davecake

I say, I say, that was a joke son. But since you bring it up, here is a quote from the Guide (emphasis mine).

They have Trickster in the East Isles, same as everywhere. I don't think Trickster is usually a Parondpara or a Parloth or a mystic deity (though there could certainly be a mystic tradition that attempts to reclaim the Trickster). Not all gods have to be. There will be Tricksters known across a few Islands, or that have a few local legends. Many Tricksters will be considered among the antigods. We actually know of a whole bunch of Tricksters gods from the East Isles from various official sources, but especially the Sartar Companion Eurmal writeup. One is Invisible Jayoran, a Thief aspect trickster who stole his fathers magic cattle, weapons, and ship then sailed away leaving a doomed island behind. Another East Isles Trickster lived for 78 years and had sex with a different married woman every night (Seducer aspect, obviously). Denbro the Almighty, who comes from an island whose population is 222 people. Vor Faraga Zel, who eats people and mermen, and is considered an antigod. Thats the four mentioned in existing Trickster writeups I could find. I'm sure there are many more. Keets may well be Tricksters too. Of course, an alleged Sparrow keet pirate called named Jack is obviously an East Isles Trickster..... Australians might also recall hearing of a parrot keet in the pudding thief business, an obvious Trickster, the Magical pudding in question being a small god, a grumpy Parondpara that provides food for its people my giving of (endlessly renewed) self. A belligerent penguin keet is among his defenders.

The only source I know of that canonically mentions Naga in Glorantha they are in Pamaltela, fighting Chaos in the Gods War - and this text, while very old, is in the Guide. Whether this (like the mention of the Ivameli) is a really old name for a race that is given a different name later (dragonnewts? Lascerdans? Slarges? the little known Yaquma anaconda people, who might be either hsunchen or something else?), or some race that did not survive into the modern era, or something else, is an open question. Regardless, I think beings like the serpent guardians known in Genertela exist in Pamaltela, but more powerful and plentiful due to the survival of Pamalt, whereas most of those in Genertela died with Genert.

In Cults of Terror, the Crimson Bat cult had a Glow Spot Rune spell, with a radius of 20 metres. I think in RQG, the Red Goddess cult can cast a similar spell (all of its members are Illuminated Rune Masters of Lunar or related cults as a pre-requisite, and then must past further examinations). A few Lunar heroes are of such power that they can have this effect more or less continuously. Jar-Eel in particular I feel does, or at least can manifest such a Glow Spot almost at will. And I've run it as certain Lunar demons, for example, having similar magic. It seems plausible that certain magical items might as well. In RQ2, that Wand of the Seven Phases was certainly a very powerful item, but it didn't quite do that - it worked that way only for the person who was attuned to it, not for anyone near them.

Lunars via the Young Elementals can acquire all but Air. and no doubt some have. And actually use them - summoning elementals, for example. Illuminates can also acquire opposed Power Runes, compared to that multiple Elements are easy! Lunar Illuminates are large, they can contain multitudes. That does not necessarily follow. As Eff says, there is a lot more to it than just a lot of rune percentages. Not they aren’t handy, of course - Lunars ability to produce surprise elementals is definitely useful, though not overwhelming.

Deezola is Lunarised Ernalda (well, technically Dendara, who is roughly Solarised Ernalda), not Chalana Arroy. Her healing magic is very similar to Ernaldas (so quite good, but not as good as CA), and she also has some Earth magic (weaker than Ernaldas) and some association with rulership. Hon-Eel seems like Lunarised Ernalda, but she is really more Esrola- she is a grain goddess. Old publications described Deezola as having been a priestess of Arachne Solara with healing and Earth powers - I don’t think she has ever been linked with CA in any official publication? Though it’s true the 7M did used to be the only other cult with reusable resurrect.

There will be no definitive single answer, because not all poetic traditions are the same, even within the same culture. But generally: Sing for performance. Augmented depending on circumstance, but could be by Orate, a Passion, Acting, Persuade, Charm - largely depends on what you are tying to do. I’d avoid using Art for performance- the description is pretty clearly for concrete things, and overlaps with Orate. Speak <language> for composition - augmented as appropriate. As the language score goes up, it becomes increasingly concerned with things like standard figures of speech and metaphors, rhetorical conventions, etc. that directly relate to poetry. Speak <any theyalan language> probably includes knowledge of standard kennings. (and language skill is less about things like very large vocabulary, and formal grammar, than it would be in a more modern setting. Lots of regional usage and understanding of dialect, though, mostly without the modern idea of a ‘standardised’ version of the language (well, except maybe for New Pelorian)) Passion totally helps - if you are trying to convey your own passion, which is not all poetry. We now think of poetry as almost purely art for arts sake for conveying personal passion, but historically there were professional poets who did it for money, including ‘praise singers’ employed by the wealthy. What you augment with should not just improve the quality of the work, but also obviously determine its nature. Customs skill almost certainly includes knowledge of standard poetic works in many cutures, and usually Homeland Lore and Cult Lore too (especially for Orlanthi).My PCs include several long term Glorantha fans who will recite the famous snippets of Orlanthi cult poetry in play. The most famous poem across Orlanthi culture is probably (still) the Immolation, about when Lokamayadon had Rastalulf’s stead burnt with him and his family still inside. And it probably gets invoked when a stead is burnt or other cowardly or treacherous act, and against unjust leaders. The Lunars also have a great poetic tradition, particularly with Deezola, who is patron of poets among other roles. It’s more formal and restrained than the Orlanthi one. I like the Viking stories about poets as inspiration for Orlanthi Poets (in addition to the Immolation song, inspired by Njals saga). A good example is Egil Skallagrimson, a brutal angry murderer but a great poet, who manages once to ransom his life when king Eirik Bloodaxe wants to kill him by writing a great poem praising the king. Egil and his father both use insulting poems regularly in their feuding with various enemies too.

Barntar is generally considered a sub-cult, or closely associated cult, of Orlanth - you can move from one to the other with minimal penalty. It’s more a matter of different rites rather than a new initiation for most people. And the Lunar authorities don’t generally convert the rural peasantry to more than lip service to the Lunar way even in Dara Happa - it’s still all Lodril and Oria - so as long as ‘Orlanth’ worship looks like a farmers agricultural cult, which it generally does at the clan level, it is tolerated. Sure it’s suspiciously rebellious, but potentially so is Lodril. Even if they mention Orlanth but only ask him for rain, they probably get away with if a Lunar priest isn’t in attendance - and so large population is there that can become Orlanthi warriors very quickly if the priests start practicing the Destor rites or similar. But what the Lunars won’t tolerate is Orlanth as a god of kings. They will savagely suppress Orlanth Rex rites that challenge their rule. And all the tribal or other cross clan rites are at least in part Orlanth Rex rites. So not only do the Lunars forbid them, and actually enforce it where able, they try to make it as difficult as possible to reinstate them, by capturing Orlanth Rex regalia where they can, killing leaders who perform them, etc. They haven’t got to the stage of forbidding Rex rites of tribal coronation yet in Sartar, but I think they have in Tarsh, and probably in some other provinces. Which is largely another perspective on what Nick said. The Lunars will react badly to large gatherings of warriors, especially ones intrinsically associated with Orlanth as ruler that are intrinsically rebellious. As long as it looks like a gathering of farmers for agricultural worship, they won’t make too much of a fuss, as plausible deniability suits both sides (though a few might suspect rebellion, and some even investigate it, and probably find it, that’s cool story stuff not the general status quo).

Deezola is not analogous to Chalana Arroy, she is Lunarised Ernalda. She has significant healing powers, but comparable to Ernalda (or more precisely Dendara), not as deep as Chalana Arroy. Deezola also command over the Earth, an association with sovereignty, etc. Deezola was a Dendara priestess when alive. The Dara Happan equivalent of Chalana Arroy is Erissa the White Lady, a daughter of Yelm - but the Chalana Arroy cult considers it just a sub-cult, so Erissa cultists May freely join and associate with Chalana Arroy cultists.

If you call it a scimitar or a kopis, it works the same - a Humakti who abandons the cult for Yanafals Tarnils suffers from the Humakti spirit of reprisal and straight swords will shatter in their hand, but curved single edged blades such as the kopis/aka scimitar do not, and the Yanafals Tarnils cult offers retraining so that in a few weeks a convert will be fighting at their old level of skill with a broadsword using a kopis/scimitar, or old level of skill with a great sword using a sickle sword (or rhomphia), old level of skill with a dagger using a sickle.

Huh - Chaos is Mercury.

I remember reading an article about the difficulties of 'historical accuracy' in film and tv - one of the problems being that film and tv, outside of historical documentaries, generally wants costumes that conforms to people modern preconceptions about historical clothing, and some historical realities can be jarring for modern audiences. And one of the difficult aspects that Viking era nobility would like to show of their wealth by having clothing with hard to weave patterns like checks, and in the brightest most vivid dyes they could afford - and to modern audiences it would look like the mighty Viking chief was wearing clown pants. Another example for renaissance settings is that to us, pink dresses connote femininity, innocence, just right for your young woman character - but to nobles of the time, it mostly meant you were too poor to afford a decent red. I'd actually like to know a bit more about the fashion of Sartar, Esrolia, Tarsh etc. For example, if orange is the 'Air' colour, is it a patriotic choice for Sartarites? Or do the Lunars carefully distinguish between shades of red? And are there particular dyes, and what are their sources? I'd assume there are some vegetable dyes, but also maybe marine sources from the Holy Country? Beetles, obtained from the Uz? Alchemical sources, perhaps from the West?

Conforming what others have said - it is more or less a sword on a stick, a polearm - in the RQ3 Glorantha Bestiary, which I think is when a swordstick was first mentioned, it was described as being the wind child name for a naginata, but glaive will do just as well, I suspect the details of the sword follow local custom (and quite possibly the wind children trade for them, it seems unlikely they are great metalworkers).

I was thinking something similar. The original appearance of Hungry Jack in WF 1 said that Noting multiple Hungry Jacks, and multiple Convergences (one in the vicinity of Dorastor does not seem implausible, or one in the vicinity of Koromondol). So it could be a different one - but it would have to be much later than Bright Empire times (unless the Convergences are even strange enough to interfere with causality/linear time). I don't know if they have been mentioned since! Its also possible that the Jack O'Bears are created without direct agency, as a result of the transformative 'inside out' process that things consumed by Hungry Jack go through (as described in WF1), when Hungry Jack swallowed a powerful bear. It seems likely, too, that Hungry Jack, as a vegetable monster, has some very nasty mythic origin that the elves probably know about and aren't discussing. It's also possibly that some deity, who knows who, used some sort of vast knife to carve out Jacks eyes and mouth as some sort of terrible ritual to awaken him.

I may or may not have binged this entire comic's archive this evening and enjoyed it immensely. It is terrific, isn't it? A great combination of really interesting and fun but little known mythological material with a cheeky and modern sense of humour, plus charming art.

Have you seen the Narts comic? Caucasian sagas in comic form

The Aldryami of the Jungle worship Yelm, particularly the Errinoru dynasty - but that doesn't necessarily help much, as the Aldryami of Umathela have not that much in common with the Alryami on the other side of the continent.

I bought the last copy the author had at RQ Con DU in 2018.

I take it you don’t know many goths 😁

As she is a goddess, I take the 'old fashioned way' to be 'in a mysterious vague mythic fashion', not overly concerned with the specifics.

While this still makes me wish I had access to it, it does give me a good idea of when it is likely to be worth me asking questions about it.

Ah, no, the Swords of Ibiros really were just mass produced permanent Bladesharp 3, and also notoriously blasphemous God Learner magic from the infamous Clanking City. So probably not an easy or sensible thing for PCs to recreate. I have the preview of the Gods book. Yes, Gustbran has access to enchant spells as an initiate, though fairly normal ones. More powerful magic weapons would be matrices for spells, or have a spirit bound into them, I think.

Do we? Source?

Waves at John Crel misses out the most important bit - the ritual itself. You go into combat with a Fireblade on the weapon (or any heat sufficient to temper the blade and keep it up through the whole ritual, but Fireblade is by far the easiest for most people), then attack an intelligent enemy and sacrifice the POW (or at least, complete the ritual). If the attack fails, the ritual isn’t completed correctly (no POW loss), if the attacks hits but the enemy survives the ritual fails and the POW is lost, if the blow hits and the enemy dies, the ritual is a success - POW lost and weapon is enchanted when wielded by the wielder. +1 damage, +5% to hit and parry, and +2HP (+3 if it was iron). It’s supposed to be unconnected to any god, so castable by just about anyone. I really like it, it’s a fun but not overpowering bump for PCs and the ritual is both fun to play out and evocative, with its human sacrifice/temper by quenching in blood themes. no idea how it would be adapted to RQG.

If you want one, you’ll want the other. The overlap is small (mostly just the Elder races stuff), and the overview of mythology in the Sourcebook is a perfect companion piece for the Guide. The Sourcebook also has a lot of deep background that is very valuable for Sartar or Lunar games.