[Date Prev][Date Next][Thread Prev][Thread Next][Date Index][Thread Index]
RE: [DL] Aborigine Guardian Spirits
Whoah. This would be a whole 'nother ball of wax.
The Australians (who, BTW are viciously persecuted at this time, and the Tasmanians haven't been completely exterminated by white hunting parties yet) have a very different approach to magic/medicine than the Native Americans.
To the Aboriginies, it's the palces that matter, and the stories around the places. This place is where the Giant Kangaroo was killed, and her blood left the red ocher that we mine with her permission. These stories, whoich vary a bit from tribe to tribe, tell the history of the land, and of its relationship to the Dreamtime, which is very important. If you don't understand the relationship to the Dreamtime, then you don't understand the place and what is its power, and what spirits to appease, or how.
The Dreamtime (Alcheringa) is a cycle of stories and legends that run back to the earliest inhabitation of Australia--40,000 years, when the coastal volcanos were still active, and the ocean was about 20 feet lower. Do some background reading on the Dreamtime--it's utterly fascinating, and very unlike any other myth-cycle I've ever read. I suggest Chaosium's "Terror Australis" for a good basic background.
Your friend may do better with a Maori, who were an interesting bunch, and more likely to go to strange places, and fit into the Wierd West setting by virtue of being a pretty violent culture. They're also (If I recall) animist in a more familiar way than the Australians. And the tattoos will make him stand out like nobody's business.
Cheers!
John Goodrich
Original Message:
-----------------
From: Nick Zachariasen zacharin@pluto.dsu.edu
Date: Tue, 7 Aug 2001 04:12:31 -0500
To: deadlands@gamerz.net
Subject: [DL] Aborigine Guardian Spirits
O.K., my friend Ian and I were committing some acts of mental jackassery yet
again, and we jokingly came up with some questions that we actually began to
take somewhat seriously. What would you guys do for Guardian Spirits
relating to Australian animals?
For the platypus, we were thinking Visionseeking due to its mysterious
nature (it's got a bill like a duck, a tail like a beaver, it's an aquatic
mammal with fur, it lays eggs like a bird or reptile, and it's venomous).
We were thinking perhaps Earth medicine for the wombat because of its
terrestrial nature and (extremely) vaguely ursine appearance. What would
you guys think about the koala? The kangaroo? In case you're wondering, we
actually plan on putting this to use when the player creates an Aborigine
Shaman who's (somehow, he hasn't specified to me yet) gotten to the West.
Nick Zachariasen
Editor Emeritus
Trojan Times
To unsubscribe, send a message to esquire@gamerz.net with
unsubscribe deadlands
as the BODY of the message. The SUBJECT is ignored.
--------------------------------------------------------------------
Mail2Web - Check your email from the web at
http://www.mail2web.com/ .