[Torg] Living Land (was: Conversions)

[Jones Jasyn]

On Feb 2, 2010, at 12:13 PM, Chad Dickhaut wrote:

> --- On Tue, 2/2/10, Jasyn Jones <jasynj at gmail.com> wrote:
> 
>> However, your idea of running eidenos as rationalists is
>> intriguing. It's certainly a different take on the Living
>> Land, but a valid take.
> 
> I always thought of that as part of the "twist" of the Living Land realm.  The invaders have a measurable superiority to the land they're invading, but not in the way that the Tech- and Social-centric Americans measure that term.  Nature behaves in ways predictable to those who embrace Lanala's way of life; it can be known differently through a scientific framework, but not better.  The difference between the two is that where the scientist's certainty is derived from his command of facts and data, the Jakatt's certainty is derived from his relationship with Lanala.  "Why do you soft-skins agonize over the cause of things?  The Carnol attacked our camp because it was hungry.  The snake crawled into your pack because it was cold.  Those villagers came down with the sleeping sickness because that is the way of things for those who live near the marshlands.  In all of them is Lanala.  How can you attribute to 'luck' what is caused by the goddess?"

As I said in an earlier message, the "theo-rationalist" Living Land (hat tip to Phil) would give the eidenos another area of commonality with the Akashans, giving them another eason to cooperate with the Eidenos (Jakatt Teks, if not Jakatts).

What if we took this even further?

Outre thought experiment:

My Social axiom, Social 27: "Social structures become highly flexible. Decision making functions are decentralized. Social organizations become a matter of ad hoc interaction between citizens. Such organizations spontaneously form to deal with a given situation or challenge and last as long as necessary. Leadership is delegated on a temporary basis, with the most capable individual becoming the ad hoc leader.

So, what if the Tribes of the Living Land aren't primitive low Social groups, but high Social groups? What if they're the norm for a society organized around ad-hoc principles? What if the Eidenos, instead of being primitives, are actually Socially advanced, so advanced that Earthers are too primitive to recognize it?

Suddenly, Kaah isn't a fool, he's a canny political manipulator, better than 3327, an expert in tactics and persuasion. He's so adept at persuasion, that he snuck in a major revision of his religion, rewriting its tenets, then persuaded all (or nearly all) eidenos to convert.

His cosm invades other worlds, convinces locals of the validity and supremacy of Lanala, and carries these alien species along with him as worshippers.  

Social 27, R&E: "Social structures are advanced enough to incorporate factions and societies of a completely alien nature." 

It's hard to find more alien beings in Torg than the benthe and stalengers, so how did Baruk Kaah add them to his society? Oh, yeah, a high Social axiom.

Especially as the Akashans aren't so high Social, in actuality, what if the LL had a higher Social than the Star Sphere?

I'm not saying I'd do this, but it sounds like an interesting concept.

Jasyn Jones
jasynj (at) gmail (dot) com

"To strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield."
Ulysses, Alfred Lord Tennyson

Check out my Torg webpage, Storm Knights:

darleyconsulting.com/games/stormknights/