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  Simon E. Phipp(Geo Cities)
  Simon E. Phipp(Work - Birmingham)

"The Son of Thed" Copyright (c) 1997 Simon E. Phipp
All rights reserved. The article may be quoted in other articles with proper credit given. It may be reproduced in other forms as long as the Copyright notice is included.
Glorantha is Copyright Greg Stafford and all rights are reserved.

# The Son of Thed

Many years ago when the Bright Empire spread its knowledge and wisdom, it attracted the attention of a number of outsiders who wanted to destroy the Bright Empire and to take its secrets. These enemies attacked the Bright Empire and made the weakest afraid. Several of the weakest decided to fight the enemies by using their own powers against them, so they summoned up Fear and Hate and Violence to fight the enemies. Fear, Hate and Violence came in the shape of a demigod originally banished from the world before the Dawning. This demigod had been fathered, along with many others, on the goddess Thed by Ragnaglar the Mad God. He was known simply as The Son of Thed and took the form of a Giant Broo. As always, Fear, Hate and Vengeance cannot be controlled or used by good people and The Son of Thed began to destroy those who had summoned him. Many tried to defeat him but failed, weakening the Bright Empire in its time of need.

At last, an aspiring Hero fought the Son of Thed and imprisoned it in a giant fortress within Dorastor. This Hero suffered greatly at the hands of the Son of Thed and was weakened when the Great Invasion occurred. Because of his wounds, the Hero was defeated by Gbaji and lay as if dead for many years. He was resurrected by his slaves and began to rule the land of Dorastor as Ralzakark.

The Son of Thed was imprisoned within the Plateau of Terrors or Plateau of Wrath as long as Ralzakark was alive. He was pinned with adamant nails through hands, feet, throat, heart and genitals, seven nails for the Seven Secrets he knew. Where he was pinned was haunted by wraiths and demons - the place was also known as Demon Plateau. Especially virulent were the chaos creatures that sprung from the wounds made by the nails and escaped through cracks in the rock. Everyone knew that a Demon lived there but none knew what it was. That is, until Ralzakark was killed.(1)

A Season after Ralzakark was killed and dismembered, there was an almighty earthquake at the Demon Plateau and the rocks covering the Son of Thed burst asunder revealing the Demon in his full Glory. He took the form of a heavily muscled 40m tall Broo with its skin flayed away revealing the muscles, veins and arteries beneath. From its body sprang ghostly tentacles which would wrap around those foolish enough to come close and would suck the life force from them, leaving an empty husk for the beasts to eat. Slime oozed from the wounds in its body around the 3m long adamant spikes embedded in it. The Son of Thed constantly writhed in agony as its wounds burned a black flame, its mouth contorted in a silent scream as the spike in its throat prevented it from screaming.

Two seasons after Ralzakark was killed, the Broos performed a ceremony near the Son of Thed and calmed him down enough for one to approach. She knew one of his Secrets - that of Procreation and could remove the Adamant Spike from his Genitals.(2) As she did so, the Broos chanted a song of fertility and caused the Son of Thed to become aroused and to bring forth his Fertility and Life(3), proving that even Fear, hate and Violence needs to create new life. The Broo Priestess was covered with the Holy Seed but managed to retain some in a sacred vessel before being consumed. The rest of the Seed spread far and wide, splashing many present and falling amongst the rocks and vegetation. From where the seed fell sprang the Micro Broos.

Their ritual finished, the Broos took the Sacred Vessel and returned to safety in Fort Wrath where they performed a ritual to create new Holy Broos on Seven Slaves they had taken. The Slaves were a Broo, Son of Pocharngo, a Human, a Unicorn, a Great Iron Sword captured from a Humakt Temple, a Spirit and a Wailing Void taken from Thed herself. The Holy Broos thus produced were used to house the portions of Ralzakark’s Spirit which had been formed when he was dismembered. Thus was Ralzakark reborn a Season later.(4)

However, in the meantime, The Son of Thed writhed upon the Adamant Spikes and screamed a silent scream. With the Genital Spike removed, he was constantly aroused and occasionally gave vent to his Passion and created more Micro Broos, normally once a week or so.

Several of Ralzakark’s Lieutenants wanted to be sure of a Great Leader and did not trust the Broos making the Holy Broos. They tried to free the Son of Thed. One removed the Throat Spike, knowing the Secret of Violence. The Scream which came forth was enough to kill those nearby and to strike Terror in the hearts of those who heard it. A race of creatures were formed by the Scream and flew from Its Mouth. Another removed the Heart Spike and was filled with every Pain he ever encountered, each time he was raped, tortured or abused, each wound he ever took, each time he was betrayed, hurt, slighted, jilted or rejected. His heart burst with the pain. The Left Hand Spike was removed by he who knew the Secret of Hate who was crushed to death in the Left Fist of Hate. The Right Hand Spike was removed by a Broo who was Enslaved by The Son of Thed and was commanded to tear himself apart. The Left Foot Spike, or Spike of Fear was removed by a Broo who turned White and dropped dead on the spot. The Right Foot Spike was removed by a Broo who wanted it for himself and was impaled on the Spike.

When all the Spikes were removed, the Son of Thed tried to leave the Plateua, but had been there for so long that he had become stuck to the rocks. He struggled and screamed but could not get free. Unknown to him, Ralzakark had been reborn and he was still trapped. However, Ralzakark was now Seven Beings and was in many places at once. Eventually, the Son of Thed realised that he too could be in several places and stepped away from the Plateau, free to wander through Dorastor.

The PC Party realised that the Son of Thed had become free (I can’t remember how - it was a long time ago) and tried to stop it. Brankist used his Broo-Slaying abilities(5) and killed it in one blow, sending it to Hell. Unfortunately, anyone with a crystalised piece of its Seed could summon it back, albeit at a low chance of success. While fighting Ralzakark, they met the Son of Thed who had been summoned to destroy them. Once again, Brankist acted and summoned forth a Great Wind to blow it into a Chaos Void. From then on it has wandered between the Planes, coming forth in Chaos Nests or as a Foe in the HeroQuests of the Party who are its personal enemies.

## The Secrets

The Son of Thed knew Seven Secrets, all stolen from him by Ralzakark during their Struggle. Each Secret may only be known by one person at any time. If the Secret is told, the teller loses knowledge of the Secret. The Holder of the Secret is made immune to the attack the Secret gives to the Son of Thed. If the Secret is told to the Son of Thed then the Teller may remove the Adamant Spike relating to the Secret. Unfortunately, he is destroyed by the Attack relating to the Secret.

The Secrets take the form of Seven Spirits who covertly possess the Holder of the Secret. If the Holder dies then the Secrets will possess somebody else. Their POW should be determined by the GM, but should be of a level as to be a danger to any PC in the campaign.

### The Secret of Procreation

Fear, Hate and Violence will always grow and will infect everything they touch. The Son of Thed can mate with anything, living or dead, animate or inanimate.

### The Secret of Violence

Violence will always have its Voice and will make itself Heard, regardless of attempts to stop it. The Son of Thed may Shout once per round, killing a target whon can hear him.

### The Secret of Fear

Fear will always spread, regardless of all rational attempts to banish it. Fear thrives on weakness and comes in many forms. The Son of Thed can blow Fear Spirits against its enemies. People who combat it must make a Bravery Check each and every round or be paralysed with Fear.

### The Secret of Hate

Hate will always turn against itself and its friends, destroying all in its path. The Son of Thed will always betray those who summon or try to control it.

### The Secret of Pain

True Pain comes from Within, the remembrance of Wrongs done to oneself, the memory of Past Hurts, the imagining of Pain to Come. The Son of Thed can cause a target to relive an event from his/her life which caused Pain, incapacitating the person for a period of time depending on the Pain relived.

### The Secret of Envy

Other people are better than you, you worthless piece of slime. Everything they have is better than yours, everything they do is better than you. You are nothing. You can only become worthwhile by taking what is theirs, taking their Glory, their Honour and their possessions. The Son of Thed can cause one person per round to desire an object, person or thing that is within his reach. Treat this as a Passion (100% Greed) for the thing Desired. While under the Compulsion, the person will try anything within his power to gain it.

### The Secret of Power

True Power comes from the Enslavement of Others, only those who Enslave may know Power. The Son of Thed can Command one person per round to do whatever the Son of Thed requires. Only one such person may be Commanded at any time.

## [1]Ralzakark was Killed

The Party had in its possession a Dagger forged by Arkat which could damage Ralzakark’s Spirit, tearing chunks of POW away and killing him. It had to be used by a descendant of Ralzakark. Fortunately, one of the PC’s had previously fathered a Son on Ralzakark in a different guise and so the Son was used to kill the Mother. There were Seven Wounds made until Ralzakark’s soul was reduced to 0 POW. Unfortunately, the party did not stay to finish the job and the portions of the Soul escaped.

## [2]Piercing

If you must know, through the penis and both testicles so that every time he moved it caused each wound to open up.

## [3]The Fertility Ritual

When I GMd this, I glossed over the form of the Ritual, but one of the players twigged on as to what was happening - "You mean to say that the Priestess is giving The Son of Thed a Wank? You’re Sick!" Not, perhaps, the most glamorous of descriptions, but basically true. As a matter of interest, as the Son of Thed is 40m tall, approx 20 times as tall as an equivalent man, basic mathematics shows that he has 8000 times the volume. This means that when the Ritual was finished, he produced some 40000cc or 40 litres of Seed. When I worked this out, I could not help but have it splash all over the place to the disgust of the aforementioned player.

## [4]Ralzakark’s Forms:

A Broo, A Chaos Demon, A Shaman, A Human, A Unicorn Headed Broo, A Humakti Broo, A Demon of Entropy.

## [5]Broo-Slaying Abilities

Brankist had a Powered Sword, he could double his attack chance against Broos for 10 rounds, he could double the damage done by a single blow per day against a Broo. His sword had double attack chance and did double damage against Personal Enemies of Orlanth (this included the Son of Thed). This meant that he was attacking on something stupid like 2000% (auto critical - became auto Special Crit) and was doing quadruple damage. He rolled a Super Crit (1/500th damage) and did maximum Impaling damage direct to the Son of Thed’s head - something like 200+ damage direct. This proved to be fatal!