Thread: Questioning chirine ba kal

Originally Posted by Dulahan

(seriously, I think the single most depressing thing about Tekumel was that even the Lords of Humanspace never cured the common cold!)

The Lords of Humanspace were not Nice People.

Originally Posted by chirine ba kal

From AsenRG:
He was a scholar, a gentleman, and a man with a good taste in classes he played, evidently!

I'd agree with that; I think he would have done well as a Caliph or Rajah, myself.

Probably, but alas, he didn't get that (from what we know, at least).

And it's a good way to set yourself apart from the masses.

Agreed, but it does get lonely when I talk about books that we all had read and considered the basic texts of the hobby - both what's become the 'RPG niche' and the 'wargame niche'. I feel, a lot of the time, that I simply do not speak the same language or share in the same culture as the people that I meet.

I always look at this situation differently. It's them who don't speak the same language as me, and they should!
(Being against elitism doesn't mean I'm for people remaining ignorant, quite the contrary!)

No sanctioned play here, either. I still find the idea baffling.

I've never liked 'tournament play' even way back when the 'national wargaming championships' were being mooted about by a lot of East Coast gamers. (Historical miniatures, to be more precise.) The thing became a marketing ploy to sell more stuff to the masses, especially with the era of GW's big and much-ballyhooed events - which seem to have died out, locally - designed to get new players into the 'GW Hobby' with massive buy-ins of product a requirement. Thank you, no thank you; the hobby has always been - for me, anyway - all about friends having a good time.

I can see the value of marketing ploys...for the sellers.
I can't see it for me, though.

I haven't got the memo, though, so I'm going to stick to my old ways.

Agreed!!!

...I'm afraid you're right.

Which does kind of scare me...

I don't get scared, but it sure is kinda depressing.

Great news, Uncle! Keep us informed!
But that's what I kept thinking you should be doing in order to start a group and teach those people the ways of the old masters...

Well, I don't mind running games; it's getting people to play in them. There seems to be a very real bias against 'in-home' game groups; one ash to be at the local con, or the FLGS, or not at all. We'll see; I am appearing at the local game con as part of an exhibit next weekend, and I may chum the waters a little bit and see what bites.

Chum those waters. Kill any "approved games" crocodiles that appear, and take their stuff - they tend to have nice stuff (skin and teeth from the crocodiles; dice from the "approved games" ones).

Damn the torpedoes, full steam ahead, into the boiling oil? Or maybe you can just stash the vintage stuff away while doing the "paint-and-take" sessions?
It might not be a bad idea, really - not that I would know much about this business, I've just got my gut feeling!

I have lots and lots of vintage lead I'm willing to part with - I've been at this for some forty years, and there are figures I bought back in 1978 that have yet to get a lick of paint. The issue is that these are Herself's figures, and I have been warned in the bloodiest possible terms what will happen to me if any of them turn up missing. I had to go to quite extreme lengths to convince her that I was not raiding her stock of 'N' gauge locomotives and rolling stock to build my 'OO' scale narrow gauge equipment...

Well, just stick a low price on it (price of the mini, shipping included, plus using your paint, and your time - factor in the cleaning, too, it will be necessary). Then you can actually use new minis, not hers, and people would basically pay you to paint a new mini (without you needing to find storage space for it)!
I think that would be good for your nerves, am I wrong here?

Chirine,

Just wondering, does Hekellu have an Underworld? If so, is there anything that you can tell us about it?
Also, who was the governor before you took over?

Shemek.

Originally Posted by Dulahan

Unfortunately no on the convention. Work intervened in... an oddly good and bad way. Bad in that I don't get to go to the Con. Good in that I get to go to Orlando. In February. And will have 40 hours in by Wednesday, and because I can save the company $100 by staying until Sunday get to have 4 extra days in Florida in February without having to pay my plane ticket OR use any Vacation time...

Yeah, not a bad trade off. A couple friends are meeting me down here and we're gonna have a good time of it. So no Con of the North this year. But I'll take this trade any year.

I'll see about a call on this Sunday though, got a nice long drive to go through. Biggest question will be who the Governor is due to the importance of said governor for the group, and any fun ideas for the rest to boot.

EDIT: And I totally understand on the headcold. Given I just missed two days of work, and suffered through two more I probably shouldn't have, due to the same thing. Miserable things. See comment about Tekumel not curing them! That's dark stuff for the bane of human existence!

Very cool! My grandparents used to have their summer home just north of there, in the little town of Ponce de Leon Springs; I was once interviewed by the local paper, as a curiosity from out-of-state. I still have friends down there who have connections to The Mouse, and we see them every now and then. Have a great time!!!

I'll be here; pottering around in the game room, putting stuff away while I do the laundry, so plenty of time to talk.

Phil's database shows the Governor of Mrelu as being Lord Tettukeshi Choynga of the Clan of the Red Sun; 16th level, 65 years old, Avanthe worshipper. He is, if I recall, a pretty decent guy; a career administrator, very skilled in manipulating the levers of power, and well-liked in Avanthar for being solidly reliable. Like a lot of Avanthe worshippers, supports Princess Ma'in politically due to her long-standing connections to that temple.

The cold is better; wore a mask to work for two days, to keep breathing the warm, moist air, and it really helped. The Missus set up a humidifier in our bedroom, and that's made sleeping a lot easier. Got a lot done yesterday - the van's all packed and loaded for the convention - and I'm enjoying having the day off...

From AsenRG:
The Lords of Humanspace were not Nice People.
There's an understatement!!!

Probably, but alas, he didn't get that (from what we know, at least).

No, he did play one in his Crusader-era campaign, though.

I always look at this situation differently. It's them who don't speak the same language as me, and they should!
(Being against elitism doesn't mean I'm for people remaining ignorant, quite the contrary!)

I'd agree with this. One of the very nicest things I've ever had happen to me occurred yesterday; I was given a standing invitation to join any of the D&D groups that play at The Source as a player. I guess I'm considered some sort of Elder Statesman, and people really enjoyed improving their game using some of the 'lessons' and anecdotes that I come up with. I'm looking forward to it; I'm now on the mailing list for their games, and will spend a Saturday or two a month imparting my hard-won experience...

I can see the value of marketing ploys...for the sellers. I can't see it for me, though.

Agreed. It's not a play style I like, but I can understand it from a business standpoint.

I don't get scared, but it sure is kinda depressing.

Very agreed!!!

Chum those waters. Kill any "approved games" crocodiles that appear, and take their stuff - they tend to have nice stuff (skin and teeth from the crocodiles; dice from the "approved games" ones).

Yep. Luckily, I am not playing in anything like that; this set of players is all about the challenge and the run. And they've indicated that a return trip to see Lord Chirine and his family is being considered! Wow!

Well, just stick a low price on it (price of the mini, shipping included, plus using your paint, and your time - factor in the cleaning, too, it will be necessary). Then you can actually use new minis, not hers, and people would basically pay you to paint a new mini (without you needing to find storage space for it)!
I think that would be good for your nerves, am I wrong here?[/QUOTE]

It's a thought. I usually run paint-and-takes by letting people pick a primed figure, then learning how I paint them by painting it themselves; they get to keep the figure afterwards, and I like to hand out cards with the name of the company that did the figure. What I'm trying to do is show people that anyone can paint figures, and that they don't have to be a Da Vinci or anything. I've got so much spare metal lying around, it's no cost to me; same on the paint, which was all paid for decades ago.

Originally Posted by Shemek hiTankolel

Chirine,

Just wondering, does Hekellu have an Underworld? If so, is there anything that you can tell us about it?
Also, who was the governor before you took over?

Shemek.

It does, and it's really wet. It's below the level of the lake, and the closer you get to the surface shoreline the corridors get more and more full of water. It's a real challenge, as you get all the usual underworld creatures, plus all the unusual water creatures; I'd rate it as about twice as tough as Jakalla, and after a few sessions of this we tried to stay out out of the thing. We did find some pretty amazing stuff, under the ruined Old Palace, like the standards of the local (and forgotten) Dlamelish legion, Translucent Emerald (32nd Mediums, I think) and a very - and I do mean very - big shock under the temple of Vimuhla. Which was one of Phil's oldest in-jokes, and which I finally 'got' after talking to a Islamic scholar. Decades later, and Phil still has the ability to surprise and delight.

The previous Governor was (again, in Phil's database) Lord Ssunim hi Chrasgel, of the Clan of the Grey Cloak, worships Ketengku, 32 years old, 16th level. He disappeared under very odd circumstances, and after Avanthar stopped getting messages from him they sent out my Governor, Lord Takodai hi Vriddi (Vriddi clan, Vimuhla, 14th level, 50 years old), and after he took off into the hills to deal with the Young Master, I got the hot seat as Acting Governor - normally, Avanthar would have sent out somebody pretty senior; I am just not senior enough to be more then the guy who does the dirty work - and that poor guy arrived shortly after the Tsolyani civil war started and things really went in the crapper. He eventually got killed when the Young Master took the city, fighting to the last in the ruins of the New Palace. He and his guardsmen took a lot of the tribesmen with them, which is why the Young Master has been pretty quiet since. Nobody knows what happened to his wife and two teen-aged daughters; they were last seen in the company of some Tsolyani soldiers as the palace was stormed and the Governor fought to the last.

Originally Posted by chirine ba kal

It does, and it's really wet. It's below the level of the lake, and the closer you get to the surface shoreline the corridors get more and more full of water. It's a real challenge, as you get all the usual underworld creatures, plus all the unusual water creatures; I'd rate it as about twice as tough as Jakalla, and after a few sessions of this we tried to stay out out of the thing. We did find some pretty amazing stuff, under the ruined Old Palace, like the standards of the local (and forgotten) Dlamelish legion, Translucent Emerald (32nd Mediums, I think) and a very - and I do mean very - big shock under the temple of Vimuhla. Which was one of Phil's oldest in-jokes, and which I finally 'got' after talking to a Islamic scholar. Decades later, and Phil still has the ability to surprise and delight.

The previous Governor was (again, in Phil's database) Lord Ssunim hi Chrasgel, of the Clan of the Grey Cloak, worships Ketengku, 32 years old, 16th level. He disappeared under very odd circumstances, and after Avanthar stopped getting messages from him they sent out my Governor, Lord Takodai hi Vriddi (Vriddi clan, Vimuhla, 14th level, 50 years old), and after he took off into the hills to deal with the Young Master, I got the hot seat as Acting Governor - normally, Avanthar would have sent out somebody pretty senior; I am just not senior enough to be more then the guy who does the dirty work - and that poor guy arrived shortly after the Tsolyani civil war started and things really went in the crapper. He eventually got killed when the Young Master took the city, fighting to the last in the ruins of the New Palace. He and his guardsmen took a lot of the tribesmen with them, which is why the Young Master has been pretty quiet since. Nobody knows what happened to his wife and two teen-aged daughters; they were last seen in the company of some Tsolyani soldiers as the palace was stormed and the Governor fought to the last.

That's great! Thanks for the info.
The Hekellu Underworld sounds intriguing, and just what I'm looking for. I seem to recall from one of Phil's (?) posts on the Blue Room that this city was an important (primary?) staging area for the Empire's eastern trade routes in Engsvanyalli times. This will give me a lot of freedom and flexibility when mapping out the "dungeon."

One more question, in what year did this take place, i.e., when was the governor Lord Ssunim appointed to office, and when did you and Lord Takodai go to Hekellu to investigate? It predates Dhichune's usurpation of the Petal Throne?

Shemek

Chirine,

I also have some questions about Baron Ald.
1. Which legion did he command while in Tsolyani service?
2. When did he "fall out" with the Imperium, and what caused him to leave Tsolyanu.
3. Was he a former boon companion of Emperor Hirkane before he ascended to the Petal Throne?

Shemek