Purifying Telmori – Take Two (2012)

Submitted by Herve on Fri, 12/10/2012 – 12:48

In hell, during Hofstaring’s rescue, my Humakti PC looked into the Abyss (down the bridge leading to the plateau of suffering). My GM and I agreed he recieved some kind of Insight/Power/Idea (and began getting Illuminated, probably).
Our goal is next to bring the sartarite tribes to make peace with the Telmori. We have with us Ukka Iron-Gulper, the Wolf Guardian of Sartar. My Humakti has the “Brother to Wolves” ablity in his Death Rune.
At first, we had thought Silkinister (my PC) could “Sever Chaos” and rid someone of a chaotic trait with a sword slash. Dangerous – if you miss they die, and you can imagine the social consequences. Besides, it’s too powerful. Besides, Nothing can “remove chaos” in established Glorantha. Besides, I don’t like it.
So we’re back to the drawing board. Silkinister did learn Something which should allow him to Cut Away the Telmori’s automatic change to feral beast every wildday. IMo that’s why the telmori are so hated : they just can’t control themselves once a week.
This should be a mass ritual, allowing to purge a number of telmori at once (no fun in running around the woods slashing every wolf met), very tense, dramatic, with Telmor’s shadow looming over it all. Getting the telmori to collaborate will be a good part of the game, but the actual ceremony still escapes me.
All ideas, comments, suggestions welcome. What do you gents think ?

The trouble with the Telmori
Submitted by soltakss on Sun, 21/10/2012 – 13:42.
The trouble with nthe Telmori is that their history is confused.On the one hand we are told that they are chaotic, but we are also told that true Telmori aren’t chaotic but the Cursed ones are. Then we are told that they are only tainted by chaos, Then they exist as bodyguards to a very conservative Orlanthi dynasty (albeit with some strange ideas).My take on them is that some Telmori took on Chaotic powers during the Gbaji Wars, siding with Gbaji and giving them the ability to become wolves at will, effectively giving them the abilities reserved for only a few hereditary shapechangers. Then Talor cursed them so they had to take beastform one day per week (Wildday). This, Talor’s curse did not turn them chaotic. The other Telmori, those who did not take this ability, remained as Hsunchen, but with a few natural-born shapechangers. The cursed Temlori wandered across Genertela, probably not as a single group but as a number of small clans. Eventually they reached the land of Sartar where they agreed to serve Sartar in return for his removing their chaos taint. Those Telmori following Sartar thus have no chaos taint, as he has removed that, but they are still cursed by Talor, so change on Wildday. The Lunars associated the Wildday shapechanging with the Full Moon, but this only affects some cursed Telmori. When they put out Sartar’s Flame, they stopped Sartar’s blessing, so those Telmori who serve the King of Sartar now have a chaos taint again. All this is in my view and is probably wrong.So, how to help the current Telmori?1. Reignite the Flame of Sartar2. Break the link between the Red Moon and the shapechange3. In some way, bind the Telmori permanently to the House of Sartar As to the OP’s question, perhaps his insight isn’t Humakti? Perhaps it is something else. Was Ukka Iron-Gulper on the HeroQuest into Hell? If so, maybe your PC saw his shadow, or his reflection in the Abyss, or maybe he saw the truth behind the Brother to Wolves ability? Maybe Telmor has a deep-seated but forgotten relationship with Humakt. Could you found the Wolfbrother subcult? Could you replace Talor’s Curse with Humakt’s Blessing? Could the Telmori fight alongside Humakti, with Sword and Fang, Shield and Claw?

Simon Phipp.

Submitted by Ian on Wed, 17/10/2012 – 18:45.

No specific answers but some things to think about.
We know that Sartar hinted at knowledge of how to break the curse. We speculate that Sartar was a Larnsting an Orlanthi mystic imbued with the power of change. Sartar’s magic certainly seems transformational in King of Sartar. So I suspect that the ritual could involve Larnste.
The Guide (for of course, they are there) says of the Larnstings: “They do not offer sacrifices to Larnste, summon kolati, or use wizardry – instead, their very breath knows how to speak the words of power without instruction.” [BTW the guide also suggests the Telmori took a taint of chaos to strengthen themselves]They are essentially mystics.
So becoming a Larnsting might help you.
The other thing we know is that HonEel turned the Telmori of Sylila into wolves. So there may be some Lunar magic that can push them all the way to one form or the other. Being HonEel perhaps some dance of reconstruction.
So becoming a Lunar might help you.
I am sure that one of these is more appealing than the other 😉

Submitted by Heort on Sun, 14/10/2012 – 11:53.

Their incapacity to control themselves is a chaotic thing.EDITOops, mistake: it is not chaotic but a punishment by Talor.So… Their incapacity to control themselves is a curse. Your character is going to cut it. What becomes the cut part? It has to be eaten and recycled.Who eats things and recycle them? Arachne Solara.Your ritual needs Giant Spiders That Eat Unuseful Things And Recycle Them.Good luck.

EDIT FWIW, if you choose that way, you should have a look at the “Servants of the Wild” and their White Spider cult at Wild Temple (in Masters of luck and death, p. 62).

What happens on a fail?

Submitted by RoM on Sun, 21/10/2012 – 17:44.

Let’s assume Silkinister has the “Sever Telmori Curse” ability and it works on any victory. What happens if you roll a failure? In my rudimental understanding of the wolf people the curse is a direct and massive alteration of the ancient link/relation between Telmor and his descendants. The curse didn’t create anything new that could be severed. The curse only changed something that was always there. So chances are that on a failed roll Silkinister would sever the link between Telmor and the Telmori. He would basically destroy his soul. Taking any chance from the Telmori to be reborn down into the abyss, so to speak. I see some tough convincing ahead before any Telmori would volunteer.

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