Superstitions / Cultural Practices (Allanak)

[nauta]

Having come across the superstition about the color green hidden away in Allanak Fashions, I was curious if there are other superstitions / cultural beliefs that Allanaki citizens in particular would hold.  I'm happy to hear about undocumented ones (i.e., not in the docs, but evidenced by player lore, or evidenced by NPC/item descriptions/room descriptions) too.

Of course we do have Superstitions help file, which lists off things like:

o Odd number of feathers is good luck; even is bad luck.

AMong others.

[Dar]

Walking by a dead elf brings good luck and security to your belongings.









sorry.

[Miradus]

There's an ancient cult of gicks who live in the Allanak sewers and worship a sentient sewer horror that has survived since the defiling of the world. They call it "He Who Sleeps Below" and await the time when all three moons during the exact moment dusk turns to late at night.

When you pass a sewer pipe, make the two fingered sign of the tentacle lest you be devoured when the Great Rising occurs.

[Riev]

Many of my hunter PCs in Allanak have always considered it general bad luck to find more than one dead animal that hasn't been scavenged or skinned in one outing. If something is out there killing indiscriminately, they often will head back and wait a day for it to satiate itself.

[Delirium]

Lol you must not get much hunting done.

[Riev]

Lol you must not get much hunting done.

I play froofy social aides/concubines now.

There's actually about the same number of unexplained bodies...

[Miradus]

I find it extremely bad form to kill someone and not leave at least some faint clue as to why and how they died. The random body crumpled on the ground at the corpse pile just freaking annoys me.

'Arrange' is a command, people! Use it!

[nauta]

I found a few other superstitions tucked away in the help files on Jihae and Lirathu (the two big moons):

Lirathu is the paler of Zalanthas' two moons, its surface victim to the greying of deep ridges and craters. Several cultures on Zalanthas make superstitious associations between Lirathu and prosperity or peace, and celestial events involving Lirathu are often regarded as omens of good luck.

Manifestations of this superstition include the following: some thieves only prefer a moonless night to a night under Lirathu's glow, and many travelers will opt to travel when Lirathu dominates the night sky; similarly, spice hunters look upon a night under Lirathu as a sign of good sifting tomorrow.

The moon Jihae is the darker of the two moons and appears as a flawless, ruddy sphere against the night sky. While marginally smaller in apparent size than its twin, Jihae's cultural impact outweighs Lirathu's fairly regularly. Often looked upon as the War Moon, or the Moon of Bad Omen, celestial events involving Jihae are feared by the superstitious and always recalled, even by the level-headed, after any disaster.

Some travelers are threatened by a prominent Jihae and will elect not to travel under its glare. Other groups, usually sidelined or outcast, take a prominent Jihae as a stimulating event, and opt to commit dire acts beneath it.

[HavokBlue]

A common belief in the Vrun Driath region (Allanak and its surroundings) says that giant fire ants are actually children who upset fire mages.

Fire Ant                                                        (Animal Life)

   While ants are a common occurrence in just about every corner of the
Known World, colonies of giant fire ants have cropped up with varying
frequency over the ages. Folklore often questions the origin of these
giant ants, sometimes suggesting giant fire ants are merely common ants
that have grown much larger than their peers while at other times claiming
them to be a unique breed of their own. An old superstition in Vrun Driath
holds that children who draw the ire of an elementalist of Suk-Krath are
turned into giant fire ants in their sleep. In spite of their exaggerated
size, fire ant workers are not known to be inherently aggressive,
preferring to feed mostly upon small flora and fauna. Much like their
smaller counterparts, fire ants respond with prejudice when the colony
is threatened.

[Pale Horse]

Moving through the main gate at noon when the dragon statue cannot cast it's shade on those who enter or exit is to invite bad luck and ill fortune as you fail to walk in His Shadow.

[CodeMaster]

A couple I picked out of http://old.armageddon.org/ -- scraping the bottom of the barrel.

Whiran robes in Allanak are traditionally cowled (more of a tradition)

In the southlands, [sandals] are worn only by gladiators and/or slaves (more of a tradition)

[In the north], the southern tradition of wielding two weapons is viewed as leaving oneself far too open to a cunning counter-attack, and the relatively simple offensive techniques employed there are looked down upon as being crude and unsophisticated.



And the illnesses have some superstition around them:

In Gol Krathu, [chest decay] is felt to be due to magicks, and a cure advocated by physicians of the region is to place a poultice soaked in whiran blood on the chest of the diseased.

Widely thought to be caused by angry spirits, in Gol Krathu dysentery is called the curse of the Twins, while in several nomadic tribes it is thought to be caused by the restless shades of dishonored ancestors.

In Allanak, it is commonly believed that [the yellow plague] is visited upon those who, through thought or deed, have not been sufficiently grateful to the Highlord Tektolnes for his beneficent protection.

In Vrun Driath, [Maar pox] is known as Tuluki Pox, as it is popularly believed that a Tuluki saboteur brought this contagion to Allanak sometime during the 17th Age.

[Sorry]

Heard about a certain orphan selling food:

"Ya it ain' bad.  I's heard eatin' rotten petoch keeps tha sexually transmitted diseases away, innit?"

[Cind]

Everyone will give you a 'What are you talking about' look when you try to explain your superstition unless A) you are a tribal or B) Staff and/or top tier pcs (Templars, etc.) continuously enforce/talk about a superstition long enough for it to make it into the mental canon of enough pcs.

I'm not sure the second one can be pulled off.

I want superstitions too.

[HavokBlue]

I agree with the above post. I've had a hard time getting other PCs to jive with playing out the superstition docs and unless playing a tribal PC, feel like people react negatively.

[nauta]

I use superstitions mostly for myself -- to add a bit of receptivity to otherwise tractionless spinning in the creativity void.  It's also why I like tribals and desert elves: the documentation are hard nobs in the landscape.

[Riev]

I use superstitions mostly for myself -- to add a bit of receptivity to otherwise tractionless spinning in the creativity void.  It's also why I like tribals and desert elves: the documentation are hard nobs in the landscape.

I think this is important when it comes to superstitions. It is GOING to be hard to get other people to buy into your personal superstitions, but that's not your problem; its theirs. You're the one who is going to have great luck and strong children because you made sure to eat that dried duskhorn dick on the second month of your pregnancy.

Whether the other PC believes you or not? Who cares. HOWEVER, it would be nice for some superstitions to have some sort of grounding, be it through Staff intervention or through PC/Staff bards that tell stories that reinforce the belief.

[Grogerif]

You're the one who is going to have great luck and strong children because you made sure to eat that dried duskhorn dick on the second month of your pregnancy.

You knew somebody that was pregnant for two months?  Everybody knows that if your carrying for more then a month, your going to have a mutant or a magicker.

[Delirium]

Just in case you weren't joking, normal pregnancies should last a little over 2 IG months.

[Grogerif]

 

Just in case you weren't joking, normal pregnancies should last a little over 2 IG months.

As I've never been part of that type of roleplay, I always assumed it was roughly the same amount of days as RL pregnancies, maybe a bit less because of the harsh world.  I was joking, but I was thinking about just over a month (280 days being the average RL pregnancy)  I didn't really calculate Zalanthan days as different then RL days in that though.  (just assumed the Armageddon hour was about twice that as ours)   

I don't even know if there is a helpfile on this?

[Sorry]

Amethyst prevents drunkenness

Aquamarine stops you ever feeling thirst if you carry one in your pocket

Emerald is called the truth-stone by elves (no idea of the mythology of that, sounds interesting)

Jet is called deathstone by jewellers

Ruby is said to help the memory

Turquoise is known as a luck stone

One of the head merchants of Kadius has been looking for a green garnet for almost a King's Age

[Chettaman]

I found this in the docs.

quote

The Chalton Lady                                                        (Animal Life)

   They say if you kill too many chalton in one hunt, the spirit of an evil witch from years passed will return and strike you dead. A common defense against ghosts, of course, is salt.

unquote

[Cind]

I've seen people do the 'pale green is a bad color' thing before, I think mostly because there is a pale green item for sale in the city. Perhaps all we really needed to cement a few superstitions was to make relevant items that are readily available.

[Cind]

What if we had a npc vendor standing outside the Gaj, hawking superstitious items?

We already have a couple of items; simple obsidian bands, worn on the right hand as a sign of friendship. The rough sword stone charm for a chargen shop, a good luck charm for warriors.

Make the vendor female and elf to fill the minority quota. Maybe she's got a constantly paranoid look in her eye too.

While a total lack of city-based spirituality seems to fit the game world alright, from an Earth perspective it seems odd that there's -nothing- outside of basic praying services for Tektolnes.

There's a tek-shaped charm in the game, too... maybe a vial of elf's blood helps ward away sickness.

[Miradus]

What if we had a npc vendor standing outside the Gaj, hawking superstitious items?

We already have a couple of items; simple obsidian bands, worn on the right hand as a sign of friendship. The rough sword stone charm for a chargen shop, a good luck charm for warriors.

Make the vendor female and elf to fill the minority quota. Maybe she's got a constantly paranoid look in her eye too.

While a total lack of city-based spirituality seems to fit the game world alright, from an Earth perspective it seems odd that there's -nothing- outside of basic praying services for Tektolnes.

There's a tek-shaped charm in the game, too... maybe a vial of elf's blood helps ward away sickness.

I have several times proven that a big pool of elf's blood wards off misfortune.

I don't mind the vendor idea, but don't clutter up the Gaj area any more than you have to. There's a bazaar. And there's a street with people hawking treasure maps and dirty water.

[LauraMars]

Fun Fact: the Borsail estate avoids using even numbers in decorative architecture. Pillars and tiles tend to be odd-numbered, and have odd-numbered points/sides/facets.

When I was writing it I pretended the tile laying and stone carving slaves were superstitious about even numbers. But it could easily be some other reason!