Background - Ancient Coyns

 

Last Updated 14 August 2009.

 


By:       Nick Munn

             Hans Rancke-Madse

             Joe Webb

             Keven R. Pittsinger

             (with commentary from Carlos Alos-Ferrer and Clay Taylor)

From: xboat@mpgn.com [Xboat 513, TML 113, 114, 115, 144]

Dated: Thu, 25 Jan 1996


Subject: Coyns

[Nick's comments, 513]

 

On Wed, 24 Jan 1996 xboat@MPGN.COM wrote:

 

>>>>   5) 300,000 years ago, the ancients knew which races (the six major races) were going to get the jump (or should I say Jump-Drive) on their competitors. We can surmise that this fact is true from the presense of the Droyne, Humanity, Centaurs, Hivers, Vargr, and Aslan on their 3000- century old coynes. (See Adv. 3, Twilight's Peak)

>>>      I seem to recall that the Coynes are nowhere near that old - Grandfather popped out of his pocket universe more recently to hand them out. No mystery at all!

>>        This is an interesting point. The coynes found in "Twilight's Peak" were 300,000 years old. But the description of coynes given by GDW's "Droyne" alien module seem to say they were a recent invention. Clearly, there is a contradiction here.

>          Mark Miller, in an interview in the Digest, mentioned the appearance of the Major Races on the coynes as a mystery remaining to be solved. (I'd love to hear his views on all this!) This statement seems to contradict the tidy explanation given in the alien module (no mystery there.)

 

My understanding is this: the coyns were used by the Ancients; they were reintroduced to the "lost colonies" of Droyne by Grandfather, to help them out. Colonies without coyns are chirpers, as per Research Station Gamma.

 

The appearance of major races on the coyns found in Twilight's Peak (which is implied rather than explicit, IMHO) suggests that Grandfather knew about the existence of all the six "major races" and had a good idea about their prospects of reaching interstellar civilisation -- he could probably have done some psychosocial manipulation, like the subtle trick of leaving war machines all over Vland -- or that the Coyns found at Twilight's Peak were left by Grandfather after the end of the Final War. (Then why didn't he destroy the base?) Another possibility is that the coyns themselves are pyschoactive -- after all, they're used in a ritual which is supposedly psionic in some undefinable way -- and may physically change to represent the universe around them.

 

Picture the scene: a Droyne casteing ceremony, and the first coyn pulled is one that wasn't there the last time the coyns were used... bet *that* one becomes a sport 8-)

 

Nick Munn

University Chemical Laboratory, Lensfield Road, Cambridge, CB2 1EW, England

"Love has the power to rescue us and not let go, otherwise it's not love." -- Garrison Keillor

 


Subject: Coyns

[Hans' comments, 513]

 

Robert Flammang writes:

 

>>>      5)         300,000 years ago, the ancients knew which races (the six major races) were going to get the jump (or should I say Jump-Drive) on their competitors. We can surmise that this fact is true from the presense of the Droyne, Humanity, Centaurs, Hivers, Vargr, and Aslan on their 3000- century old coynes. (See Adv. 3, Twilight's Peak)

>>        I seem to recall that the Coynes are nowhere near that old - Grandfather popped out of his pocket universe more recently to hand them out. No mystery at all!

>          This is an interesting point. The coynes found in "Twilight's Peak" were 300,000 years old. But the description of coynes given by GDW's "Droyne" alien module seem to say they were a recent invention. Clearly, there is a contradiction here.

 

There are several different sets of coyns. One (or more) are found in Ancient sites and range in number from 6 to 38 [Imperial Encyclopedia p. 21]. We're not told if there are different sets or whether the smaller sets are subsets of one standard 38-piece (In my universe I assume they are). Grandfather emerged around -75,000 and introduced a 38-piece set of coyns to the fallen chirper colonies. On some worlds they regained the ability to caste, on others (like Vanejen) they failed [Droyne pp. 6 and 45]. He reemerged from time to time and changed the coyns, introducing the Aslan, Hiver, and K'Kree coyns (at least) at a later date. [Secret of the Ancients p. 32].

 

The 36-piece coyn set mentioned in connection with modern Droyne are thus not the same as the set (or sets) found in Ancient sites. (The Aslan coyn in "Twilights Peak" is part of a set of fake coyns, not the one found in the site).

 

More than a year ago I posted a request for help on this very subject. I did get a few useful suggestions, but I still need help, so I think I'll take the opportunity to repost my request, since I believe that there a number of fresh minds have joined us since then. I also think you may find it interesting, Robert. Apologies to the old hands who's seen it before..

 

========================================

 

I'm doing a 'Secret of The Ancients' adventure for my players at the moment. It's a different secret than the official one for several reasons; one, that I don't like the whole Grandfather business at all, and, two, that even if I did like it most of my players know it too, and that tends to ruin their sense of wonder. And IMO the Secret of the Ancients ought to be full of wonder.

 

I have, however, tried to make my version fit all the clues left behind. My Ancients left the universe in much the same state than the GDW Ancients did, they just went about it differently. So some of the things I work out should be useful even to those who want to stick with Grandfather and the kids.

 

At the moment I'm trying to work out how an Ancient set of coyns looks. We know the names of the coyns in the set of 36 used by modern Droyne, and we've been told what some of them look like. The Ancient set consisted of 38 coyns and some of the newer coyns (Aslan, Hiver, K'kree) cannot be part of the set.

 

I've listed the facts I've used (numbered) and the assumptions I've made (lettered). If anyone can come up with facts I have missed or have some good ideas, please let me know.

 

1.              Coyn sets found in Ancient sites range in size from 6 to 38 pieces. [Imperial Encyclopedia p. 21].

 

a)              The lesser sets found are subset of one standard 38-coyn set, not alternate sets.

 

b)              The Ancient coyn set is identical to a pre-Ancient coyn set used by pre-Ancient Droyne in prediction ceremonies.

 

2.              Grandfather introduced the coyns as a tool of casting to a number of Chirper worlds around -75,000. [Droyne pp. 6 and 45]. On some worlds the Chirpers gained the ability to caste, on others it didn't work (Vanejen, described in Research Station Gamma, is an example of the latter).

 

3.              Grandfather modified the coyns on later visits and introduced the Aslan, Hiver and K’kree coyns (at least). [Secret of The Ancients p 32].

 

a)              The Ancient coyn set consisted of six groups of six plus two specials:

i)                The six castes are one group.

ii)              Void, Soil, Air, Gas, Water, and Fire are another (these were the Droyne concept of elements: Earth (Soil), Water, Fire, Good (breathable) Air (Air), Bad (unbreathable) Air (Gas), and the absence of any of the other five (Void).

iii)             18 of the other coyns mentioned in the modern set were also in the Ancient set, though any grouping of them into sixes lacks common themes (the third group, Darkness, Cold, Noise, Signal, Heat, and Light are pairs of opposites - but so are Genesis & Death and Defeat & Achievement from another of the groups).

iv)            Anyway, the abovementioned plus Aspiration, Sacrifice, Beast, Mercenary, Voyages, Justice, Change, and Phoenix (can't really be a phoenix, of course; it must be a legendary Droyne beast with the same characteristics as the phoenix) were also part of the Ancient set.

v)              Humaniti, Vargr, Aslan, Hiver, and K’Kree were not in the Ancient coyns.

vi)            This leaves the Droyne, which was one of the two special coyns. The remaining special coyn disappeared from the set when Grandfather re-introduced it, presumably because it was no longer relevant to the new Droyne. I suggest Eskaloyt, the Droyne homeworld itself.

vii)           We now have 30+2 coyns. We lack one group of six, all of them coyns that were subsequently removed. One solution supplies not only a group with a common theme, but also the explanation of why they became redundant: Six prey animals native to Eskaloyt, used by primitive Droyne to perform hunt magic.

 

b)              So I suggest that the Ancient coyn set consisted of:

 

Worker

Warrior

Drone

Technician

Sport

Leader

Void

Soil

Air

Gas

Water

Fire

Darkness

Cold

Noise

Signal

Heat

Light

Genesis

Aspiration

Sacrifice

Defeat

Death

Achievement

Beast

Mercenary

Voyages

Justice

Chance

Phoenix

Hissayt

Emissyob

Ayvaylk

Bestoy

Nebbay

Hayyarn

Droyne

Eskaloyt

 

 

 

 

 

c)              But I can't just hand a list like that to my players. I'd much rather give them a description of what the coyns look like. And that's where I need some help. I've come up with a description of most of the coyns. Some I like, some I'm not thrilled about, and some I downright dislike, but can't come up with a good alternative to. So if you think of something you think is better, let me know.

 

d)              The modern coyns that duplicates Ancient coyns duplicates their design too.

 

4.              The first Grandfather set (in -75,000) consisted of 38 coyns and included one with a human and one with a flame [RSG pp. 4 and 38].

 

a)              The set of six fake coyns mentioned on page 13 of Twilight's Peak are copies of real coyns (albeit modern coyns); they depict an Aslan leader, a flame, a human, a cloud, an ice crystal, and a sine wave.

 

b)              The depictions of the six castes on page 64 of TP and pp. 12-13 of Droyne are taken from the coyn depictions of those castes.

 

c)              The coyn shown on the back of Droyne (two flames and the lower third is obscured by a Droyne) is not a variant of the coyn with the single flame.

 

Now to match coyns to descriptions. The first six are easy, thanks to assumption 4b:

 

Worker                  A massive Droyne with digging tools

Warrior                  A tall Droyne with sword and shield

Drone                    A flying Droyne with a bottle[1]

Technician           A medium Droyne with tools and detector

Sport                      A slender Droyne with ball and cupstick[2]

Leader                   A big-headed Droyne with a spear[3]

 

Notes: [1] A feeding bottle, perhaps?

 

[2] A cupstick (feldoss in Oynprith) is normally used by Droyne Sports to play a sort of team-gladiatorial game for the amusement of the oytrip, rather like jai-alai. In combat, the cupstick can throw a very heavy object with killing force, multiplying the strength of a Droyne's spindly arms considerably via its added moment of inertia, and can also be used for delivering impact fuse grenades. It is usually only handled by Sports - hence its appearance on the coyn.

[Thanks to Mike Metlay for input on feldoss]

 

[3] A ceremonial spear, of course. See later.

 

The rest are a bit more tricky. The ones we know about, apart from the Aslan and the human, are a flame, an ice crystal, a cloud, a sine wave, and two flames. The flame and the ice crystal can be Fire and Cold. The cloud could be Air, Gas, or Water (or any of the philosophical concepts, of course; a cloud could be the symbol of hope to an agrarian community ("I do so hope it will rain")). The sine wave I eventually assigned to Signal, which gave me a jagged zig-zag line for it's opposite, Noise.

 

Now, going down the list here are the symbols I came up with for each coyn:

 

Void                       Nothing engraved. A blank disc

Soil                         A massive cliff

Air                          A white cloud (i.e. the outline of a cloud)

Gas                        A black cloud (i.e. a filled-in outline of a cloud)

Water                    A foam-flecked wave

Fire                         A flame

 

(Except for the Void and the Fire I'm pretty dissatisfied with these, but they are the best I can come up with. Any suggestions?)

 

Darkness               Two different sized crescents (The moons of Eskaloyt)

Cold                       An ice crystal

Noise                     A zig-zag line

Signal                    A sine wave

Heat                      A campfire (Two flames arising from a tree log)

Light                      A sun

 

Beast                     A ferocious six-limbed carnivore in mid-jump[4]

Mercenary            A big-headed Droyne with arms and armour[5]

Voyages                A sailing ship

Justice                   A ceremonial spear[6]

Chance                 Six sticks in a random pattern[7]

Phoenix                 A six-limbed animal surrounded by flames

 

Notes: [4] The Stomfelk, the most feared predator on Eskaloyt.

 

[5] I reasoned that mercenaries must be krinaytsoyni, and the most common krinaytsoyni are leaders. Hence a leader with weapons for a mercenary.

 

[6] Used by primitive Droyne leaders to dispatch those judged guilty or superfluous to the community (This must have been before krinaytsyu became common; when it did, the Leader kept the spear as his symbol of authority).

 

[7] The Droyne use such sticks to generate random numbers according to the pattern they fall in; coyn drawing is not, of course, considered a random procedure since they are assumed to predict future events.

 

Genesis                  An egg.

Hope                     Six stars in a random pattern[8].

[DJ-W: SHOULD BE ASPIRATION?]

[DJ-W: MAYBE A SIGNIFICANT CONSTELLATION VISIBLE FROM ESKALOYT?]

Sacrifice                A Droyne sitting with eyes closed[9].

Defeat                   An empty, tipped-over cup.

Death                    A Droyne skull.

Achievement       A brimful cup.

 

Notes: [8] Well, what can I say? If I could come up with good symbols for Air and Gas, I'd use the (rain) cloud for hope. As it is I'm falling back on a Droyne constellation symbolising hope.

 

[9] A Droyne committing krinaytsyui, of course.

 

The Hissayt, Emissyob, Ayvaylk, Bestoy, Nebbay, and Hayyarm are various six-limbed herbivores and omnivores once important to Droyne hunters. I had descriptions of them all worked out, but those notes seems to have disappeared.

 

Finally the two special coyns:

 

Droyne                  A group of three Droyne, a leader, a drone, and a worker[10].

Eskaloyt               Some strange irregular outlines (different on the two sides)[11].

 

Notes: [10] In other words, an alpha-male, a female, and a beta-male.

 

[11] Polar projections of Eskaloyt. Since they don't have the latitude and longitude lines common to human map projections they are unlikely to be identified as such by humans.

 

Hans Rancke

University of Copenhagen

rancke@diku.dk

 

"The referee should determine the nature of subsequent events based on the individual situation."

76 Patrons, p. 8

 


[1999, TML ~#113?]

 

Date: Fri, 5 Feb 1999 05:03:06 +0100 (MET)

From: Hans Rancke-Madsen <rancke@diku.dk>

Subject: Re: Grandfather and the Aslans

 

Jason Kemp writes:

 

>C)  Someone else on the list (forgive me, I forgot who, my apologies)

 

That was me.

 

>suggested that Grandfather came back and updated the Coyns several

>times as the years have passed.

 

It's more than a suggestion. It's a canonical statement. What isn't mentioned in canon (IIRC) is what kind of revisions he performed (Actually, I'm not at all sure that it didn't mention the Aslan, K'Kree and Hiver coyns as examples; I'll have to check when I get home). Anyway, it seems reasonable enough to me that the Aslan coyn could be one of them.

 

>Perhaps the most recent update established the Aslan as one of the races

>capable of attaining and sustaining a multisector empire, and thus

>deserving of a place in the Coyns.

 

The last time Grandfather visited our universe was around -1000. At that time the Aslans were busy building a multisector empire (the first crossing of the Great Rift was in -1044). Well, many hundred multi-sector polities, actually, but it looked like a multi-sector empire.

 

>In this case, archeological studies on the Droyne would reveal older sets

>of Coyns that are incongruent with the current set used by the Droyne in

>their rituals, etc.

 

Unless Grandfather collected the old sets when he issued a new version ;-). But otherwise, I agree with you. Since there's never been any canonical statement about Droyne archeology, that isn't a problem. And, in fact, we know that the Ancient coyn set (the 300,000 year old one) WAS different from the modern one (they ranged in size up to 38 coyns).

 

>Other options most assuredly exist.  The important thing to ask in

>finding a solution would have to be:  What do these six races have in

>common that other races lack according to the whims of a 300,000 year

>old Droyne who's the current undisputedly most advanced being in or

>around Charted Space?

 

Well, this is pure speculation, but my theory is that they are the six races the Droyne are most likely to encounter.

 

>Just some food for thought.  Any thoughts?

 

Someone else mentioned the article about coyns I've posted here on two previous occasions. I think it is a year or more since the last time, so I'll repost it. Apologies to allthe old hands who've already seen it.

 

[snip copy of Ancient coyns already described above]

 

Hans Rancke

University of Copenhagen

rancke@diku.dk

 

"The referee should determine the nature of subsequent events based on the individual situation."

_76 Patrons_, p. 8

 


#114

 

Date: Wed, 10 Feb 1999 16:16:02 +0100 (MET)

From: Hans Rancke-Madsen <rancke@diku.dk>

Subject: Re: Grandfather and the Aslans

 

Joe Webb writes:

>Great post by  Hans, or repost as the case may be.

 

Thanks.

 

>I have a couple of nits, but since you probably heard them the first time

>I'll just alter what I need for MTU.

 

Not necessarily. I'd like to hear any objections you have.

 

>Of course I'll credit the esteemed Dr. Rancke-Madsen of the Department of

>Non-human Archeology, University of Gazulin, noted for his excellent work

>in the field of alien history and sociology .

 

Of course ;-).

 

>One thing does bother me.  Since it is necessary for Droyne to use Coyns in

>casting how did they pre-droyne primitives (Chirpers?) start casting in the

>first place?  Accidental discovery?

 

Originally the Droyne didn't need coyns to caste (which is why I propose that the Ancient coyn set had another function, ie. prediction, hunt magic and the like). When the Droyne went into a decline after the Final War, they gradually lost the ability to caste. Note that it took them 225,000 years to reach that point. Then Grandfather decided to help them and seized on the coyns as a convenient tool. He taught those Droyne communities that he could find about using coyns as a sort of mental crutch. On about 20 worlds they learned and remained Droyne. On the rest they failed to learn and turned into Chirpers (Well, you know what I mean).

 

 

      Hans Rancke

University of Copenhagen

     rancke@diku.dk

- ------------

        "The referee should determine the nature of subsequent

         events based on the individual situation."

                                _76 Patrons_, p. 8

 


#114

 

Date: Wed, 10 Feb 1999 16:34:20 +0100 (MET)

From: Hans Rancke-Madsen <rancke@diku.dk>

Subject: Re: Droyne coyns

 

Carlos Alos-Ferrer writes:

>>From: "Clay Taylor" <baalan@hotmail.com>

>><One thing does bother me.  Since it is necessary for Droyne to use

>>Coyns in casting how did they pre-droyne primitives (Chirpers?) start

>>casting in the first place?  Accidental discovery?>

>They need the Coyns *now*. They didn't need them 300,009 years ago.

>Then, after the final war, the surviving Droyne worlds started a long

>recession. Most lost the ability to caste, and probably all would

>have. Then, Grandfather returned 75,000 years ago, and introduced the

>Coyns as an *aid* to guarantee that 20-odd selected worlds would not

>lose the ability to caste.

>AFAIK, that is already establishes as <ducking> canon.

 

Quite right, except that he tried introducing them to more than 20-odd worlds. It just didn’t 'take' on all of them (Vanejen is an example). _Alien Realms_ has it that there are actually two kinds of chirpers: Those that can't caste, even with the aid of coyns, and those (much rarer) that can caste if they get taught how to use coyns. I don't think that idea was followed up on in later versions.

 

 

      Hans Rancke

University of Copenhagen

     rancke@diku.dk

- ------------

        "The referee should determine the nature of subsequent

         events based on the individual situation."

                                _76 Patrons_, p. 8

 


#115

 

Date: Wed, 10 Feb 1999 11:14:52 -0500

From: "Keven R. Pittsinger" <jamstar@glasscity.net>

Subject: Re: Grandfather and the Aslans

 

> Great post by  Hans, or repost as the case may be.  I have a couple of

> nits, but since you probably heard them the first time I'll just alter what

> I need for MTU.  Of course I'll credit the esteemed Dr. Rancke-Madsen of

> the Department of Non-human Archeology, University of Gazulin, noted for

> his excellent work in the field of alien history and sociology .

> One thing does bother me.  Since it is necessary for Droyne to use Coyns in

> casting how did they pre-droyne primitives (Chirpers?) start casting in the

> first place?  Accidental discovery?

 

My take, based on what I've read in the canon sources, suggests that the mainstream Droyne devolved from their previos capacities during the Final War.  A lot of the canon sources talks about genetically engineered viri attacking Droyne.  Some of these could be mutagenic as well.  Genetic drift over 300,000 years could account for a bit of the rest.

 

Perhaps somewhere is a Droyne culture that *doesn't* need coyns to caste.  I'm not sure about the ones on the planet next door to Grandfather's in his pocket universe.

 

Keven

 

tc++ tm+ tn t4- to ru++ ge+ 3i c+ jt au st- ls pi+ ta+ he+ so- vi zh sy

- ------------------------------------------------------------------------------

                                                     Science-Fiction Adventure

                                                     In Reavers' Deep

 


#144

 

Date: Sat, 13 Feb 1999 22:36:40 -0800

From: Joe Webb <jwwebb@earthlink.net>

Subject: Droyne coyns (was Grandfather and the Aslan)

 

Hans Rancke wrote, about 1MB of digests ago, that I should comment on his coyn posting (of digest 93 for those keeping score).  So, here are some comments...

 

[snippage of text  re the pre Ancient coyn set - listed below]

 

>Worker     Warrior      Drone       Technician   Sport    Leader

>Void       Soil         Air         Gas          Water    Fire

>Darkness   Cold         Noise       Signal       Heat     Light

>Genesis    Aspiration   Sacrifice   Defeat       Death Achievement

>Beast      Mercenary    Voyages     Justice      Chance   Phoenix

>Hissayt    Emissyob     Ayvaylk     Bestoy       Nebbay   Hayyarn

>Droyne     Eskaloyt

 

I would suggest that Beast is redundant in the face of having a set of zoological coyns already.  While this set represents 'prey', many ancient human "prey" beasts included carnivores such as wolves and bears.  At least, hunters had to deal with them on a regular basis, and if they killed one its meat was as good as any other animal.  Droyne would probably have some fearsome creature depicted on the zoological set, that Grandfather would later use as the Beast coyn.  Most likely it would be an idealized representation and not too accurate a depiction of the original creature.

 

The different animals of the zoo set would have each carried a different significance, aside from their actual representations.  Like ox, snake, or wolf do in human cultures.  It might be your lucky day if you ran across a herd of dimwitted Hissayt, but watch out if you see a Hayyarn pack.  Or, a particularly low intelligence Worker could be referred to as a Hissayt, while a cunning warrior could be nicknamed Hayyam.  Of course, you don't want to anthropomorphize when discussing alien psychology...

 

So if you drop Beast you have a hole in that set.  What do you call it? Conditional set?  Taking a clue from Tarot, I would include the World, Eskaloyt, in that set.  Just because of the association of World with Voyages and Chance, maybe Justice and Phoenix.  But it would fit in the Genesis, etc., just as well...

 

Now you have whole in accounting for 2 spares in the 38 coyns set.  I like the Droyne coyn out alone, symbolizing the unity of the race and its mastery over fate.  The coyn opposite this should symbolize the opposite, disunity, the failure of the race over fate.  A chirper, the ultimate failure and yet the beginning, akin to the Fool card in Tarot.  The image of the Chirper should haunt the Droyne, since the failure to caste would be akin to humans turning into homo erectus, semi intelligent monsters.  But, as immature Droyne are basically Chirper, this could also represent potential, a beginning.

 

BTW , I'm assuming that Chirpers were known to the pre-Ancient Droyne. Since casting is linked to civilization, any group that lost civilization (isolated on the homeworld somehow, the sublight colonies...) could have devolved into Chirpers.  Rare, but known.

 

Since Chirper appear as immature Droyne, this may be hard to visualize on the coyn.  Perhaps a Chirper holding a well recognized primitive implement, such as a digging stick (a perverted symbol of the leader spear?) that might also be similar to young Droyne play sticks (reaching as far as I can...).

 

So the changes work out to this

 

Eskaloyt   Mercenary    Voyages     Justice      Chance   Phoenix

:

:

Droyne     Chirper

 

And some suggestions on the design of the coyns:

>Air         A white cloud (ie. the outline of a cloud).

>Gas         A black cloud (ie. a filled-in outline of a cloud).

 

Since Droyne are somewhat avian, I would have Air represented by several flying Droyne, with 'wind' lines around them.  For Gas the wind lines are heavier, almost cross hatching, and the Droyne depicted dropping down, wings trailing, obviously dying.  Hope can then be the rain cloud.

 

Just a couple of suggestions...

 

Joe

 


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