Questioning chirine ba kal

**chirine ba kal** · 08-10-2016, 05:41 PM

Originally Posted by Greentongue

I assume there are variations on how "Secret" societies / staff identify each other?
Can you give some examples?
=

Oh, yes, very much so. In the early years, the OAL used little magical tablets as identification; during the late civil wars the various factions of the OAL used rings with different symbols so you could tell who was who. (It got very complicated.) My particular secret society uses the three-fingered gesture of the Flame - a hand across an upper arm - and the Sarku people make the sign of the Worm, and so on. All sorts of code phrases, secret gestures, passwords, etc. are used. (Ninja hand signals are a good analogue to all of this.) Some of this is in the novels, and in the Sourcebook; I can try to look up more, if you need some.

My own secret section - The Department of Assassinations and Obfuscations - has their own, but they won't tell me what they are. (They take operational security very seriously.) Once a month, I get to look them over, and I have to remember their faces. Most of which, as might be expected, are very unremarkable and very forgettable. I do get the weekly password, though.

**chirine ba kal** · 08-10-2016, 05:41 PM

Originally Posted by AsenRG

I'd bet at least one of the examples involves "who has the most elaborate dress with the Top Secret Sign (TM) of the Society Of Secretness (TM)". It wouldn't be Tsolyanu otherwise

!

Also see: secret police in Tsolyanu and Secret Language of priests of Ksarul, earlier in this thread

.

Why, yes!

**chirine ba kal** · 08-10-2016, 05:44 PM

Originally Posted by Erotectic

chirine,

That was precisely what I wanted to know. Thanks!

You're welcome! S&G sort of just came out of nowhere, as far as we were concerned; I happened to find about "Skein" when I was emptying the trash in his office.

This is one of those mysteries that I suspect we'll probably never know what he had had in mind at the time; he never really talked about his creative process - he just did things that interested him, and then he drop them on us. It was always surprising...

**Hrugga** · 08-10-2016, 05:46 PM

Originally Posted by Gronan of Simmerya

From Jakalla to Bey Sy, not much. Bey Sy to Sunraya, forever and a day. At least it seemed that way.

So what happened when you arrived in Sunraya...???

H:0)

**Hrugga** · 08-10-2016, 05:50 PM

Originally Posted by chirine ba kal

Each hex on the big maps is 100 Tsan / 133.333 across, to it takes a while. We used to figure a week to march across a hex, so Jakalla to Bey Su would take maybe three months of marching. (See also the Sourcebook, on this.) In a crisis, we'd have shipped the troops by river, and gotten there in maybe a month, all told. This is why there are the great regional military centers, and it's rare to move troops from front to front - the logistics are just too difficult to make it worthwhile. See also Edwin Luttwak's book on the grand strategy of the Roman Empire - a book that Phil introduced me to.

Oh boy. Luttwak...Wife will be happy for me(more packages)!!! Thank you Uncle. She will eventually want to meet you...

H;0)

**chirine ba kal** · 08-10-2016, 05:59 PM

Originally Posted by Hrugga

So what happened when you arrived in Sunraya...???

H:0)

He arrived on foot with his legion. I arrived by boat, with dear old Harchar. We had a lovely breakfast in one of the disputed bastions, catching up on old times and getting the news that some lovely young lady had the hots for him and that I'd gotten married. So had Vrisa, for that matter.

(Wait a minute; Sunraya is in the middle of a desert, thousands of miles from any ocean.)
(Yes, it is. Welcome to Tekumel, where nothing is as simple as you might think, and when you involve Dave Arneson they become very un-simple.)

**chirine ba kal** · 08-10-2016, 06:00 PM

Originally Posted by Hrugga

Oh boy. Luttwak...Wife will be happy for me(more packages)!!! Thank you Uncle. She will eventually want to meet you...

H;0)

Oh, dear; I'm sorry. I'll make sure to get your Missus something nice...

**Hrugga** · 08-10-2016, 06:17 PM

Originally Posted by chirine ba kal

He arrived on foot with his legion. I arrived by boat, with dear old Harchar. We had a lovely breakfast in one of the disputed bastions, catching up on old times and getting the news that some lovely young lady had the hots for him and that I'd gotten married. So had Vrisa, for that matter.

(Wait a minute; Sunraya is in the middle of a desert, thousands of miles from any ocean.)
(Yes, it is. Welcome to Tekumel, where nothing is as simple as you might think, and when you involve Dave Arneson they become very un-simple.)

Ha ha!!! I was waiting for The Glorious General to complain of the sand. I know he loves it so...!!!

H:0)

**Hrugga** · 08-10-2016, 06:21 PM

Originally Posted by chirine ba kal

Oh, dear; I'm sorry. I'll make sure to get your Missus something nice...

Good advice. I was just browsing...I saw another one by him as well on the Byzantine Empire...they seem to have retained their value!!! More than one gift in order...!!!

H;0)

**chirine ba kal** · 08-10-2016, 07:35 PM

Originally Posted by Hrugga

Good advice. I was just browsing...I saw another one by him as well on the Byzantine Empire...they seem to have retained their value!!! More than one gift in order...!!!

H;0)

Oh, dear. I do like his books, as he brings a different viewpoint to the subject...

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