp://nexus.prin.edu Available 24 hours a day, except when my PC is down, or unavailable. //925 [Moderator's Note: Leonard Erickson comments about the Non-human's star ] [ systems. ] >[Moderator's Note: Paul Roser asks about the Tumissa map, and lists some ] >[ information about the originating star systems of the ] >[ non-humans. ] >Ahoggya Achernar Alpha Eridani Blue Main sequence >Hlaka Ensis M42 or Theta Orionis Blue Main sequence [1] >Hlutrgu Algenubi Epsilon Leonis Yellow Giant >Hokun Markeb Alpha Persei Blue Main sequence >Mihalli Dorsum Theta Capricorni Blue-white Main sequence >Nyagga Alhena Gamma Geminorum Blue-white Subgiant >Pachi Lei Arcturus Alpha Bootis Orange Giant >Pe Choi Procyon Alpha Canis Minoris White Subgiant [2] >Pygmy Folk Mirach Beta Andromedae Red Giant >Shen Antares Alpha Scorpio Red Supergiant [3] >Shunned Ones Regulus Alpha Leonis Blue Main sequence >Swamp Folk Unukalhai Alpha Serpentis Orange Giant >Tinaliya Algol Beta Persei Blue Main sequence [4] >Urunen Betelgeuse Alpha Orionis Red Supergiant [5] >for comparison, Sol, our sun, is a Yellow main sequence star, also >referred to as a 'dwarf') >[1] Eclipsing binary, located within the Orion Nebula (M42) >[2] Binary, white dwarf companion >[3] Pulsating variable, binary >[4] Eclipsing binary >[5] Pulsating variable >I include the color and size of the stars largely as a point of >reference. I have dim memories of reading about various speculations on >possible biological development under other types of stars, and vaguely >recall someone drawing the inference that life on a planet orbiting a >blue or white star would likely develop vision extending more in the >direction of the ultraviolet end of the visible spectrum (assuming that >they _have_ vision as we understand it...) and a red star _might_ >indicate a race with vision extending into the infrared... Alas, such speculations ignore a very important detail. Blue stars are only on the main sequence for at most a few *million* years. Nowhere *near* long enough for life to develop. So types O, B, and probably A are unsuitable for homeworlds. Stick to F, G, K, and M. Likewise, red giants have already *left* the main sequence and if the planets had developed life, once the star entered the giant phase they'd be in *big* trouble as at the very least the planet would get *much* hotter (as in shifts from Arctic conditions to hotter than Tekumel!) in a period of a thousand or less years. Planets in the "life zone" before tend to get engulfed by the star as it expands. Red *dwarfs* on the other hand will stay on the main sequence for times that are truly incredible. Like several times the current age of the universe! There will be noticeably oddities about lifebearing planets around such stars (details upon request). -- Leonard Erickson (aka Shadow) shadow@krypton.rain.com <--preferred leonard@qiclab.scn.rain.com <--last resort ----- Chris Davis Moderator, The Blue Room blueroom@prin.edu The Blue Room's FTP site: http://nexus.prin.edu or ftp://nexus.prin.edu Available 24 hours a day, except when my PC is down, or unavailable. //926 [Moderator's Note: Andrew Lorrince will be at several cons running Tekumel ] [ oriented events. Sorry I was so late with this Andrew, ] [ I didn't get the word out for the first 3 or 4 Cons. I ] [ apologize for that. ] for any body interested in meeting the governor of fenul i hope to be at the following sf or gaming cons BASHCON game con Feb 26-28 University of toledo, Toledo OH student union COSCON game con mar 12-14 days inn butler pa about 30 miles north of pittsburgh. neovention gaming con mar 19-21 univ of akron akron oh student union babel con 3 mar 26-28 sf con (babeylon 5 and trek) holiday inn pittsburgh international airport capcon game con apr 9-11 ohio state university student union marcon SF Con may 5-7, 1999 i've been juried out of this one as a dealer but may instead attend as gm three rivers game fest may may 28 -31 memorial day weekend. michicon game con jun 25-27 no other information. castle con sf con jul 9-11 fredrick md. my usual policy will apply i will run a tekumel game if i have at least 2 players yuninash hi'ancholbel governor of fenul _____ Chris Davis Moderator, The Blue Room blueroom@prin.edu The Blue Room's FTP site: http://nexus.prin.edu or ftp://nexus.prin.edu Available 24 hours a day, except when my PC is down, or unavailable. //927 [Moderator's Note: Chaz Tompkins comments on making a pronunciation CD. ] A couple of months ago, I offered to transfer to CD the old tape of the Professor's guide to Tsolyani pronunciation. I have the CD burner up and running, and the audio input works on some of my old scratchy cassettes. I can't guarantee that the hiss and pop editing will transform crow into nightingale, but it may help. If someone is willing to send me the cassette version, I will run it through the mill and see what comes of it. Carl Brodt, of Tito's Games [CarlBrodt@aol.com], has offered to distribute the CD for a nominal handling/royalty fee. For what it's worth, a blank CD costs $1.00 and will hold ~74 min of audio and/or ~650 MB of data. If there is anyone out there who wants to share scenarios or maps or audio or ....May as well stuff the disk full. Of course if there is a clamour, the Professor has priority: who knows how many rare 8-track recordings he has has of .....Tiniliya! Chaz ----- Chris Davis Moderator, The Blue Room blueroom@prin.edu The Blue Room's FTP site: http://nexus.prin.edu or ftp://nexus.prin.edu Available 24 hours a day, except when my PC is down, or unavailable. //928 [Moderator's Note: James Maliszewski adds some information about the Temple] [ of Ketengku from his campaign. ] Here's a nice little addition to our knowledge of the Temple of Ketengku, provided by George Hammond. The Guardians have become an important part of my play-by-web game, "The Plain of Towers." The Guardians of the Sojourner The Guardians are a special group of warriors within the Temple of Ketengku. There are two guiding principles for Guardian behavior. First is the nobility of sacrifice in protection of the priests and Temple. To take a blow meant for a priest is to "join the Company of Neshkiruma the Mighty" (a somewhat mythic figure who supposedly gave his life while successfully preventing a band of Ahoggya from ravaging a field hospital). One who dies this way is assured of a special place in the afterlife, and special care by the Temple for ones dependents. Second is "Anticipation of Inconvenience"--Guardians are expected to anticipate trouble so it can be avoided, and thus prevent the need for combat or other dire actions. Consequently they may travel ahead to scout, frequently talk to locals to get information, be on the lookout for ambushes, and are expected to learn geography and the lore of places they are operating in, including that of creatures that may threaten. (serving the God of scholars *and* travelers can be demanding ). The Guardians wear the equivalent of medium infantry armor, and all have a missile weapon as well as melee weapons and shield. They fighting in 3 modes: as archers; with medium or short polearms (thrusting spears, halberds) and perhaps small shields; and with a close combat weapon (typically a long sword or scimitar, but perhaps other light one-handed weapons) and a medium shield. Heavy weapons are not usually used (too heavy for constant traveling), and the polearm/spear mode is used primarily to fend off beasts. If the situation is at all risky, there will be one or more Guardians carrying shields and staying close to the priests of Ketengku. ----- Chris Davis Moderator, The Blue Room blueroom@prin.edu The Blue Room's FTP site: http://nexus.prin.edu or ftp://nexus.prin.edu Available 24 hours a day, except when my PC is down, or unavailable. //929 [Moderator's Note: Brett Slocum asks about medals and awards. ] I'm aware of the Gold of Glory, given to soldiers who perform outstanding service to the empire. What other medals or awards are given by the Tsolyani government or military? --- Brett Slocum -- slocum@io.com -- ICQ #13032903 ----- Chris Davis Moderator, The Blue Room blueroom@prin.edu The Blue Room's FTP site: http://nexus.prin.edu or ftp://nexus.prin.edu Available 24 hours a day, except when my PC is down, or unavailable. //930 [Moderator's Note: Professor Barker replies on Peter's message about Hlutrgu] [ as player characters. ] You are welcome to have an "unofficial" Tekumel campaign with whatever characters you wish -- Hlutrgu, Shunned Ones, etc. I have never favoured such a campaign because such creatures' mentality is too different, and also because they lack interesting (to us) material culture -- weapons, castles, palaces, cities, organised military or religious features. None of this should deter others. I do try to keep things a bit serious and "realistic"; nothing less interesting for me than having Americans or Europeans "dressed up in Tekumel clothing." Humans can usually play other humans quite well, but trying to role-play a Hlutrgu is a tough one!. Your adaptation is interesting, however, and might be fun to try. Regards, Phil ----- Chris Davis Moderator, The Blue Room blueroom@prin.edu The Blue Room's FTP site: http://nexus.prin.edu or ftp://nexus.prin.edu Available 24 hours a day, except when my PC is down, or unavailable.