davecake

Chaos includes both moral evil (Wakboth) and the intrinsic brokenness of the universe (Kajabor). The former is a result of nihilism, the latter shows nihilism is justified because we live in a world without moral law. But it's circular. Without the chaos cults, and the moral wickedness of eg the Unholy Trio, the non-sentient forms of chaos like gorp etc might have stayed outside the world. The Void or the Pre-Dark are scary but part of the metaphysics of creation - it's when Chaos intrudes into creation, sentient or not, that it becomes dangerous, and that may not be something that happens without magic that makes it so. Without Pocharngo, would there be gorp at all?

Chaos is nihilist, basically. Chaotic beings do awful things for two reasons 1) they gain power or pleasure or other perceived advantage to themselves by doing so and/or 2) why not? Chaos rejects all law and morality. It is, itself, not just a rejection of law and morality as we know it, but natural law. Chaos says, in a world steeped in and sustained by magic, magic that depends on, and is controlled by, subjective understanding, every law and moral principle we know may be meaningless. Of course, many chaotic beings don't understand it at that intellectual level. Most of them just know that something is wrong inside and they hate everything. An Illuminated chaotic being knows that they aren't wrong, just different, and they may not hate everything. But they still have a somewhat nihilist core worldview, or at least, know (at a deep, innate level) that there are no objective laws and morals. Some over come this by finding a moral centre based in a subjective, usually carefully reasoned, understanding of the universe , and only commit atrocities if if is considered absolutely necessary (most Arkati or Darudists, etc), some do not and find no reason not to commit atrocities if there is some perceived value in it to them. Sometimes they never find any sort of centre and basically go mad. Which exact category the Lunars, or any given illuminate for that matter, falls into is a matter of debate.

The percentage of people that are 'magic', and just how magic they are, will vary by cult and community somewhat. Orathorn, which seems to be a community of powerful sorcerers, will be higher than normal. Communities that have to spend a lot of time just on physical survival, or that are very focused on wealth, or have a high percentage of truly oppressed, might be lower. This is one reason why, in HeroQuest community terms, some communities have a high Magic attribute and some do not.

I think the rate at which units are eliminated in WB&RM is not as significant as implied. For one thing it was the first gam the company designed and not every detail taken too literally. But more importantly, the elimination of a unit from battle doesn't mean everyone was killed, except quite rarely. It means some are dead, some are wounded with major injuries that take time to recover, some are wounded with minor injuries but that mean they might not catch up with the unit for weeks, some are injured (physically or mentally) enough that they retire, some have deserted, some are AWOL for other reasons, some must deal with other duties, some are fine but without a mount, some need new equipment, some units are without supplies they need to campaign, some are suffering from loss of leadership or terrible morale. The percentage of actual deaths is pretty low.

On a related note, I noticed last night that Irripi Ontor sages have a cult stricture to never leave a wrong statement uncorrected. Presumably only the ones who use the Moon Rune as Truth, not the ones who use it as Illusion. But still, the thing that strikes me is that Irripi Ontor sages are the masters of "Well, actually...", endlessly interrupting to note some small inaccuracy. It's my new roleplaying note for them (even the lying Illuminated ones I'm sure still have the mental habit). any resemblance to some long term participants in Glorantha fandom surely entirely coincidental.

I already made my own LM beard the old-fashioned way. But perhaps I should have a formal overbeard. I do have a couple of worn friends who have crocheted themselves excellent beards.

I think I should follow Davids suggestion, and download all those text archives locally, so I can turn two research phases into one. Thanks for the tip, David. And now I know that the Dead Place is alkali flats, it makes me think particularly of the Black Rock Desert of NW Nevada. Perhaps the Winter Ruins are called that because in mid-summer, they have a temporary tent city festival there, at which they celebrate the sacrifice of the earth to sustain life amidst the harshest conditions, with art and hedonism. Perhaps they not only celebrate Ernaldas sacrifice to sustain Storm Bull, but also celebrate how the burning of the Redwoods by Oak-fed kept man alive in the Darkness, by burning a huge wooden man that they all dance around. (In case anyone misses the reference, the Black Rock Desert is where the Burning Man festival takes place. I've attended several times, and can attest that the conditions are extremely harsh and generally inimical to life.)

Fresh water is associated with healing and cleansing, if not purification as such. Heler has significant healing powers, Arroin is healing water (at least to the elves, and creating healing liquids has always been part of his experise). A mythic explanation of the salt/fresh split needs to take that into account. Also, of course, why fresh water satisfies thirst but salt does not (for land life, sea creatures of course are different). I love the idea of Nelat as purifier as a significant part of (at least Western) alchemy. The whole discussion of the metals is interesting in that the Salt, Sulfur, and Mercury that are the three alchemical principles of terrestrial western alchemy have all shown up in one way or another (if we tie sulfur to Lodrils volcanic nature). Grand inspiration for Gloranthan alchemy!

Yes, Orlmakt appears much later, but I've only just started, it's still 1618, so he may appear much ahead of schedule (or not, if my players are disinclined to travel to track him down). The spear question is an interesting one. An Elmali flaming spear myth HeroQuest should figure in there somewhere.

Trachodon Marsh - what exactly is the relationship between trachodons and magisaurs? Are the they same? Or is just the biggest magisaurs? Why so many here?

I remember that article about the New Fens too, and being intrigued but not really knowing what to do with it.

The Dolutha are shaping up to be a significant part of my Red Cow campaign, as one PC is from there, and the PCs have all decided friendship with the Dolutha is a goal. The campaign has very little about has very little about the incident in which Orlmakt Nine-Winds breaks Ferfals Fire, the sacred spear of the Dolutha. My PCs would like to maybe track down Orlmakt, and maybe try to repair the spear somehow. Any suggestions? I'm currently thinking some sort of recreation of Ferfals defeat of the Grazers might feature. But possibly when they prepare for Grazers, ghouls might show up.

The Taran-il would make a fun house for PCs to be a part of.

Yuthupan Star Tower - compare the Round Tower (Rundetaarn) in Copenhagen. It's 17th, so the comparison is a loose one, but it's a tower built as an astronomical observatory, with a helical internal path up inside the tower, wide enough for horses. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rundetaarn

It is my assumption that Spol is the regional source of vampirism. All the Guide tells us directly is that vampirism is a problem in Carmania, and Spol is associated with necromancy, Darkness, etc. so I'm joining the dots to an extent, but it doesn't seem outrageously so. I do think cannibalism and vampirism are generally considered the same, or even that closely related, in Glorantha. I think YarGan is still a better fit for Waertagi than Vadeli. He is strongly associated with underwater beings, for example. Sacrificing to dark gods is nothing new for the Waertagi (who worship Magasta etc.).

One might equally ask do the Vadeli have any association with water, is there anywhere else we have ever heard of Blue Vadeli operating separately to other, Vadeli. Or why you think the Kachisti territory is the same as the Vadeli and Mostali range in a story specifically about Nida. It's just not a very good fit. There is no reason why it can't be a different sorcerous squabble. Land its beside the point really. The question is really more about Spol. By all means keep pushing the Blue Vadeli theory if you wish, but I don't think the case is getting stronger. Though man, be helpful if we still had lore auctions.

I agree that Murharzarms empire was primarily a rice-growing one, based along the river, but I don't think that old Naveria relied on irrigation. Barley and millet are both fairly drought tolerant, and can survive only on the rains of Entekos. And the Wet/Dry distinction is quite clear on GROY pg 51. Also, notably associated with Jenarong. This may also be a story about the different Lodril/Turos cults (one of the big differences between the two is the Turos is a god of Power, but Lodril is subservient to Yelm).

I don't see any mention of those beings being hydralike,, or many headed, and in the Extark story it's the opposite (the Extark is specifically woman like). The Extark story etc are probably more references to Gorgorma, or a related being, the monstrous feminine. I guess you could stretch it to say that as some forms of Gorgorma have snakes for hair, that is potentially hydra like?

I don't buy the Blue Vadeli theory either, speculation about the Vadeli half a continent away near Nida regardless. I think the question is are vampires in Spol related to native Spolite deities and have always been there, or did they arrive in the historical era and decide Spolite necromancy was a good cultural fit?

Peter has beat me to noting the Iron Crown reference. Allegedly, it is eventually stolen by Balazar. It has the power to grant the wearer unlimited use of the Command Worshippers spell, but if they fail to overcome the power of everyone in range it summons spirits of reprisal (not quite sure which one).

This chapter equates Bisos and Urox. This doesn't feel very convincing to me - sure, they are both bull gods, but many other things are quite different.

Carmania has a couple of mentions of vampires in Spol. It seems a reasonable speculation that the Vampire Legion might originate in Spol? We might also speculate that, unless there are other vampiric legends, those vampires are from the Western (Vivamort) vampiric variety, rather than the southern Nontraya variety?

The Joker Prince has been part of the Redline histories for a very long time!

Is there another reference to the word ejem anwhere? Or know what it means? From context, one might speculate its meaning is not unlike rishathra.

Karantes - the story of the Red City, and the Red King, is in the Entekosiad. The Hero ArLenish is in a footnote in The Entekosiad. But I do not know where the goddess who is worshipped as a hydra is from.