This page hosted by Get your own Free Home Page

Last modified: 1 October 1997.
Send comments and/or criticism to
  Simon E. Phipp(Geo Cities)
  Simon E. Phipp(Work - Birmingham)

"The Great Gorp" 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.

Back to Home Page

# The Great Gorp

Slimestone is a wretched place, a village of ramshackle huts amidst a broken rock formation. The SlimeStone is a set of rocks, obviously once a huge single rock but now set with fractures and splits as to appear to be a set of rocks, worn so smooth that they feel slimy to the touch. Within the rock are cracks and splits leading deep underground, all silky smooth. Many shelters can be found in these cracks, hidden away from harm. These shelters form the home of the people of Slimestone, a more wretched people you will rarely find. They live a simple life serving the gorps of SlimeStone, living off the offerings that people bring to the Shrine. They have no defences whatsoever, relying on the Gorp for everything.

Milling throughout SlimeStone are hundreds, if not thousands, of gorp, ranging from those the size of a hand to those larger than a house. They are the greatest danger in SlimeStone as they will happily absorb and consume anything living which does not belong to the Cult of the Great Gorp. These are the offspring of the Great Gorp that lives within SlimeStone.

The Great Gorp was the result of an experiment in Nysalor's day when the people tried to contact the Primal Well of Wonder and bring its secrets into everyday use. As with many of the experiments at this time, the results were not as expected. The Great Gorp is the GorpGod, a slimy hole into which all will eventually fall, associated with the Runes of Chaos, and Entropy. It takes the form of a huge Gorp the size of a village, of everchanging shape continually changing its size and form as its slops around SlimeStone. Every so often, a piece will fall off the Great Gorp and become a living gorp. Equally, the gorps nearby are often absorbed into the Great Gorp.

The Great Gorp has several interesting properties:
  It absorbs all magic cast at it without suffering the effects, adding the Intensity of the spell to its own MPs.
  Any creature made of flesh touching the Great Gorp is instantly absorbed, adding its SIZ, POW and MPs to those of the Gorp.
  The only things not absorbed by the Great Gorp are stone, crystals, Runic Gold, Truestone and Adamant.
  Things that are normally immune to acid are absorbed by the Great Gorp.
  The Great Gorp does not take damage normally - it can only be harmed by fire and magic of Heroic nature - normal magic is just absorbed.
  Any damage taken by the Great Gorp results in a piece falling off with SIZ and HPs equal to the damage taken - this becomes a gorp and can act independently. These gorps can be absorbed back again, making the Great Gorp virtually indestructible.
  If the Great Gorp is damaged, it will lurch towards the spot where it hurts, enveloping that spot with protoplasm and absorbing all that is there. This would include the person causing the damage if standing close by.

## The Cult of the Great Gorp

Anyone may join this cult by sacrificing a point of POW to the Great Gorp.

There are only initiates of the Cult and they all get the cult Divine Magic reusably.

The only benefits of membership are that the Initiate may not be harmed by gorps while at SlimeStone and may call on the Great Gorp for Divine Intervention.

### Spells

Shelter (1 point, Reusable, Duration 1 Day)
  This allows the user to take shelter in the Great Gorp without being absorbed. It also allows the user to hide in smaller gorps without harm.
Summon Gorp (1 point, Reusable, Instant)
  Causes a gorp to break away from the Great Gorp and move towards the caster. The gorp is not under the caster's control and is just being friendly - it wants to cuddle up to the one who summoned it. Each MP stacked with the spell increases the SIZ of the gorp by 1.
Command Gorp
  As normal but only works on gorps descended from the Great Gorp.

Divine Intervention to the Great Gorp has only one effect - the Great Gorp comes personally to the petitioner and envelopes him. Depending where the petitioner is, this may take some time, but the Great Gorp is patient. Divine Intervention is best stacked with Shelter and is often used to destroy invaders.

### Associate Cults

Primal Chaos gives Chaos Feature but rarely do the cultists take this.

### Other Notes

#### SlimeStone

This was thrown from the Heavens to try to crush the Great Gorp but failed. A spirit still lives in the SlimeStone and grants a spell to those who would contact him.

Enchant SlimeStone(1 Point, Non-Stackable, Reusable, Ritual Enchant)

This spell allows pieces of the SlimeStone to be enchanted. Each point of POW used in the enchantment causes the Stone to do 1D6 damage to a gorp if thrown at the Gorp. This even affects the Great Gorp. Once used, the Stone is rendered inert but can be reactivated with an extra point of POW and Enchant SlimeStone.

### Statistics

I did have statistics for the Great Gorp, fully expecting my deranged and power-crazed PCs to have a go at it. Fortunately they were not keen on attacking something that just absorbed you and did not take real damage, so they shied off.

Unfortunately, I do not have the Statistics in Moscow and cannot remeber them. They were not too far off the ones in Dorastor, exceopt that mine was bigger, had more hit points, more POW, didn't do 80 Acid damage but absorbed anything that touched it.