David Scott

Generally speaking no. The fetch will do as you say, but most spirits are neutral, not hostile. The fetch doesn’t need to be conspicuous in the spirit world. So unless part of a storyline I would ignore this. The shaman is always with the fetch and it will alert him to any issues. In real world shamanism this isn’t perceived as a problem unless you go to places that have hostile spirits. Spirits are not wandering monsters.

That's very true as opposed to a current, the dominant god being Choralinthor.

I'm not sure this is a thing. The Guide has the Lycos as a sluggish river. It looks from the description and the Season picture that the meeting for Chlorinthor and Lycos is one of slowness.

Don't forget that we also have Jennifer Lange's painting of Esrolia in Sea season from the Guide (page 656). It gives us an excellent view of Mirrorsea and Nochet.

It's certainly another way of classifying what happened. For example in King of Sartar the same cycles are called by Argarth as the coming of the Devil (every 600 years). But could easily be the end of Empires or any one of many other just as valid descriptions. Interestingly, none of the fledgling groups started out just to achieve what you have described. The First Council didn't start out wanting to make a god, the Godlearners started out as a trading empire, The lunar empire didn't start as a proselytising force. Polarities are certainly part of these themes Nysalor / Arkat, Godlearners / Dragons, Red Godesss / Sheng Seleris. to name but a few.

Not unique. Not sure if essence actually exists or even spiritual organs (clearly a god learner concept) as you find those that use sorcery on the Path of the Dead going to be judged. "Soulless" sorcerers actually have a spirit or soul, it's just they don't recognise it or need it.

In hindsight I would change Devotees giving up what spirit magic they have. In my ongoing playtest game one of my players became a Waha Devotee (but not a khan), he kept his his spirit magic and it didn't really make any difference to his playing style or the game. His spirit magic was still standalone charms (and he had loads of it). The real cap on his spirit magic development was the usual hero point economy - better to increase keyword than standalone abilities.

Maybe the same person who gave probable 25%

You might find it easier to screenshot maps and then annotate them in a simple paint package - that's all I do.

Lets see an outline map of your different "Hrestoli" areas.

The RQ Companion, I also checked Greg's original map just to confirm. Whilst that's a great idea, I prefer the serene river mouth version of the 1885 OS map sandwiched between Hornchurch and Rainham Marshes with a gentle population of giant frogs chirping under the control of their Trasker equivalent...

So rewinding slightly, let me try and go through some of the process that I had to go through when writing the spirit magic section and the praxian magic that went into HQG (and previously the Seven Mothers). Firstly a lot of the previous magical depictions and rules just weren't the correct way Greg depicted Glorantha or wanted it depicted now. We had descriptions from Greg's unpublished works and talked to him. At the outset we realised that the Praxians were spirit based and so what had to be described was a spirit based magical system. Talking with Greg he said they were mixed spirit magic with some divine magic as well. I then set about looking at how this could exist in one god/spirit, likewise how it worked with in the culture. If you look at Waha in HQG he's the major example of how this works. Another discovery was that everyone has either a spirit or a soul and that this was your preferred interaction with the divine. Generally speaking if you have a soul you can become a spirit practitioner, and a soul a divine practitioner. Some with souls can use spirit magic up to a point but no more, they can't become shaman, they are called the Empty in Praxian terms. They are cut off from the flow of the spirit world all around them, they have no access to the spirit rune or the spirit world unless specifically accompanied by a shaman. When left in the spirit world unaccompanied, they will pop straight back into the middle world. Those with spirits may also be strong in the runes of their gods. A Waha shaman with the runes of Death Spirit and Man could also use Waha's rune affinities as well. These individuals are an exceptionally powerful magical combination in that culture and they aren't very common. The equivalent Empty would be one of the rare Waha devotees (likely a khan as well). They can Heroform Waha himself as normal khans can as an ancestor. Their disadvantage is that they are blind to the spirit world around them and so make up for it by focussing on their runes, and have only limited charm capabilities, but they can still do all of the Tasks of Waha available to "Spirit" based khans. In game player have a choice of where to spend their experience - do they go more for rune affinities or spirit magic - that's the choice. You can't have it all as you will spread your experience, so the old concentrating magic is gone, but is still present in the choice of where you spend experience - is the player wanting to be a Khan, Priest or shaman? All have different social roles, but all are part of the same society. In play test this split did manifest in different ways of doing things, but overall enriched the game and culture. At no point did it cause a problem. As to the difference with "pure" magical cultures - we not addressed it yet as they've not been developed. The Hsunchen are likely to be the only pure spirit based culture. I can't remember if there is a pure theistic culture and there's likely a small section of the West that is purely sorcerous. But generally speaking, every culture is mixed.

yes It's the setting, background etc, that's what makes the world of Glorantha rich and not some generic fantasy setting. They do, and will have different tactics and abilities to use. It's the overall appearance that is similar.

Two archers stand side by side both follow the same God/Spirit. Both fire an arrow One uses his fire rune breakout Fire arrow +1 and the other uses fire arrow +1 a charm broken out from his Fire rune. Everyone sees a fiery arrow streak off. One now does the feat Heroform Archery God, he grows 50' and stands there on the battlefield on fire. The other embodies the spirit of the Archery god, he grows 50' and stands there on the battlefield on fire. Everyone sees two 50' beings on fire on the battlefield - do they look the same - nearly - one has the shiny trappings of the Archery god, the has a flint necklace of arrowheads etc. Does anyone care - no.

Looking at the map and using its 5 mile hexes gives 16 generous hexes of travel - that's roughly 80 miles - just over 75 miles a day. You could argue that a skilled captain could do it in under a day and that a poor trip with encounters and weather could take 2. According to the Guide p251 Mirrorsea/Choralinthor Bay is very calm and is ruled by the Triolini merfolk, the marshes have newtlings and the area has numerous small fishing villages. The events table gives two sea encounters: Red lines - following the 5 hex map giving a generous 80 miles Yellow lines - as the crow flies, skilled captains roughly 50 miles. Purple circles If absolutely needed, there're a couple of obvious stopovers: Frog islands - likely some fisher villages, likely frogs. Holy island may have a bit more to it and so may not allow landings - sea god temples - monastery etc. Clearly all of this depends on the style of travel - coast hugging is going to take much longer.

At this level, the Hero is the cult - a Hero Cult of their cult. The obvious question is then who is in charge of the cult at this point - likely the hero or if not advisers to the Hero are the High Priests, but more than likely the Hero is. Obvious examples of this are Jar-eel and Argrath. Lesser examples will be the PCs.

You seem to be conflating the broad understanding of Gloranthan magic with the rules of RQ3, HeroQuest, HQG and RQG. I'm just saying that magical specialists can have access to other magics if already part of their pantheon/tradition/school (order). Under HQ/RQG Pavis is a school of sorcery, there's a box about it on page 367 of Pavis GtA called "Isn’t this a Wizardry School under the HeroQuest Rules?" It's about accessing the other form of magics, not pursuing it. Pursuing them is a great game hook and the stuff of adventures.

As @metcalph said, that's not true for specialists. As Peter says HeroQuest: Glorantha only states they may not use of such magics "unless that is part of your tradition". This was a deliberate and accurate statement. Waha Khans can use spell spirits, there are Eiritha Priestesses at the Paps who know some of Pavis's healing sorcery, The same statement applies to the other forms of magic and pantheons.

Since Elder Secrets, I've always assumed they could grow axes, so Elfen adherents of BG could easily grow copper-headed ones.

@metcalph is correct Waha in HeroQuest Glorantha is currently the best example of it. Within a Pantheon many gods may have a mixed aspect to themselves. There are very few pure spirit pantheons (if any) and likewise very few (if any) theistic pantheons. Most are mixed to some degree, but can of course have different proportions of each. Sorcery can also be added to the mix. In the Orlanth Pantheon, Lhankor Mhy introduces a sorcerous element and in the Praxian Pantheon, Waha has a tiny element. Likewise with Mysticism. As an example have a look at the Praxian Pantheon here: Great three - Rune and spirit magic First Friends, Many Friends and Hidden Paths - Spirit magic only The Other Leaders - Most spirit magic only, but Yelorna, Rune and spirit magic and likely Monkey King and Baba Ulodra too. Lightbringers - Rune Magic, except Orlanth who has some spirit magic in the Wastes. The invaders - Rune Magic, except the Seven Mothers completely mixed. Outsiders - Basmoli - Spirit magic only

Given the nature of the unit manning it, I’d say it was pretty much needed.

I can't really argue with the French definition, but I'm pretty sure none of the authors of RuneQuest were French. You might like to widen your definition:

The English definition of Fanaticism does not imply violence and if you look at the Antonyms, they really don't imply it. fanaticism | noun | the quality of being fanatical: fanatical | adjective | filled with excessive and single-minded zeal The thesaurus provides us with 1 zealous, extremist, extreme, militant, dogmatic, sectarian, bigoted, rabid, maniacal, radical, diehard, activist; prejudiced, chauvinistic, intolerant, narrow-minded, single-minded, partisan, blinkered, illiberal, inflexible, uncompromising. ANTONYMS moderate; open-minded. 2 (informal): enthusiastic, eager, keen, fervent, ardent, fervid, passionate, devoted, dedicated; over-enthusiastic, obsessive, obsessed, infatuated, fixated, compulsive, immoderate, frenzied, frenetic; informal wild, gung-ho, nuts, potty, dotty, crazy, hooked. ANTONYMS indifferent.

Well spotted, one side for each of the seven lunar phases.

If we’re going to base stuff on tiny artist squiggles then clearly the rear shop with the awning centre left is a lunar building too, it has moon phases on its front :-)