Welcome to The Hall of Blue Illumination, the podcast dedicated to the world of M.A.R. Barker’s Tékumel.  In this episode, our hosts discuss various media and other sundry things belonging to our world that for them, evoke aspects of Tékumel.  Sit back and enjoy as they move from 1930’s newsreels, to the DMV, through pyramid nomenclature, and discuss a scene from one of the greatest films to ever grace the silver screen — The Wizard of Oz Big Trouble In Little China.

Show Notes:

[00:00:45]  Our topic today: things that are resonant with the world of Tékumel.

[00:01:22]  Victor begins with Temples of India, a newsreel from 1938.

[00:03:40]  Victor also notes the scene in MGM’s Wizard of Oz (1939) where the Witch’s guardsmen and flying monkeys remind him of Tékumelani armies.

[00:04:47]  When you’re looking for inspiration for Tékumel, there is a lot of material you won’t deliberately go to.  You can find inspiration in the unlikeliest of places.

[00:05:55]  Looking to your own sources and inspiration is how you develop your own Tékumel.

[00:06:32]  Each of us has our own understanding of Tékumel.  Some things that are resonant to one person won’t be resonant to another.

[00:07:34]  Tékumel is a broad and deep setting, and everyone focuses on different aspects.  James mentions architecture as one of the things that you might focus on.

[00:09:20]  James cites a scene from Big Trouble In Little China.

[00:10:45]  Scott’s mention of the DMV leads into a discussion of that most prevalent of Tsolyáni institutions, bureaucracy.

[00:14:22]  Tsolyáni markets are more akin to our farmers’ markets than a modern grocery store.

[00:15:40]  Sometimes people get lost in the distinction between “game” and “real” Tékumel.  The society of “real” Tékumel is much more traditional.  When you play Tékumel, you are taking on the role of someone who is different from most of the regular people going on with their lives.  (See HoBI Ep. 13)

[00:17:12]  Scott’s Dungeon Crawl Classics/EPT mashup.  His player characters were peasants who had been gathered up by the priests of Hrü’ü for a ritual.

[00:18:00]  The real world has its own resonances.  The Mesoamerican pyramids are similar to Mesopotamian ziggurats.  A discussion of architectural taxonomy ensues.  [GPD: IMHO, “ziggurat” — from the Akkadian ziqqurat — should probably refer exclusively to Mesopotamian structures.  “Pyramid” is derived from the Greek word for the geometric shape, and thus a better catchall.  Scott is right, the vast majority of Mesoamerican pyramids are step-pyramids.]

[00:19:06]  [GPD: Thanks guys!]

[00:19:41]  Don’t just swap out the temples and monuments of the real world for the temples of Tékumel, but as a composite, together all of them inform how you should view Tékumelani architecture.

[00:21:58]  How does chlén hide operate?  What does it look like?  How does it feel?

[00:22:51]  James mentions the photographs of colonial soldiers at Queen Victoria’s Jubilee, and how they remind him of the make-up of the Five Empires’ various legions.

[00:25:40]  Victor’s Tékumel group is underway.  He’s found is that it doesn’t hurt to have descriptions of things written up beforehand.  Tékumel is different enough that you need to remind players precisely how different it is.

[00:26:38]  Victor gives us an anecdote about a new player in his Tékumel campaign.  This player had brought with him many assumptions based on other fantasy games.  His character hailed from Milumanayá and made the mistake of mouthing off to a couple of guards i