svensson

*I* remember that the last time 'Valind's Glacier' hosted the Winter Olympics they literally had to truck in snow... ROFL! [Vancouver Olympics 2010, and we won't get into what happened to the sled dogs]

It could also be that I was dropped on my head as an infant 😁 However, the minis I got yesterday are still noticeably smaller than the 'normal sized' ones on my shelf.

I've linked [at the bottom] the K/S I backed. I selected the Blessed Daughters Archers as my reward and additionally ordered the Pre-Gen characters from RQG. Let me repeat, the minis are high quality with few, but some, spurs and flanges. They have good-to-excellent detail. I really did get what I paid for. It's just that my 'inches and feet' brain didn't realize that there is larger difference between 25mm and 28mm that I thought there would be.

So.... Got my K/S minis today. The RQG Iconic Characters and Moon Daughters Archery Company, in case you were wondering. Wow... I guess there really is a larger difference than I thought between 25 and 28mm. Don't get me wrong here. I got precisely what I paid for: Good quality metal miniatures that'll require painting. But yeah, kinda small compared to the rest of the mini collection. I will have to keep that in mind in the future.

'Music', what it is and is not, how it's done, is it any good, whatever, is a cultural phenomenon. Music is a form of communication that speaks to multiple levels of a person's brain, so how it is organized or defined or labelled isn't really all that important. I mean, how many arguments can you get into on youtube by parsing whether a given offering is 'music' or 'noise'? [Personal note: Death to autotune!] My point is that unless one is a music literati willing to drop $1000 on a certified handmade Persian dishdudi, it really doesn't matter how a given Gloranthan culture sorts out its music. As every artist who's ever gotten up in front of a crowd of drunks knows, you have to pitch the performance to the audience - - no matter who they are. I don't think any of the gamers at my table care a fig whether or not the 'music' being played in the clan hall is bardic poetry set to drums and strings, or Pythegorean Greek 'triangular' lyre-playing. It's all just background flavor text.

Well, none of them has it in their specific portfolio and Godtime deeds. Good question.

'Not a Yelmalio sympathizer' Well, givin' all them-thar girl-chillin' high falutin' ideers jus' ain't raht....

Well, yeah.... That probably all of us, really

Another problem with Lodril worship is that the major source of worship East of Esrolia is the Agimori, but they worship a VERY different version of Lodril. Besides, according to Gloranthan Bestiary only 5% of Agimori worship Lodril anyway.

I think Eurmal and Yinkin have 'lazy' pretty well covered and Orlanth can give lessons on 'lusty' to anybody. 🤣 I'm not saying it's impossible for Lodril to have some representation. How much representation is entirely up to you and your group. IMG, I'd guess about 25-50 initiates in all of Sartar, with one Husband-Protector shrine in one of the tribal Ernalda temples and one actual Priest associated who is able to initiate followers. And maybe one roving God-Talker who tries to get around the the steadings of worshipers once a season or so.

I'm not trying to 'crush' anyone, Nick. Since we are discussing 'what role, if any' I'm supporting my position of 'logically Lodril would have little or no role'. I'm an absolute fan of 'YGMV' and Rule One, if something makes your game more fun then have at it with my enthusiastic blessing [not that you need it]. After all, no set of game rules or milieu writing survives contact with player characters anyway.

In the Allied Spirits discussion, it's generally agreed that an Allied Spirit is an initiate of the granting deity, that being in service to a Rune level of the deity 24/7 counts as 'cult service', and that the spirit cannot progress beyond initiate. Using that as a basis, it's not unreasonable for an intelligent mount to become an initiate of a deity. We have the Lunar Coders' wyvern mount that was raised to initiate status in 7M as an example. If the mount were an awakened beast, I would say that they're automatically an initiate of their racial spirit [an awakened bison being an initiate of Grandfather Bison, for example] and can choose to initiate into a larger 'more two-legged' cult if they wish. Storm Bull, Waha, Eiritha all are good candidates. But since unicorns are an intelligent race in and of themselves, we can skip that step and let them initiate into Yelorna automatically with the sacrifice of 1 POW.

I'm not saying it's utterly impossible for somebody to worship Lodril in Sartar. I'm saying that it's highly unlikely that a native would worship him [his portfolio is more than adequately covered by native gods] and any foreign worshipers of Lodril are going to have very little support.... less support than even 7M or Waha worshipers would have. When we were all discussing Odayla vs. Yinkin as a hunter deity, @Jeff said that there were something like 300 initiates of Odayla in all of Sartar, with a like number of Yinkin initiates. And these deities have a MUCH larger footprint Sartarite culture than Lodril does. Using that as a logical base for supposition, there's probably less than 50 initiates of Lodril... probably less. And all that is JUST FINE. You don't expect to find a Yinkin shrine in Esrolia or an Odayla shrine in Dara Happa. Those places are simply too far from the deities' center of power. And for Orlanth's sake, WHY would there be a specific shrine to the God of Wildfires in Sartar? One combined shrine to The Lowfires would handle every bit of what little worship Oakfed has in Sartar. Mahome and Gustbran are FAR more culturally important than the Patron of Forest Fires in Dragon Pass. Seriously, why are we even having this 'Outlier Oddball Deity of the Day' debate? What's next? Somebody deciding that Dorasta ought to have a full priestess at Clearwine and that Ompalam requires more representation in Boldhome?

@MOB has just announced the republication of the original CoC Boxed set. Within, you'll find the 1920s Sourcebook, which includes a deckplan for a steam passenger liner of the era. Hopefully that's a help.

Ftaghn! I really, really wish I could splurge on this, but Civil War company elected me to be their commander and I have been pricing all the officer gear I'll need to have by next May. Multiple hundreds of dollars worth. So the Minister of Finance [the cute brunette who says she loves me] has instituted rationing. 😪

So, my birthday is coming up and I decided to splurge and buy myself some RQ tee-shirts from Red Bubble I got my wife the 'Wise Woman of Ernalda' and 'Axe Sister of Babeester Gor' shirts... I'm lucky enough to say that she's not only a fellow game geek but a Glorantha fan too. I got myself the 'Storm Voice of Orlanth' and the de rigeur 'Nap Lord of Yinkin'. And then I had a sudden inspiration, an epiphany so to speak. How about a tee-shirt that read 'Wiseass of Eurmal'? 😄🤣😁 Cuz I would buy that shirt. No question about it.

I really don't see Lodril being worshiped in Sartar at all. My reasons are this: - Sartar is an Orlanthi culture. - Orlanth does an excellent job of embodying the spirit of the Orlanthi male imperative no matter their social class, carl, crafter, thane, chief, or king. - Eurmal more than adequately represents the rebellious aspect for those Orlanthi inclined to it. - Orlanthi have access to Fire magics through Elmal and the individual Lowfire subcults. It's not as good as the access granted to Fire/Sky Yelmite cults, but so what? Yelmites don't have access to much Air/Storm magic either. It evens out. All that being said, I just don't see the need for Lodril in regions where there is a strong Orlanthi presence. All his aspects are completely covered in Orlanthi/Hendriking/Sartarite culture. What's more, I see Lodril as a culturally Dara Happan and Esrolian god, as foreign to Hendriking/Sartarite ways as a Praxian or Carmanian. Lastly, even the Lunar Occupation probably didn't spread Lodril very much. The VAST majority of Lunars in Sartar were adherents to the Red Goddess and her pantheon, of which Lodril isn't a member. If you desperately want to run a Lodril in Sartar, then run a Pelorian peasant who deserted his regiment after the Lunars conscripted him. He'd be in the same social position as Vostor, but with a vastly inferior magical/spiritual position because he'll have much less access to his primary cult. In fact, a Waha worshiper would be in a better position, as the center of Waha worship is MUCH closer than any Village Priest or even a shrine of Lodril.

What exactly do you mean by that? Orlanth has most of the Motion spells available. I suppose that Lodril's Invisible Spear subcult might work for you

1. Did NOT think of Divine Intervention. Good point. I've only had one character reach Rune level and have never used the DI mechanics as a player or referee, so I guess I don't think of them. 2. Didn't see the rule on AS' becoming Rune levels, and I thought I'd read that section pretty thoroughly. I guess that's why we talk this stuff out 😁 3. Thanks for the clarification on AS cults, though I can't see why it would need clarifying. It makes no sense for a character reach Rune status in a main cult and then try for an AS in secondary cult in which they're only an Initiate. That would have been a 'hard nope' at my table, an absolute non-starter.

You'd end up with a 'Thanatar head' situation... 'w' is the AS of 'x' is the AS of 'y' who is the AS of player character 'z'. And that is a level of complication NOBODY wants to muck about with.

@Scotty Thanks for some of the clarifications. I'm not sure how an AS would/could raise its CHA. Certainly the deeds it does with its human would count. A Humakt sword with a resident AS whose Sword of Humakt owner does great things with it would naturally improve its reputation, especially when you consider the item valuation tables in Weapons and Equipment. That being said, some kind of table-rule would have to be negotiated. I don't think that Allied Spirits can or should advance in a cult. Initiates they may be, but initiates they ought to remain. Allied Spirits and their mortal ally make a very powerful team, and allowing the AS to become a Rune level in its own right kind of breaks that system. And the LAST thing any referee wants to entertain is the possibility that an Allied Spirit has an Allied Spirit of its own...

I would tend to disagree with that assessment, but YGMV. As for the initiate AS being off performing cult duty, it is very, VERY rare for someone lower than Rune level to get an allied spirit. Almost 'have to go on a successful Heroquest' rare. We have examples in canon of initiates who do indeed have an allied spirit, but not in this edition so far as I know. I might be wrong there, but I can't think of anyone right off top of my head. Supposing that Allied Spirits are the privilege of Rune status, I would think that serving an ordained member of the cult 24/7 would be 'cult service' enough! 😁 I mean, could see the hear the conversation at the Allied Spirit Bar and Grill? "Hey, Word of Desolation! I heard the good news about you!" "Yeah, Eye-Blinder, I got selected." "Why so glum, then? You look like you just lost the Divine Intervention Lottery...." "Well, I kinda did. I DID get selected to be an Allied Spirit, praise our Master, but... well... it's to a Player Character..." "Oh, DUDE! I'm SO sorry to hear that. Player Characters are NUTS! You never know WHAT those clowns will try next! You want me to ask around and see if any of the others will donate to the United POW Relief Fund in your name?" "That may not be a bad idea, EB....."

It's not too crazy to assume that an Allied Spirit is an Initiate of the deity you got the AS from. So yes, I'd rule that your Allied Spirit would have 1 Rune Point and an associated spell. It would also have access to the Common Rune Spells and may choose to sacrifice for additional Rune Points and magics. However, UNLIKE the mortal, it doesn't have any items [crystals, enchantments, etc.] to boost its magical abilities. It only has it's native POW. Also be advised that, just like a shaman's fetch, your AS is vulnerable to the Spirit World all the time. Never let its native POW get so low that it becomes bait for a malevolent spirit on the hunt.

The last figure is a Priest of Poseidon, the Imperial cult. He bears an orichalcum trident as his staff of office along with the orichalcum and moon opal brooch of his specific priestly rank. On his wrists he wears bangles and whalebone decoration. His headband brings to mind [pun unintended] of the waves at sea.

The third figure is a lokhagos [or 'captain'] of the elite Black Krakens tagmata [a 'regiment' of 8 'companies' called 'logakhoi'] Most Atalan military units have excellent equipment, usually steel. This is a vast improvement over the iron and bronze of their continental opponents. Occasionally an expeditionary force of Atalan home army troops is formed and these are mostly equipped with orichalcum. While gold retains it's prestige value, it is a poor military metal. Therefore, bronze is held in nearly the same esteem given it's association with orichalcum. This company commander advances with his falcata at the ready, his horse-hair comb denoting his officer status in a home army unit [troops in such units have a simple dyed cloth 'horsetail' running down the back of their helms]. The quality of his gear proclaims his elite status, as he is armed with an orichalcum helm, breastplate, shield, and falcata. He wears bronze greaves and his steel-and-bronze pauldrons proclaim is specific rank