Thread: Questioning chirine ba kal

Originally Posted by Dulahan

Absolutely. Thanks a lot! I do have a couple of players who might be interested in that too.

More to think of too! Definitely something I might throw in as an adventure at some point (thus the good clan girl option too)

I know there'll be more things to come, but that's it for the moment.

You're welcome!

Originally Posted by Shemek hiTankolel

That's great. Thanks for the help!

Shemek

You're welcome! Let us see it, when it's ready...

Originally Posted by Shemek hiTankolel

I seem to recall reading somewhere that the corpse collectors are also kind of 'untouchable' as are the corpse washers/preparers. Not sure where I read it though.

Shemek.

Hmmm. Might be in one of the small states; in the Five Empires, this is handled by the temples of Sarku or Belkhanu, or the local equivalent.

Originally Posted by Dulahan

OK, another one that came up in my readings so far. I caught reference to some Mountain Top City or Kingdom, other side of world. I forget if it was in the South or other side of the North. But either way, I've a weird thing for cool isolated pockets like that. Probably coming from my fascination with Tibet...

I sadly forgot the name since I went many pages before realizing I wanted more. Though would it be safe to say this specific place was inspired by Nepal or Tibet? Any further neat vignettes about it?


EDIT:

Actually, something else.

My graduate studies focused heavy on Central Asia. Particularly the Mongols, but the program was holistic so I learned about pretty much the wide spectrum. Obviously the whole Horse People thing isn't going to work too well to draw on for Tekumel, but that said, there's some other cultures and cultural elements that might. Any particularly good areas other than Milumanaya that drawing on that knowledge will be extra useful for?

Yes, as I say this I am reading the posts in the late 600s about Afghanistan, and how much that influenced the Professor. Which in turn reminded me about an article I read involving some German Tourists who were traveling in Central Asia. They were in Eastern Iran, and did something nice for someone there who found out they were traveling in Afghanistan next. Gave them a pretty shawl for the wife of the pair to wear.

Afghanistan went splendidly for them. They found out much later in their trip the shawl was some sort of marker of protection from one of the more influential clans or tribes in the area, so that apparently was why they were treated like royalty, no one wanted to offend said group! And now yes, things just clicked a bit more for how Tekumel's clan structures work. Because I imagine that is -exactly- the sort of way things can go in setting.

a. Can you be more specific? I can think of several places that match your description.

b. Yes, exactly. This is how Phil envisioned his societies working - he had stories like this of his own to tell about his travels.

Originally Posted by Hrugga

That is a good point. So unless you don't want to be know, why we display our Legion/Clan badges when out and about town(at least that's what I would do)...

H:0)

Yes, somebody not doing so would be instantly suspected of being Up To No Good, and watched very closely by everyone in the street. If there's anything that goes amiss, they'll be the first one pointed out to the authorities.

Originally Posted by Dulahan

Personally, I was as much thinking of it as an 'off the boat' sort of thing too. PCs arrive, help someone and are given something innocuous but useful. Things go well, eventually they find out why!

Yes, exactly. This is the way most of Phil's first players got started, getting jobs working for people like Lady Mnella in Jakalla.

Originally Posted by chirine ba kal

a. Can you be more specific? I can think of several places that match your description.

b. Yes, exactly. This is how Phil envisioned his societies working - he had stories like this of his own to tell about his travels.

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

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

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

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