Erol of Backford

It's not 100% on the mark but wouldn't this parallel (what was/still is by many) dirty/unclean earth food be like pork in days of old real world?

I was thinking this as well, why dredge, construct and maintain tow paths on the surface when they exist for you already? So when you come out of the fish road is everything and everyone soaking wet or do you magically become dry... or is there a giant air curtain that dries you as you exist like in a car wash? Could there be a swarm of water elementals that pull all the water off you and your items as you exit? Maybe its like chilled water system with a supply and return? Does the water flow the same speed in both directions or is it sitting still in the fish-road-tube-thingy? Actually the items/vessel regardless would fit and so who cares about dredging if the fish road transports everything no matter the size? The dwarves developed the Trim VX model fishroad pod car which flows with the current and can be customized to look like a fish? Maybe its steam powered? We spoke to this earlier in the thread... I keep going back to the old D&D Module D2, you wade into or guide your craft, wagon, whatever into the shrine water which is like a subway station and somehow become acclimated to the being able to breathe an function under water. Obviously the currents would assist you (like in Finding Nemo) in both directions or you'd be moving very slowly and then what's the point?

The Great Crystal: Only a 10x5 meter face of this great crystal is revealed, but it's bulk is many time greater. Most remarkably, the crystal glows dully as though it has been attuned. The idea that someone of something might be attuned to such a mammoth crystal and draw power and magic from it should trouble the dreams of any Gloranthan...

Spell trading, truestone and matrices... if you are a sea captain on a trading vessel how could you not unless you are a schmuck!?

and the Boom Gang Girls, (They are an elite bunch of female dwarves that use somewhat oversized blunderbusses) never leave that off because a Girl Can't be Killed by a Make-believe Lover.. Cause its Hot. The Boom Gang Girls were developed as a western dwarvish counter to the Black Arkati - Kobakuruun. They were founded at Bad Deal and have spread from there. They developed their own explosive - incendiary devices generally centered of sorcerous animated ceramic golems. There is a famed LM Sage named Damien Love out of Nochet who wrote a thesis about this entitled Monstrous Devices. The dwarvish ladies entertain themselves by disguising the claymation monsters as someone the target trusts so it is able to get close and even kiss them. When a contract is taken out on someone to be assassinated they are basically requesting "a kiss of death" from the Boom Gang. With a 98% kill ratio the Boom Gang Girls are in high demand. Some assassins' cults as far as Lake Felster from Bad Deal in the Nidan Mts. have disbanded, relocated and or were run out of business by the Gang. Rumor has it that some in the Lunar Empire wish to replace Dart War Assassins with these Monstrous Devices. It is said that from ceramic fragments and the spirit that was bound into the Mostrous Device in question, Mr. Love conducted extensive Reconstruction spells (at a large cost paid in unenchanted iron) to actually assist the Gang in perfecting there devices as to force projection/trajectory resulting in controlled blasts that the target embraced can be killed without damaging the sofa, chair or even the clothing the target is wearing. I mean, who'd want expensive magical heirloom jewelry damaged or destroyed when it need not be. Of course earrings are not able to be avoided when the entire head is blow to small bits. Even with this selective death being possible it is more common to have powerful explosive devices obliterate entire clan meeting halls.... why kill just one of the rival clan or house members. In some cases the unenchanted and thus nearly undetectable iron outer shell had been filled with black powder, and miniballs numbering in the thousands... They animate ceramic cast humanoids and animals that house various types of black powder explosive devices.

So it surely doesn't get so rocky a boat could not pass... The big question is did the God-king use the fish road to get into and out of Hell? What type of craft did he deploy? Was it a Gato-class submarine? More likely it was like the old Captain Nemo's submarine. On the other hand, couldn't he just go to the underworld if he willed it? I keep going back to the submerged subway station entry to the fish road especially at Backford where the "real dimension" doesn't actually fit in the river channel. Come to think of it wouldn't boats be able to run in the fish road? I think we spoke to this a long while back, why bother with the tow-path, just take the craft into the fish road...

There is in the works a tow path of course, I think we have it getting engineered in 1603-04 and work starting in 1605 follow the Building Wall Battle. But lets face it, Glorantha is a magical place with Undines. If some small craft on the Zola Fel have undine power for going upstream large vessels with costly time sensitive cargo like fish or fresh produce would surely have magical propulsion. Especially in the new RQ rules where characters get reusable rune magic much more time-cheaply then RQ3 where you at least needed to be an acolyte.

Truly archaic... Let's say for new efforts LM sages wish to use paper and archive via knowledge temple spirits, they are like modern . Lets the Lunars use clay... I think the high quality sages with some amount of sorcery ability have air elementals taking dictation with ink quills while they lounge on their Ottomas begin fed grade by the scantily clad servers? Better yet get the spirit of Ormelius Dragonchide bound into a herd man and have him take dictation for you. (I keep going back to this guy...)

Backford fish and chips are renown throughout Glorantha as the fish is processed at the pub right along the Syphon. (I hear it's as good as that in Manchester?) Some trolls put melted Imtherian cheese on the chips but they are trolls and so that might be expected.

So the Syphn's flow would increase at high tide for sure. It goes without saying that boats going to the Bay would want to return there when at low ide as the current might be less that is assuming there are no low or shallow water water locations. I assume the Heortland CCC would be there dredging and eliminating sand bars, etc. to keep the channel deep enough for trade shipping. I am guessing the pens/fences are adjacent to the river channel and water is "irrigated" to supply them rather than being in the actual channel. (I know nothing about fish farming but I suppose its never to late to learn...) The Eorl will do what they might to increase Backford's status as a trade center of course. Thank you for the input as aways.

Will need to find this, is there a source? Also LM sages would need paper of course, lots of it? Possibly special ingredients are needed for "special" paper which the wasps would make and LM Sages pay for? This generates further scenarios with the libraries across the Holy Country. What would be the equivalent to a Gloranthaian Hallmark store? Most old temples that I've been to have little souvenirs, knickknacks and or pray items, symbols, etc. I assume each larger shiring and or temple in Glorantha would also have a small gift store? Thinking on the paper prayer knots tied to trees at some Buddhist temples I have been to? What amount of paper could the Wasps Nest produce each year and of course what season would the majority be created assuming their paper is desired?

So how old would a dwarf be when they are recycled, say in median number of years?

When dwarves are made is it like an assembly line with parts, are they actually bionic, totally and do they use repair spells? Are dwarves truly alive as far as humans and Elves think on it, do the breathe, grown and get old? Are their cells dying and reproducing, do they have DNA and of course what color is their blood either when oxidized or not? Do they and or other Gloranthians bleed red? There was a note that Lanstarings, IIRC bled blue or purple? If they are actually organic or their are organics in their systems are they not heretical themselves?

Just use a hippogryph and or griffin? (Isn't there an inn in Barbarian Town called the Hippogryphs Rest or maybe its Ye Old Mitre?) I suppose related to Barbarian Town there would be Hippogriffs (part horse due to region, lots of horses near Barbarian Town) rather than a griffin (speculation) but then again griffins visit Sun Dome and maybe, just maybe they come this way to get a meal of stormbull, I hear griffins really enjoy stormbull tartar? One has to think that hippogryphs may also come over from Pegasys Plateau for a meal... Additionally a few wasp ridders may stop in now and again to check out the marigolds growing near there... Would trolls not stop through there on their way to Pavis from Troll Woods or the It would be cool if there were a pub Ye Old Mitre (yes stolen from London) that an oddball LM Sage owns which was basically a Pub/Library that his wife, an Issaries Merchant named Binky Godsell (younger cousin of Gringle) operates.

But a good bit wider in some locations or so it seems on the Prax maps? Sunrise there with 18" of fresh snow was an incredible view. No snow normally in Southern Prax however correct? Was thinking it was based on the Needles in the Black Hills but both work for me. We are planning Spring Break Seattle into Northern Cal this year. Is the pass open late March as we might go that way if the drive makes one think of Sun County?

Right now I am leaning towards the Capratis having ties to Backford and Durengard, partly from old zine articles... Did you have thought's on the fish pens? I am starting to think Backford from 1600 on is greatly expanding its markets, salt, fish, nearby mines, ties to Nochet. Now they just need tow path or something of the sorts to get back out to the bay and they are in business!

Does anyone have a copy of this?

Discussing flying mounts in other threads lead me back here. We may, may not have a Halfling as a PC/NPC, we did in the past, they could fly as a scout... Curious if anyone going to Chaosium Con in April that has a hard copy of Into the Wasps Nest (from Furnace October 2018, by Guy Milner) that from the old days I might purchase? Also was thinking a few wasp ridders may be seen above Sog's Ruins they also have a hidden nest there from what I hear? What is the range of the Wasp riders in km from the nest? Was thinking that the Wasp Riders in days of old, may have had remote nests in places like Pavis or what is now Sog's Runis? Were the Wasp Ridders perhaps like the Pony Express of the 1800's? (from 2018) So not just RuneQuest at Furnace 2018 this coming October, since Guy Milner is running a couple of 13th Age Glorantha games. First off on Saturday Night is this original adventure: Into the Wasps Nest - The pygmy wasp riders of Wasp Nest used to be allies of Sartar, but you haven’t heard from them in decades. A new threat to Whitewall requires their aid, though, so you must venture into the Troll Wood to find the last person to visit Wasp Nest and come out alive. Either way, you are going to have to brave the flying, stinging guardians of the ancient town in order to save your tribe. Found this: https://burnafterrunningrpg.com/2023/08/31/into-the-wasps-nest-a-13th-age-glorantha-one-shot/

Surprised not to see some kilns near the Meldektown pits for mundane item such as brick but again there may be some there but on a smaller scale? I supposed we send cotton to China and other locations for processing as labor is less expensive there IIRC and to the example inNotchet, production doesn't need to be near the source of raw materials I suppose? Good to know, makes it easier to show samples... I'll check it out for sure. Thank you all once again for the great input.

They are of course.

So when my daughter was 3 we went to Mesa Verde and she said "Papa, look there is a castle..." It was the section of cliff dwellings nearest to the visitor's center. Prax always has me thinking American Southwest somehow. Either along the River of Cradles tucked in the nearly 600m of elevation change within 5-8km of the river, at least at the east side of the river from Ronegarth? Possibly in Sun County there are some pueblos that confound the beat riders? The other thought I had was they could be dwarfish constructs similar to those at Dwarf Run but in the sides of the Plateau of Statues or in the Graveyard somewhere. A Castle of Chaos, Caves of Chaos or both carved into the side of the plateau or the Tunneled Hills for that matter along cliff faces in the Mostali Graveyard? Speaking of Chaos Dwarves in the Mostali Graveyard, I recall the Iron Warriors (White Dwarf Magazine Issue 098) whom were supposed to be in Balazar and had a yak companion, whom if they were chaotics and had added chaos features would be real baddies... they would be troll sized dwarves with dwarvish gear and chaos features. Tough cookies for sure.

Of course that is what the Praxians call him?

Made me think of potential fish farms along the Syphon, especially near Backford... The earliest evidence of fish farming dates back to before 1000 BCE in China. The Zhou dynasty (1112-221 BCE), then the politician Fan Li, around 500 BCE, were the first to describe carp, a symbol of good luck and fortune, as being farmed for food. I mean why not? Ocean-based aquaculture is forecast to have the greatest potential for meeting future consumer demand for seafood products, and the U.S. soybean industry is evaluating the potential for soy product use in the diets of many of the major farmed marine fish and shrimp species worldwide. So we used cotton husks to make feed pellets for catfish farms what grown on the Heortland Plateau would be a byproduct that could be used to feed fish?

Nochet is without a doubt. Queen of Cities... I just glanced at all the kilns... in Glorantha "China" must be called "Esrolia". I assume there is a good bit of "earthen-ware" and that it is favored over Kralorelaian ceramics but not sure if the dwarvish ceramic engines surpass it in precision... It'll take a month to get through all the material in the book. It's like an AP class on Constantinople or something like that! So likely the bricks are made at the southwest outskirts of the city whereas the pottery, ceramic utilitarian goods are made in the kilns. Ceramic blades, arrow heads, etc with all the magic available in Glorantha must be able to be found in Nochet? Knowing the earth goddess has strong influences across the Holy Country would the building styles of Nochet, both old and new have a good amount of influence on the larger urban centers of the Heortland Plateau? At least for the more permanent structures made of stone or masonry, concrete even if the dwarves assisted? There are details evident in many of the urban dwellings across Sartar, similar columns, arches, vaults, etc. but if you look at Clearwine, for example its more enclosed, possibly due to the colder or slightly colder climate?

The article is pretty detailed as to how and ingredients, like a recipe in a cookbook. Made me think the Keebler elves are actually dwarves (with enhanced hearing so they might detect the early muffled words of a new Jolanti - they do speak but only to their creators) who appear to be making edible Jolanti in the picture below. They take a bite and then do a repair spell? Possibly Orta has the (Different Worlds) recipe in his #2 Cave or its in the Nochet library. Isidilan might need the PC's to go on a quest for ingredients, The Block maybe and or the Howling Tower?