David Scott

I'm not so sure about that. Mallia is a Death Goddess and will be attracted to places like battlefields where lives are slowly ebbing away or being maintained near death. The wounded aren't tended so quickly and wait. Not a problem in small exchanges, it's large battles I'm talking about. Unless of course you propitiate her before the battle, and I'm not talking knowing there broos in the opposing side. Mallia is part of Glorantha and will get stronger as the Hero Wars breaks.

This a great example of how I envisage the final info being used.

@g33k asked Saw the thread-tag... just had to add: ... and to keep it Gloranthan... does anyone know if figs are canon in Glorantha? And if so, do they have any special standing in any cult, sacred to a Goddess or important in a ritual, etc? Figs were of course a staple of the ancient mediterranean @Iskallor mentioned Fig Lane in his adari. i have figs growing around the Paps by the Oasis Folk. I think they grow the Natal Fig as it has fruit and can be harvested for barkcloth. This material is ideal for making patterns and designs in itself. Aldrya priestesses wear it. It’s made possible as this fig is supported by one of the old agricultural spirits at the Paps. I suspect a few oases grow them, with most have one or two. I suspect the fruit isn’t too tasty but herd animals love it.

Back of the BGB page 383 onwards. You can mashup what you need using screen grabs. You can download the PDF here: https://www.chaosium.com/basic-roleplaying-pdf/ The QuickStart version doesn’t have the reference tables you need.

It all makes sense now doesn't it.

You are correct, I didn't remember correctly (I've heavy cold and am not quite with it). I covered it here: So It does make me wonder if the Orlanthi identify Lightfore with Elmal.

Yes, but I think it's about numbers and mythic origin. Perhaps there were more of one or the other at different times - More nomad recruits - Yelmalio dominates, More Orlanthi - Elmal dominates. Amongst the Praxians, Yelmalio is mounted. There are 14.5K Yelmalio nomads, in a nomad riding culture it can only be so.

I'm using the figures from my Praxian cults spreadsheet. When I started working on Prax I needed to know the cults and spirit societies that made up their culture. Appendix C was very incomplete but was an excellent starting point. There are a couple of other assumptions you need to be aware of as well. Firstly when working with population numbers we assume that 50% are children, 25% are Men and 25% are women (unless like the Newtlings they are all one gender). So just using that on the 10K PJ, we get 2500 men and using the 6% number from CoP we get 150. I also needed to work out how individuals chose their cults, so for HQG I worked out the "Rune spread" for each tribe. This is the percentage of individuals with a particular dominant rune. We already know some of the dominants so this filled in the missing parts. An individual is likely to choose a cult with their dominant rune in it. Here's the High Llamas, Bison and Pol-Joni for comparison (all %): Element Rune Spread High Llama Bison Pol Joni The Empty 1 1 50 M F M F M F Storm 10 2 94 2 75 5 Earth 2 10 2 94 5 75 Fire 1 1 1 1 5 5 Darkness 1 1 1 1 5 5 Water 85 85 1 1 5 5 Moon 1 1 1 1 5 5 check row % 100 100 100 100 100 100 Next is how many in each cult. The Pol-joni do have Yelmalions is their tribe, but it's not the only option for those with the fire rune. Along with Yelmalio there is the Sky Gazers spirit society (led by Pole Star) and the Burners society (led by Oakfed). The 5% with the fire rune is split between those 3 giving 5/3/100*2500 men = about 42. This is about giving rough figures to give a feel of the tribes. You don't have to use them, but I've found it very useful when writing about them. Feel free to adjust/ignore/make your own numbers up. As a side comment, I suggested taking any Elmali out of the Yemalio total as they are effectively the same god (!) however splitting them evenly would give 5/4/100*2500 men = about 31 each in each of the 4 cults available which actually looks good as well and fits in with the Empty %. Apologies for bringing maths into this :-)

Given that there are about 42 Yelmalions in the Tribe, I’d say none or as many as you like. Given that Yelmalio in the Wastes was effectively formed from a splinter of the sky gazer spirit society who knew him as Sun Daughter. When the Sun Domers arrived it was a only a short step to realise they were the same. Polestar is the dominant spirit of that society and so I don’t think between Him and the knowledge of Sun daughter there is any storm equivalent. It does however make me wonder if the Orlanthi identify Ourania (IIRC) with Elmal.

I look forward to your follow up post "Some thoughts after playing 13th Age". I've played 13th Age - not the Gloranthan version. I'm someone who gave up AD&D having discovered RQ and I've never been able to play D&D again. I was very surprised with 13th Age, it was quite refreshing after 20 or so years of avoidance. We played in the D&D Dark Sun setting - it was great, exploring, trading, survival and fighting. I'm not someone who would GM this, but would certainly play it again. I suggest you give it a chance and play it.

As @Jeff says - yes. Appendix C is one of the greatest resources for looking at the Nomads, but I suspect most people have never really looked at it.

Both. The Pol-Joni will accept others from other tribes that’s always been their way. They aren’t that hated most of that is talk and bravado. Read the last paragraph of the box on page 446 says in the Guide, they are just another bickering Tribe on the plains. They’ve been there 100 years, 4-5 generations, they raid and get raided. The real issue with the PJ is that they occupy the Bison and High Llama ancestral grazings. The Sables got the occupied half back from the PJs only as they are allied with the Lunars.No one else can do anything as the tribes are so disorganised. They are also there with the permission of Eritha, she’s the cow mother. The whole horse thing is pretty much moot, their Waha Khans must ride horses. Horses are what makes them the bastard Tribe, their Founder isn’t part of the Praxian Pantheon. However, the tribes can get together to summon the Pure Horse Founder (tales 15).

Over on G+ Andrew Taylor asked about Storm Bull membership by tribe. https://plus.google.com/u/0/+AndrewTaylor1/posts/R4WUbsCPX5q I've put it here to keep all the info in one place, these are the 1621 numbers: For actual numbers of less than 1 and other fractions round as you feel appropriate. These numbers do not take into account PCs - so go ahead and have a female Agimori Storm Bull cultist. Don't like the numbers - then make up your own (YGWV) Male % / total male population / Female % / total female population Actual male % / actual male cultists / Actual female % / actual female cultists Storm Bull Cult Praxians only Impala M % 30000 F % 30000 9.6 2880 0.4 120 High Llama M % 16250 F % 16250 9.6 1560 0.4 65 Sable M % 18750 F % 18750 0.48 90 0.02 3.75 Bison M % 20000 F % 20000 13.44 2688 0.56 112 Morokanth M % 20000 F % 20000 7.68 1536 0.32 64 Agimori M % 750 F % 750 0 0 0 0 Rhino M % 4500 F % 4500 9.6 432 0.4 18 Ostrich M % 300 F % 300 4.8 14.4 0.2 0.6 Unicorn M % 100 F % 400 3.84 3.84 0.16 0.64 Baboon M % 2500 F % 2500 0 0 0 0 Bolo Lizard M % 525 F % 525 4.8 25.2 0.2 1.05 Zebra M % 300 F % 300 3.84 11.52 0.16 0.48 Pol Joni M % 2500 F % 2500 17.28 432 0.72 18 Basmoli M % 625 F % 625 0 0 0 0 Newtlings % 3000 0 0

Bad man is actually a chaos manifestation birthed by Kajaboor to catch the Horned God, Kolat may feature but not on the scale of hatred that Bad Man reserves for new shaman. If the would be shaman fails, there is a chance that they would be permanently annihilated.

Have you looked in the Glorantha Sourcebook on page 90? There's more info on Delaina there: I'd say Earth & Magic. The poppy symbology is likely tied to her wisdom & magic, bringing both from the otherworld with ritual dance. The other iconography is up to you.

Have a more up to date look at Uralda in Heortling Mythology and Sartar KoH. To me she's actually Eiritha or more likely one of Eiritha's daughters (to the Praxians). Perhaps the Protectress of the Pol-joni is Uralda (in fact I'm almost certain of this). I'd have to bring @Jeff in on this for a clearer answer, but certainly the Esrolians think she's the Herd Mother (in the Gloranthan Source book). Some of her myths are a retelling of Storm Bull & his sons.

Sure, he’s a minor god of butchers. Have a look at the Glorantha Sourcebook page 107. He’s Orlanth’s nephew. That’s why when the Theylan’s arrive in Prax in 35ST they were welcomed. Orlanthi culture was very much welcomed and embraced in the First Age, that’s why Orlanth’s cult is so widespread amongst the Praxians. There are 15k amongst the Praxians alone, with over 500 of those being Vingans. The Pol-Joni only account for 960 of those numbers, but they have the Thunderous and Rex subcults as well, the others only have the Adventurous subcult. The largest group are in the Impala Tribe accounting for 9.5k of the total. The bison tribe count only for about 1.2k. All of the major tribes have Orlanth followers, with only the Agimori, basmoli and Baboons of the minor tribes having none. Have a look at the Cults of Prax cult distribution table for further info. These figures are based on updated numbers from there. Orlanth’s mastery conflicts with that of Waha’s, so under the Storm influence area which all of Prax falls into, Storm worship naturally occurs. This is one of the major reasons that the Pol-Joni could establish themselves and influence the Paps into accepting them. Eiritha is the Orlanthi Herd Mother. I think Dorosar’s and his priests just did what they knew, hence my idea for the imagery. I suspect that farming communities from the valley sent their priestesses to the temple to get Eiritha rune magic. Praxians were only excluded in 1572 after the Pavis uprising (this is the start of the “vanilla” Praxian campaign until 1610). They had been there since the city’s founding in 1550. Pavis GTA: I think it’s only with the coming of the Lunars that permanent camps were reestablished outside the city.

The temple is in the Farmers Quarter at F-1, there's what I would suspect in a coral adjacent to it. I think it's a real temple. Pavis GtA says: Given that they had to build the temple, I think it's an Orlanthi style temple to Eiritha the Herd Mother and Waha the Butcher - both Orlanthi deities. Inside are Orlanthi style representations of those concerned. Something like the image below sits against a wall: Eiritha is more up right and is a COW. like this - With big horns. Waha holds a butchers knife and is represented as on page 107 of the Glorantha Soucebook. The coral is as you mentioned.

Ancestor worship amongst the Orlanthi is much more common than first realised. You don't have to be an initiate to practice it and can just be a lay member giving offerings to the ancestors. Don't confuse animism (which is the belief that everything has a spirit) with shamanism (which is the practice of contacting spirits). Most Heortlings would be considered animists in this respect, you don't need shamanic technique to practice ancestor worship, you just need to put out offerings, dust their little votive figures, and basically make sure you remember them. If you want to interact with them then thats a different mater as you need some agency (usually a shaman or priest) to help you do that.

For Praxians , it's a matter of what cult you were part of as to where you end up. But nearly all Praxians go via the Great Herd before their end place. The Great Herd is tribal, and to a certain extent intertribal. Within the Great Herd is the Clan's Home Camp. It is tribal, but does not preclude ancestors from other tribes. If you mother was a slave from another tribe she would be here. She would also be contactable from her original tribes rites at their home camp. Slaves from other cultures may of may not be in the Great Herd, it depends on their cult, but it's likely they would be as they would have been sent off using Praxian rites to the spirit world. The spirit world is all connected. The traditions of different areas overlap. If your mother was a Pentan slave, she would be contactable by both traditions.

That's ridiculous. They are just intelligent animals, not demigods. By that reasoning, a herd man who is brought to intelligence by whatever rules set is a demigod. Lets replace the word intelligence with talking animals, that removes the intelligence issue. Now what's your explanation?

I don't believe this is the case. Going back to Genert's Garden I believe that the two-leggeds and four-leggeds that became the Praxians and their herds had both runes and were intelligent - this was the crazy god time. The Covenant polarised this focussing the Man and Beast rune into humans and beasts. Herd men have the beast rune dominant and have the Man rune at a small amount. RQG has the Man and beast rune as paired opposites - so herdsmen have high Beast rune an d low man rune. It's helpful to think about the Beast(ial) rune. The real problem with all of this is what is intelligence as it's clearly not related to form runes. We know that there are intelligent animal in Glorantha - I think it's in River of Cradles that it says 1 in 1000 fish in the Zola fell are intelligent - they don't have the man rune.

And that's the Harmony bit of Pavis' rune magic. Nothing at all to do with the Man Rune. Pavis GtA: page 367, Gives us the Pavis Man Rune Grimoire by which different species sharing the Man Rune may reproduce:

This is also likely intentional as the box in Pavis GtA page 63 says that slavery is legal amongst the Praxians and Lunars, however not all Orlanthi do this. A Slave market in Pavis might not be a good thing hence Pimpers Block. In the Trade in Prax section on page 66, the Issaries cult traded slaves in the region and in the Second Age morokanth started to as well. Clearly the morokanth weren't welcome at Pimpers block as Issaries had a hold. Likely that wanted to control their own trade not through a middleman. I suspect that the morokanth trade informally where needed and put out word that they are there. Also Moonbroth is likely now the focus of Lunar trading and still corflu is still the other trade post.

Snake Goddess, look on row IV of the God's Wall. Very likely has a shrine in the Paps.