So at your local wizarding school ...

Following a thread on the official GURPS forum on altering GURPS Magic to fit a setting of a magic school, I present these spells for the edification of anyone doing likewise.  Aside from Lend Energy – the first spell any magician learns – new apprentices in my setting are taught simple spells.  Many are useful, but in a number of cases, they are imparted less to advance apprentices through their studies than to give them easy, showy spells to slake their appetites for magic ... and to steer them away from more dangerous ones.  

All of the below spells are without prerequisite, many are Mental/Average (the exceptions are noted), and all M/A spells – following the excellent GURPS product The Least of Spells – may be learned and cast by those with minimal Magery.  I’ll tag the ones I definitely know I did create with a (*), the rest being ganked from sources all over.


ALERT             Information (Knowledge college, M/H)

The caster knows when a specific event has occurred in a particular place.   The caster must specify the event when he casts the spell.  Long distance modifiers apply for time and distance.

Duration: 1 hour.
Cost: 3, 2 to maintain.

ANIMATE REFLECTION     Regular, resisted by IQ (Illusion college)

The subject’s reflection in any reflective surface moves as the caster wishes, and appears to be moving independently.  The reflection can do anything that the original subject is able to do.  Likewise, the reflection can use body parts, or objects that the subject is carrying, that aren’t reflected when the spell is cast.  For example, the image could appear to bring its hands to its face even if only the subject’s head is reflected. It can also appear to partially move out of the reflected area, or vanish entirely.  Objects or states of being that aren’t present on the subject’s body when the spell is cast can’t be created in the reflection.

Duration: 10 minutes.
Cost: 1, 1 to maintain.

BASKETWORK         Regular (Plant college, (*))

Instantly weaves grass, thin branches, withies and the like into a basket or other item of wickerwork, appropriate to the raw materials available, at a skill of Basketweaving-12 or the caster’s Basketweaving skill+3, whichever is higher.  At double the cost, the skill levels are at -15 or +6, respectively.

Duration: Permanent.
Cost: 2 per 5 lbs of materials to be shaped.

COINS OF CHANGE           Regular (Illusion college, M/H, (*))

A single coin of the caster's choice disappears, to be replaced by the monetary equivalent in the next lower denomination.  However, one coin of the lower denomination is missing (as a magical "tip," if you will).  The new coins will be of the proper bullion, weight and minting, indistinguishable from other such coins minted by the originating nation in the given year, were it not for the newness and lack of wear.  Cast on a coin of the smallest denomination, it disappears, and is replaced by something peculiar and/or worthless.

Duration: Permanent.
Cost: 2.

COMFORT             Regular (Mind Control college, M/H)

The subject feels warm, dry, and uncramped – even if he isn't in reality – and gets +3 to HT and Will rolls to resist the psychological effects of warm or cold weather or the uncomfortable effects of cramped spaces.  Negative effects still affect the body, and will manifest when unusual exertion is attempted.

Duration: 1 hour.
Cost: 2, 1 to maintain.

CONCENTRATE         Regular (Mind Control college, M/H)

Allows the subject to concentrate on a specific task, ignoring all distractions, gaining a bonus to Will rolls to ignore distractions that might disrupt concentration or spoil spells, including pain, heat, cold or damage.

Duration: 1 minute.
Cost: 1, +1 per +1 bonus to Will rolls, same to maintain.

CREATE TEAPOT         Regular (Food college, (*))

A silvery-violet teapot will appear (and float) in midair. The caster may put any kind of tea and sweetener inside the pot; it requires no water or strainer.  The pot will brew away, producing 1 quart, appropriately sweetened.  If no tea is placed into the pot, it will brew a basic unsweetened pekoe.  The pot will pour itself, at the caster's command.  

Variants have been known to brew cocoa -- or other non-alcoholic hot drinks common to the culture, such as rooibos, maté or tisanes -- instead.  (By contrast, no one has succeeded in producing a coffee or alcoholic variant.)  There has been much speculation as to why such a useful spell is so easy to learn and cheap to cast, and it has been popularly attributed to a (probably apocryphal) God of Apprentices.

Duration: 5 minutes.
Cost: 1, same to maintain.  

GEOMETRY         Regular (Movement college, M/H, (*))

The caster may accurately draw or trace any geometric shape that he can imagine.  A writing implement is required, but the caster draws with preternatural speed and accuracy; the result is precise to within a millimeter.

Duration: Permanent.
Cost: 2.
Time to Cast: 1 second to 10 minutes. 1 second for a small, simple symbol up to 10 minutes for a very complex or large design. Simple sigils require 1 second, pentagrams and similar sigils take 5 seconds.

GLOWING EYES         Regular, resisted by IQ (Illusion college)

The subject’s eyes glow with an unnatural light.  Though this doesn’t interfere with the subject’s vision or improve his night vision, it will make him visible in the dark.  This may provoke Fright Checks as well.

Duration: 10 minutes.
Cost: 1, 1 to maintain.

GOSSAMER            Area (Air college, (*))

A fine rain of gossamer web floats down.  While it is visible, it neither impedes vision nor movement.

Duration: 5 minutes.
Base Cost: ⅓, minimum 1. Cannot be maintained.

ICE CUBES             Regular (Water college, (*))

Creates a quart of ice cubes, about a cubic inch apiece.  Falling ice cubes do no damage but might be distracting if dumped on an unsuspecting target.

Duration: Permanent, but melt normally.
Cost: 1.

LIGHT SWITCH         Area, resisted by Will (Light and Darkness college, M/H)

Extinguishes – or lights – all sources of light with a preset spoken or physical command (usually a clap of the hands or a spoken word) specified at the time of casting. The caster can exclude some light sources if specified at casting, and can permit the command to be given by people, or types of people.  Light sources need not have been in the area at the time of casting to be affected.  Sources of flame will continue to burn; they will do so at the slowest possible rate, and produce a low degree of heat.  This will triple the life of a source of flame like a lantern or campfire, but will not work on a large source of flame above a hex in size.  Light sources held or used by unwilling subjects within the area of effect resist with the wielder’s Will.

Duration: 6 hours.
Base Cost: 1, same to maintain.

MIST                 Area (Weather college)

Creates an area of light fog, reducing Vision.

Duration: 1 minute.
Cost: base 1/10 per -1 Vision penalty (-5 maximum), half to maintain.

POKE             Regular, resisted by DX or ST (Air college)

Creates a little rod of concentrated air, which the caster can use to poke with at a distance. It can distract and annoy foes but also has peaceful applications (like pressing buttons, knocking a small candle over or touching objects from a safe distance).  There is no distance penalty, but the target must be in the caster’s line of sight. The subject may resist with DX or ST, whichever is more appropriate. If the resistance is successful, the spell has no effect.

Duration: 1 second.
Cost: 1, can’t be maintained.

PUFF OF BREATH         Regular (Air college, (*))

The target feels a light puff of breath; it will blow out candles reliably, and be noticeable at a range of two yards, but not much else.

Duration: 1 second.
Cost: 1.

RESIST INTOXICATION     Regular, resisted by Will (Body Control, M/H)

Makes the subject immune to the intoxicating effects of drugs or alcohol.

Duration: 1 hour.
Cost: 2, 1 to maintain.

SAINT ELMO'S FIRE     Regular, resisted by HT (Air college, (*)) 

The subject is limned with a phosphorescent glow, causing him to stand out clearly in dim light and creating a spooky effect. Lighting penalties to see the subject are reduced fourfold.

Duration: 1 minute.
Cost: 1, 1 to maintain.

SHOW BUSINESS         Area, resisted by IQ (Illusion college, M/H, (*))

Creates minor special effects suitable for use as a prop for a stage show.  Among possible effects are minor sound effects, flashing lights, loud spectral applause, background Muzak, small puffs of smoke or thin fog.  The special effects created are not powerful enough to distract or fool a determined foe.  At best, they will give a foe -1 to Sense rolls for 1 second.  In this case, the victim is allowed an IQ roll to resist.

Duration: 1 minute.
Cost: base 1, same to maintain.

SIGNAL FLARE        Regular (Light and Darkness college, (*))

A fizzing jet flies straight up from the caster’s finger.  When it reaches an altitude of 400', it bursts into a brilliant flare of colored light (caster’s choice as to hue).  It descends at a rate of 10'/second thereafter, and will wink out 20' from the ground.  While the Flare’s illumination is dim at best, it is visible for miles at night.  The spell does no damage, may not be targeted, and will not fire in any direction but straight up.

Duration: 40 seconds.
Cost: 2.  Cannot be maintained.

SMOKE RINGS         Regular (Air/Fire college)

The caster can make a palm-sized amount of smoke (from a pipe or similar item) change color, form rings or shapes, or move in a certain direction against the prevailing air currents.  The smoke thus controlled is too thin to obscure vision or cause breathing difficulties.  It might give the caster +1 to reaction rolls or Social skills when dealing with people who aren't used to wizards and magic.

Duration: 10 minutes or the duration of one bowl of tobacco, whichever is more.
Cost: 1, same to maintain.

SNOWBALL         Missile (Water college)

Creates a fist-sized snowball that the caster can throw, and has the same range and other characteristics as a thrown rock.  The snowball does no damage.

Duration: 10 seconds, or until three seconds after being thrown, whichever comes first.
Cost: 1.

STITCH             Regular (Movement college, (*))

The subject may sew a row of stitches through cloth, leather or other material, at the rate of 6" per second, as if he possessed the appropriate Leatherworking or Sewing skill (if he does have the skill, this is treated as Skill+4).  The subject can specify the manner of the stitching with an appropriate roll suitable to the intricacies of the stitch.  All appropriate materials to do the job -- i.e., thread and a garment to be sewn; no needle is required -- must be at hand at the time of casting.

Duration: 1 minute.
Cost: 1, 1 to maintain.

TENT             Regular (Illusion college, M/H)

A tent of any size may be created.  The Tent is made of unbleached canvas with plain wood poles, but other than that, it can be of any shape desired, from a simple pup tent to a large pavilion.  The Tent has DR 1, 10 HT.  In other respects, the Tent is normal, though it does not leak.  Variants are known to exist creating fancier or more decorative Tents.

Duration: 1 hour.
Cost: 2, 1 to maintain for a one or two-man tent.  3, 2 to maintain for a tent or pavilion which will sleep up to 6 people in cramped conditions or 2 people in comfort; doubling thereafter for tripling capacity.

WATER BALL        Missile (Water college)

Creates a fist-sized missile of water.  It does no damage, striking with the impact of a water balloon, but can distract targets, put out small fires or do 1d-1 HT damage to flame-based creatures.

Duration: Instant.
Cost: 1.

WERELIGHT        Regular (Light and Darkness college, (*))

Creates a pale green ball of light in the caster’s hand.  The ball will travel with the caster, and remain in his hand, although it is intangible and doesn't interfere with the use of the hand for any other purpose.  It is not bright enough to illuminate beyond 2", but can be seen up to 10-15 hexes at night depending on the lighting conditions.  Closing the hand around the ball will turn the Werelight “off,” while opening the hand again will turn it back “on.”  Alternately, the light can be placed in a stationary spot.

Duration: 1 hour.
Cost: 1, 1 to maintain.
 

A Technologist's Bibliography

Happy New Year to one and all!  Still trucking away here, so let me tuck right in.

I’ve always been fascinated with seeing how low-tech craftsmen did things.  It therefore doesn’t suck that I live in an area with more reenactment museums than anywhere else in my hemisphere.  Whether it’s Mystic Seaport or Old Sturbridge Village, Old Deerfield vs Lake Champlain, Canterbury Shaker Village vs Hancock Shaker Village, farm and seafaring museums galore, or even demonstrations at county fairs, I’m the fellow spending a half-hour leaning over the rail at the blacksmith’s or the cooper’s shop, observing How Things Were Done.

Not all of you have that luxury, alas, and need to hit the books to learn more.  Having been specifically asked about works about medieval technology by one of my Kind Readers, I wanted to go a little more indepth than in a comment response.

Your first stop should be the relevant Wikipedia topics.  Not only are they comprehensive, direct to the point and easy to read, they link to many specific articles, as well as relevant articles concerning technology in areas besides western Europe.  For most gamers who want to replicate what was possible in medieval times, those will do well.  Start with this article, and then you can segue on to similar articles on the medieval Islamic world, the Byzantine Empire, India, China and the like.  (Absolutely do NOT ignore the pertinent Chinese articles: China was far more technologically advanced than Europe, at a far earlier date.  You’ll be astonished at what they had in wide circulation hundreds of years before the Renaissance.)

If you’ve got a relatively limited budget and want to do more, I strongly recommend the various GURPS Low Tech works: like many a GURPS worldbook, their broad material is very useful even to those who don’t play GURPS.  Beyond the main Low Tech book, there are three PDF-only 36-page Low Tech Companions: Philosophers and Kings, Weapons and Warriors, and Daily Life and Economics.  They can all be obtained online from SJ Games’ Warehouse 23 site.

The main Wikipedia “Medieval technology” article also has an extremely extensive bibliography.  One work listed in that bibliography is something I’m lucky to have: Volumes II and III of the mammoth 1957 Oxford University Press History of Technology series, edited by Charles Singer; those volumes cover medieval times and the Renaissance, respectively.  It is excellent and comprehensive, and you can just barely get the volumes (they’re long out of print, alas) used on Amazon.

The next works are technically more modern, but of great use to the medieval technologically oriented gamer.  John Seymour was a British environmentalist and self-sufficiency pioneer who wrote an amazing book called The Forgotten Arts and Crafts; his last ditch attempt, a few decades back, to record traditional craftsmanship before its last practitioners died out.  It’s simply written, lavishly and excellently illustrated, with a few pages on each one: gate-hurdle making to hoop-making, charcoaling to basketweaving, limeburning to netmaking.  (Five pages on roof thatching, for instance, including illustrations of every tool used in the process, and a half-page crosshatch illo of the various layers involved.)  It’s another book that’s out of print, alas, but well worth the cost.

I love old books, and one of my prizes is Dr. Chase’s Combination Receipt Book: it’s a 1915 book that seeks to present the best remedies, diagnoses, treatments and medicines available to the country farmer.  It also has large sections on various household preparations, cooking and the like, all suitably low tech. I was astonished to find out it’s still in print, but in fact it is, and at reasonable prices online.

I’ve mentioned Deane's Doctrine of Naval Architecture before in this blog; while it’s a 17th century work, longtime readers of my blog know of my firm belief that “medieval” RPG settings are nothing of the sort: they’re by and large Renaissance-tech with 18th century Age of Sail maritime tech bolted on.  It’s a seminal work of shipbuilding history, and one of the earliest indepth ones extant.

Finally, I wouldn’t ignore YouTube.  There’ve been so many how-they-did it shows and videos out there, and it adds a dimension a book can’t give you: seeing how things were actually done.  (Typing in “medieval cart” in the search bar, for instance, gives a clip from Modern History TV as the first item, a fascinating ten minute clip on medieval handcarts, demonstrating the one the presenter had built.)

30 (+) Obnoxious Cultural Traits

There's a current (well, recently necroed) thread on my favorite gaming forum of 101 Obnoxious Cultural Traits.  Diving right in, herewith are my entries so far, for your own use and edification! If you feel some of these reflect real world cultures, you may well be right ...

"We're all badasses!  Can't you see the skull?"

1) They are relentless exceptionalists. Their culture/nation is just superior. Everything they do is better. Every institution they have is superior. Their blood is purer. Their crops are taller, their livestock is bigger, their children are smarter, their hats are wider, their music is louder, their sports are more "manly." It isn't even as if they feel they're in a competition: they think they already won them all a long time ago. Any evidence to the contrary is just white noise, and met with bemused, patronizing smiles.

2) As a variant of the above, they feel their culture is the center of the universe. Everyone else is a barbarian, and they just can't wrap their heads around dealing with outsiders except on terms of supplicants kowtowing to their masters. They're always right, everyone else is always wrong. 

3) They are rabid libertarians. The notion of a "common good" is sneered at, never mind sacrificing to achieve it. Any hint at restraining their "freedom" must be the result of malice, a vile conspiracy or enemy action. (Somewhat more obnoxiously, their notion of "freedom" suddenly comes to a screeching halt when it comes to how YOU act towards THEM.)

4) They loathe and despise another major culture/nation. Nothing from that culture can be any good. No one from that culture is any good. Having so much of an ancestor of that culture defiles you irrevocably. The laws notwithstanding, crimes committed against people from that culture are no more credited by the authorities than crimes committed against a cockroach. That other culture/nation is plainly out to do them down, and must be opposed at all times and at all hazards, reflexively.  If an actual conflict breaks out, it's war to the knife.

5) Their notion of driving comes, one might joke, from demolition derbies. They hurl their vehicles forward at reckless speeds. Traffic laws, driving lanes, curbsides, these are designed to be flouted. Other vehicles, obstacles, buildings, these are expected to yield or vanish at their approach. Their attitude towards pedestrians is apparently that they collect points for mowing them down, like a pinball game. Being a passenger in their vehicles feels very much like you're on the wrong end of a cavalry charge.

6) Their notion of formal courtesy is staggeringly complex, and lacks any sense of a guiding principle: there are just rules upon rules upon rules. There aren't merely a few forms of address; there are hundreds. It's not that the rules themselves are incomprehensible, it's that there are so damn many. Failure to conform with each and every one of them tags you, irrevocably, as a barbarian.

7) Likewise, they have a complex code of behavior based around clothing, jewelry, face painting and/or tattoos. Where and whether you wear a stud of a red stone in a gold setting, versus wearing a blue stone in a silver setting, announces that you're in a committed monogamous relationship, versus being up for one-off sexual encounters with strangers in the nearest convenient alley. (Or so it would seem.) This code signifies area of birth, political or religious affiliation, the whole works. Wearing the items the "wrong" way is Not Done ... well, other than by adolescents trying to shock the squares. They all reflexively assume outsiders are familiar with and are conforming to the code, and are very wrongfooted if this isn't the case.

8) Some common terms in their language are vile obscenities in yours, or vice versa. "Good morning, how are you faring?" is their standard greeting, and the words in your language imply that the speaker personally facilitated your spouse becoming a diseased prostitute.  The very name of their people, in their own language, is an obscenity in yours.

9) They are a homogeneous society, exclusively of an insular ethnic group. They will learn the language of another culture only grudgingly, and practice elements of that culture in like fashion, like someone scrunching up their faces and holding their noses. Intolerant of immigrants, outsiders in their homeland are stigmatized and relegated to menial or dangerous professions. Marrying outside their culture is unthinkable.  They tend, generally, to be isolationists.

10) In a more extreme fashion – tip of the cap to Prof. Barker! – the culture is downright xenophobic. They won't even pretend to tolerate the practices of outsiders, nor soil their tongues with barbarian languages.  Foreigners had better stay in their insular cantonments after business hours (and will be cheated and derided during them), or risk running into gangs whose idea of fun is impaling them.

11) They just don't get the practices of other cultures. They're not unduly mean or rude about it, nor are they haughty over the correctness of their own culture, but they can't comprehend deviations from their own practices, no matter how often displayed or repeated.

12) They're inveterate and reflexive duelists. They're touchy about a lot of things, and an insult can only be wiped out in blood: there's pretty much a duel going on all the time in any city (and they're outright spectator sports).  The code duello is comprehensive and well-known. Declining a duel provokes the same horrified reactions as urinating on an altar during a religious service might.

13) Speaking of which ... they don't have much body consciousness regarding evacuation. Publicly urinating or defecating is the norm. Dropping trou to wipe their genitals with a cloth -- oh, hey, your handkerchief will do, much thanks! -- is common.

14) They are extreme xenophiles. Everything other cultures do is Neat! and Cool!  A product wrapping, a business sign, these are invariably in some other language (and they're often careless about the translation).  They give their children foreign -- or foreign-sounding -- names.  They're passionately interested in every difference, and regard every manifestation or behavior you might make as potentially some new Neat! and Cool! practice. They want to know All About It! Why is it you rub your chin like that? Did you get that from your parents? Is that a religious thing? Neat!

15) They have an extensive caste system, and everyone has their place within it. The system's very rigid, and rules govern how you treat people at every rung; violating these rules isn't merely a social offense but a religious one as well. They seek to fit you into a slot, and are visibly uncomfortable with those who do not fit.  However much they grudgingly recognize that other cultures don't play by their rules, it's hard for them to deal with and it shows.

16) The culture is just reflexively and mindlessly cruel, compared to yours. People think nothing of lashing lower-status folk with barbed quirts or whips, mutilating servants, putting animals to painful deaths just for the heck of it.  Athletic events which don't draw blood are for wimps. Outright executions take hours, and are spectator sports, with families bringing lunch baskets to the party, and the executioners take payments to cut off this part or that. How much am I bid for a finger? C'mon, you can do better than that! What's that you say, you call dibs on the left testicle? And so on and so forth.

17) A staple livestock (treated routinely as food in YOUR culture) is regarded as sacred. The animals are inviolate, allowed to wander around as they please, breeding and eating as they will. Just touching them is suspect. Molesting or impeding them will earn you a beating at best. Actually harming one will subject the perp to a gruesome death; being burned alive is standard. Eating the animal's flesh (or using its byproducts) is considered cannibalism and sacrilegious, and being known to be from a culture where that happens marks you as suspect. Accusations are routine and often knee-jerk: you'd better not sport a feather in your hat, if you don't want someone to scream that you plucked it from a sacred chicken ...

18) Some common practice is fetishized to the extreme. Let's take the color yellow, for example. Everyone wears it. No one's seen without it. Great care is taken to keep those yellow articles of clothing spotless and pristine. Spitting on something that's colored yellow is a near-sacrilegious act. Insulting the color absolutely is. People will stop and pray for a minute before whipping an egg yolk ... or doing anything that will harm or mar something colored yellow. "Sash-smearer" is their worst insult (referring to those unutterable louts who spill sauces on their yellow sashes). Even down to everyone daily consuming enough of a certain herb to ensure that they don't disrespect the revered color through urination. Pardon me, sir (delivered in a chilly tone), why aren't you eating your mlekil-root? What does its taste have to do with it?

19) It's an equestrian culture. Possession of a riding animal is a prerequisite to being treated as a real person, and one's skill at riding is paramount in determining status. All art and architecture is suffused with references to riding. Combat solely takes place mounted, and being dismounted or having your mount killed automatically means you yield/surrender. People would rather ride twenty miles than walk one. The very word for "human" in their language is literally "one who rides," and someone unable to ride (through inexperience, no talent, disability or age) is no longer treated as an adult, and will not be trusted with any responsible position.

20) No negotiation, no business dealing can be concluded before several rounds of their bitter, foul-tasting, very heavily alcoholic national drink. Wincing, flinching, or gagging means you're less than a real person. Never mind -- the gods forbid! -- declining.  What?!  You refuse to drink with us!?  (cue hand dropping to sword hilt)

21) Insults are the common way of treating other people. Greeting your best friend or spouse with "How goes it, you ugly goatfucker?" is considered a basic sign of affection. By contrast, treating someone with formal courtesy is considered insulting.

22) All foods must be prepared in a certain way (particular to each food or dish), and only in that way. You can only eat omelets; scrambled eggs are taboo. You can only eat broiled steaks; panfried or steak stir fry is right out. You can only find skim milk; whole fat milk doesn't exist. Etcetera.

23) Lying is a serious sin in this culture, and on the one hand that's a good thing. But the flip side is that people are seriously gullible, and will swallow the most bizarre delusions, if delivered earnestly enough. These are the people who believe in Pizzagate, the Piltdown Man, blood libels, Satanic ritual abuse, evil clowns, that the 2020 election was rigged, that the presence of wizards in neighborhoods cause people to become sterile, that the world will end on Kelusse 15 at two hours to sunsdown, and that the Martian War Machines will be responsible. They're altogether too easy to cheat or scam ... and altogether too willing to tear suspected cheaters and scammers to pieces, if the bastards are outed.

24) Religion is omnipresent to an overbearing degree. Prayer is a part of all business. Attending daily services is a must, and the truly pious squeeze more in. No home is without a niche to the gods/ancestors/spirits, and the poor beggar themselves for candles and offerings. Incredibly arcane -- and near-trivial -- facets of the faith are exhaustively contentious and continually debated, and riots have started over whether their god has two natures but only one will, or two wills and only one nature. (That particular riot ended when the two sides joined forces to attack the faction holding that the god had an equally balanced number of wills and natures: heresy!) An economically draining and disproportionate number are in the clergy. They're aware that outlanders hold to different faiths, and don't harass them for it, but it's all very tiresome.

24b) Come to that, take just about any aspect of life -- sports, politics, literature, leisure pastimes -- and apply the same treatment. Everyone reads all the time, no one's considered educated or a grown-up without being familiar with the entirety of the culture's literary canon, constant debates over New Works vs Traditional Works, fist fights over whether the newest translation was botched, people who can't whip out quotes at the drop of a pin derided for being bumpkins, society coming to a screeching halt when the Greatest Living Author comes out with a new book, society coming to a screeching halt for the state funeral when the Greatest Living Author kicks it. Etc.

25) The society's pretty straightlaced, nose to the grindstone, work work work. But at quitting time on Friday (or the equivalent thereof), all hell breaks loose. Everyone gets hammered, everyone gets laid, everyone dives into a completely over the top bacchanal. Kick the gendarmes in the jimmies, smash windows and furniture in the ensuing drunken stupor, empty your gun into the ceiling, throw up on your boss after pointing at her husband's crotch and laughing, it's all laughed off: "Whiskey, eh." At dawn the party stops, the cleanup begins, and everyone makes a point -- or that's the ideal, anyway -- of not mentioning it.

26) The culture has no sense of privacy. Everyone's in everyone else's business, all the time. It's only mildly suspect to come home to find a neighbor rifling through your papers and cabinets. Evasive or non-answers (or, gasp, locking one's door) invariably provoke a startled "Whaddaya got to hide?"

27) The culture has a fetish for divination. Everyone looks for omens for everything. The bones are cast, or the cards are read, or the entrails are examined for auspicious days to begin any significant undertaking. You might have to dodge passersby on the streets who are staring straight up, trying to discern patterns in the clouds or the flight of birds. No one will conclude serious business with you before consulting their fortuneteller, or asking you your birthday so they can have their neighborhood astrologer cast your horoscope.

28) The society highly values the ability to withstand pain. Ordeals are rites of passage, and torture the answer to just about everything. Showing fear under threat is shameful, keeping silent under torture is what separates persons from non-persons, and only silent deaths are considered honorable.

29) The culture's never shaken its nomadic roots. Buildings -- and they're never more than two stories -- are constructed with only three walls; the fourth is invariably of heavy canvas, leather, wicker or some other impermanent substance ... wattle-and-daub at the utmost. It's considered decadent to own more than you can carry in a wagon, or any one object too heavy to put in a packsaddle. The mark of how close your folk adhere to cultural purity is whether or not you go through with burning down your entire city once every twelve years -- as was done in the old days -- and rebuild it a mile thataway. Large-scale industry is disparaged in favor of handicrafts.

30) People speak what's on their mind.  It's not quite that they can't lie, or hold a secret, but they're seriously blunt, they have no social filters, and furthermore everyone's expected to take it in stride.   

31) Steel is sacred. Steel is holy. You proudly display your weapons, that all may honor them. You care for your knives like you would for your young. Better than. A rust spot on your blade, a notch, a pit ... and you have insulted Steel itself; you are not fit to live! (And you must die by stoning -- no steel must be sullied with your polluted blood.) A man whose weapon breaks is as good as emasculated. Your wealth must be spent on the finest scabbards, silver wire for the hilts, beautiful gems for the pommels. Only the best whetstones will do. Master armourers are the leaders and arbiters of society. Hail to Sacred Steel!

... stranger, where are your blades? (narrow stare)

Designing A Fake Cult

As I’ve said before, RPGs generally suck at portraying religion.  My quote from seven years ago is that all most RPGs give us are variations of "Bunsgrabber is the God of Partying Down.  His alignment is Chaotic Horny.  He is depicted as a young man with a great tan, wearing cutoffs of purest gold.  His priests always wear sunshades and strange caps with horizontal visors pointing backwards, and his High Temple is at the coastal fort of Lauderdale." 

Don't forget the cool outfits and at least one hot cult leader.

Then you have the bullshit concept that latter editions of D&D pushed that it's possible to be a legitimate cleric, with legitimate healing and blessing and clerical powers, just by hooking up with a "philosophical concept" – in other words, a cheapass dodge for players who wanted to have the cool powers without having to follow any of those boring roleplaying constraints, follow any doctrine or dogma they didn't write themselves, or take a stand on anything.  And this goes a fair bit back: a player in M.A.R. Barker’s campaign in the early 70s reported that how his fellow players handled the religion-soaked environment of Empire of the Petal Throne was to throw gold at the temples and otherwise ignore them.

So it was surprising when a forum thread asked how one would go about designing a fake cult in a fantasy setting, and so many of the posters reacted with shock and horror.  Impossible! they said.  Everyone would Know!  Nonsense, said I.

I don't see, for instance, a single bit of difference, observable to a casual onlooker, between a priestess waving her hands in the air, shouting "May the great god Mitra grant us light!" and the room filling with light, and a wizard dressed in clerical vestments, waving her hands in the air, shouting "May the great god Bunsgrabber grant us light!" ... and casting a light spell.  If the paradigm of the common folk is that the gods grant their priests supernatural powers, well, a wizard can wear pseudo-clerical vestments, stand in a "temple" and work supernatural powers.

But, you say, how is the fake priest going to turn undead?  Easy.  "The great god Bunsgrabber is not a *weak* god, and He does not cowardly hope that the Unlife will just run away!  This is how Bunsgrabber deals with the Unlife!"  Cue fireball hitting the zombie dead center.

But, you say, how is the fake priest going to heal people?  Easy.  For one, you deter the casual and the unfaithful.  "The great god Bunsgrabber is not a whore god like all the rest!  He grants healing only to His sincere worshipers!"  There in one fell swoop you take care of 90% of the supplicants.  For the handful you genuinely want to heal -- or the rich folk you want to think of themselves as True Believers -- just to make the scam look good, you invite them to drink from the Sacred Chalice upon which the Great God Bunsgrabber has breathed His mighty breath.  (Cue wind spell.)  That's the chalice you spike with a healing potion.

But, you say, how is the fake priest going to raise the dead?  Easy.  You don't.  "What is this blasphemy you speak?  Do you not know that the great god Bunsgrabber has vouchsafed your beloved dead a seat on His Great Comfy Waterbed, attended by the requisite seven Angels In Spandex?  How can you be so wicked as to wish them to return to this world of suffering and pot bellies?"

But, you say, how is the fake priest going to bless people.  Hm.  Pretty much the same as clergy bless people today worldwide, however much we have no objective proof that gods exist.  Nonetheless, billions of people seek out those blessings, and believe in their efficacy when they receive them.

But, you say, won’t the other gods object?  I don’t see it, myself.  The frequently parroted shibboleth of omnipresent, interventionist deities bears surprisingly little resemblance to common gameplay, even in D&D circles. Honestly, how often have you seen gods physically appear in your own campaigns?  And in how many campaigns are there two dozen, three dozen (... more?) gods?  How many schmuck peasants keep track of them all, and how would they do so in any event?  Not like they could try to pull up an article for Bunsgrabber on Wikipedia ...

And even so, speaking of that: here’s an example IN the modern age, where factchecking is at everyone’s fingertips.  Take a look at the whole Church of Satan deal and its offshoots.  Many really do believe in them.  Yet Anton LaVey said openly in The Satanic Bible that to a degree, it was all hooey: "Satan" really didn't exist as a real being, LaVey wasn't shy about admitting it, and all the mysticism and trappings LaVey put in the book was pretty much out of his entirely defensible position that mankind has a demonstrable love for mysticism and trappings.  A philosophical concept, huh?  Guess LaVey would've made it as a D&D cleric.  But I digress ...

Nah, this'd be a slam dunk in most any realistic fantasy setting.  (And if fantasy settings were somehow immune to grifters, how do thieves manage to survive?)

Sport in campaigns

(Trust me, this will get to roleplaying.  Bear with me.)

Following the exchange with one of my kind readers in the previous post ... I joined an APBA dice baseball league in 1981.  For those of you unfamiliar with such sports simulation games, there are companies – most notably APBA and Strat-O-Matic – that every year put out a set of cards, based on their private algorithms, that seek to duplicate the performances of individual players from the previous season.  This is primarily done with baseball, which lends itself well to the approach, but has been done for other sports – you use dice and charts to determine the results of individual plays.  Some play solitaire replay seasons with the original teams, but the league I was in had the players draft new teams, and we’d keep them year after year, drafting new players and holding trades and suchlike.  I took over my team in mid-season that first year after another player dropped out.

Anyway, Jim was one of the managers.  He also happened to be an Empire of the Petal Throne GM who decided to base his team on Tekumel and out of Jakalla – the so-called “Jakalla Saints” – and did a good bit of roleplaying during his games.  The crowd would chant "Vimúhla!  Vimúhla!" – the “evil” flame god of the pantheon – if a pitcher was doing poorly and about to be pulled, and instead of placing players on waivers, Jim would say that they were impaled on one of the three impaling stakes in center field, pour encourages les autres.  (M.A.R. Barker's Tekumel is not your bog-standard D&D "lawfulgood" setting, not by a long chalk.)

I was charmed – go ahead, say it, you know you want to – and the next season moved my team into one of the cities on my gameworld.  The "Warwik Dragons" were born, playing in the city's gladiatorial arena (thus insuring short porches down the foul lines).  A PC wizard begged to be added to the team's staff, so Larindo the Witherer became (then as now) the Team Necromancer, who helped out materially when I made a waiver wire pickup.  The cards were based on the previous season of play, and in 1980 J.R. Richard – a star pitcher for the Houston Astros – was having a magnificent season before he had a stroke.  He would never pitch in the majors again.  

So, while in 1981 Richard's card was excellent, we all knew he was damaged goods, and the Jakalla manager cut him during the stretch run for a prospect.  I promptly picked him up off the waiver wire.  Since Richard had been "impaled," Larindo reclaimed the body and raised him as a zombie during a gaming session (which took some doing, since creating Unlife within the kingdom's boundary was illegal) for the team.  The following quote during an APBA match was repeated down the seasons:

    JR's Zombie:  "I ... pitch ... good.  I ... live ... again?"
    Warwik Manager:  "No, sorry, J.R., you're still dead."

PCs have attended games down the years (matches are social register events), and one got singed for being too close to the edge of the outfield wall, which erupts in a sea of magical flame every time the Dragons hit a home run.  Anyway, I was in the league until 1988, when I moved out of the area ... but I did win the championship that season, with the best record in league history (50-14), averaging ten runs a game, and racking up the single most dominant game imaginable (27-0, where my starting pitcher, the aforementioned Nolan Ryan, pitched a one-hitter; those readers who are baseball-conversant will understand how mindshattering that is).

For other sports on my gameworld?  Shinny's also a popular game in winter time: in effect early pond hockey.  There’s also a sport, not for the faint of heart, played by rock trolls.  Since they’re pretty much RuneQuest trolls, they play Trollball, and at least one party has seen a Trollball match.  Freaked the party pacifist out, too, especially when one enterprising troll spiked the “ball.”  (No, I’m not explaining further – look it up!  Consider yourself warned.)

So, given that mortalkind is given to sport, I’ve done up other sports.  Village football’s a favorite, and soccer is as low-tech as it comes – one just needs goalposts and a leather ball.  Warwik City, in Byzantine fashion, has “factions” operating out of the gladiatorial arena, competing not only in arms but in racing, athletics, martial arts and, well, baseball – the standings for the combined sports are the talk of the town, as well as a major venue for betting.  The party's about to be in an area where the local popular sport is a type of polo, played on sleeths (riding lizards that pretty much have the size, configuration and gait of Star Wars taun-tauns), and using effectively lacrosse sticks. 

Heck, if we stick to Tekumel, there's a custom known as Qadàrni, where a full-scale battle is held to settle a score, satisfy a point of honor, or adjudicate an intractable dispute or legal case.  The competitors can be any entity – private individuals, clans, temples, societies, and even political polities.  Honor demands that the sides start (nominally) even, and it gains little honor if one’s forces are known to be a great deal more capable than their foes.  Cheating, treachery or otherwise dishonorable acts are not allowed.  Such a battle begins at dawn and takes one hour, or when one side is either disabled – or slain – to a man or concedes.  These matches are major spectator sports, and occasions for a great deal of gambling.

Adding sport to your setting gives just that extra bit of local color, and also serves to divide locals into factions that have nothing to do with the hoary old RPG classics of religion and race.

What would be my favorite setting?

One that feels genuine.  I got tired decades ago of the JRRT-standard Shining City In A Sea Of Empty that seemed so beloved of setting designers: you just cannot have glittering civilizations that give way to hostile wilderlands and howling orc hordes a bow shot from the capital's walls.  I don't want a terrifying war fleet without the maritime infrastructure to support it, or jackbooted legions without the secure farmlands to feed them, or hundred thousand person cities in the middle of a desert with no particular sources of food, water or trade.  I don’t need Good! Vs! Evil! to be the motivating factor behind every international, intraurban or internecine dispute; good old human motivations will do nicely.                   

One that isn't set up as a Potemkin front for the care and feeding of PCs. If there are five wizards in town, they're not sitting around twiddling their thumbs waiting for the PCs to put in enchantment orders.  I'm happy to see one working for the Baroness, one working for the town's richest merchant, one playing communications relay for the national military, and one being a drunkard no one with alternatives trusts any more.  (The fifth one can fit them into her schedule, sure, if they pay her enough to bump the waiting list down a bit.  They're cool with her being an earth specialist whose work is mostly in creating and shaping stone, right?)  If it's a 500-person town, there isn't unlimited gold available to buy the party's loot, and the townsfolk are only interested in buying things they can actually use.  Why would the local knight want to empty his treasury to buy that magic sword?  He's got a perfectly good one already, and he's got bills to pay, retainers to feed and the annual taxes to cough up.

One that isn't set up as a Potemkin front to oppose the PCs:  The party was trying to break into this three-story building that housed a jeweler.  Not someone who stashed the Crown Jewels, not a great enchanter, just a small-town jeweler.  And there were no windows or chimneys in the building.  No magics for light or air circulation.  No explanation as to where the smoke from lamps went.  No windows-but-heavily-barred.  No rhyme or reason, no sense to it.  No rationale beyond "haha, this building is designed to thwart PCs and force them to do a frontal assault during business hours."  (You may safely conclude that I was done with the campaign after that session.)

One with detail work in the right places.  I don't need the full gamut of combat stats and skills for the twenty lead figures in the royal court -- what are the party's chances of dueling the palace chamberlain, unless she’s really the Big Bad?  I don’t need a trap on every chest and every cabinet in every room of the palace -- good grief, the chambermaids and scullions will all be wiped out by Saturday -- and I don’t need detailed maps of the dwellings of the blacksmith and the chandler and the apothecary.  Put that work into the NPCs (and the items) with whom the party interacts at that level.

One where “it’s magic” isn’t the blanket excuse for everything. You won’t let me snuff the Big Bad or whack out her minions with no more effort than a snap of my fingers just because I say “I’m the hero,” would you?
 

Exotic Settings: Lohvian Cuisine (II)

The second part of the setting information I have for Loh is the cuisine writeup.  As I've mentioned before, serving yourself a helping of Wikipedia is just dandy for setting detail, and what's listed below is mostly from the respective articles on Malay and Indonesian cuisine.  Bon appetit!

"I'm tellin' ya, it's made with orc meat!

 Food is *never* eaten with the left hand.  Chefs pay attention to the fragrance of dishes, adding floral and herbal essences to produce tantalizing odors.  These powerful essences – sometimes only one drop is needed – are sold by apothecaries.

Elements: Common ones include nasilemak (coconut rice) often used as a base.  Other standard bases include meats stewed with thick gravy, seafood seasoned with turmeric, spicy noodle dishes, selaika (= peanut butter), serikaya (coconut jam).  Channa is the foundational fried flatbread; it looks like a crepe, spread out until paper thin usually by "tossing" it on a flat surface, and gathered into a long rope-like mass. This "rope" is then wound into a knot or spiral and flattened.  It is usually served with a vegetable- or meat-based curry, or used to eat a thick stew, and is also commonly cooked with cheese, onions, red beans, chocolate, mushrooms or eggs.

Condiments: coconut milk, lime juice, plum vinegar

    belacan (sauce with chili peppers, shallots, garlic, fermented prawn paste)
    sambalado (green chili blended with garlic, shallot, tomato, lime juice, salt, then sauteed with oil to make a reddish paste or relish)
    goreng (fried shallot, red chili pepper, shrimp paste, salt, sauteed in coconut oil)
    petai (chili, garlic, shallot, sugar, salt, crushed fried peanuts, sauteed in light oil; used for chicken dishes)
    terasi (relish made of cucumber, cabbage, shallot, vinegar and pineapple)
    kerisik (toasted and salted coconut shreds, appears dark brown)

    curries (ariaya = chicken, aridagi = prawn, arikambi = mutton, ariika = fish, arikuda = bean)

Fruits: lychee, jackfruit, tamarind,

Spices: lemongrass, basil, nutmeg, turmeric, ginger, mustard seeds, fenugreek, galangal, pepper, cardamom, clove, cinnamon, coriander, anise – all traditionally stone ground.  

    dasar (shallot, garlic, coriander, lemongrass; used with so-called “white” dishes)
    mera (red chili pepper, shallot, tomato, coconut sugar, salt; used with “red” dishes)
    kunin (shallot, garlic, turmeric, coriander, ginger, black pepper; used with “yellow” dishes)
    lawar (orange chili pepper, anise, turmeric, ginger; used with “orange” dishes)

Meats: Fish, prawns, goat, lamb, chicken

Drinks: Tea is often served with ginger, jasmine (Vydra) or other floral elements, or coconut milk

    beras (rice beer)
    dedén (potent drink made from seared cane sugar, thick, brownish, very intoxicating)
    charaya (potent 90-proof drink distilled from rice wine)
    goribon (coconut palm wine, milky white)
    hanaza (distilled 60 proof rice brandy)
    inlichi (low alcohol lychee wine)
    kinomol (pale green rice wine, with different types of rice going into different blends)
    oshikun (weak millet beer, sometimes flavored with peanut or hazelnut)
    ruoma (plum wine)
    traitha (pomegranate wine)
    uladi (ginger wine, flavored with citrus; often cut with water to make a refreshing summer drink)
    zivani (distilled and stiff plum brandy, lavender colored)

Dishes:

    ambaka (charcoal-grilled chicken marinated in coconut oil and peanut sauce, with a spice rub before)

    acari (pickled vegetables and fruit with dried chili, peanuts and spices)

    ammasak (chicken casserole with sambalado and noodles, sometimes spiced with clove or anise)

    angangi (chicken slices simmered in a tomato base with shallot, onion, garlic, galangal, pepper, and lime)

    arisa (porridge/dumpling made from coarse-ground millet, mixed with seasoned minced meat)

    begedil (rice noodles dressed in a gravy made from belecan, tamarind, cucumber and dried shrimp)

    bobotin (spiced minced meat mixed with scrambled eggs)

    gulai (goat stew with unripe fruit, turmeric, pepper, ginger, lemongrass and coconut milk)

    kankang (bean stew served with cumin, onion, garlic, lemon juice and other optional ingredients)

    kwetia (stirfried rice noodles with pork and spices)

    laksa (spicy chicken/fish noodle soup)

    maridzo (savory goat- or mutton stew made with raisins, slivers of fish fried in sugared sauce, various vegetables, and heavily spiced)

    mikari (millet noodles with spicy curry soup)

    nasibriyan (saffron rice with meat-and-vegetable curry)

    nasikato (rice, minced fried chicken, belacan, with garlic, ginger, shallow, scallion, lime juice and/or vinegar as secondary ingredients, served in savory leaves)

    tabak (channa formed into a spiraled pyramid, filled with meat, onion and spices, then deep fried)

    urlambu (savory rice porridge made with a mixture of lemongrass and meat/veggie slivers, usually eaten communally)

Desserts:

    burketan (brown rice porridge with coconut milk and sugar)

    chendol (iced thick drink containing nokdumu, coconut milk, rice flour and dried fruit)

    cucimul (thicker channa, sweetened with sugar, served with jam)

    kaludol (minced fruit, rice flour, coconut milk)

    melhdoá (thick fruit pudding, custard-consistency and served hot)

    neninél (fruit sliced very thin and layered with perfumed sugar and spices over fine pastry sheets.  Sometimes served with dreamdrowse or moondust between the layers as well)

    nokdumu (lemongrass jelly, comes out black or dark green)

Street foods:

    alèl (thin slices of meat smeared with hot spices and seed paste, then wrapped in leaves and baked in the ashes of a slow fire)

    ambuya (sticky ball of sago or tapioca starch, alternately dipped into a spicy/sour gravy and a tomato base)

    ampla (cracker made from river fish – usually mackerel – rice starch and seasonings, and deep fried)

    lekor (savory fish cake)

    lemang (rice, jackfruit and coconut milk cooked in a hollowed bamboo stick)

    mélmél (fried rice kernels mixed with salt and spices, and served in little rice paper cones. Some vendors insert a tiny metal statue, coins and other “favors” into the mix for children)

    murtabak (channa stuffed with curry gravy)

    otakota (grilled fish cake made of ground fish meat mixed with tapioca starch and spices: ginger, turmeric, galangal, nutmeg, pepper, cardamom, tamarind)

Exotic Settings: The Land of Loh (I)

So ... on the gaming forum I frequent these days, there's been a recent debate on exotic settings -- what elements are desirable, how to do it, what not to do.  And I mentioned the recent work I'd done in putting the culture of this region on my gameworld together, and promised to post some sections for people's review.  This will not be for everyone, and the section I'm posting here is particularly long: no skin off of my nose if you pass it up!

A caveat: much of this is not original.  The concept of Loh comes from Kenneth Bulmer's Dray Prescot/ Scorpio series, and three of his later books in the series were set there.  It's a teensy bit generically Oriental, but far from excessively so.  A good bit more comes from M.A.R. Barker's seminal RPG Empire of the Petal Throne, and its setting, the empire of Tsolyanu on the world of Tekumel.  A large reason EPT never really took off, despite being the second RPG in print after D&D, is that its Malay/Mayan fusion of a setting is weird to Westerners: too exotic, too non-European, too violent, too sexualized, not in keeping with Ren Faire/Merrie Olde standards of chivalry.  I've always felt I was more adaptive than creative, and it saves a great deal of time to take what smart people have written and twist it to my own ends.  (Therefore, no nonsense about plagiarizing in these setting posts; I cheerfully admit that much of this is not my original work.) 

So ... here 'tis.  Lohvian culture practices and miscellany.  Loh = the region; Serioli = the language and ethnic group.

* * * * * * * * *

Politics:  Nominally, the Empire of Walfarg (currently styled the “Empire of Taira”) still exists, and the Seal Emperor rules from the Jasmine Throne in Tsungfaril, with the High Lords of the Twice Thirteen Dominions as His loyal servants and lieutenants, in a vast realm ranging down the great Valley from the Wizards’ Realm almost to the sea.

The facts on the ground are far different. In fact, the Emperor reigns, not rules, and the sway of Tsungfaril does not stretch much beyond the core dominions: Mindroling, Jenderak, Chai Yarchen, Hul Cheka – and in weaker reigns, not always that far.  In an Ottoman-like system, the various High Lords jockey for position and influence, in ever-shifting coalitions and cabals ... formally paying lip service to the Jasmine Throne, effectively as independent warlords.  

The three dominions that now comprise the nation of Mirdain are formally an independent kingdom, defying the Emperor’s writ.  So, too, it has been many years since Tsungfaril’s writ ran as far as controlling Vankaris, Lohrhiang, Simbiling or Chai Seletari, and the Dominions further downriver are only nominally are part of the Empire: words on paper and empty titles proclaimed before the Jasmine Throne.  The Dominion of Ternantung is not even that much, and it is carefully left unsaid in Tsungfaril that there used to be two more Dominions: Vinkleden and Panjang, now part of the New Moon Confederacy and the westernmost reach of the ancient imperial lands.

The Clan: The fundamental unit of Serioli life is the clan. Most Lohvians live with others of their clan in a common dwelling, or “clan house.” A small clanhouse might have only the extended generations of a single family, while those in great cities might house over a thousand clan members, servants and slaves.

Serioli children know who their mothers are (see Marriage Customs, below), but paternity is often casually tracked, and the identity of biological fathers is not usually considered terribly important. Adult males are “clan-fathers” or “clan-uncles” to a child, while adult females are “clan-mothers” or “clan-aunts.” Children are commonly given “school names” when they survive to nine months old, and do not receive their adult names until their 14th year, upon which they earn their majority. Lifestyles are polyamorous, and many formal marriages are triads or groups.

Clanhouses may be as simple as rural dwellings of thatch or sod, to walled estates or multistoried complexes.  Middle-class clan houses include a walled front courtyard where transactions and deliveries take place; an entrance hall, with sitting-rooms off to the side; a refectory which doubles as a celebration hall; slaves’ quarters and animal pens around the rear; warehouses for mercantile clans; sundry kitchens, restrooms, closets, etc.  Private family apartments are the norm among higher clans, with those of a higher lineage within a clan having preference.  Separate dormitories are common for children, young men and young women (although fraternization is not frowned upon).  Some clans also have large baths tended by specially-trained slaves, massage rooms, workshops (for the crafting clans), or other facilities.

Most clans have traditional occupations, so in addition to being the centers of family life, clanhouses are where the bulk of the trade and commerce of Loh takes place.  Those (say) born into a stoneworking clan are trained in masonry as they grow.  If the clan’s occupation is not to one’s liking, a young adult – at age 14 – is free to engage in a number of occupations, such as the military, the priesthood, the civil bureaucracy or sorcery.  It is difficult, however, to take up a different trade under the control of a different clan.

Marriage Customs: Everyone gets married: to be an adult bachelor/ette is considered weird, and people just don’t take conspicuously unmarried types other than uhus seriously.  Group marriages are common, and many patterns are possible.  The outright social rules are:

    (1) marrying someone from a higher status clan is laudable, but a “marriage price” needs to be paid upward as compensation;

    (2) you can’t marry within your lineage, but there is no incest taboo otherwise – for instance, if your father is from a lower lineage, he would take his wife’s clan name upon marriage, and it would be quite legal and proper to marry a half-sibling from the father’s first marriage;

    (3) by contrast, it’s also weird to be a virgin upon marriage, and sexual experimentation as a youth is expected ... but only within your lineage and generation.  Experimenting with one’s (teen, full) sibling is expected; doing so with your best friend’s parent/child is taboo.  (Further, while premarital sex under these circumstances is the norm, premarital pregnancy as a result is shocking and not to be tolerated.)

    (4) blatant cross-generational marriage is frowned upon, but this is determined upon lineage lines, with considerable fudging and jostling.  Even so, a much older person will almost never marry a much younger person, fudging notwithstanding ... if children are necessary, concubinage is one way out.  (Children born of slaves, however, are always, always held illegitimate.)

    (5) Societal pressure to be married is so strong that widowers will often marry wives’ younger sisters, and widows their husbands’ younger brothers.  Such a marriage will keep the link between the families and maintain the existing household structure intact.  However ...

    (6) ... a person may also be wed to a dead person.  In the ceremony (and often in the nuptial bed) the role of the deceased is acted out by a stand-in, more often than not a lineage relative of the deceased.  Any children born of the union are attributed to the dead spouse, and are recognized as his/her descendants; it is a cultural imperative that no one question the parentage.  A ghost can thus become the culturally and legally recognized parent of a newborn child.

Society:  An important element is the concept of khomoyi, or “place.”  Everyone has a role, and is expected to fulfill it.  Striving to achieve unseemly heights, ambition beyond one’s station, is considered somewhat blasphemous.  Likewise, failing to maintain one’s station is considered a threat to society.  

This is tied to the dual ethic of lan (noble) and bussan (ignoble) actions.  To act within one’s station is lan.  It is noble, for instance, for someone born into a mat-weaving clan to participate in the clan business of weaving mats.  That person can also nobly seek to be a simple soldier in the ranks, or a low-ranking acolyte in a temple.  Acts of presumption, in contrast, are bussan.  Should (say) the mat weaver join a temple and ambitiously begin to scheme to be the High Priest, he would be looked upon as behaving in an unseemly and ignoble fashion. Similarly, should someone from a high ranking clan take up the work of a simple laborer, society would be shocked at such ignoble behavior.  Failure to behave “nobly” reflects badly upon the clan as well as the individual, and clan members will be quick to react to such behavior.

These values are situationally subjective.  Is not a woman lan when she performs acts of charity and kindness?  Is she not bussan when she acts in a violent fashion?  In both cases, these are dependent on whether the recipients are worthy of the behavior.  To show kindness to a sworn enemy of one’s clan may be lan to his clanmembers; it is certainly bussan to one’s own.  The Lohvian understands, as few outsiders do, that morality is malleable and situational, and the only sound path is to cleave to one’s clan and faith.

Should a person continue ignoble behavior, the clan will seek to correct it, first with advice, then with sanctions.  Ultimately, a persistently ignoble member will be ejected from their clan.  To be made “nakomé” – clanless – is considered a horrifying fate (using the term to someone, as it happens, is a deadly insult).  Such people will find themselves without lodging or employment, dependent upon handouts, unprotected, and only acts of startling nobility and character would induce a clan to invite a nakomé to join.

Attire:  The well-dressed Lohvian wears a poncho-like tunic called a firya, overlapping four or five inches down from the shoulder, open down the sides but secured with loose, often-decorative lacing.  A double sash (slightly offset to form a flattened “X”) belts the firya, often plaited with the clan’s colors.  Loose, baggy trousers are also worn by both sexes, though kilt-like garments are also in fashion.  Headgear is diverse: turbans (among the upper classes), basketcaps and headcloths all common.  Full robes are also worn by the upper classes.

More uncommon garments include the so-called “mage’s mantle,” a sleeveless knee-length mantle almost exclusively worn by sorcerers, generally patterned, embroidered or colored in styles particular to the order.  Priests often don gi-like open heavy shirts, but almost invariably wear braids at the shoulder (very like European-style military fourragères) that denote faith, status and rank; a Heraldry (Serioli clerical) roll will determine the exact status.  Finally, it is a custom that wearing a grey silk scarf is a privilege reserved for warriors who have slain an enemy in combat.

Gestures:

    Arm held outward, palm down, two fingers extended: interruption will NOT be tolerated.
    Both hands, palm down, fingers spread widely: apologies.   
    Clapping the hands together: summoning a slave.  Rather a deadly insult if obviously NOT doing so.
    Clapping a hand to the throat, taking it away, and raising the chin: “I bare the throat” – the ritual resignation of Jikaida, and generally meaning “You win” and/or “I give up.”
    Clasping the right upper arm of another with your right hand: Fervent greeting of close comrades.
    Fingersnapping: applause.
    General interjections, hesitation markers or response particles: Ai, Cha, Hai, Khe, Ohe, Tla.
    Hand out, palm up, rocking side to side: Asking for help.
    Holding the left hand breast-high, folding the fingers inward, and shaking it slightly back and forth: disapproval.  “I don’t agree.”
    Making a circle of one’s thumb and forefinger, and making an emphatic jerk of the hand: insinuating the other person is clanless, a strong insult.
    Palm held upwards: general approval
    Slapping the fingertips into the palm of the same hand: Between lovers, denotes affection and sexual desire.  Between others, an obscene gesture.
    Slapping the chest with an open right hand: Llahal!
    Tapping the middle three fingers to one’s opposing upper arm: A faith greeting within Upuaut circles; an insult – “Burn you!” – to someone known not to be of the faith.
    Two fingers touching closed lips: agreement, acknowledgment; very much so, if the fingers are tapping.

Holidays: Above and beyond normal Celduin holidays, Lohvians celebrate these:

    Hasanpór (Kelusse 1): a day of feasts, gift-giving, pageants and parades.

    Rites of Kaopan (Planting season): ensuring the fertility of the fields through the placement of blue and yellow paper hexagons, incense, and sacrifice (the most highly prized which involve slaves).

    Drénggar (Hisivan 10): The Unveiling of Beauty, commemorated with spectacular rituals and debauched orgies. 

    Menggano (Hisivan 17): The Enhancement of the Emerald Radiance.  Following close on the heels of the Unveiling of Beauty, with a whole week to recover in between, Lohvians throw themselves into this festival with a will, honoring it with elaborate feasts, more ritual, and more orgies. 

    Lésdrim (Celebros 10): The Birthday of the Seal Emperor.  Commemorated with military parades and drills throughout the bounds of the old Empire – even in far-off dominions in which Tsungfaril’s writ runs very thinly indeed.  Held on this day no matter the actual birthdate of the reigning Emperor.

    Vraháma (Oranor 10): Celebration of Splendid Victories, commemorated with military pageants at local military barracks and at temples of Upuaut.  Battles prominently attributed to localities are highlighted.

    Ngaqómi (Alatur 12): Feast of the Many-Colored Lanterns, where rice lanterns are sent skyward, followed by block parties, feasts ... and the occasional orgy.

    Chitlásha (Harvest time):  Masque of the Old and the New, celebrated with public carnivals.

Proverbs and Idioms

    A habit once formed is a rod of laen.
    Give an enemy no time even to say farewell to his last breath.
    Bad blood never dries.
    It is not seemly for a mortal to overmaster the Gods: saying of the epic hero Hrugga, who won the world, two moons, and half as much again from the Goddess Vasha – yet graciously continued to stake everything he had on each play until he had lost it all back again.
    Brave times demand brave men.
    Do not worry about being there for the launching, just be there for the laying of the keel: mariners’ saying relating to having children.
    What lasts longer, the mountains or the River?
    He has never strayed from his color: the highest praise one can offer; the literal meaning is obscure, but is thought by some to refer to the White Lotus’ lodges.
    Like groping for a sovereign in a barrel of snakes.
    Men act not because of honor or duty but for a slight to their great-grandfather's chamberpot.
    Naivete is the clay from which heroes are molded.
    Nothing truly glorious is attained through moderation.
    Let us nobly end what treacherously began!: statement by a Seal Empress (whose forebear was a usurper) to her executioners.
    ... since the gods were children.
    Webs spun over webs make for tangles.
    The head of an enemy is a joy for one's descendants.
    To bargain with a Warwiker (Menaheem, Confederate, elf ...) is to throw away one's purse.
    Trust was ever the death of heroes.
    We are the People, and our lands are the World.  All else is the concern of barbarian gods.
    What greedy eyes cannot see, clever hands cannot steal.
    Where power exists, there are deeds.

Miscellany:

    * Gamelan: The national musical style, performed in ensembles with metallophones, gongs, drums and bamboo flutes. 

    * Pastimes:  Loh is pleasure-oriented and lax.  Bribery and trafficking in favors are a way of life.  In Loh, you can buy anybody or anything.  The more decadent go in a big way for music, dance, mime, jugglers, alcohol, drugs, illicit sex and street parties.  This relaxation has also created a renaissance of literature and the arts.  Filled with schools, with poetry symposia, with aspiring artists and writers, Loh believes itself unequaled as a home for the intellectual elite.  The average Serioli knows more of poetry and literature than upper-class citizens of more work-oriented lands.  (That all this flies in the face of cultural precepts of moderation, frugality and modesty is a well-known paradox, and gives the clergy, busybodies and philosophers much upon which to chew.)

    * Sport: The popular sport in Loh – aside from gladiatorial matches, archery and hunting – is marotlàn, a soccer-like game played by four simultaneously competing teams of five or six a side, using a leather or canvas ball about the size of a volleyball and played on a hexagonal field.  Competitive kite flying is also popular, with the strings bearing glued-in shards of glass or pottery so as to cut the foes’ kites free. 

     Qadàrni is the curious custom of having a full-scale battle to settle a score, satisfy a point of honor, or adjudicate an intractable dispute or legal case.  The competitors can be any entity – private individuals, clans, temples, societies, and even political polities up to Dominions.  Qadàrni battles (in stark contrast to so-called “low” wars, Qadardááli, where no holds are barred) are governed by strict rules of honor.

    First off, the forces involved can be as large as the competitors can afford, although honor demands that the sides start (nominally) even, and it gains little honor if one’s forces are known to be a great deal more capable than their numerically even foes.  Indeed, to choose to fight a foe that is significantly more numerous is considered dishonorable, as the commander is seen to be putting his personal glory over all other considerations.  Secondly, to cheat, employ treachery or otherwise act dishonorably is not allowed.

    Such a battle begins at dawn and takes one hour, or when one side is either disabled – or slain – to a man or concedes; prisoners, however, may be taken.  If neither side concedes, a panel of judges determines the victor; each side nominates a judge of proven worth and honor, and those two pick a third.  The result of a qadàrni battle is considered binding and final on all.  (It is also a major spectator sport, and an occasion for a great deal of gambling.)

    * Funerals: Regardless of standard religious rites, a Serioli funeral has certain traits.  Cremation is the universal practice, and the fabric with which body is wound, and the amount and quality of the wood chosen, is heavily rank-dependent.  The ashes of infants who have not yet received their school names are always interred within their clanhouses, because their spirits are considered too young and dependent to know where else to go.  While cremations take place the day after death, if a soul is not passed on through the repositor/dikaster system, the clan holds a feast a month thereafter, to celebrate the soul’s arrival at the sunny uplands beyond the Ice Floes.  This trip is considered in Loh to take a month (and it is not considered that a soul would fail in this).  A particularly honored clan member is memorialized – if space allows – by a stone or metal plaque set in the inner wall of the clanhouse’s courtyard.

    The souls of those who die during Alyena are believed to sometimes return to their clanhouses in the form of a spirit-bird.  These revenants are always malicious and evil, no matter the character of the dead.  Further, while suicide has no particular stigma in Loh, killing oneself by drowning is considered highly shameful.  Those who do it are posthumously cast out of their clans and lineages (and the bodies tossed into garbage piles or middens), but the shame and disfavor linger like a miasma over their relatives.

Advantages (for characters born in Loh):

    Harmony [+10]: You are receptive to the flow of the elements around and through you.  You can learn the Esoteric Skills Autohypnosis, Body Control, Breath Control, Mental Strength and Pressure Secrets, as well as cinematic versions of Erotic Art, Physician, Architecture and Natural Philosophy, and detect and identify spiritual disturbances.  Those who seek or practice the harmonious life (or Varuna worshipers, since this is a variant of Blessed) sense your inner harmony, and react to you at +1.
                               
    Uhu [+9]: Serioli custom is for a third gender: the uhu, who are without primary or secondary sexual characteristics.  Uhus shave themselves bald, and their voices have a noticeable odd tang to them.  They cannot bear or engender children, and are immune to seduction (though not necessarily to Sex Appeal rolls, however much at penalties).  It is considered meritorious to be an uhu, in that one can live one’s life dispassionately and with calm.  They have preference as teachers, advisors, bureaucrats, priests and judges, the more so in that an uhu cannot rule in its own name, lead a clan or business enterprise, or have heirs-at-law (their possessions go at death to the lineage or lord).  It is considered declassé and shocking to make someone an uhu surgically; far more often, they are made so by White Lotus mages, who are paid very handsomely for the privilege.  The point cost includes the Social Regard: Respected and the Longevity advantages, as well as an offsetting Reputation between those who respect the uhu’s clear head and those who find the state unnatural and creepy.

Disadvantages (for characters born in Loh):

    Code of Honor (Serioli) [-10]: Show humanity to others, especially those set under you or who owe you duty; good will is more important than following exact rules.  Influence others by example rather than by force.  Respect Serioli society, its customs and traditions.  Understand the distinction between khomoyi, lan and bussan, and live by them.  Perform your duties properly and with honor to the Emperor, your overlord, your parents, your spouse, your teachers, your older siblings and your friends ... living or dead.

    Compulsive Behavior (Ladravaya) [-5]: The Vengali Table of Correspondences is taken to extremes.  A fireplace must face to the north.  A woodbin must be painted green.  Savory foods really should only be eaten during the night time.  Pressing a sheet of lead against your chest is a good remedy for coughing fits.  And so on.  This can also be expressed as an Odious Personal Habit, depending on how obnoxious you make yourself over this.

    Delusion (Serioli chauvinist) [-5]: Everything Lohvian is just better.  Serioli is a finer, purer language than the monkey speech belched by the rabble outside the Valley.  Serioli ways are just superior.  Serioli blood is better than the thinner stuff flowing through barbarian veins.  Outside ways are not treated with contempt – it is not their fault that they were born foolish barbarians – as much as with indifference.

    Disciplines of Faith (Contemplation) [-5]: You engage in regular meditation through stillness, attention, breathing exercises and calisthenics, at least once daily.  At all times, you maintain habits of moderation in diet, possessions and enjoyments.  Other people who spend time with you, if not themselves students or fellow contemplatives, regard you as unworldly and react at -1.

    Social Stigma: unmarried [-5]: Adults in Lohvian society are expected to be married (see below), and widow/ers are expected to remarry, without unseemly delay.  Only clergy or those under strong vows of service avoid the stigma.

    Vow (The Three Treasures) [-5]: As a model for living, strive to: (1) practice mercy or nonaggression;  (2) be frugal and economical; (3) be humble, and do not dare to put yourself first.

But but but ... what do I NAME it??

 Running out of names?  Not remotely close.

First off, Wikipedia is your friend here, and all you need to do is (for example) pull up a list of provinces of Moldova.  Hm, I see on this page a list of all the municipalities down to the village level, all 1681 of them.  Must be able to find some interesting names to call that random village in the middle of nowhere.  I think I'll call it Vranesti (a teensy village on the Romanian border, as it happens).

Beyond that, look.  English language naming conventions are pretty simple: so many placenames are composites.  My area seems to have an obsession with “-field,” for instance: Greenfield, Springfield, Northfield, Westfield, Deerfield, Ashfield, Pittsfield, Hatfield, Sheffield, Brimfield, Sandisfield, Plainfield, Middlefield, Enfield, Litchfield, Chesterfield, Bloomfield, Mansfield, Suffield, they’re all municipalities. † (Heck, for all I know, Vranesti means “Eastfield” in Romanian.)  

For the record, Vranesti's sole landmark.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A number of random name generators you can find on the Internet will throw such composites at you, but you can do it yourself.  Just close your eyes, turn around, point outward, open your eyes.  What are you pointing at?  Great, do it again.  There’s your composite name.  “Blueblanket,” alright, fair enough.  I missed pointing at my cat by inches.  The village of Bluecat?  Okay.  Not exotic enough?  Fair enough, let's let Google Translate render "Bluecat" into Romanian, say: "Pisica Albastra."  

Want a different route?  You have famous people in your gameworld, right?  Name something after them.  There are towns near me named for renowned Colonial and RevWar figures: Washington, Amherst, Otis, Monroe, Hancock, Adams, Boylston, Warren, Webster.  Some enterprising Aquilonian colonists must have founded a “Conanburg” or three, and I bet Gondor has a “Bagginstown” by now.

For people?  For starters, I don't feel the need to come up with a unique name for every NPC I've ever created.  I’ve made up, as is the case in the real world, a list of common names, both female and male, and at this point I've got variant lists for different cultures.  About five or six names in each list are the very common ones that are my world's equivalent of "Joe" and "Mary," 25 are pretty common, 70-75 are uncommon, and about 150 are unusual but not unheard of – the moral equivalent of "Xavier" or "Clarinda."  I keep a chart where if I use a name as a throwaway during a session, I rotate between the four sections, then strike it out ... obviously, I have multiple lines through Columns A and B!  

(The practice has given rise to a catchphrase: "Nath, Naghan, Larghos and Ortyg," being among the most common male names in my world, has come to mean a bunch of faceless mooks.)

Yes, this means that long-term players encounter the same name for key people more than once, but I don't think they're entitled to find this any more jarring than that they happen to know multiple people -- or have multiple relatives -- named "Anne" or "Bob."  It certainly isn't any weirder than that the lead long-term characters of my first and second wives are named "Elena" and "Elaina" respectively, and that the character of my IC-fiancee in a LARP was “Elana.”  Seriously.  You can’t make this stuff up.

Surnames?  If you need them, you've got various routes.  You already have your given names down, right?  So there are patronymics: Verella Elainasdaughter.  Pick a half dozen clans for that local village, and your NPC is from one: Verella Waflo.  Or a descriptive English composite from above: Verella Goldhand.  Or else a geographic name: Verella of Redwave.  Or an occupational name: Verella Smith (well, her father is one of the world's best armourers, at least).  Short of "Verella Hey You," that covers the bases.

Finally, just pick up a foreign dictionary.  I've had Finnish:English, Sanskrit:English and Gaelic:English ones for decades for just this purpose.  I don't even worry about finding the meaning of a word.  Hm, I think I'll call this rare find the "Tome of Sellainen."  And this is so much easier now with the Internet – no need to BUY a book for the purpose.


† - None of these are as much as 45 minutes drive from where I sit.  Some are in the Berkshires, on mountainsides ... seriously?