davecake

I think that Irensavalism can have connections to Illumination, but post-Arkat they are concealed and not overt. I think they are still there - but you have to know where to look (it seems obvious to me as an outsider that Talor is Illuminated, and his Apocypha contains some hints about Illumination (and is part of the modern Loskalm Canon), and it is well hidden from the laity. First, prove yourself as wise enough to learn sorcery, then explore the gnostic wisdom, only when you have fully understood Joy (and submitted to many examinations of the spirit) can you then be trusted to experiment with the secret doctrines - only then can they be sure that you will not fall to the Nysaloran temptation, but correctly approach the mystic secrets correctly. I do think that Irensavalist sorcery is substantially just sorcery, Irensavalism is mostly different from general Hrestoli methods in attitude, differing in method only at the highest levels. Something very insightful Greg said after he had been thinking about mysticism a while was that all forms of magic should ultimately have a transcendent mystic goal (the One/Kiona/First Action etc for Malkionism) if they are not to be ultimately a failure (certainly Malkioni who seek Absolute Truth), but it only counts as mysticism the magic system if you use mystic methods. Irensavalism thinks that the correct uses of sorcery are either to further understand and use the Intellect ( eg Zendamalthan school, which loves abstract intellectual sorcery (like maths) and rejects empiricism), or learn about and defeat the traps of the physical world that can undermine the spirit (eg the Furlandan School). But it is largely attitude, because sorcery itself does not distinguish intent - eg the spells of the Furlandan school that are intended for overcoming spirits that plague the community and banishing them (eg of disease or passion) can also be used to bind them and use them as magical weapons. Still, I suspect the Irensavalists think Elemental sorcery is discouraged as being of limited spiritual value, and its practical value is just another temptation of the demiurge, and there are a few other aspects of it that distinguish it. Well, it is tricky - because rules wise, Illumination is mysticism the magic system, more or less. Mystic magic = mysticism as method = Illumination, to a rough first approximation. Now, there are probably a few bits here and there that add on to that (Eastern orthodox mysticism might have access to Illumination powers not achievable by Nysaloran or draconic methods? Draconic likewise?), and there is certainly a big richness in different traditions in both what they think is the right thing to do once you are Illuminated, how you get there, what other forms of magic they use (the only 'pure' mystics are maybe the guys who just sit and meditate all day and do no other magic at all), and so on. The real trick to understanding Illumination via the Nysalor cult is understanding that Nysalor and Arkat, according to game mechanics, use the same mystic methods, it is the attitude and surrounding traditions that differ. And the same, more or less, for all the other mystics too. And part of that is that, yes, Illumination can be very useful for being a munchkin who accumulates power, and uses the transcendance of the world to justify any arbitrarily awful behaviour, and can lead to egotism and callousness. It's also notable in real world mysticism (not all of which Greg would classify as mysticism), egotism and narcissism etc are not exactly unknown among real world would be mystics. Failed mystics are terribly dangerous people—and this applies in the real world too, the madness around the downfall of the Osho/Rajneeshee cult, for example—but of course far more so in a world where the magic powers gained from it are very real. The big takeaway from mentioning Arkat in the Nysalor writeup, which I think is essential, is that there are people who see this temptation clearly, and believe that Illumination has spiritual worth but misuse must be guarded against. Nysaloran Illumination (at least in its modern, post-Nysalor, form) differs from other forms of Illumination in only one fundamental way - it has a method of easy teaching and broad transmission. Most other forms of Illumination (eg Arkati, Eastern orthodox forms) think this is a terrible idea, and that teaching random people mystic insight who are not otherwise prepared for it is a terrible idea. The problem with Nysalorism as a form of Illumination is around its attitudes and organisation. Greg has said Nysalorism is a failed form of mysticism. But I don't think that's because there is anything particularly broken about their form of Illumination - I think it's because, without useful teachings about how to prepare people for mysticism, or what to do with it other than break free of the constraints of the gods teachings, it is a recipe for mass production of failed mystics, even if a few may grope their way to mystic success. Maybe it would be different when Nysalor was alive, but then again, maybe not that much - it does seem that they didn't have much of a plan for acquiring greater mystic insight beyond 'hang out with Nysalor personally', and the idea that your cool mystic insights and powers could be used in battle to defeat your enemies seems to have been accepted by everyone in the Bright Empire from Nysalor down. The Lunars certainly think themselves smarter than this, and have a very different system in some ways (once you have become sufficiently magical, just retire to the Moon once you are ready for further mystic insight!), but it's very easy to argue that they are also in the 'mass production of failed mystics' business. They do understand the problem in a way, and call it Occlusion, but they have also allowed the system that is supposed to guard against it to become corrupted to mundane political purpose, and encouraged the exploitation of mystic insight for mundane/magical power (the Original Sin of failed mystics), just a little more restricted than Nysalorism. So the Empire has corrupted the mystic system - and the drastic efforts by JarEel, Great Sister, and others to fix this basic problem is the core of the Lunar Empire Hero Wars story, IMO. FWIW, I think that this basic theme - mysticism is fine, but using it for munchkin purposes both totally works, and leads to failure as a mystic, is a consistent theme through most of Gloranthan mysticism, including Nysalor, the Lunars, the EWF, Sheng, etc. So Darius, when you keep going on about Illumination being just a recipe for munchkinism - you aren't 100% wrong, but you are 50% wrong, and that cuts so much of the richness, both in terms of how it relates to real mysticism, AND in how it drives cool Gloranthan gaming and metaplot themes.

Sorry, no. Black and white thinking like that is false in real life and false in Gloranthan Illumination. Indeed. And if you really think that obeying the laws and scruples of your society is so important that you must stamp out and destroy the things that allow you to question them... Ompalam invites you to subscribe to his newletter...

My favourite model for an allied or bound spirit is Loiosh, Vlad Taltos's familiar in the series by Steven Brust, a continual supplier of snark and sarcasm. But that's just one of many ways to make allied or bound spirits full of annoying personality. Humakti allied spirits that are continually advocating to cast Sword Trance, because it's the only time they think their master has their priorities correct. Troll allied spirits that are constantly castigating their masters for being insufficiently violent and murderous. Or constantly reminding them to do things for their mother. Lhankor Mhy spirits sniffing disdainfully at this adventuring nonsense, and snarking about how its ruining their academic career. So many ways.

I just love Chaotic Mostali as potential villains. I don't want Krarsht to be the only Chaotic force they revere, but she is the most obvious vector, tunneling into Mostali territory directly bypassing their defenses - and not just in the Tunnelled Hills, but I've also put Chaos Mostali beneath the ruins of the Clanking City, and in the parts of the Jords Eye complex that have not fully been reclaimed since the underground wars against Krarsht there (IMG Jords Eye is now a functional city, but the parts that were too Chaotic just got walled off - and then Sheng busted the place up and large chunks of it are now a dangerous mega-dungeon complex). Particularly good villains for a gonzo 13th Age game, I use Derroes as Chaos Mostali, they look like Mostali but their brains are scrambled beyond repair. And they love not just Krasht but Pocharngo (why stick with nilmergs and gobblers when there is a whole array of crazy chaotic things to make?), Vivamort (other mortals are just raw materials), Thanatar, Primal Chaos, wild chaos sorcery, etc. Also, the mysterious and not yet described Xamalki, servants of Xamalk the Chaos god of Darkness, who are also burrowing creatures, and we know exist beneath Slon, and were major Chaos foes in the West (they attacked Luathela!) in the Great Darkness. They are probably Chaos foes of the Mostali still in Slon, and from there spread their influence to other Mostali areas. And in the East, dwarves are part of the armies of the antigods, so associated with all sorts of Chaotic and other bad behaviour. And the Mostali can sometimes magically 'tunnel' between cities, so Chaos Dwarves can turn up anywhere - the Tunnelled Hills is just a likely major stronghold. I like the idea of Krarshti Chaos Mostali trying to masquerade as lumpy ugly children, thank you Peter!

I thought that one was just obvious. Chalana Arroy is multiple cults melded together - Chalana Arroy = Xemela Arroin, which is probably Theyalans recognising their 'White Lady' in a Western hero cult and a Fronelan elf cult and smushing them together into one cult. Happens early because they have a tradition of being wanderers. And Eurmal only joins the Lightbringer Quest in the West in some versions, when he is rescued from being executed by the inhabitants of Sorcerer Town. Which would mean that though we think of the Lightbringers Quest as mostly a central Genertelan myth about Orlanth and Yelm, that Orlanth is almost the only one of the Seven who can really claim a Theyalan origin - Chalana is a gestalt deity from mostly western deities, Lhankor Mhy and Issaries were originally Western gods, while Trickster is Universal Eurmal may originally be a Western version of Trickster... the Lightbringer Quest is mostly a Western Myth cycle, Orlanth just (typically) thinks it is all about him. I'm sure there is a Western version of the story of how Worlath and Ehilm realised they were idiots and agreed to behave more like responsible Erasanchula, and the Compromise is actually the Erasanchula submitting to Law and Logic.

Yes. Which generally implies YarGan was associated with one or more of those groups, the Waertagi most obviously. Got overthrown half a continent away at Nida, in a dramatic reversal involving the Mostali - and we know different things (eg becoming mingled with the Vingkotlings) happened to the Kachasti other places, and there are plenty of areas (including the other end of the Janube) where Brithini survived without significant challenge from the Vadeli, you are trying to turn a remote local myth into a universal one. Well, in the sense we can't prove a negative in conspiracy theory, so we can't absolutely prove that myths that don't mention the Vadeli at all are secretly about them. But we actually have a myth cycle about the Waertagi and Brithini on the Janube that makes sense without the Vadeli and less sense if you introduce them (why are they messing about at the wrong end of the Janube despite that huge hostile city at the other? Why are they helping the Brithini?), so this seems to be a theory that only works if no one pulls out Occams razor. That, I am not so sure about. The Waertagi are generally associated with the sea gods, a minority even with Wachaza, and that really doesn't argue against monster gods that demand sacrifice (like Magasta). And they are generally represented as having some members who are more like Deep Ones than humans (perhaps with a fair bit of overlap with the Wachaza war clans?) - it is easy to see how a monstrous cannibal god who demands sacrifice and lurks under the water is associated with the Waertagi, but neither sacificial rites nor water seem to indicated Vadeli much. And YarGa.n seems to offer sanctuary to any sorcerers, which would seem to indicate that they weren't Vadeli (who would oppose Kachasti or Brithini). Plus YarGan is only associated with blue people (no Red warriors or brown workers or Yellow leaders), is not associated with Chaos, or allied with Mostali, etc. - you seem to be pretty much entirely hanging the dominance of the Vadeli off the idea that there is more than one kind of blue sorcerer, so it is a possibility.

Why would they be selective? You’d think they’d have some of the best access to Arkati teaching. While the Lunar College of Magic does have access to Carmanian and Spolite lore, with pretty much all the Carmanian sorcery in their archives after a few centuries of investigation, the core of Lunar sorcery seems to be a variant on Buserian celestial magic, Lunarised at first by Irripi Ontor and later by his cult. A random Lunar sorcerer might know how to summon Spolite demons of the deep darkness - but is much more likely to know how to invoke the power of the Red Moon and other celestial bodies (clear in the new IO write up). Not saying it’s impossible to have dark Spolite Lunar sorcerers, but they probably only teach it at the LCM as an advanced post-grad course. Though who knows, Natha and Gerra are both modern Lunar and Spolite deities.

My understanding is that the YarGan sorcery using peoples being Waertagi is more or less canon, as there are other references to a Waertagi tribe that goes up the Janube. But the reference to YarGan being Vadeli is not, and seems much harder to justify. Though we know that Vadeli sorcerous techniques (the Telendarian school) were used in Fronela several thousand years later, because if they weren’t then Talor wouldn’t have needed to ban them. But that is much much later.

Meh, you could definitely make the argument that enchant iron doesn’t provide extra armour points, it makes the metal harder and the extra APs are just one of many side effects. If you wanted to justify it.

Guys, arguing about Sunspear vs woad is fine, but you aren’t arguing with me, but with the official rules clarification about Sunspear I disagree as well (because I don’t think woad should mean Yelm worshippers will take you out), but that’s a house rule that contradicts the official rules clearly. FWIW, I often disagree with the rules clarifications too - sometimes they seem clearly misguided. And removing all the rules clarification threads from the forums so they only appear without their original context, and so I spent several minutes searching for this easy before I realised it had been deleted, extra pointless and annoying.

No we don’t, because Prince of Sartar does not attempt to show everyone present (and it’s clear from the scenario there are more involved than shown). But yes, it’s just one version, and all differs. in MOBs version of events, Argrath duels Count Julan. In mine, he does not, partly because I had a PC who really wanted to, and partly because it was clear that at the appropriate point Argrath would have his arms full with a giant gold disk.

Nope, well none of the PCs or their allies had the spell. of course we know from Prince of Sartar there was at least one Argan Argar defender, but he did not fight with my PCs.

It provides magical armour, like a long term Protection, which Sunspear specifically ignores.

I absolutely think it’s fine to give particular villains hand waved, unique, one off etc powers. I think taking a whole *class* of people, and a class that isn’t particularly rare or unusual, and to essentially say ‘we can’t make rules that work, so just make stuff up’ is just failed worldbuilding. saying your prized villain knows the true name of a particularly gruesome demon, or has a nice HeroQuest power, or whatever, sure. But ‘oh, making sorcerers is hard so just make stuff up when you want it to work differently’ - no thanks. That’s just papering over problems.

A few observations on high powered combat: In combat between high level combatants in RQG, almost everyone is effectively well over 100%, often very far above 100%, and so the first step in any combat action tends to be working out just how much their parry/dodge is reduced. I routinely saw things like 180% attack vs 150% parry, so parry at 70%. Even in just elite military, an attack chance above 100% is routine, just even elite troops it tends to only be the attack (due to Morale, Fanaticism, etc). There is a strong general tendency for everyones attack % to be higher than their parry %, as magic that increases attack is much easier to get. The only people who seem to have a realistic chance of having a parry close to their attack are Humakti (and Yanafals Tarnils) who have access to the Parry spell, and they tend to have a higher sword skill than shield, so sometimes would give up on parrying with their shields when fighting opponents of high skill. Hoplite tactics actually work very well, and even the most high powered characters find it hard to break through. The RQG hoplite rule seem to give a good feel. It was also effective because it didn't rely on being able to parry, just on passive shielding enough locations, because parry was quite unreliable - breaking a shield wall so they had to use their parry made a big difference. Work well, that is, until my PCs worked out that, if you are a hyper-competent, well defended, fighter that thoroughly outclasses your opponent and can withstand a couple of Firebladed spear attacks, and has a chance to hit so high that you still often hit at half chance, then waiting until the end of the round and doing an aimed blow to the head was a very effective tactic. I kind of like this - hoplites (or Yelmalion phalanxes even more so) are very effective against most normal troops, but fall like scythed wheat to Rune Lord types, which seems fair. Lunar combat magic is brutally effective - Mindblast is a single shot take down, and in practice may even be more effective than Sever Spirit in some ways (if you killed them, they can be resurrected, but Mindblast can't be dispelled). Lunar elementals Madness effect even more so - but rules clarifications indicate it can not be stopped by Countermagic! My players did work out a partial response to Mindblast though - Restore INT will lift their INT above 0, leaving them a lumbering idiot but one that can still hit things. I'd never thought of that before. As written, Woad is very very useful in prolonged battles except for one problem - if you are fighting Solar pantheon types, Woad might as well be a big blue sign saying "Sunspear Me", as the target has no armour effectively and it's almost impossible to survive. RQ2 and large RQG critters are comparitively quite fragile - not just in a general 'game balance' sort of way, but also in comparison to the damage they deal. Their damage bonus goes up much faster than their hit points. A moment of humour was a wyvern that fumbled, bit itself in the abdomen, and took itself out of the fight with one bite. To make them dangerous, then, most of them have a lot of natural armour, which is quite frustrating.

So yesterday, after wanting to do it for 30 years, and after at least twice as many sessions as we thought it would took, I finally finished running The Cradle scenario from the original Pavis boxed set. I changed it a fair bit - my PCs were originally from an RQ3 campaign, that also had a lot of community and house and playtest rules added over the years, and we hadn't played the characters in so long it seemed the right thing to do to convert them all to RQG (and then, of course, I had to convert all the enemy stats as well). They were all pretty tough - my party included a Sword of Humakt, a Wind Lord, a Storm Voice, as well as a Lhankor Mhy Sage and a Lanbril Master Thief, with even the latter two being weapon masters, and generally most with a bunch of magic point storage, etc. I added encounters with various powerful known NPCs into it - for example, in addition to the Hoplites and other troops described in the text, the assault at Pavis was led by Radak the Iron Centurion, the assault by the Sun Domers led by as Invictus and Belvani, the third assault at Corflu by Hucipetes commander of the Marble Phalanx, and the final climax featured the Coders trying to stop Garrath (and played roughly as described in MOBs recount of events, barring Garrath taking rather more of the credit in the 'official' version of events, as he tends to do). I also beefed up a lot of encounters with added magical attacks, spirits, Lunar elementals and demons - though they also had some known NPCs as allies (including Griselda and her crew), not that it helped them much. The end result was a very satisfying epic. I played it all out blow by blow, opponent by opponent, in true old school classic RQ2 style. I wouldn't do that if I was to try to play out a similar event again, I think - I'd make a lot more use of things like the Battle rules and abstract it a bit more. But part of the point was to do the Cradle, so we did it the hard way. But instead my PCs chewed their way through literally dozens of hoplites and other enemies, in gritty excruciating detail. Surprisingly, no fatalities! Though in two cases only due to lucky Divine Intervention rolls. It was in addition to my normal campaign, though with a large player overlap, and run as full day sessions, which made it difficult to organise (it was conceived as a special occasion thing) so there were weeks or months between sessions, and it took us more or less all year to finish it - we started in person, had to switch to online only during lockdown, and finished in person (but for the one player who has moved cities since we started, who joined remotely). It also served as a really very thorough test of running powerful high level combats using the RQG system! I learnt a lot about how combat functions at high power levels. And now we contemplate future high powered play sessions, this time for the same group but with a level of wealth that is beyond anything previously contemplated, as they left the Cradle with armfuls of gold.

It was introduced because Pavis was the first supplement that really dealt with the criminal element in Glorantha, as well as being the first supplement that dealt with urban areas in Glorantha. But right from its first publication it was said to be the god of the criminal underworld in 'human societies across the world', there just weren't supplements that dealt with other cities in detail until long afterwards. We didn't retrofit anything, because at the time there were no other supplements dealing with cities or the criminal underworld. We aren't retrofitting Lanbril to anything - we are finally getting around to having more than one moderate sized city described in any detail, and when we get around to describing the criminal underworld of cities in any detail, thief gods are one of the things that should be included, which means Lanbril for most of the Orlanthi cultural areas. Almost the opposite - urbanised societies are the ones that do have room for Lanbril. Thievery historically is well documented, with the Code of Hammurabi having laws against thievery, ancient magic dealing with thievery, and so on. It's always seemed that they aren't part of rural or clan life, and exist only where there is trade and a wealthy elite to prey on. I think you get cities, you get thieves.

In considering Viziers and Carmanian sorcerers, first thing I would say is bear in mind that thing that Jeff often says - we often don't consider history as changing cultural things as much as we should. By 1625, the Carmanians have had centuries of being Lunar subjects, and part of one unified empire, their cults are significantly Lunarised, and so on. If you want your Carmanian characters to be users of Lunar magic and Lunar sorcery, that would be perfectly fine. Many of the 'Old Carmanian' ways are centuries out of date. While there is certainly room for grim, Spolite Darkness and Death loving sorcerers and magicians - and they are fun - sure, but to a large extent Carmanian way and the Lunar way now overlap. Don't think there should be a hard division between Carmanian and Lunar magic. I agree that Magi are best left as NPCs. I don't think that's as much about sorcery as being a tiny elite obsessed with purity and seclusion from the world and pure philosophical thought. Viziers, though. They certainly do make for good cackling villains, and function as such in several Lunar stories. But RQ is a game that doesn't tend much to make special different rules for NPCs - if they are effective as NPC villains, they will probably be viable PCs too (barring relying on Chaos and generally things that require gross immoral behaviour). And if they are given rules that don't make them viable PCs, they may well not be very good NPC villains either. Of course it's possible to just handwave special case rules for your villains, but that seems rather against the RQ spirit. And practically, I don't see any reason why a Carmanian sorcerous PC should be that impractical, other than the sorcery rules seem designed to make it less fun (though not necessarily less effective) than it could be.

Irrippi Ontor can provide a rich source of playable sorcerers if your campaign allows. Unlike Lhankor Mhy, they get both overtly combat useful Spirit Magic and Rune Magic as standard (such as Befuddle and Mind Blast) without having to even bother with talking to associate cults, and are not initially restricted to only sorcery Truth magic (as Lhankor Mhy seem to be), but can have all sorts of practical and/or very combat effective sorcery available to them at character creation easily (eg Moonfire), in addition to most of the same spells as Lhankor Mhy. Irrippi Ontor is basically Lhankor Mhy with it fixed in every way to be more suitable for players who desire combat effectiveness. And there are a few other aspects of Irrippi Ontor/ general Lunar magic that easily make them devastatingly effective magicians at higher levels of experience, such as when they go on to become initiates of the Red Goddess. All that stuff about sorcerers only being good for boring NPCs appears to, perversely, only apply to cultures that are specialised in sorcery as their cultural magic (as well as LM). IO sorcerers look to be pretty wild. When the Gods book is out itching to do stuff around Lunar campaigns, including Carmanians.

It will include a lot of deities which you have not seen full write ups for previously. It will include Kygor Litor (as Jeff has pointed out, that joke is well over a quarter century old, and there has been no full write up of Kygor Litor published for RQG - and frankly, it's one of the more important cults to write up, and it would be really annoying if we didn't have a full writeup). The preview I have, from 2019, does not include Seseine. I would be very surprised if it gets added - Seseine is a cult that seems to have very little presence is central Genertela, which is the main focus of the Gods book. But that doesn't mean it won't appear in some official form.

Lanbril is essentially a minor deity worshipped by those of a particular profession, some ways comparable to a god like Minlister or Gustbran, except his profession is covert and considered undesirable, and so is his worship. Mythologically, he is unimportant, and he would no matter except he is useful to his worshippers. I think his status as a son of Grandfather Mortal would be common to many of these 'professional' gods, that exist as the minor god of a sort of thing that some mortals do. Compare, particularly, how in Kralorela there are the children of Aptanace the Sage, grandchildren of 'Grandfather Mortal' in this case, each of whom is the patron of a profession - the Kralorelan equivalent of Lanbril might be one of these. Some are important because of the importance of their profession, some have connections beyond the professional (such as important elemental associations, or important ancestry), some remain largely ignored by everyone but a few professionals. Gods of copyists and leathercrafters and charcoal burners and bookkeepers and bakers and millers and hundreds of other ways of making a living in a complex civilised society. And Lanbril stands out because: Thievery is a staple of both roleplaying games and fantasy fiction, so we want this one defined in a way that most other professions need not be. We want something for our thief PCs to use, so it has historically had a full write up, in contrast to, say, carpentry. Most other professional gods can be defined as a tiny sub-cult of a known god - little more than a name at best - but as Lanbril is considered socially unacceptable to be part of one of the main cults in society so needs to be dealt with separately. It mostly solves a bunch of world-building and GM plot building problems, by explaining how crime can flourish in a world with Divination and truth spells, spirits of retribution, etc. And so historically has had a full write up. But actually, we could probably have easily have just said thievery was an acknowledged part of the Orlanth cult (in the same way Hermes was acknowledged as the patron of thieves in the Greek pantheon) and others, written up a few notes about the Underworld, and made other explanations for the world-building (like making Divination Block accessible to others). That might even have been better world building, but it would have made for maybe less fun games, so long live Lanbril. It is claimed by God Learner types that all the thief gods are masks of the one Thief God, and I'd certainly make most of Lanbrils magic ultimately accessible to other Thief gods, though it is known that other thief cults (Selarn, or the Lamsabi) have a few magical variations. He also has a lot of 'cult only' skills etc, most of which really isn't at all restricted to the Lanbril cult (especially as a lot of it has a non-zero base chance - so anyone can do it badly, and then increase by experience, and then teach others), but they are the only people who have institutionalised it. The Lanbril cult sort of stands in for 'the underworld' in that respect. I certainly think that treating it as a collection of small organisations with tiny hero/spirit cults etc rather than anything close to a consistent organised cult is much better. Create variants for every new city you want to populate, and use the bits of Lanbril you like. Personally, one of the variants I keep bringing up is that there is probably a fair bit of overlap in practice between Lanbril type organisations, and ancestor worship - Ancestor worshippers tend to keep to themselves and stay out of many of the major cultural cults, and criminal organisations that are based on famiily bonds of trust are a common cross-cultural phenomenon. And Ancestor worship is very handy for criminals - for example, ancestors can teach spells or skills covertly without having to attract outside attention, and can provide thieves worried about magic without with good magical defenses.

It’s a weird one - allowing trolls to wield axes at their mace/maul percentage is definitely what the spell is supposed to do (clearer in the original Cults of Prax text maybe) but it has never been clear what mechanical advantage trolls get from this, if any (large trolls may actually lose out a little in combat against elves etc). I’m not sure this spell ever made real sense - it makes intuitive sense that axes will be far more effective weapons than maces against things made of solid wood at least, but I don’t know of any set of the rules where this is taken into account. (a running joke in my local RQ community at least that the lyrics of the tree chopping song start with “I’m a lumberjack, and I’m ok, ...”)

as Kloster has pointed out, yes, you can use the spells of a bound spirit, as page 366. It is only spirit magic, which is not as good as RQ3, but still great for an RQG sorcerer. There is no indication that either can teach the other spells - so sorcerers will want to summon spirits that they know already know potentially useful spirit magic. if you read only pg 249 on its own you might get confused. And in addition if the spirit has other abilities, you can order it to perform them for you. They are not drastically rare. Just down the page, you can read a new priest or lord has well over a 50% chance, and sorcerers more than that (the two attributes they use are Pow and Int, so you’d figure a sorcerer has a better than average chance). And that’s just at first - they get more chances later. I figure your average LCM (or adventurous) sorcerer has a pretty good chance.

For the heterodox and henotheist sorcerers that mix sorcery and worship (including Lhankor Mhy, Lunars, Arkati etc) allied spirits are obviously awesome for sorcerers. Let’s you effectively have a very strong ability to cast spirit magic without reducing your Free INT, or any other drawbacks.

There is a pretty obvious consequence to be drawn from the combination of Free INT, long casting times, a need for lots of magic points, powerful sorcery spells for commanding spirits, players wanting more dramatic sorcery, etc. Though I suspect it is not something that was designed into the system deliberately, IIRC quite the opposite, it seems hard to argue against from a practical perspective. Which is that sorcerers are going to find bound spirits so irresistibly advantageous I suspect most powerful sorcerers are going to want to get one. The answer to ‘how do sorcerers cast practical magic in combat’ is probably ‘they use spirit magic’ just like everyone else, only via having bound spirits that know the spells for them. The utility of bound spirits to sorcerers is enormous. And it ties into the more organised, collective, individually specialised nature of sorcery, too. A bunch of sorcerers will be experts in summoning and commanding certain spirits, a sorcerous school builds up a collection of known entities and classes of entities, binding enchantments can be a bit of a ‘rite of passage’. Capturing and exploiting spirits this way has always been something wizards could do (eg energy prison myths in Revealed Mythologies), there seems nothing against the strictures of Malkionism (or any practical rules reason why not) for wizards to capture and utilize spirits this way - they are enslaving them, not worshipping them or befriending them, Zzabur is fine with that. So while RQ3 sorcery tried to have rules that meant wizards would have to have familiars, and largely failed to achieve what it wanted (both PC and NPC sorcerers avoided the obvious animal familiars due to the INT reduction, and instead we got more and more strange stretches of the rules, some of the most dubious in ‘official’ publications), RQG said that sorcerers didn’t need familiars - but organically created a situation where every sorcerer will find a familiar (or other bound spirit) so practically useful as to make a huge different in their playability and utility, and clearly the best use of a couple of POW points. Ironically, this happens largely because sorcerers is so deliberately constrained and weakened that even the best sorcerers will find pure sorcery lacking in important ways compared to spirit magic.