svensson

A cross-post from the KAP forum that might be of interest to many of you. A crew digging a parking lot in Harpole, Northamptonshire, found the grave of a wealthy, influential Christian woman who was buried with a fair amount of grave goods. Museum of London Archeology Department excavators are calling it 'the most significant British archeological find since Sutton Hoo'. I've linked the Guardian story below. I have a distinct feeling that jewelry makers for Medievalist groups all over the world are gonna be getting busy a Hell this spring 😁 https://www.theguardian.com/science/2022/dec/06/medieval-female-burial-site-found-near-harpole-is-most-significant-ever-discovered-in-uk

So, it was announced today that crews digging a parking lot in Northamptonshire have found "the most significant archeological find in England since Sutton Hoo'. Archeologists at the Museum of London Archeology department are excavating the burial site of a wealthy influential Christian woman buried in 650AD. Below is a link to The Guardian story. Let's just say that there are a lot of jewelry makers in Medievalist groups all over the world who are gonna be busy as Hell this spring 😁 https://www.theguardian.com/science/2022/dec/06/medieval-female-burial-site-found-near-harpole-is-most-significant-ever-discovered-in-uk

'Change' will happen with or without Chaos. It is the very nature of life that change happens. Beings are born, live to effect the world and die, the quintessential changes of existence. The seasons pass and the land changes. The only constant is change. Sorry to upset all the Mostali out there, but there it is. Chaos is not like that. Chaos is nihilistic destruction solely and only for destruction's sake. Chaos destroys NOT to make way for the new, but because its only impulse is to destroy, infect, subvert, demean, and befoul.

The problem with Gloranthan 'enlightenment' is that accepts the existence of Chaos. What's more, it rationalizes for the existence of Chaos. It mistakes the Chaos imperative as being 'change', when in fact it is 'destruction'. And that's a problem for most people. There is a reason why many [but not all] prohibitions exist. That reason is that what is prohibited is bad for society as a whole and the human psyche personally. Now, I'm not talking about 'alternative lifestyles' or religious beliefs that are different than my own. I'm talking about more universal things like 'murder', 'theft', 'child abuse', and so on. There are MANY 'ought to do's' and 'ought not to do's' that most religions, lifestyles, and legal systems agree on. These are what I'm referring to here. And in a Gloranthan sense, you can add 'Thou Shalt Not Suffer Chaos to Live' is a perfectly reasonable stricture.

Ducks are STILL Illuminated. The Proof is Out There.

Ohhh! SHINY!

SPIFFY! I'm running a faux Atlantis campaign for my nieces and this will be a BIG help! [I'm not really a sailor... only what I've read about ancient sailing technologies]

OK, think of it in somewhat modern terms: if an entire patrol were KIA in Northern Ireland in the 70s or in Afghanistan there WOULD be a pretty serious reaction from the occupation forces. Politically, Pavis [especially] and the Grantlands are in very similar situations to Belfast and Baghdad during the worst of their troubles. The governmental policy is a 'hearts and minds' operation to convince and convert, but the local occupation authorities absolutely cannot allow challenges to their authority to pass without response. Ideally, the occupation forces want to punish those directly responsible... especially if they can punish them through due process of the legal system instead of a drumhead kangaroo court. However, since the government has decided on a soft occupation instead of reprisal pacification, the governor is discouraged from rounding up 25 random Sartarite clansmen per Lunar soldier and executing the lot. That doesn't mean that Sor-Eel won't do that, but he'd really rather not. For one thing, he barely has enough troops to hold the walls of Pavis and certainly doesn't have the troops to even patrol the Zola Fel, much less the rest of the Wastes. That means that the intelligence services have got their work really cut out for them. It also means that some casualties are to be expected. So what does this all mean in a Rune Quest tactical /mechanical sense? Way back in RQ2, I was playing in a party who were all distinctly anti-Lunar in outlook and action. Our group was disposed to knock off the odd group of Lunars here and there and we developed some tactics to do just that. We were obscenely lucky with the first Lunar patrol we fought. It was 4 on 6, the two PCs who cast Befuddle succeeded on the first try and the other two PC got crits on their bow shots for instant kills. Two Lunars escaped but they didn't see a thing... just four of their buddies dying and they decided the better part of valor was to run for it. And we ended up with a 4 full sets of Lunar Legionary armor. We discussed what we were going to do with gear that was obviously Lunar in origin. We couldn't wear it ourselves [the referee described it as 'like trying to hide Roman armor North of Hadrian's Wall'], but then one of the PCs came up with the brilliant idea of keeping the armor, cleaning and repairing it, and stashing it for those occasions where we would go out Lunar hunting. We got into the habit of wearing full clothing to cover our tattoos and fetishes and made absolutely sure that we didn't use obvious Orlanth magics [no Lightning or Fly]. And when we were just adventuring in the Rubble or doing something for our cults, we never wore the Lunar gear and never got into a fight with them. We even paid our Adventurer Taxes without too much grumbling. This made the divinations much harder... Our 'murder kits' were absolutely average in appearance. The only thing we looted from the Lunars we killed was cash money, and we made a habit of telling the very next band of nomads we met up with where to find the bodies with all those nice metal armors and weapons on them. We took nothing that had a matrix or was unique and identifiable. The idea was that the gear we were using had no identifiable feature that a divination could home in on. It was all standard issue. Now that's all for just ambushing the standard patrol. Going after 'named' opponents was an entirely different thing. But we were pretty eff'ing evil with that too. When we put the chop to an officer, one guy who'd made himself a target to us was a file leader named 'Brutus' [yeah, clever, I know], we would feed his corpse to a gorp. We knew of a 'gorp pit' out in Vulture Country, so we'd stuff the officer into a barrel of date gin, drag that to the pit, and dump the lot. No, there weren't any Storm Bulls or Wahas in the party, why do you ask? 😁 We didn't get away with it forever. Eventually the Lunar authorities caught us [I think it was that a diviner specifically marked a Wheel and tracked us with that, iirc], and we ended up as slaves in a quarry till we escaped. But we made it MUCH harder by taking some pretty simple common-sense precautions.

Hello DG fans. For those of you interested, I'm playing in a Delta Green campaign that is slated to begin on 08 DEC 22 with our Session Zero pre-campaign 'get to know you session'. We'll be playing every other Thursday at about 1900 /7pm GST and sessions usually run 2.5-3 hours. We'll be playing the Iconoclasts campaign set in ISIS controlled Syria in 2016. Now, for the record, I am a player character in the game so NO SPOILERS PLEASE. Not I plan on surviving, really. I just want want my death and/or madness to come as a surprise 😁 If you like to watch and laugh at our pain, we're streaming on youtube at the 'Wilderspace Gaming' channel.

Now, boys and girls, we have our first entry from out good friends at South Park! YAY! >>>>> This song is not for the easily offended. <<<<<<< But if you take it in the spirit in which it's meant [which is satire, sarcasm, and critique of the US] it's funny as Hell. You. Have. Been. Warned. Hitting the 'play' button or not is a choice you make yourself. Link is to 'Merry Eff'in Christmas' by Mr. Garrison https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K40epl0r-Fg

I would REALLY rather that it be a d100 game, but I have a huge bias against 'level' based games so....

YGMV and MGF We are all Us.

Folks, I think we're kinda complicating the issue on this one. It really boils down to these points: - Do Humakti use missile weapons? Yes, they certainly do. Almost every trained warrior in Glorantha does. Huamkti focus on the sword by preference, but nothing other than cult geasa forbids them from mastering any other weapon as well. - Should Humakt have missile spells? Your Glorantha will vary. My version of Humakt doesn't but if MGF at your table does then have at it. I've added Sureshot to Odayla and Elmal to solve the 'archer Orlanthi' issue. And I honestly think that about covers it.

In reference to the Wachaza warrior type, it's true that there would or could be a 'Polynesian' aspect to it, although I personally see that as more of an East Isles thing. But YGMV. Even were that the case, most sea and shore battles will begin with missile fire with bows, crossbows, and slings to begin with, and javelins, spears, and darts as the range closes. Then we get to the real work of either shearing the oars and boarding a vessel or trying to ram them. Warriors in this environment will be happy to have armors in the 'instant kill' locations [head, chest, abdomen] but leave their limbs free to swim if it becomes necessary. And these armors are probably no heavier than cuirboulli. In this environment lighter but protective armors will be highly prized... like Turtle Shell Armor that protects but doesn't subtract from one's Swim score. But naturally the demand for such high speed /low drag gear will always outstrip the supply. Therefore substitutes like cuirboulli are necessary while scale and plate armors aren't used much at all. Another thing to note is something that Arabs and Byzantines taught the Crusaders way back when... bamboo and rattan shafts of the proper thickness have nearly the same linear tensile strength along its length as an oak shaft and therefore make DANDY spear shafts... they're lighter and in a sea battle they actually float! And since knowledge of this has been around since Ancient Egypt, it's a pretty good bet that the Esrolians will know about it.

I don't see Esrolia quite like that, Alex. There's plenty of work for alpha male types in a land threatened by the Lunar Empire for 50 years.... an opponent that murdered Belintar. I think of it as a 'division of labor' type arrangement. The Barntar /Lodril / Vogarth types are as necessary to Fertility as Ernalda /Uleria. They also provide the community with heavy work and craftsmanship, all of this contributing to the health of the whole. But some men are not mentally built that way, just as some women are not suited to the Maiden /Mother /Matron /Crone societal model. For them there are hero cults. And hero cults are equally necessary to community. Why sacrifice a husband and father who is an expert farmer when there is an Orlanthi or Humakt worshiper who actually wants the job immediately available? Certainly the hero types get rewards for taking these risks... but their lives are usually pretty short anyway and those gifts return to the community as inherited property and in inspirational stories that are part of the clan's legacy. [Note: I realize the Esrolia matriarchs organize their clans differently than Heortling Sartarites do, but the parallel is valid here, I think] Oh, and because I simply didn't notice that you were new to Greg's Gloranthan Grognard Gang, welcome to the board!

Predators are one thing. Monsters? Phhht! That's what thanes are for 😁 Leave that Hero saves the day bullcrap the braggarts that actually want that job!

To the OP: EXCELLENT work. I hope to see more as the project progresses. You really did your homework on this one. I think of myself at pretty well read-in on Glorantha lore, but you've found niches I didn't even know where there. Props. I will pick one very small nit with your table, however. For the Sea-blessing, where Ernalda is Wife and Magasta is Husband protector, I would suggest that the warrior archetype should be Marine /Light Infantry instead of Heavy Infantry. It just seems more appropriate to the pairing and the origin of where you're getting the troops [Fishers].

Or the witty banter... And that's just sad.

Yep. It was 'death to collaborators' day in Pavis. Most of the converts and sympathizers were put to the sword. In the Guide to Glorantha [the two volume super books] there is a pic of Jotoran Bladesong, former Lunar Constable, as a ring-necked thrall to a Babeester Axe Woman.

Well, as for the Lunars wanting Brygga dead, the Garhounds are wealthy enough to hire Black Fangs and the nastier, more violent types of Eurmals to protect her. In addition, she helps keep control of the city with a minimum of fuss. 'Fuss' being defined as ALL the Sartar factions joining together to eff up the Lunar program in Prax. Think of her as a the mayor of Antwerp in 1941 during the Nazi occupation. Everybody knows the mayor is Free Netherlands in his personal beliefs, but he's a valuable figurehead and serves to keep the population under control in what really is a 'sideshow' theater. Getting rid of Mr. Mayor would entail having to keep top flight combat units in Holland, and a lot of them, when those units are desperately needed in Russia. Such is how I see Brygga's position.

@g33k All too true. It take a couple-three good hard rains to clear the gunk off the road. A folks in Western Washington really ought to know that one... lol!

Well, fortunately, it started raining later in the day, with rain pretty much all night thereafter. The dusting we had is gone. However, this doesn't bode entirely well. Normally, we get snow [if we get any at all] in January or early February. It usually lasts a couple weeks and it's gone. But getting a dusting this early in the winter could very well mean a cold snap winter, which we see about once every 10 years or so. But it could be worse. I could live in the Midwest, where snow comes in October and lives on your couch for six months 😂

Hey, it's not even politicians.... There is absolutely no reason why a 'Real Housewife' or Kardashian is famous at all. Or TikTok 'influencers'. Or 'eSports'. Or 'poker stars'. I think the point of that graffiti statement is the subcontext that Western culture is actually devaluing intelligence in favor of ignorance. And if that isn't a 'doomsday scenario' I don't know what is.

Here is some doomsday graffiti if ever I saw some. Can I get an 'Amen', brothers and sisters?

The graffiti reads: "Roses are red We watch you with drones [note: this next is chalked on the bomb-- it's hard to read] This is for making me miss Game of Thrones 🤣