Joerg

Babadi are part of the antigod tribes in Revealed Mythologies. As subterranean species, they might show up in a few places. Whether they are aligned with the Arandinni adpara races is another question. Uz appear to be absent from Vithela proper. Whichever path Black Entekos created to leave Wonderhome, it doesn't look like any of the fleeing uz had taken that path. The reports whether Lightfore/Kargzant (the cold sun wanderer, not Antirius/Elmal the cold sun atop the pillar) ever descended into the Underworld prior to his destruction by Shargash is another question. If he did, his brightness may have frightened any trolls off that path. The Andins or Arandinni appear to be a parallel to the uz or Shargash's Shadzorings, and may have replaced them. I wouldn't be surprised if all of them were manifestations or descendants of Zorak Zoran, who is a Darkness deity not descended from Kyger Litor and hence not a troll ancestor. (Much like the Kitori race is an acquired reflection of the species of the Only Old One - with conscious use of the terms race and species.) The metaplot that was distributed among authors and fact checkers during the Hero Wars era connected the antigod activities of the Hero Wars with the Chaos as manifest in the non-Vithelan lands. No idea whether Zanch Mator, Lord of the Miasmic Hordes, is still on the horizon for the Hero Wars as portrayed by RQG. He may have been tied to the Twin Phoenix Saga which plays out between the Arandinni islands and their eastern neighbors. We know a few Adpara mortal or demigod species (or possibly races, if they can interbreed - not that anybody really wants to linger on adpara procreation). Andinni, FuShan (Vormain's servant race of their expression of the Adpara called Ezdali), Huan-to (Kralorela), Gorgers (formerly Duravan, now limited to Kimos). Of these, only the Huan-to are clearly described as chaotic in nature. Possibly due to the absence of descriptions of most of the other of these species. The Gorger psychic aura described in their RQ3 treatment in the Bestiary has not been identified as chaotic. Neither Andins nor FuShan have seen any official rules treatment whatsoever. (But then, we have no values for Shadzorings, either, and while Kitori are assumed to use troll, human or Dehori stats when in one of those forms, we don't have any rules for that or their changing between those states, either.) Dragonewts appear to be restricted to Kralorela and Teleos, with the latter being inhabited by Pamaltelan-descended humans, though I can't say whether of Doraddi-Agimori stock or of Thinobutan-Agimori stock. Teleosan culture is obscure, but Eastern influences are strong among the outsider presences on the island. We know two major deities from Vithelan myths to have dragon natures. One is Dogsalu, born to a high-ranked Adpara mother presumably descended from Vith and Gebkeran, the other is Harantara, known to the Kralori as Thrunhin Da. This may well mean that all the Vithelan deities are expressions of the True Dragons, or devolved from those into the shapes known to modern Gloranthans, or otherwise that at some stage of their mystic unrealization they became as draconic as Obduran the Flyer did during the EWF, and possibly others. (Not the leaders on the Third Council, though.) If the Avanparloth do indeed have draconic identity, it is possible that the Andins and other Adpara demigod or mortal races are the Vithelan version of immature draconic births. It looks like the Parloth were too mature to produce immature dragons, with the possible exception of that two-headed island deity with the swan-wife, south of the Vithelan continent on the edge of the Outer World. Aldryami, Zabdamar and Ludoch are descendants of lesser antigods unrelated to Gebkeran. Sea and Forest may be descended from Vith and Mairnali through the Parloth deities of Vithela, though, or just a form of intruders due to the Collision of Worlds - another idea Greg was keen on during the Issaries Inc. era, alongside (and explanatory to) the strict Four Different Worlds doctrine of that era. Revealed Mythologies clearly is a source from that era, but is the only deep source we have on eastern mysticism and other myth next to what snippets made it into the Guide. While the rest of the world may not subscribe to this Collision of Worlds theorem of canon any more, there is a possibility that Vithelan myth still does. Taktari appear to be another expression of Mostali, alongside the Babadi. Sorn are a fallen group of keets - mortals gone wrong. Keets and other anthropomorphic birds may be a precursor to the Vithelan (and Dara Happan/Rinliddic) humans. What are the Vithelan creation myths for keets, for humans? The Eresteenes might include the Huan-to of Kralorela - they definitely include the servants of the Huan-to.

Good question, one I asked myself when reading the claim that the 'newts were the most alien of the Elder Races. (A title which I would pass on to either the Grotarons, the Hoolars, or the Gold Wheel Dancer (singular because Pinchining is the only one within living memory). The mostali are sapient tools. Some of them may be sentient, too, especially the True Mostali. All True Mostali were manufactured by Mostal and whichever Mostali castes preceded them. Each were made for the new tasks their caste had been designed for, while having quite a bit of free will, initiative, and leeway to perform their tasks. After all, they had the lesser animated creations to do their repetitive work for them. After Mostal was dislocated by the emergence of Storm, Mostal stopped to contribute directly to the world, but his creations attempted to continue his work and set the world right again to the best of their knowledge and ability. This makes True Mostali fairly relatable, as demigods go. The self-reproducing Clay Mostali aka dwarves could be mostly non-aging humanoids, but for all their use of biological self-replication, they are a lot less capable of independent or original thought. There are rare exceptions, but most of them are on the extreme end of the functional autism spectrum. This makes them a lot less relatable - I find it easier to come up with adventures for dragonewts than I do for dwarves. The dwarves portrayed in RQ2 era publications - mainly Griffin Mountain or the four boxed adventure sets by Integrated Games (1984-1987) - depict dwarves that fit AD&D tropes better than they do the Gloranthan variety, something which led to Greg Stafford's Different Worlds diatribe "Why I Dislike Mostali". The encounters in Griffin Mountain are entirely relatable, and would make quite playable characters. They are also completely outside of any Mostali norms (even those of Individualist- and Openhandist-ridden Greatway), and would be recycled almost instantly if they ever wandered near the Nidan Decamony. The Flintnail dwarves in Pavis are a rare crossbreed population inheriting humanity and other racial traits from that extraordinary individual Pavis. Some of their behavior is more in line with dwarven orthodoxy than the overland encounters in Griffin Mountain. But then, we don't know the castes or job descriptions of the Elder Wilds rangers based in Greatway. They might be a batch of experimental specimen created to explore the teeming abomination called forest. Apostate dwarves might be less alien than apostate dragonewts. Fully orthodox dwarves are IMO less relatable than orthodox dragonewts. I might allow a broken Flintnail dwarf in a Pavis campaign. Maybe a stranded handler of slave humans from Dwarf mine. In social situations, they would be as out of their depths as a ludoch on a mountain climb. The campaign would have to be one focussed on problem solving rather than social interaction for either to be fun to play, I think. A player wishing to play a dragonewt in my games would have to be very fluent in Gloranthan and especially draconic and mystical lore, or someone willing to remain oblivious of most of the game world. I would allow either as a sidekick character with occasional spotlight. If an Orlanthi noble may have a bonded Eurmali, other characters may burden themselves with oddballs like these. Aldryami are pretty much the same when it come to me GMing them. At least, unless Shannon Appelcline manages to make them as relatable as Sandy did with the trolls. Trolls are no worse than Eurmali or Storm Bulls as player characters. Caveat emptor. Trollkin or ducks are at a great disadvantage. Either race would make interesting sidekicks for Argrath's Warlocks. That company already sets the tone for scenarios and heroquesting where such characters and what would be flaws in regular adventuring may become assets. In a slapstick (MOB MGF convention scenario-style) game, anything goes. Also in a Order of the Stick-like campaign in Glorantha.

And if you look up at Orlanth's Ring, there is a 3 in 7 chance that one of the three new stars is that of that formerly theoretical deity... The real question seems to me: has anybody ever tried "mining" those firebergs, and bottling them? The History of the Heortling Peoples mentions turtle barges from Slontos spouting fire sailing all the way up to Durengard in the Second Age. But then, there is no mention of burning water, or of stuff floating on that water which burns. Gloranthan siegecraft can be quite interesting. Lobbing incindiaries into cities has a long tradition, with varying carriers for delivery. Harald Hardradas feat in Sicily (releasing doves with burning rags bound to their feet - presumably separated by a piece of cord - just outside their home city) may easily be repeated with magically controlled avians or similar flyers. Anti-personnel incindiaries other than Firearrows may be less developed, Firearrow is your instant molotov. Soaking enemies with flamable liquid probably isn't exactly new, either. Hot pitch is a favorite in sieges. Hot oil or grease works, too, but usually you don't waste valuable survival food as incendiaries. Low evaporation flammable liquids are known. One type is known as perfume. Again, not your usual type of incendiary missile, but one uses what one has on hand. I wonder how well oiled beards and locks will catch fire. But then, Dara Happans might have magic that renders them immune to fire damage. I guess that DHan bathing culture might involve being rubbed down in oil and then setting it aflame, both for hair removal and odor removal.

The only historical sources which give some information on the logistics of building projects that I have in my collection are the data of Edward Longshanks' castle projects in Wales. We don't know about crew sizes or materials cost of the Sartarite princes, but we do know what projects each of them initiated and finished, and we know their reigns. All ruling descendants of Saronil left some rather big projects behind, even Jorasar with his rather short reign, who extended the royal road from Jonstown to Dangerford. Given the quality of Sartarite royal roads, this was no mean achievement, although the fact that his father Jarolar already had begun (possibly finished) the walls at Dangerford, this may already have been fully planned when Jarosar took over.

To address the original question - why would dragonewt warriors hire themselves out as mercenaries? Death in combat is a form of utuma, while taking experience in actual, serious combat may a strong way to overcome some of the mystical requirements to enter the next (tailed priest) stage for a warrior stage dragonewt. Fighting well and dying well may be quite the boon. There is no indication of dragonewt priests hiring out to the Lunars Sartarites. Moirades 1602 at Boldhome, Fazzur Wideread 1620 in Karse and Sor-eel 1621 against the Cradle are the reported incidents of dragonewts being hired by the Lunars. Prior to that, the Battle of Quintus Vale may have seen dragonewt mercenaries in Tarshite service, and we know about the dragonewt involvement in the battle(s) of the Smoking Ruins. Those may have seen dragonewt priest stage involvement. Human hunts may be for special meat consumption, but there is also a possibility that the dragonewts go about erasing a karmic debt that may have been accumulated either by themselves (for false positive interaction with local humans) or in reaction to a "transgression" of humans against some unknowable greater plan of theirs. Karmic balance is something the 'newts value, according to all scholars who wrote on this subject. As the GM, you can go with any combination of reasons and durations, or targeting preferences - maybe they hunt only humans wearing a specific color, or marked by an otherwise innocent pattern? Note that the dragon averted the Crimson Bat prior to the use of the dragonewts as utuma storm troopers. Might have been the Inhuman King upping the ante for the mercenary fee, or fulfilling an older obligation before lending his aid to the Lunars. There is a single dragonewt plinth in the region of Pavis, It might be possible to re-activate that with suitable sacrifice (which Sor-eel would have had to provide) in order to get the 'newts on site. I cannot recall any historical precedence for the principality of Sartar fielding dragonewt mercenaries, but then Sartar never needed shock troops to overwhelm a defensive structure. Rogue dragonewts don't re-incarnate, or at least they don't do so easily. This might disincline them to engage in mortal peril, unless they are really nihilistic. The dream was in all likelihood some form of ritual preparation or echo. It had the specific effect to liberate the Rubble from the troll seal, an event that flooded the royal coffers of Sartar with lots of treasures from the ruins. I assume that Sarotar, Jarolar, Tarkalor, Dorasar (as kid sidekick of Sarotar), and possibly also Onelisin were among the first explorers to enter the Rubble, and that being rather fresh, possibly collecting quite a few treasures that had been ignored by the trolls or previous to the sealing by plundering nomads. There is even a possibility that this was set into motion by King Sartar, among others with his visit of Badside (then "city of thieves") when he made the peace deal between the Pol Joni and the Paps. It may have been a reward of him becoming King of Dragon Pass.

About your building time estimate for a small log fort: We know that the Roman legions (since the time of Marius) were able to put up a rudimentary log fort within an evening, after marching up to 20 miles (on roads, daily progress of the Varus expedition was significantly lower - especially after they deviated from the route supported by river travel). Admittedly with prefab material. And to disassemble it in the morning, carrying the material on to the next location, where the firstcomers already would have cleared the ground and put up a bit of earth wall and ditch. The siege works before Alesia were done under duress, inward and outward, in quite short time, then refined. Another example of fast building is the US custom of a barn raising - usually a one day event, although with the logistics for the material done in advance. If a barn raising has 5 crews in attendance (40 to 50 able-bodied workers), then we have a time frame here. But then, getting the walls up and the roof on top often is only half the work.

Ib Nochet, the perfumers are associated with the Great Library. After all, a lot of knowledge is required to choose the methods and the resources. There aren't many gods obsessed with scents. Other than Eurmal, that is, and while the work as a perfumer may expose you to similar stinks as Eurmal's farts, the product will hopefully be of a different kind. Harmony may be involved in composing a pleasant odor out of the scents of various ingredients and ideally the natural scents emitted by the carrier. Does Chalana Arroy go into aroma therapy? Hunters or butchers may be involved in retrieving e.g. musk glands of certain beasts.

I would like to give the players to make a bad choice which will lead them into aerobatical trouble in exchange for a short term benefit over another flying opponent, with a vague realisation that this could come back to hurt the soon and then discovering how bad that navigational choice may have been. Airships would be rather rare in the Gloranthan lower skies outside of the hero planes, the only published examples are the moon boats and that lame Feldichi artefact from Dorastor: Land of Doom (highlight the preceding gap for better legibility if you don't mind spoilers). Storm Age myths have of course Blue Moon ships and Helering Cloud ships which may take off into the air, and a travel to the sky world will find other forms of locomotion independent of any notion of solid ground. The catalogue of flying creatures that can be involved in mounted and unmounted aerial battles in the Gloranthan skies is fairly large: There are Orlanthi flyers (previously called Vanganth flyers), such as the Storm Walkers of Old Wind, sylph riders or simply wind lords using Flight, and there may be levitating Pelorians from Lunar or Solar mysticism, or levitating Easterners refuting the attraction of Earth and Darkness below. then there is a range of sapient airborne winged species, like the Wind Children, Swan Maidens, winged dragonewts (or Immanent Masters), bat-winged Blue Moon trolls (two kinds - four or six limbed), King Gryphon or Assyrian style griffins, Harpies, Quorns (antigod pterodactyl keets), less humanoid forms like Gargoyles, Wyrms, Elder Wild or Galgarenge Griffins, Carmanian Owl-lions, and Hippogriffs, and dream dragons or true dragons, and chaos horrors like Sky Terrors or the Crimson Bat; plus a wider range of flying creatures of at best animal intelligence, including Storm Bulls, Wyverns, Pteranodons, Giant Vrok Hawks, Praxian Giant Vultures, Rocs and other giant birds (e.g. Kethaelan Guardian Cranes), Winged Horses, other celestial winged animals (look at issue 4 of Monster of the Month on Jonstown Compendium for a possible sky demon), possibly extending to winged sphinx-like demigod creatures or the quadruped Cherubim shapes associated with Solomon's temple, and the Lammasu-shaped forms of Thunder Brothers various giant insects capable of carrying pygmies or trollkin (giant bees, giant flies, giant (blue) moon moths, giant wasps) and Gorakiki-cult shape-shifters there are other monsters like Hoons, the giant butterfly of Loral Island (cousin of Mothra), and there are certain Hsunchen who might shape-change into flying beasts (Pujaleg bat people, owl people). Then there are what I would call "cloud runners", including cloud leopards and cloud rams, and possibly some cloud alynxes - species capable of running through the air, at least in the presence of clouds. Some ice giants might be able to walk through blizzards this way. There might be highly magical martial arts in the east allowing to step on air, or draconic disciplines similar to that from EWF teachings. There are of course elementals able to fly - apart from earth elementals and most water elementals, basically all of them, and spirit world entities with Visibility active usually have no trouble to remain airborn either. This category includes dehori-shaped full Kitori and smoke-form vampires as well as various semi-physical Storm entities including whirlvishes and strangling Ipharan fogs, and the floating shadows of Shadow Plateau, Dagori Inkarth, and possibly a few other major troll strongholds like Halikiv or Tarmo. Rather few of these lend themselves to cloud pirate aerobatics outside of the hero planes or the Outer World, but then the Outer World begins on the upper slopes of Kero Fin or Top of the World, and possibly a few of the lesser peaks like Stormwalk, too. Hero Wars and HeroQuest 1st edition have some useful notes on the modes of flight. So do Warhammer Fantasy Battle rules, and probably other such fantasy miniature rules which have flying creatures or units. Dragon Pass/WBRM has tactical rules for flying units - True Dragons, Storm Walkers, Wind Children, Wasp Riders, the Crimson Bat, Pteranodons. Nomad Gods has the Three Feathered Rivals and Vulture, and IIRC the French edition has Moon Boats (or they are in the suggestion for the Arrolian reinforcements in Wyrms Footnotes, introducing cyclical values for the movement factor). Shadows Dance prototype unit listings have Bee Riders and insect swarms. As these rules are designed to work for the hex grid that the AAA overlays over all its Glorantha maps, they may be of interest for RuneQuest players. Unfortunately the only rulesets currently available in pdf are the original Nomad Gods rules set, WBRM variations and a preview of the Corbett rules for Dragon Pass in Wyrms Footnotes.

Cyrilius became the newest priest after Sor-eel had stablized his hold on the city, with a re-arranged city council, and possibly a new mayor. Bendrath filled the seventh position even after Cyrilius joined the Daughters of Pavis. Ginkizzie and Benderri are the leftover priests from pre-occupation times, Bilkar might be, too, or he might be the immediate replacement of the daughter previously in charge of the Real City. Fleeter Nemm and Broosta then would have risen to their rank of Daughters of Pavis more or less at the same time as Cyrilius. Thus we have two or three casualties. Some may have been victims of the one day resistance, or of the mutiny of the defenders realistically assessing the likelihood of a successful defense against Sor-eel's army. After that, one or two may have been victims of the purges of the ruling families - Pavis history mentions decimation of the ruling Yelmalian family, and extinction of (most of) the descendants of Dorasar, but there will have been victims from other families. One other casualty of the Lunar takeover were the leading families of Zebra Fort, who got replaced by Hargran the Dirty in Zebraside and by the Patroma family in New Pavis. How did one become a Daughter (or Son) of Pavis prior to the Lunar occupation? I guess that most priests of Pavis are part of a stakeholder group in the cult of the city god. Old Pavisite families probably still have a larger influence inside the cult than their proportion of the population would suggest. I suppose that Cyrilius Harmonius has more or less inherited the representation of the Zebra folk in the cult, and he may actually be the go-to person for any remaining Zebra people. Between him, Hargar, and Lunar-sponsored horse breeders (presumably from Jillaro) trying to return the zebras in large numbers to the city, the non-noble zebra folk might actually prosper somewhat, while their former nobility either rides with the Zebra tribe of the plains or with the Pol Joni like their ancestor Olgkarth did before allying with Dorasar. (Disclaimer: I am quite partial to Cyrilius Harmonius, not the least since I got to play him in the 1997 run of "People of Pavis" at the first convention named "Tentacles" at Castle Stahleck, our second convention in that location and the first organized by Fabian.) But then, the original inhabitants of Zebra Fort had not been accepting of Olgkarth, and while the ruling family of Zebra Fort had been deposed by Olgkarth and Dorasar in a nightly raid, it is possible that a majority of the Zebra Fort families regarded Olgkarth and his tribal folk as unwelcome new overlords. It is quite likely that Cyrilius Harmonius comes from one of these older families, possibly from the family of the previous rulers of Zebra Fort. I suppose that prior to Olgkarth's arrival alongside Dorasar, the Zebra Fort nobility may have had a tentative claim on one of the Daughters' position. Whether that position was actually filled at the time of the conquest is different question, though. Depending on whether you include Ginkizzie in the Five Old Men who made up the priesthood of Pavis up to 1610, there was either one vacancy or two in the numbers of Daughters of Pavis. Prior to Bendrath's consecration as the sixth Daughter of Pavis, there had not been a full complement of priests for a while. This indicates a decline in the prosperity of New Pavis as the value of artifacts recovered from the city slowly declined, or at least the market value as the novelty factor was diluted by increased availability of everyday items from the EWF-influenced period. Broosta is a priestess of Lhankor Mhy, and probably related to some of the Old Pavisite families that dominate the local cult - people whom I portray as wearing zebra hide or zebra fur ornamentation in their robes or other clothing to showcase their Old Pavic origins. Her husband Fleeter Nemm appears to be of Sartarite stock, probably from among the converts to Pavis among Dorasar's followers who would have been the newcomers' representation in the cult. It is not much of a logical leap to suggest that the dead or retired former priests of Pavis would have been those with ties to the Dorasar family or the Sartarite newcomers. Bilkar is a resident of the Real City, so he is in all likelihood of Old Pavic descent. Bendrath on the other hand is a former adventurer and may have come from Sartar or beyond. The fate of the Dorasar family is unclear. The Pavis history states that "none of his heirs could take the title, nor could any other. After the Duke’s death, the city was ruled by a council of its leaders, each aware of the others and of their part in the whole. The Pavis cult gave guidance." (e.g. ISS 1604 Pavis and Big Rubble p.63) King of Sartar gives us the name of the most outstanding son of Dorasar, Daringle, and Pavis, and describes him as a warlord, vanquisher of ancient ghosts, and successful treasure hunter. (p33) The genealogical chart of Eonistaran's descendants on p.37 gives Daringle's death date as 1624, but that is contradicted by Pavis GTA which reports him slain by Lunar spirits or demons (or perhaps Gimgim) in 1610. It also mentions Verlain, the father of Brenna, and grandfather of Enostar Bad-Dream aka "Argrath of Pavis". It is quite likely that Dorasar's family was a lot more extensive than this. GTA p.180 tells us that Daringle's son Orvost Tintalker or Dornold Orvost is the High Priest of Orlanth for Pavis and the Rubble, hiding out in the ruins and keeping the regalia of the High Priest out of reach of Falticus.

I tried to phrase my question differently - how to make presentation of this inside a game easy for GMs and players.

One of the consequences of Pegasus Plateau is that we need to think about how to play aerial combats, especially from flying mounts, already early in in our RuneQuest experience when we might still be struggling with the intricacies of mounted or chariot combat. Let's start with mounted or chariot combat - possibly a chase, possibly free-wheelng high speed action - across an obstacle course for the simpler 2-dimensional case. A good part of the difficulty in this would result from managing the obstacles without crashing into them, or minimizing damage while grazing them. You can of course just wing it with theatre of the mind - but that's the Heroquest rpg approach, not the RuneQuest way. I guess many of you will have played the racing simulation game where you basically draw vectors of your racer on grid paper (or overhead foil which easily makes you leave the track. You get a standard alteration cap on your move which simulates the inertia you have built up. You will want to introduce a maximum speed, which probably needs either a chart or (if you are mathematically inclined) a quick and dirty calculation (Pythagoras is your friend here). (And you thought vector mathematics was something you'd never touch in your leisure time?) In a role-playing context, I might soften those limits depending on skill rolls for the rider and dexterity or skill rolls for the mount. If you have less than solid obstacles like tree branches, you might intentionally take some hit (your mount won't like it, but might go along) for an extra edge in speed. One point of this "momentum" thingy is that you make decisions in this melee round that may come to haunt you in three melee rounds as the obstacles rush your way and your mount might panic or be unable to avoid them even if it perfectly follows the rider's reigns. The question is: how much drama can you derive from this, and is it worth all the fiddly bits? If you move to aerial combat, the extra dimension makes it a bit harder to track these vectors, and speeds get much higher than they get for ground movement, which adds more momentum that may come to haunt you. Then there is an additional option - to elect to go to free fall in mid-air, with the intent to catch the fall a bit later. (Note that under-water combat, especially where you have strong currents, may play out with similar rules. Have your wrestling/fisticuffs match while drifting through rapids?) The most obvious obstacle for aerial combat is of course the ground. Dive attacks need to shed inertia in order to avoid crashing (uncontrolled) into the ground. A lot of this is instinctive, at least for flying beasts who do dive attacks regularly. Houses, narrow canyons, or forests come into play in the more advanced chases. Think Endor flybike chases, but with your winged steeds instead... Another thing with flying mounts is wing span, and how that forbids short melee weapon usage to the flanks. They might still be applicable above the saddle (which may still mean down or sidewards if mount and rider can perform - and recover from - wheels in mid-flight). Weapon choice may follow the things we discussed already for wind children or high llama riders. In short - your players will most definitely have seen Avatar, Star Wars: A New Hope or The Empire Strikes Back and will expect something along that line once they have some saddle time on their winged mounts. How are you going to GM that?

I thought we were aiming at dumb theories here, and you are spilling deep Gloranthan truths instead. People will have to roll their Glorantha lore next sacred time, and may end up illuminated. Harmast did two LBQs, and I dare say with different experiences on his Westfaring. Both started at the Hill of Orlanth Victorious, but that may be the only thing they had in common. If it is true that you can do a real heroquest only once in any given role, then Harmast's second quest must have placed him in a different role - such as Flesh Man. That's how Garundyer's two Lightbringers' Quests at the 1996 run of Rise of Ralios turned out, the first led by Aruzban Ironarm in the role of Orlanth. (They received Arkat he Liberator as their reward, and after a while they were unhappy about the result, so they went again looking for a light to retrieve. They went to look for Nysalor, which they did, retrieving them from a deeper quest following the steps of the Red Goddess, returning astride on the Sky Bear.) To keep on topic: the dumb idea behind this was in the write-up of some of the Ralian Orlanthi, who were staunch supporters of Nysalor who deeply regretted his passing, and who still harbor good will to the lost Lord of Light after the depredations they suffered from the Autarchy and later the God Learners.

Some earth temple is likely to own parts of the Lismelder lands, but the Lismelder don't have a major earth temple of their own that I know of. It is not like the Malani dominate Greenstone temple, either. The Orlevings do control access to the temple, and before them the Varmandi did - they were the ones who opened (or revived) it in the Resettlement period. The temple itself is not a Malani institution. In Sartar: Kingdom of Heroes, the influence of the Greenstone temple reached the Orlmarth and the Greydogs alike. Unless there is a similar temple somewhere in Killard Vale, I would suspect even the Red Cow to pay some homage to Greenstone Temple. The temple may have some land with tenants from the Red Cow clan somewhere in or bordering on the Red Cow tula. The Clearwine temple is pretty much a Colymar-controlled institution from its inception. Its authority may have assigned some of the temporary land claims on the Stream to the Malani (in areas now claimed by the Locaem, who came about 25 to 50 years later than Mad Blood Malan and his followers). Most of the Colymar clans on potential Greenstone Temple lands did not start out as Colymar tribe clans. Their original land claims (and later additional acquisitions as a consequence of the disappearance of clans like the Karandoli and Jenstali) may very well have been supported by earth priestesses from the (Varmandi-refounded) Greenstone Temple. With that history in mind, I wouldn't finde it odd to find limited areas held in lease from Greenstone Temple in northern Colymar or Lismelder lands. Possibly alongside claims from the Clearwine Temple. There is no indication that the Taral or Zarran Wars were in any way resolving Earth temple claims.

You provide the seeds, and you're golden. The main loss during the Windstop apart from people dying of cold was that many were forced to consume their seedstock, making the availability of farmland somewhat ironic. So if your apple tree orchards made it just about fine through the Windstop, those and some seed grain may be a good drawing point for prospective tenants. I am a bit curious about the exact land ownership in and around Apple Lane. I suspect the land is owned either by the tribal Orlanth Rex temple or by one of the two major Earth Temples nearby. The closer one would be Greenstone, which can bring all manner of diplomatic problems with it (which may be a good reason to go for this), the Clearwine temple is of course the tribal earth temple. Erecting a farm building or a palisade only takes manpower and some lumbering, but you won't earn much status out of that in Sartar. At the very least, you're expected to hide your truss or wattle and daub understructure with a heavy layer of chalk plaster, which requires charcoal burning and chalk burning. What you really want is masonry by a recognized master mason. I wonder whether the liberation of Sartar bring back a wave of Pavis/Flintnail-trained former exiles from Pavis, creating something like a building craze. At the very least, you cannot be a lay member of Pavis and not learn a bit about being an assistant to a mason. Masonry starts with a quarry (although ruins can be quarried, too - f nobody is going to move into the ruined Lunar manors, I expect those to be pilfered for building material within the next few years). Much of the bedrock is limestone, which would provide chalk for burning and possibly pits or cliffs for breaking out decent-sized blocks of stone. I wonder whether the Quivini use bricks. They certainly have the necessary technology, as they have pottery kilns beyond simple pit fired pottery sites. Sairdite architecture may use burned bricks on a regular basis, and lowland Esrolia probably does, too.

Congratulations to that award, well earned.

Given that the three neighboring clans are the Hiordings, the Varmandi and the Namoldings, any Malani influence only used to start in the Rainbow Mounds. Prior to 1613, the Namolding had bieen a Colymar clan, ever since the Zarrran War (at which time the Karandoli and Jenstali clans also were active in the region).

I wonder why you assume that a clan labeled as "Lunar Sympathizer" would not re-activate their Orlanth temples? Just because you took advantage of cooperation with the occupation forces doesn't mean that you swallowed their propaganda hook, line and sinker. A case in point is the Culbrea tribe. King Blackmor of the Colymar. who has seen the Lunar Light, may want to be strict in disallowing Orlanth worship, but I fail to see how he can suppress it in each and every clan.

If you are taking King of Dragon Pass as your model, the number of temples in a clan is a measure of the clan's wealth. Although, with the forming of the city confederations, the major temples at least for fringe deities are likely to have moved into those cities over the past century. A clan is almost by definition a minor temple to Orlanth and Ernalda, with possibly a shared holy site, or a few holy sites under control of the temple (like the hilltop for storm rites and the cave for earth rites).

During hibernation, or while awake?

There aren't enough Esvulari Talars or Zzaburi to form more than four or five separate, undersized clans in total. With a total of 50,000 Esvulari, there are at best 3000 each of the Talar and the Zzabur caste each - just enough to form a triaty each, if they form separate clans. I thought that the llineage problems of the Kohanim would be something of a parallel to the problems of Aeolian talar and zzabur caste families. A different solution would be to allow isolated talar and zzabur bloodlines in all Esvulari clans, with the talar bloodlines providing the chiefs and the zzabur bloodlines the (sorcerous? or also theist?) priesthood. The non-Aeolian clans of those lands would have "commoner chiefs" (strictly Heortling nobility, not caste-dependent) and might be less prestigious or eligible to provide higher ups than the Aeolian clans. Some traditional Orlanthi clans might have adopted talar and zzabur bloodlines into their clans to fit into the Aeolian network. I can think of cases of personal followers of a chief or noble taking on an office in their host clan for a while, but usually they would be encouraged to join the clan fully (whether by marriage or formal adoption). Getting your chief priests from a temple not controlled by your clan sets an ugly and dangerous precedent which may result in control over your clan wealth redistributed to that temple.

I don't think I have seen any clan name for Heortland south of the Marzeel River other than the Orshanti clan from which Colymar hailed in any somewhat official source. Heortland has a total population of half a milllion humans, most of them Orlanthi. Those who stayed behind were pretty much the same folk as those who left, except for more tolerance towards the new overlords (Belintar and his governors). The migration into Dragon Pass happened mostly within two generations - afterwards the opportunity to claim previously unclaimed lands or to drive out only weakly established earlier settlers had gone. There was a wave of immigration of urban folk into the new cities of Sartar between 1470 and 1500, and probably some form of exchange of guild craftspeople between the two regions afterwards, but nothing the size of the initial migrations. If the Sartarite clans can be classified as Hendriki, Light Orlanthi, Axe Orlanthi, Dark Orlanthi, etc., then so can the clans in Heortland. And that also allows to work out their history with the Foreigner Laws of Aventus, which did find documented application as late as the onset of the Adjustment Wars, half a millennium after they first were formulated after the eviction of the Bright Empire. Belintar or some of his governor kings may have attempted to score favor by abolishing these laws, but that would have created some bad will in those who had profited from those laws earlier on. As a good portion of these had already joined the Volsaxi rebels against Belintar, probably not a big deal. It is unclear when there would have been waves of emigration from Sartar. There certainly were occasions when lots of people were forced into exile, but that probably meant they joined the retinues of local leaders as personal followers rather than regular clan members, at least initially. Some may have brought some of their family after they had achieved a comfortable position. The masses in Refuge may have been the result of the wave of conquests in Heortland - starting with the Malkonwal conquest, followed by the Lunar conquest under Fazzur. The Windstop hit Refuge as much as the rest of Heortland, so no refugee movement from that event, but the Chaos eruption from the Footprint bought by the Lunars under Tatius to keep Broyan out of his hair will have caused the most recent wave of refugees.

So a buyer will be able (have the license) to use this art in publications on the Jonstown Compendium, on websites, or in fanzines, citing this product as a source?

What are the conditions for casting such a spell? Is it subject to cyclical magic, or would that be self-defeating? If it is not subject to the rules of cyclical magic, is it appropriate for embodiments of the Goddess? It probably should require illumination or a chaos feature, in order to be able to reach toward the Ultimate. (Or both at once.)

Smaller than my size - sure. I'd hate to face off with a canine in the 120 kg range. But there are herding dogs in the 40 to 60 kg range, which overlaps with that of smaller and lighter humans. The Norwegian Forest Cat is one of the bigger breeds of housecat, reaching 9 kg in large toms. Unless practicing bull riding, I don't see modern-sized cattle as very impressed by such creatures. A larger specimen of bobcat or Canada Lynx will bring twice that mass into contests, and might qualify as enough of a nuisance that a cow of 200 kg might prefer to follow its lead rather than minding its own business. Whether a bull weighing above 350 kg would follow is yet another question. From my experience being disturbed by curious cattle when inspecting shafts of water treatment plants, cattle respects size, probably expecting bulk to match the silhouette. They also react to noise. Neither are properties that an ordinary alynx brings into the game. So how can an alynx impress cattle? Exhibiting apex predator behavior, I would guess. Lazy yawns, staring, short aggressive sprints, possibly a tap with the forepaw, fluffing up the tail for increased size. My office feline Max does all this to keep our office dog Moritz in check, which (while small) easily brings twice the mass into their domination games. SIZ 8-12 for a large breed sounds reasonable to me. That's about the size of smaller, female cougars. A burly, bulky worshiper of Yinkin seems somehow atypical, but hey, there will be outliers everywhere. So what if such an individual becomes effectively something the size of a were-tiger? The feline body plan does allow for way more massive specimen. But then, the question is how much physical shapechanging there is for Yinkini. Yinkin did break with the Hsunchen in favor of his brother's humans and gods.

That line makes me want a thousand elephants. And possibly a good kilopachydermists to ship them.