[HQ Ignorance] Fwd: [WorldofGlorantha] What Mostali Look Like

[Lev Lafayette]

This is brilliant :-)

--- felixtimestwo <felixtimestwo at yahoo.co.uk> wrote:

> To: WorldofGlorantha at yahoogroups.com
> From: "felixtimestwo" <felixtimestwo at yahoo.co.uk>
> Date: Tue, 06 May 2008 19:25:28 -0000
> Subject: [WorldofGlorantha] What Mostali Look Like
> 
> What Mostali Look Like
> 
> I've been vaguely dissatisfied with how Mostali have
> been described
> ever since I started learning about Glorantha, back
> in the RQ2 days.
> Gloranthan elves and trolls were identifiably
> Gloranthan-but the
> Mostali looked (and originally behaved) like
> identikit fantasy dwarves.
> 
> There has come a point in my game where one of my
> players wanted to
> play a dwarf, and I had to ask him not to, until I'd
> got my ideas of
> what Mostali (by which I mean clay Mostali, common
> or garden dwarves)
> looked and behaved like a bit straighter in my head,
> and I wanted to
> run my thoughts past you guys.
> 
> Dwarves as ancient looking misshapen and hairy is
> the classic dwarf
> look that Mostali seem to conform to, all of which
> (along with short
> stature, I suppose) signify great age-which seems
> appropriate, as we
> know that orthodox Mostali are immortal, and what's
> more those craggy
> old men's features are evocative of rock faces.
> 
> But, to me what these features signify is
> imperfection and decay of
> the form of the man rune. Mostali runes are man and
> stasis, and the
> nature of Mostal and the proper working of the World
> Machine should be
> of perfection of form and function. So bearing this
> in mind, it seemed
> to me that ancient looking, imperfect hairy dwarves
> aren't what you'd
> expect from Mostal as the master manufacturer and
> embodiment of stasis.
> 
> We know that dwarves are short, and that would seem
> to make sense for
> subterranean men who might frequently need to follow
> narrow seams of
> rock, (in the same way that woodland creatures are
> suited to following
> narrow forest paths). We know also that they have
> beards that may be
> connected to their `earthsense' (if I'm remembering
> this right, that
> was a suggestion by Sandy Peterson).
> 
> We also know that male and female dwarves are
> compelled to carry out a
> harrowing biological task that delivers a
> proto-dwarf module after a
> period of 3 weeks or so. This is then placed in a
> container (leaden
> pot, quicksilver alembic etc) for a few years after
> which a young
> adult dwarf is produced.
> 
> It seems to me that it would make sense if these
> dwarves were
> young-adult in appearance, and not misshapen. They
> would be short, as
> they are well designed for their environment-and
> perhaps with
> disproportionately large heads (large eyes are
> better for seeing in
> dimly lit mines, and big brains are better for
> operating complex
> machinery). They could have beards-if their beards
> are sense organs,
> then they would have them, although there's no need
> for them to be
> either grey or long-in fact their stasis nature
> would tend to weigh
> against either (perhaps their beards wouldn't grow
> at all-just heal if
> they were cut..)
> 
> So, you might imagine a Mostali like this with a
> normally
> proportioned, albeit small, body with a large head
> and large (ish)
> eyes, perhaps with a short well kept (ie never
> growing) beard and
> looking equivalent to a 30-35 year old human.
> Perhaps, a bit like a
> creepy porcelain doll-a very tough and strong iron
> wielding creepy
> porcelain doll.
> This, it seems to me, might be quite a pleasing
> appearance for the
> machine like orthodox Mostali.
> 
> Of course, heretic Mostali loose their immortality
> as their
> association with stasis is loosened-they have
> immense longevity, but
> they age-so perhaps these guys might start getting
> long grey beards
> and become bent and gnarled with age, although
> living communities of
> heretic dwarves (eg the Flintnail temple) would have
> young and old
> dwarves who would, I guess, look different, like we
> do.
> 
> Just an idea-but is it consistent with the feel and
> theory of
> Glorantha, and what do you guys think?  
> 
> 
> 
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