In my version of Tekumel, I'd bet on you being commended on your success against the inimical races, and sent for the high ride. Getting the opportunity to suicide in your cell might be considered as a mercy, given your service to the Empire.
Your clan would probably receive discreetly the tangible rewards for your success, but people would look at them askance for a while.

Quote from: Dulahan;9414931500 posts in, and other stuff as well.  So now my questions are starting to flow!

Pariah Gods - Interesting to me that they just want to bring Tekumel BACK in reality.  I always thought they just wanted to destroy everything.  I mean, other than the fact the Lords of Humanspace would basically destroy Tekumel as it is anyways.

It definitely gives them a more positive vibe though, and something I want to know even more about now!

So does that imply that the Pariah Gods have been given a bad press and they may in some way be the good guys? If they are working to return Tekumel to normal space...presumably they fell out with the original entities who went on to become the Gods of Pavar...who have a vested interest in Tekumel remaining where it is

Quote from: d(sqrt(-1));941608So does that imply that the Pariah Gods have been given a bad press and they may in some way be the good guys? If they are working to return Tekumel to normal space...presumably they fell out with the original entities who went on to become the Gods of Pavar...who have a vested interest in Tekumel remaining where it is

The lords of Humanspace are no doubt Elves are wonderful, marvellous, glamorous, enchanting, terrific...but you'd notice, no doubt, that no one ever said the Lords of Humanspace are nice people, and their creations don't prove it, either.
The Pariah Gods want to return you to them.

Quote from: AsenRG;941619The lords of Humanspace are no doubt Elves are wonderful, marvellous, glamorous, enchanting, terrific...but you'd notice, no doubt, that no one ever said the Lords of Humanspace are nice people, and their creations don't prove it, either.
The Pariah Gods want to return you to them.

Sure. I just wonder if the Gods of Pavar have an interest in that not happening (I'm sure they do...)

Quote from: chirine ba kal;941384You're welcome! Let us see it, when it's ready...

Sure, why not? It's definitely in the queue, right behind the 1/35 Jadgpanzer IV L/70 (which will be on the paint bench this weekend), the 1/35 JS2 and a bunch of miniatures for my game.
Finished the Tsolyani Aridani, some random critters to be used as proxies and or Saturday Night Specials, and now I'm trying to decide whether to the start another Aridani, perhaps a Yan Koryani, or do some more Legion of the Despairing Dead.  

Shemek

Quote from: chirine ba kal;941385Hmmm. Might be in one of the small states; in the Five Empires, this is handled by the temples of Sarku or Belkhanu, or the local equivalent.

Ya, you're right, it probably is. I just can't remember where I came across it.

Shemek

Quote from: Dulahan;941602OK, a couple more questions from all over the board:  

The Dragon Warriors.  I understand the N'luss were the descendants of the Space Marines, very likely.  does this mean they really did conquer their empire with lost tech, not actual dragons?  Did it ever come up in play or conversation one way or another?  Honestly, I've never even decided which I like better.  They're both REALLY cool!  Which now makes me wonder if it's both. At once.  Dudes on dragons alongside flying cars with freaking laser beams.


Now for something else very different.  Using Undead in Warfare is a big, huge no-no.  Get ready for the high ride!  BUT!  what if such is used against the inimicals?  Say a Sarku legion defending against the Ssu, Hluss, Hokun, or Hlutgru?  Is that a case of "Anything goes, screw those things?"  Or would that still be ignoble?

For that matter, would any of those races have easy ways to deal with the Undead?

Welcome aboard Dulahan. You really should read Prince of Skulls which will answer your first question, and Flamesong which will answer your second.

Shemek

Quote from: Shemek hiTankolel;941682Welcome aboard Dulahan. You really should read Prince of Skulls which will answer your first question, and Flamesong which will answer your second.

Shemek

Thanks!

Wow, I don't seem to recall either of those coming up in said books!  But it's been 10 years or so.

Quote from: d(sqrt(-1));941627Sure. I just wonder if the Gods of Pavar have an interest in that not happening (I'm sure they do...)

Sure they do! They're not out for Tekumeli humans' best interests, they're out for themselves first and their "cause" second, with one possible but unlikely exception:).
The question is, whose interests align best with those of the humans on Tekumel, and it's best answered by PCs learning forbidden knowledge that even the temple of Ksarul deems heretical;).

(Said exception probably only exists in my fan-canon. Maybe Ksarul is in the Blue Room prison because he tried to pull a Lord of the Light on the other gods of Pavar. If so, he is exactly a few moments before the point where the Lord of the Light novel begins:D).

Quote from: Dulahan;941394Sadly, apparently not.  I read through too many pages yesterday it seems.   I've been trying to find it page by page, but no luck so far!  So I'll take what I can get about any of them.  I'm pretty sure Hokun were mentioned in the same post, but not this kingdom proper.  So maybe it was one on the other side of the Northern Hemisphere?  Or somewhere else?

EDIT:  I also remember this kingdom proper was supposed to be isolated.  If that helps more!

EDIT 2:  Mystery solved!  A bit of information overload on my part.  I was reading the old Ucon Conversations book right before I started this thread, and it was something from there.  The Nation of Hekadonde to be specific.

Oh, okay; the over-the-North Pole country. Odd place, isolated from 'real civilization' in the Five Empires. We visited briefly by tubeway car, late in the 1980s, and once we found out that they were on pretty good terms with the Hokun we left in a hurry. We also got the impression that they were allies of what we called the 'purple-and-brown empire' that we contacted in the late 1970s, too.

They are sort of on a 'meridian line' up and over from the Five Empires, in the upper latitudes of the northern hemisphere over on their side of the planet - what I call the 'third quadrant' of Phil's globe; we occupy the first, the Southern Continent the second) and from what we got from them is that Benre Sa is located to the south of them and off to one side. There's kind of a 'beaten path' of a sea lane that connects the north polar ocean with them; the 1990s group followed this, which is where the U-Con Conversations material comes from. I have a set of the maps, as well.

Tibet would work well as a reference for them; they didn't seem to be a theocracy like the Nyemesel Isles or the real Tibet, though.

Quote from: Gronan of Simmerya;941415Probably the closest to "untouchable" would be the nakome (the clanless.) It was one reason I joined the army; it gave me a place in society.

Agreed. Being clanless is pretty difficult; see also "Man of Gold". Poor people off the boat are in this category; rich and connected people are not. I think we touched on this early on in this thread.

Quote from: Dulahan;941468I concede I'd also really love to know more about the Purple and Brown Empire, but between a post I noticed yesterday, and what's been said I gather that their armor is somewhat more plain.  They have some sort of monolithic government.  They're expansionistic.  Probably have some spies in the 5 Empires...  And know of the Hokun.

Anything else?  

Like what their names are like?  Are they all like Chinese sounding like Fu Hsi?  (Trivia!  that's actually the name of a figure from Chinese Myth, one of the three sovereigns: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fuxi)  Or didn't you learn any other names?

Religious Details?

They seem like they could be a good potential antagonist or ally depending for my own game I'm planning, what with spies and Expasionistic tendencies.  Or even just a place to send my poor PCs as Diplomats at some point.

Honestly, I'm a setting nerd in general, I love learning all I can about in depth settings.  So anything at all about the parts of Tekumel not otherwise detailed are things I'm fascinated by.  Different nations and cultures and histories especially.  Probably comes from my own being a Historian or something.

Not a lot more, really. We didn't spend a lot of time on this, as we spent most of our time in the Five Empires dealing with all sorts of emergencies. Phil was very upfront about not detailing a lot of his world - about 75% of the planet's surface, actually! - so that GMs and players could make up their own adventures. Which I thought, and still think, was/is pretty damn generous of him...

Quote from: AsenRG;941484Uncle, first, allow me to express my hope that the daughter's luggage arriving is a good thing, not a bad thing:)! (I'm sure you'd be glad to see her either way!)


I'm starting to think that those stories, or what you remember of them, might make a nice appendix to your book. After all, they're probably the inspiration of a lot of the "adventuring" side of Tekumel! And something like "The Hidden Roots of the Petal Throne" might be a fitting title;).


Of course, that's exactly how it was in Europe, though most fantasy ignores it. You display the signs that identify you as part of (or head of) a group.
Why would a decent man cover his family crest, or his coat of arms? These are things you're supposed to be proud of. Why aren't you? Are you not a decent man?
(Exception was made for stuff like people that have given an oath).


Here's my question! Can you, or the Glorious General, describe what it would be like to simply walk down the street in the Foreigners' Quarter in Jakalla, looking for a place to stay:D?

1. Well, it was a little exciting; the shipping manifest called out that she had ten cubic meters of stuff, but it actually turned out to be about seven. She's been unpacking and collapsing boxes all week, and I have gotten more and more floor space back. Her new room is a little larger then the apartment she had in Zurich, so she's happy, and she seems to like being with 'Mom' and 'Dad'. Took her out to the FLGS last night to look at storage boxes for her comics, and she asked if we could get figures for her and Third Daughter for the campaign; Dark Sword got the sale, and I'm looking froward to painting them up. Got a figure for Second Son-in-law; must find one for First. First and Second Grandchildren were easy; Dark Fable miniatures has them.

2. They will, by and large, be in the book. I am shying away from footnotes and an appendix, as I am writing a book of Adventures - with a good bit of Action and Romance included. I am not writing a textbook or an RPG, but I will include a lot of this material where it is appropriate and will help the reader.

3. Exactly.

4. Dangererous. See also the second to the last story in the book, where Kyrinn Eis takes her PC down such a street. It's the Souk, the Casbah, the 'wrong part of medieval London or Paris, the worst parts of Hong Kong or Shanghai in the 1930s, or the nasty back alley outside Rick's Cafe in Casablanca. Very 'pulp'; it's the place where the 'civilized people' keep everybody that they consider 'uncivilized'.

I'd run this as an adventure, to give you the full flavor...

See also the discussion back in this thread about being 'connected'; one would normally try to use one's contacts, as this would get rid of a lot of the danger of being viewed as 'fair prey' by the denizens of the place.

Think Mos Eisley spaceport - a "wretched hive of scum and villainy..."

Quote from: Hrugga;941491Yes, that's it. I also have a follow-up question for Uncle as well. "Totally unfamiliar style of armor and weapons...", Uncle if you could expand on that a bit if you remember. Any details about these strange weapons would be helpful...

Thanks,

H:0)

Sure. They look more 'Persian' then we did, as Phil likened our more ornate armor to that os Southeast Asia; you could consider them to be more restrained. They didn't have the trademark 'big swoopy shoulderplates' that are a design feature of Five Empires armor, for example. A little more mail, a lot less plate; articulation was pretty rare, but then it's rare all over Tekumel. If I were going to model these, I'd use medieval Indo-Persian/Mughal figures.

Look in Stone's Glossary; lots of the Indo-Persian stuff fits with what we saw, which is not surprising as Phil also had a copy.

From Dulahan:1500 posts in, and other stuff as well.  So now my questions are starting to flow!

Pariah Gods - Interesting to me that they just want to bring Tekumel BACK in reality.  I always thought they just wanted to destroy everything.  I mean, other than the fact the Lords of Humanspace would basically destroy Tekumel as it is anyways.

It definitely gives them a more positive vibe though, and something I want to know even more about now!

This was Phil's big in-joke; all us PCs were fighting to keep normality from being restored. He thought that is was funny when the Silver Suits first landed, but nobody else did. We were working to preserve our society, not destroy it.

And here's another for gaming purposes proper rather than pure selfish desire to learn the setting.

What's a good reason for parties of different Faiths and Clans to adventure together?  Specifically some good reasons to shove them together.  The Tekumelani "met in an inn" for lack of a better term?  The core Thursday group sounds like it was quite diverse, but plenty of reason to work together.  the Legion angle seems like one, but what are some other reasons and methods?

You work together because you need to; your temple owes another a favor, all sorts of reasons. Imperial 'suggestions' also come into play, as does the clan and family. We had mostly Change people, but we included Stability and others as needed for a particular mission/job/quest/adventure. See also "Man of Gold", where this is discussed in connection with the golden hand; one of the hardest things that RPG gamers have with 'getting Tekumel' is the idea that you are part of a functioning society, and not a footloose homicidal maniac.

For example, I am a Change worshipper (Vimuhla). My mercenary bodyguard, Vrisa, is Stability (One Of Light). We never had any issues with this; I did my job and paid her, and she killed anything that tried to bother us.

There are several hundred good reasons to work together, that I can think of that came up in our games. Try the Barsoom or Conan series for more examples. Greed, honor, glory, survival, and attraction all come to mind.

For that matter, any advice if I don't go for the off the boat campaign idea?  A couple of my players, the two cores at that, are already diving into tekumel.com or my books (one's my roommate, so he has ready access to all the print material I let him - which is admittedly considerable, I've been tracking stuff down for the better part of 15 years ), so they may well have some good ideas.  So even things as simple as "Don't let someone be a Very High Clan member and another a Low Clan in the same group" sort of stuff is useful.

What I do is start new players at about third level in EPT, like Phil did with me. Give them a background, and give them a choice of jobs/quests/etc. from their clan or other organization. I prefer to keep all the members of a party at about the same level of social standing, as it makes it easier for them to get into the world. Different clans and temples are great, as it gives reasons to cooperate. Never had an issue with High/Low clan things, as I made it very clear how this works in Tekumel, and I had very good players. Get them together at a party at the clanhouse, and there you go.

EDIT:  What's the status of "To Serve the Petal Throne?"  Is it out in the wild somewhere?

I am steaming away at the thing, and am 127,000 words into it with another roughly 175,000 to go. There is no firm limit to the book; once I finish telling the stories of our adventures, it'll be finished. I do not have it up on line yet; I want to finish it first. Several of the regulars in this thread have seen the current draft; they may want to chime in with what they think of the thing so far. I am interested in comments, which they have been kind enough to make.