Re: New Races of SJ, esp Giff

--- Adam Miller <nghtdrud@??????.net> wrote:
>         Well, there's other methods as well.  Could
> say that the giff were
> cursed by the gods and can't use magic for some past
> crime against them
> (perhaps giff don't worship gods at all).  Or
> perhaps they do worship
> gods, but the gods they worship are 'elder' and
> distance, like AO, the
> High God, or Tharizdun.  Or perhaps they're gods are
> hero-deities rather
> than true deities.  This last one is kind of hinted
> at in the
> Cloakmaster Series (Gomja the giff swears by saying
> 'By the Great
> Captain!'  Implied was the First Captain of the
> Spelljammer, I
> believe).  So actual giff priests might not exist,
> as the giff see the
> best way to honor their hero-gods is to emulate them
> as warriors and
> battle rather than through ceremony and preachings.
> And giff would make
> horrible mages (their hands are too clumbsy to
> handle delicate spell
> components, their mouths unable to mimic the words
> and syllables to
> weave magic spells, their bodies too bulky to make
> the correct motions
> for some spells).  Giff could have rare sorcerers,
> who are highly
> esteemed in giff society (they can make things go
> BOOOOOOOOOOOOM!!:)
> Anyways, just tossing out ideas here.

My only problem with that is that without a native
means of powering a helm it is difficult to explain
what a race is doing in Arcane Space.  In my mind Giff
should have at least one reliable method of getting
into space on their own.

I like the idea of them having hero-dieties, but don't
see this as incompatible with having a priesthood.  If
I can be forgiven for using a Star Trek reference, the
Klingons revere Kahless as just the same sort of
hero-diety that the Giff might have (among others.)
The very militaristic Klingons *did* have a priesthood
devoted to teaching other Klingons the stories and
legends of Kahless and to hand down the teachings on
how to best live a life of honor.  I can readily see
this happening as well with the Giff.

The problem here is that there is no definitive source
of information on Giff culture and psychology, which
leaves the matter up to speculation.  In my own
campaign, races that can't get themselves into space
end up becoming a lot like the aboriginal cultures
here on earth - sadly conquered and dominated by those
*with* spelljamming capabilities - which is why my
Giff have priests to gods who reflect their very
martial outlook on life.

Scott McCarroll

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