ftp.ee.pdx.edu/2014.02.ftp.ee.pdx.edu.tar/ftp.ee.pdx.edu/pub/frp/purditory/deni

Internet Message Format | 1991-06-28 | 12KB

From [e-mail] Fri Jun 28 10:53:22 1991
From: [e-mail] (Michael Barlow)
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp,aus.games.roleplay
Subject: PURDITORY: Deni
Keywords: purditory, deni
Date: 23 Jun 91 05:42:50 GMT
Organization: Australian Defence Force Academy, Canberra, Australia

Subject: Deni
Author:  Mark Grundy [[e-mail]]
Note:    I am `reposting' this (Mark sent it out recently) both for
     completeness and as several people said they didn't see it.
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        The Deni  were a  people I  made  up off  the top  of my  head  some
    articles ago,  to illustrate  a  point.   I  thought they  maybe  looked
    interesting enough to develop and  put into Purditory.  The  description
    is a  bit  voluminous for  news,  but isn't a  bad size  for a  campaign
    background.

8< ---------------- Snip Snip Snip

Race:         Human
Culture:    Deni
Appearance:    155-168cm (= 5'1"-5'6"), 50-70kg. Grey eyes, flat noses,
        olive skins, red or blonde hair. Wide belts, scarves,
        cylindrical hats and knee-boots are common dress. Deni love
        the colour red.

Demography:
        The Deni are temperate  inland dwellers.  Culturally, they are  most
    concentrated near the  ancient site of  Aram, but Deni  can be found  in
    significant numbers up to 8000km from this region. There are some 120000
    Deni in the world, of which 90000 live within 100km of Aram.

        Aram is an  oval-shaped site (15kmx20km) where nothing  grows.   The
    soil is hard and clayish, but is often rich in ores (and sometimes other
    ancient treasures).  Water found in Aram is poisonous to drink.  Animals
    shun this region.  The place is owned piecemeal by the Seventeen  Clans,
    who view trespass very dimly.

        A Deni house is  a large edifice  constructed of wattle-and-daub  or
    brick, with  sloping  roofs of  thatch.   It  comfortably  houses  20-50
    people.

        The Deni  are a  very insular  culture, partly  because of  the  low
    opinion other cultures have of them.   Resident aliens in their  society
    are rare.  Clanless  Deni (often apothecaries,  surgeons or smiths)  are
    known to live in other cultures, are in demand for their skills, but are
    frequently viewed with suspicion.

Economy:
        The Deni are affluent.  Their chief exports are the great quantities
    of copper and magnetic iron that  come from the ore-laden soil in  Aram.
    Strange items can also  be found in  Aram, but these  are held in  great
    esteem by the Deni, and are hardly ever traded.

        Although they understand the use of currency, Deni consider money to
    be unclean and do all trade through barter.

Family:
        Similar to traditional extended European  unit.  Clan membership  is
    very important.   In Deni  society, an individual  without a  clan is  a
    second class citizen,  as is an  outsider.  The  clanless have no  legal
    protection, and are not trusted.

        The centre of clan and family life is the Great Pot.  Each clan  has
    a huge  cauldron, in  which meals  are cooked  at clan  meetings.   Each
    family has a  lesser pot.   The pot  is the focus  for family  meetings,
    where elders sup on bowl after bowl of stew and discuss policy.

        It is not unknown for a Deni  clan to adopt new members.  Some  have
    been cultural strangers.   However, there would need  to be a very  good
    reason for this, such  as a service  performed to the  clan or the  clan
    making recompense for having killed your family...

Food:
        Bean-bread, plum wine, tubers, legumes  & root vegetables.   Spices:
    local chile,  a  citric  grass.   An  imported  sweet  red  herb  called
    shascribtz is a delicacy.  The  Deni have no taboo against  cannibalism,
    and routinely eat the flesh of their dead, and the dead of others  (when
    they can get  it).   Other meats include  rodent, goat,  and offal  from
    aurochs.  Aurochs are a  huge, semi-domesticated bison that don't  breed
    well in  captivity.   Deni  eat  their flesh  only  in lean  times,  but
    consider their offal a delicacy.

History:
        History is passed by word of mouth from the clan elders.  Each  Deni
    child is  expected to  know his  clan history  as well  as his  cultural
    history.   The  History of  the  Seventeen Clans  is  long, but  can  be
    summarised as follows:  Once, the Deni  were a proud,  wealthy race  who
    worshipped no gods.   They  loved beauty,  youth and  wealth, but  cared
    nothing for wisdom,  honour and  the land.   Their old  and feeble  were
    driven from their homes to die, as they were not pretty to look on.   In
    time, all the spirits of  the old grew wrathful  and asked the god  Fire
    Rain to avenge them.  Fire Rain did so by destroying Aram, poisoning the
    soil of the wealthy,  burning the faces of  the beautiful, and  starving
    the young.

        The Deni  fled into  the wilderness  and learned  wisdom from  their
    punishment.  Greatpot and Bone Keeper  pitied the Deni and walked  among
    them, teaching wisdom.   In time, the Seventeen  Clans formed: the  Deni
    began to honour their dead,  as is fit, and  give them time to  complete
    their lives so  that they would  not return  in wrath.   They learnt  to
    value the counsel  of their old  and to place  wisdom and family  before
    wealth and beauty.  Fire Rain forgave the Deni, and no longer slew those
    bold folk who approached Aram.  In his compassion, Copper Glove  brought
    wealth back to the clans, to show  that they were still favoured in  the
    eyes of the Gods.

Language:
    Sounds to an English speaker like a cat sneezing.

Leisure:
        Gambling, singing, follow-the-leader  dances, round-the-circle story
    telling, mild narcotic addictions are common.

Law:
        Crimes common  amongst the  Deni are  infidelity, tresspass,  theft,
    ``claim-jumping'', betrayal of family, and betrayal of clan.  The  three
    acts of great immorality are miserliness, disrespect of age, and vanity.

        Premeditated murder  is  very  rare, although  manslaughter  is  not
    unknown.  Crimes within a clan are  arbited by the elders  (men & women)
    of that clan.   Crimes between clans  are more serious,  as the clan  is
    held to  be  responsible  for  the action  of  the  individual.    Great
    reparations are normally made for inter-clan disputes.  Clan feuding  is
    a ritualised affair; the  reason for the feud  must first be stated,  as
    well as the list of offenders, and those who are offended.  Then  anyone
    in the  clan can  join  in.   If an  offender  publicly repents,  or  an
    offended publicly forgives, then  they are removed from  the list.   The
    feud does not honourably continue if one list is empty.

        An  individual  without  a  clan  has  no  recourse  to  recompense.
    The clanless in Aram are very vulnerable.

        Within the clan, punishments  can include confiscation of  property,
    whipping, disfigurement, public humiliation or banishment.

Medicine:
        The Deni are excellent anatomists and apothecaries.  Their knowledge
    of disease, surgery and drugs approaches that of Rennaisance Italy.

Polemics:
        Weapons used by the  Deni: Light Spears, 1H  axes, 1H swords,  small
    shields, thrown  spear,  sling  and  short  bow.    Armour  is  leather,
    bezainted, or plate.  The Deni  have infantry and missile troops but  no
    cavalry or  navy.   Most Deni  weapons  and armour  are made  of  mildly
    magnetic steel.

        Internal clan strife is  often settled by competitive  tale-telling.
    Whoever can tell the tale with the most convincing moral wins.

        The Deni  are  little  liked  by  outside  cultures,  due  to  their
    cannibalistic practises and their  wealth.  However,  the Deni are  well
    equipped to face moderate military incursions on their own territory.

        Because of the Deni diet, external cultures perceive them to be very
    agressive, however the converse is true.  The Deni only mobilise for war
    at great need.   Cannibalism serves the Deni  very well during  wartime,
    but very badly during times of plague.  Deni have been known to kill and
    ``question'' prisoners, using the same cannibalistic ritual they use for
    their own dead, but this is rare.

Politics:
        The Deni are organised into seventeen  clans, each of which is  lead
    by clan elders.   Due to  longevity differences, the  women Clan  elders
    outnumber the men by 2  to 1. Each clan  has Greatpot meetings at  least
    every two months to  discuss policy.   Once a year  the Greatest Pot  is
    brought out  to be  filled  with food  for  celebrations among  all  the
    Seventeen Clans. (Needless to say, the Greatest Pot is Huuuuge)

Religion:
    The Deni have several gods, whose worship is part of everyday life:
        Wornsole    - god of trade and travel
        Beast        - godess of animals and animal products
        Redhair        - god of plant and harvest
        Greatpot    - godess of cooking, birth, Clan and Family
        Fire Rain    - god of war, disease and destruction
        Copper Hand    - goddess of metal, alchemy and knowledge
        Bonekeeper    - god of healing, age, wisdom and death

        The Deni are a cannibal culture.  To appease their dead before  they
    go to live with Bonekeeper and learn wisdom, they give the deceased  his
    ``second body'' - a  selected member of his  clan who ceremonially  eats
    the flesh  of the  dead  and, for  a month,  houses  the spirit  of  the
    departed.  Friends and family  bid him goodbye, and  he has a chance  to
    finish off  his affairs  before going  to learn  about his  errors  from
    Bonekeeper.

        To a  Deni, being  a ``host''  to  someone outside  the clan  is  as
    distasteful as being a  prostitute is in our  society.  Nonetheless,  in
    great need, an outsider may be killed, ``hosted'' and questioned, before
    being showered with  appeasment gifts  and being  sent on  to listen  to
    Bonekeeper's wisdom.

Technology:
        The Deni  are  skilled  in  steelmaking  and  metallurgy,  chemisty,
    pharmacy and alchemy.  The remainder of their technology is at about the
    level of 12th century  Europe.  They have  never heard of  horsecollars,
    wheelbarrows, gunpowder or printing presses.

Transport & Power:
        The main of the  Deni motive power is  provided by aurochs  imported
    from  the   nearby   grasslands   of  Skintz.      Aurochs   are   huge,
    semi-domesticated bison and do not breed  well in captivity.  Deni  have
    carts + wagons but no riding horses.  Due to clan loyalties, slavery  is
    unknown.


Some Adventuring Ideas:
For non-Deni players:
    Trade with the Deni (and try to cope with their culture)
    Infiltrate the Deni for Military purposes (ditto)
        - PC's play remote Clan members, and spy out the fortifications
          in Aram.
    Rescue raid
        - the Deni have gotten hold of someone important, and everybody
          know's they're cannibals... Let's hope the rescue party won't
          be too late...
    Treasure hunt
        - a Deni artifact has found its way out of Aram. The PCs are
          sent _into_ Aram to get more.

For Deni players:
    Reposessed
        - a good friend is hosting a man who died in Aram. He claims
          to have been rolled and murdered by a rival clan, and insists
          on redressing things privately before he talks to Bonekeeper.
    Clan Wars
        - a full feud is going on. As trusted and valued Clan members,
          the players are sent to beat up on the unpenitent in the
          other Clan, to make them apologise. Of course, the other clan
          has similar plans...
    Pothole
        - Someone has desecrated the Greatest Pot. The Clans are losing
          cohesion - the Deni culture is in jeapordy. Could this be
          part of a ploy to drive the Deni from Aram?
    New Boots
        - Under the protection of Wornsole, the players have brought
          a small Family trading party hundreds of miles into a huge,
          alien city. Now all they gotta do is barter two gross of
          copper pots in a city that only talks gold.
    Roundup
        - A tri-annual Auroch round-up in Skintz. Hazards include wild
          animals, the evil nomads, and the huge wild beasts themselves.
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--------------
Michael Barlow     [e-mail]