Thread: Questioning chirine ba kal

Originally Posted by Shemek hiTankolel

Chirine is being super modest. The book, even its unfinished form, was, for me, a sheer pleasure to read. I can assure you no slogging was involved.. Talk about a ring side seat at the Thursday Night Game. If you want to read about some great adventures in "ye olden dayes" then this is the book. I can't wait for the finished version.

Shemek.

Thank you for the very kind words! All I'm trying to do is tell people the stories of some folks we met a long time ago, and had the chance to play as they went about their lives; we got to know these people pretty well, and they were not just numbers on a stats sheet to us. And we got to explore Phil's creation, and journey with him as he developed ideas that he'd had since the 1940s.

It was, if you ask me, a truly astonishing time.

Originally Posted by Shemek hiTankolel

Chirine,

I like the new look of the blog, even if it was unintended.

Shemek

Thank you! I have no idea what happened to the old template; I had done a post, and gotten home to find the thing all wonky. So, I picked a new template from the list, and there we are. Glad you like it - it's easier to read, I think.

Originally Posted by Shemek hiTankolel

Chirine is being super modest. The book, even its unfinished form, was, for me, a sheer pleasure to read. I can assure you no slogging was involved.. Talk about a ring side seat at the Thursday Night Game. If you want to read about some great adventures in "ye olden dayes" then this is the book. I can't wait for the finished version.

Shemek.

Seconded. I'm waiting for the finished variant with all the patience I can muster!

And then we'll start waiting for the second edition of Chirine's miniature rules!

Originally Posted by AsenRG

Seconded. I'm waiting for the finished variant with all the patience I can muster!

And then we'll start waiting for the second edition of Chirine's miniature rules!

And thank you for your patience, too! I get at the thing in fits and starts, depending on my schedule and energy levels.

The updated rules have been put aside for quite a while, as I dealt with other things. I had really wanted to get my play-by-email campaign going again a while back to provide a 'laboratory' for the revisions, but that kind of fell apart in the wake of the troubles I had over the proposed convention show I'd been asked to do. I'd like to move on the campaign again, now that the game room has assumed it's final shape, and that will - I hope, get me motivated to work on the rules once again.

It is my intention to make the new edition entirely 'backwards compatible' with the original version. No real changes, aside from I will now allow people to shoot into melee - with the chance of hitting their own troops! - as this was something that people said that they wanted to do over the years. What I want to do is update the technology of gaming, as there have been some really amazing things that I've come across over the decades that I've included in my gaming and which have been a lot of fun in games. Practical ways to run night battles; more detailed and accurate sea battles - Olympias has made a huge impression! - and there are all sorts of things that we could only dream about and which are now available for gaming.

And I've added so much to my own collection, too. E-publishing means that I can take color (!) photos of everything, to show you what I'm talking about, and I can also shoot video for you to have so that I can be there at your game table to show you how the game works. Amazing stuff, if you ask me...

Originally Posted by Hrugga

Uncle,

I have a quick question about Shen...Shén have three sexes: males ('egg-creators') about 40 percent, females ('egg layers') 35 percent, and ‘egg-fertilisers’ 25 percent(from the Tekumel website)...What "gender" are the "egg-fertilisers" considered? I would think male? It just crossed my mind.

Thanks,

H:0)

Ahhh... no. Their 'gender' is "egg-fertilizer'. Phil was pretty firm on this point, reminding people that these are alien people from an alien world. Human definitions and perceptions may not apply - and in our game sessions with him, they often didn't. Which is why I still think that the very best compliment that I got from him was:

"Chirine, you've gone native."

Originally Posted by Hrugga

Okay. How might an encounter with an "egg-fertilizer" go? Do they protect their eggs similar to Tharks? Any insight would be helpful.

Thanks,

H:0)

You'd treat them like anybody else, politely and respectfully. Humans don't make inquiries into the varying kinds of personal relationships other species have, as it can get one killed if offense is offered. With Shen, one usually is dealing with males, as they do a lot of the 'outside' work like a male human clan member would be doing, and the females tend to run the 'inner' workings of the household. If one does encounter an egg-fertilizer, one doesn't remark on the fact; like with Tinalya 'neuters', for example, it is what it is and politeness is in order. An expert might be able to tell gender by look, but it's not easy. So, we tended t keep our mouths shut and be nice when meeting Shen of any kind.

Shen are a lot more protective of their eggs then Tharks; there are special chambers in their homes where the eggs and hatchlings are kept, usually under reasonable security precautions. Because of their egg-group differences, they don't hire mercenaries of any kind to guard their eggs; this is a family thing, and visitors and strangers are very strongly discouraged. I think there's more on this in the Sourcebook, too.

Does this help?

Originally Posted by chirine ba kal

Shen are a lot more protective of their eggs then Tharks;

Is such a thing even possible?