David Scott

(odd all my text vanished!) @Rick Meints will know where the section came from as he added it initially to the Glorantha classic version in 2001 and alluded to where it came from in another post on this site: FYI the Votanki clans in Griffin Island were different:

Lions are rare outside the Western Reaches and Tanisor (RQG Bestiary page 150).

I'm not disagreeing, but where did he say this?

Teleportation is given to Orlanth by Mastakos, an associate god. So you need at least a major or great temple with a Mastakos shrine to get the rune spell. We know of one such place, the Orlanth temple on Larnste's table. There also a likelyhood of one of Orlanth Adventurous's cart temples having a shrine too. But overall the spell is not common.

It's what my players came up with. They designed their school and adapted five spells that suited its goals. There was little I didn't agree with. Works pretty well. Sadly I don't have their character sheets to list the schools and spells (boxed up from a move). IIRC there was a variant of Boon of Kargan Tor, Create skeleton, and a healing spell that always disfigured the target.

Given the mythology of the Air in Glorantha, I'm not sure there are Cloud Lions, although normal lions are widespread in Glorantha. from Barbarian Adventures, Sartar Rising, volume 1:

I assumed that with 17 non-citadel clans in excess of the named hearths would be the allies and tolerated remnants of former citadel clans (per the GM book). These are based very close to the citadels. This is from my notes

In These Woman need help, I actually changed Cloud Lions to Cloud Alynxes as lions made no sense to me. I just treated them the same, imagining them as a kind of untamed, wild alynx cloud type. So in answer to your question, Yes. Like a grey Canada Lynx as it matched the description "Their variable and changing gray and white fur makes them difficult to spot in a cloudy sky."

Looking at the published uses of Warding, on the cradle (Pavis box), a door threshold, Borderlands (spoilers), Griffin mountain (spoilers), The Haunted Ruins (spoilers), Sun County (extensive temple defences), most of the staves are well hidden, permanent installations. One is really obvious, but the staves so large you can't move them. Others are just stones on the floor. The main use is the alarm function and in one case, the countermagic to protect troops. Detect traps doesn't work on it, Detect magic will work on the staves as they are "magically potent objects". The spell says "The activated wands connect invisibly to form a barrier detectable only by magical means." (page 347) Given removing a stake can break the spell, targeting a stake seems sensible. As to whether there is a "roof": "The activated wands connect invisibly to form a barrier detectable only by magical means." (page 347). The only way the diagonals can connect is by a "roof". Teleportation is certainly an option, but if you can afford to spend 3 Rune points on teleportation, a 4 point Dismiss Magic might be better, unless the Warding has been boosted with magic points (but you would never know).

I was thinking of Heather Bruton's illustration for Storm Tribe (Issaries 2000)

Cloud sheep are clouds and clouds don't have wings...

The key word on page 247 is Permanent: An enchantment can be broken, (page 249): but breaking is not the same as dispelling.

In RQG Warding isn't an enchantment. Enchantments use permanent POW. As it's a rune spell it can be Neutralised, Dismissed or Dispelled with enough points. The caster can always boost it with more rune or magic points at the time of casting. Older editiosn of RQ may treat it differently. You'd need to cast the rune magic again, spending rune points, but the if the wards are there you wouldn't need to replace them. It's a rune spell, uses rune points, see above.

Making it a three rune spell, water, summon, harmony instead of Fire summon. The idea being that harmony makes it possible to use water instead of fire. Then use man then, I believe there are many ways of producing the same effect. It would be the school or cult that determines which one. Depends on your school. You might be a member of a school that prohibits the use of the fire rune.

Exactly where Nick's article said it would be: https://wellofdaliath.chaosium.com/?s=yelmalio+march+2000

adding to Phil's statement, the section is clearly called and then goes on to state Enhance INT is Fire and Summon - Summon calls a specific manifestation of a rune. Fire being the rune of INT, but it could IMO just as easily be Moon for Magic, and then cyclic. Or even the Magic rune and command. As it stands you can always use Water or Earth as they are Fire's minor runes, so a version specifically based on those perhaps with harmony to decrease the minor rune cost.

I think that's certainly a possibility. However it comes down to a duty of care and what level you expect the captors to maintain. In a world where heal 6 can reattach a limb, heal body is common, and there's are two major healing cults (Ernalda & Chalana Arroy) and that the captives are part of the same culture, I would expect the Orlevings to look after the thane. A clan that keeps slaves or traffics them, would also want to keep them well as they would have no work value. The local tusk riders, however will not bother to ransom or care for their captives so they can sacrifice them later...

Without descending in to maths (my group likes it simple). Given that a normal warrior earn 60L / year, it would need to be very "special" service. Don't forget that some cults offer reduced cost or free training, and you get 1 pt free per 5 years too.

As I said, the rules do not specify any particular requirements other than you pay. If you have the rules, I suggest reading the learning spirit magic section on page 253 (repeated and expanded in RBM page 106). It takes a week of teaching as usual. My players usually pay in goods such as cattle, sheep or apples. "Loot" isn't that useful in most cases. As spell teaching is an out of game activity (because of the week involved), I usually skip over it. If a player misses a season they get to use their three adventuring weeks for training if they want and have the resources. If you disagree with the rules, just do what you want in your game, it's encouraged.

I doubt there is just one, I would have detect stone, clay, copper, gems, etc. Trees aren't a substance, wood is. Plant rune cults can likely teach detect wood. But realistically most of these are useless. That's how I see it. The only cults that teach Detect (substance) though are Lhankor Mhy, & Yelmalio.

That's entirely up to you. Remember we now have a further clarification in RBM, that "the subject of that spell is inevitably based on the cult it is provided by and should be defined when listed" so elemental cults will likely teach Detect (fire, water, etc) and related substances defined under their runes. So Earth would have the widest range of substance, where water cults might give you Detect Blood, or Darkness cults, Detect Chitin. Storm Bull might The dictionary provides a very straight forward description IMO.

You learn cult spirit magic spells by either going to a shaman, godtalker, rune priest or rune lord (or associate cult's equivalent). Learning Spirit Magic on page does not mention any other prerequisites. What is clear is that you pay what is asked, as states clearly that "Spell teaching is an important source of income for the cult" (page 277). They aren't greedy or heedless, they just doing their job. That isn't disputed. Page 417 states: Learning Rune magic, is a very different requirement (page 275):

There are seven. I'd treat Detect (substance) as generic, so if you know one substance, it's straight forward to teach another, otherwise finding teachers for some substances will become onerous. This likely to be one of those things where you either know spirit magic or sorcery. The sorcerers in my game don't memorise spirit magic at all, they do use matrixes though. The non-sorcerers know all the cult sprit magic and the sorcerers teach sorcery. There's likely a few exceptions like this.

Of course, it's in the rules, Variable/Nonvariable Spell, page 248.

Looking at the Ransom box on page 64, and the ransom section on page 407, two things jump out at me: The ransom is set by custom. The ransom is paid by the captive. The captive tries to avoid payment by others as they then owes a life debt to the community. Asking more sounds like "we are ignoring custom, come and get them, or start a vendetta. It's going to destabilise the system. eg If the Orlevings capture the Thane of Apple Lane during an adventure and demand the customary 1200 L (60 cattle). That is against custom. When this gets back to Queen Leika, she's going to want to know why the Orlevings are doing this with her sworn tribesman. This escalates the whole situation from a clan vs clan incident to a full tribe vs tribe incident. The reverse: As the amounts are set by custom, you either have the money or you don't. If you don't then you need to succeed in a love / loyalty roll for those that are going to pay instead. They don't have to pay and can seek vengeance instead. If succeed in a love / loyalty roll and they try to pay less than custom demands, then clearly they don't think you are as valuable as you status implies. This is clearly a public declaration of your status drop. You are just not worth your real value (by custom). This should cause all kinds of problems if you are released. Depending on your game this is likely dishonourable / reduces relevant passions. eg if the Orlevings capture the Thane of Apple Lane during an adventure and demand the customary 1000 L (50 cattle). Then you send out your merchant out to bargain for only 40 cattle, that says to the Orlevings that your thane isn't worth it. When this gets back to Queen Leika, she's going to want to know why didn't you pay the full amount for her sworn tribesman. The Orleving now know that the Hiordings don't value the thane or why would they try and pay less.