Joerg

There is that seven-headed statue of Arkat in the illustration of the Alangellia in the Guide (p.377), listing seven aspects of Arkat (p.376). And there is the upcoming Hero Wars event of the five returning Arkats (p.385), one of whom might come from the Dragon Pass region. Which ones are going to return remains to be seen, although the Liberator, the Deceiver, the Destroyer and the Chaos Monster are pretty much booked. That's at least three of the five Arkats to come defined.

Worshiping these in addition to the ones already worshiped by the Seshnegi and Enerali, you mean? If we are talking about Arkat, we mustn't forget Zorak Zoran. Arkat's career in theist cults went Orlanth Humakt Kyger Litor Zorak Zoran or in other words, the ruling god followed by the death/war god for Storm and Darkness His previous stint in Seshnela quite likely brought him into the folds of Hrestol and possibly Seshna. His Brithos experiences included Aldrya and Horal.

The curse of AT&T? The concept of "important Middle World social interaction" may be lost on a shaman. Much like the concept of "important social interaction" may be lost on nerds.

"people are forced"... Why I won't vouch for Greg's sobriety at every point of writing his Glorantha material, I feel fairly safe to attest that Sandy Petersen kept the lore as consistent as possible. But then Greg was really well organized with his lists of deities, locations, etc. accompanying (or possibly firing up) his creativity, and his hand-drawn map layers are quite professional for the time of their creation. This may have been intended as a liberating "let the creative juices take precedence over canon" kind of statement, but it came across to me as "oh you little minds who long for consistency and the ability to exchange campaign info with others", hence my attempt at a somewhat jocular response to keep me from a nastier response. Your experience of Gloranthan publications doesn't seem to describe creative efforts towards Glorantha that well. The mid eighties saw the creation of a lot of material that was published only significantly later. Significant portions of King of Sartar were written in this time as background for a Sartar Campaign that never happened as a publication. The full write-ups of cults of the rune-owning deities of Glorantha weren't published, instead a short form saw publications as Gods of Glorantha. (I doubt that Avalon Hill could have managed a 200+ pages book, and breaking those write-ups up into several leaflets would have been weird.) The Genertela Box cut about 100 pages of Island and Pamaltelan information, only some of which ended up in Elder Secrets (at a time when the relationship between Chaosium and Avalon Hill seems to have been at an all time low). People cried out for a Lunar book, even though most were (and still are) stuck in the "it's Chaos! Kill, smite, ravage!" mode. What changed in the 1990ies was communication between fans. Creativity could be shared, like campaign backgrounds, NPCs, locations, rumors... My mid-nineties Heortland game (trying out Avalon Hill's playtest rules for RuneQuest 4) coincided in location and time frame with another campaign, and there was an exchange of descriptions and characterisations of canonical NPCs. When I GMed in Sartar in the early 2000s, I had a pretty good idea what went on in the neighboring tribes because I was in contact with GMs playing in those tribes. A lot of people put their heads together to create a common vision of the siege of Whitewall, as close to canon as we could. Quite a few games used that stuff. Nothing of that was forced. There are a few pieces of what I think of as "forced canon", like the origin of Redbird (the magician who fetched Temertain) or the munchkinism of the Wooden Sword temple for convenience. And there are a couple of works that argued from the rules rather than from the intentions for the setting, like Arlaten, the RQ3 version of a Rokari sorcerer in Strangers of Prax, or in many fan projects like my own Aeolian Church efforts. I disagree with your position that the inconsistencies are sloppy or unavoidably faulty world building. Some may be the result of sub-optimal communication. There are a few inconsistencies in RQ2 material - like the date for the arrival of the Pharaoh in Troll Pak. There are mistaken readings of the material that lead to inconsistencies, like the problem of the position of the Balmyr tribal lands when people trusted a few labels in a low resolution map over ample textual information supported by (rather more precise) unpublished material. But these are problems in communication, not in world building.

If the clan has some regular trouble with foes of ZZ, a few ZZ warriors may be corralled alongside the Storm Bulls and released for mayhem when required. Such a sworn warrior would be under constant observation, perhaps not to the extent that a Trickster is mistrusted, but likely with someone responsible accompanying that biker type to prevent the worst excesses. Orlanth and the Thunder Brothers have a couple of personal Darkness enemies, usually because Orlanth or the Thunder Brother took something useful from Darkness, and Darkness objects. There isn't much friendship between Storm and Darkness prior to I Fought We Won. Argan Argar and possibly Xiola Umbar are the only Darkness entities welcome in Orlanth's village, unless you count Inora's cold and reflective powers as a form of Darkness. Crushing noise has been brought into connection with Zolan Zubar, the Darkness spirit of the Kolating tradition, and patron of Varzor Kitor, the first human to become a Kitori Shadowlord. This entity shares many aspects of Zorak Zoran.

This comment wouldn't be out of place in the Elmal thread, either... Shamans have two sources for abnormal behavior - geases taken during the combat with the Bad Man, and taboos imposed by contracted spirits. While there are spirits that represent a civilized culture, these are rare outside of ancestor or theist cults (and some say, rare inside these, too). Contractual demands made by spirits are usually meant to cost the contractor something.

I would expect that everyone's favorite villain from Elkoi and Pavis, Halcyon var Enkorth, would have an organization of adversaries from the Empire, a local agent of whom might have supported Argrath's conquest of Pavis (recognizing early enough that Halcyon had no chance to sit that invasion out). This might plant some Sairdite or Heartland organisation on the side of Argrath as he rises to importance, with at times neutral, at times friendly interaction. The deep Lunar backers will maintain an air of plausible deniability much of the time, but might at some time be outed and forced to flee the Empire. Then there is that Alkothi female follower of Argrath who has taken over command over the Real City in the Rubble in Robin Laws' upcoming Pavis books. She will in all likelihood have a bit of her own followership, at least some likely to be Lunar/Dara Happan in origin, too.

I think that the previous experience as provided in RQG is way too "career" oriented, same as the old Traveller method of acquiring skills. Even Germany with its many formal education paths for all manner of professions instills a rather broad set of background abilities beyond those piddly cultural things. Even when children are treated as young adults, with a strong measure of chores, there will still be opportunity to snatch up skills related to personal interests and local opportunities. RuneQuest has dozens of skills, all of which are kept at "inept yokel" level in character creation using the rules as written. The character sheet is a wasteland worse than Prax, with a few oases of budding competence outside of weapon skills.

Worshiping Yelm without worshiping the Red Emperor is similar to worshiping Argan Argar without worshiping the Only Old One. But we don't have any character creation support for such characters yet. It is quite possible to come up with some, along similar lines as the "earlier history" tables in the JTC. Sorcerers from the Empire would quite likely be alumni of the Imperial College or the Carmanian schools, with a high likelihood to have invested in Lunar philosophy and magic. While it is possible for powerful magicians to avoid military service in the Empire, that usually goes hand in hand with serving one of the top level houses in their Dart Competitions to get bone spurs or the magical equivalent thereof attested. It is perfectly possible to be a Lunar cultist and not a (loyal) subject of the (current mask of) the Red Emperor. The Arrolians in Fronela are devout Lunar cultists, but don't have much to do with the Red Emperor. There may very well be a number of Lunar shrines surviving in Sartar, Heortland and Esrolia. Karse is bound to have a shrine to Etyries, a left-over from Fazzur's well-regarded residence and administration there, and possibly a Seven Mothers shrine, too. Possibly not public, though. Nochet may likewise harbor a (much intimidated) Lunar religious group fervently following a non-Lunar House or Guild for protection. There may be mercenary bands of former Fazzurite cavalry who may have remained behind in Heortland and Esrolia when Fazzur was recalled, formally ending their service with the Empire and their kingdom in protest to how their commander was treated. Many of these would have gone home, but a significant portion may have gone native - with marriage partners and possibly children, likely above whatever station they would have to return to in Tarsh - and act as minor companies. Fazzur took command over the Provincial troops in 1613, and many of his levies may have taken a ten year contract in the Provincial Army. That contract would have finished in 1623, well before there was a stringent reason why they could not leave the service. The siege of Nochet was uneffective and difficult as the Antones Estates are not a place where you stage a siege. And Tatius preferred to work with professionals.

There is slavery on Tatooine, and probably reduced mobility for everyone else. Anakin and his mother were property. His brother Owen appears to have been moderately wealthy, but that might be because of starting funds supplied by Ben Kenobi. Leaving the planet might sic bounty hunters on you if you have long term commitments. Think how Inara brought Mal out of the sheriff's care.

The dragonspeakers spread their secret from the epicenter in or near Nochet since shortly before the Tax Slaughter in 575 ST, and Slontos remained unconquered until the reign of Svagad (starting 789 ST), who was busy driving out draconic influences when not trying to get rid of the Loper people. This gives the true draconic mystics two centuries of establishing themselves in remote and inaccessible places, and it would have taken probably another century of effort to round all of them up. The God Learners then are around for about the same length of time. When they arrived, the dragonfriend cult had just become mainstream in Dragon Pass, not yet in the further places in Maniria or eastern Ralios. Away from Peloria, where the dragonfriends and the traditionalists actively fought one another, the Kingdom of Night appears to have been neutral ground, and the river valleys south of Arstola never really had any unified front. The cities and kindoms happened mainly at the coast, with a lesser chain of urban centers near the modern coast. Maniria never was quite part of Orlanthland, or the EWF, but early EWF philosophy would have been found near Ryzel as much as throughout southern Peloria. The God Learners probably did a majority of their raids into Orlanthi mythology here in the wild outback of Slontos.

Yes, that happened once. Made me stumble, caused a minor quake.

Herakles did so, once, in order to cut his enemy from receiving regeneration from the earth. A heroic troll might imitate that feat. And if you can use Mostali as thrown objects, why not use a giant to hit? I would make this a subset of flail weapons, though, unless the giant is rigid due to some other magical effect. There ought to be some adaptation of the knockback rules, as swinging such a massive object is bound to move the wielder in the opposite direction, or on a strike in the same direction. But jokes aside, there are weapons - even some handled by humans - that have an area effect rather than striking a single hit location, e.g. thrown nets, sometimes large enough to entrangle several targets. Rules for avoiding these would be appreciated.

I am highly dubious that the fetch mechanics of RQ (any Chaosium edition) reflect all forms of shamanism in the real world. Apparently they do so for Glorantha, though.

The cassovary at 7:20 is pretty close to sounds that I think a small dino would make. A kakapo mating call is another unworldly bird call, at least according to Douglas Adams. Then there is of course "Tekeli Li!" Regardless of the dinosaur kinship to birds, sibilant sounds are established for draconic speech. Given that Auld Wyrmish and Old Pavic mix to some extent, I expect the languages to have at least some shared articulation. My guess would be sibilants or trills (like the labal "r" sound). Possibly some klicks, too.

From something resembling a toothpaste tube directly onto the heated surface, or possibly between both surfaces. If you do live cooking, you'd create a rectangular film of batter - possibly like a soap bubble before blowing - and then capture it beween the two hot irons. Although transferring the batter into one of those might be a trick in itself. Perhaps you would want a syrinx-like mixer with a sluice to enter the ingredients, possibly inside a glovebox to avoid contaminating the entire kitchen with spills. Possibly using freeze-dried ingredients, mixed with recycled water. Alternatively, you could have a rotating capsule with a counterweight (another teleoperated microgravity environment) and remote-operated manipulators, doing your cuisine in rotational microgravity much like a surgeon manipulates his instruments in minimally invasive operations. Taste-checking will be somewhat tricky, as you'd have to fill a syringe with a sample, send it up the arm holding out the kitchen and then into the area where the cook teleoperates the kitchen. Smell samples may be easier. Closed environment cuisine will be somewhat different anyway. You'll either opt to avoid sulphur-rich foodstuff, or implant microbes or nanites into your colon that deal with noxious gases. I wonder how well the gas-liquid separation will work in the absence of gravity, anyway. Sense of taste may be altered, especially if sense of smell has been affected by the background smells. You might be forced to wear some sort of bubble helmet glovebox in order to isolate the odors of your environment from those of your food, and vice versa. Air liquefication might be the solution to remove evaporated aroma substances, but that won't affect stuff that sits on surfaces and gives off a certain steam pressure. But then, it might be possible to evacuate sections of your habitat, and/or "wash" them with pure oxygen that (in combination with the silver mesh in the surface material) will purify those surfaces.

One thing that keeps nagging at me from this otherwise fine myth is the enmity between the Waertagi and the Sea Tribe when all the myths and stories I have seen otherwise show the Waertagi as allies of sea forces. The myth doesn't work for Sogolotha Mambrola in Akem because the Janube river was brought there through Waertagi sorcery, after doing the "River overcomes Volcano" myth, removing Mt. Ladaral from the map of eastern Danmalastan and placing the citadel of Brass there instead. Likewise, the Poral, Listor and Oronin rivers are Waertagi-summoned waters. Sog is the tidal wave, the sea rushing in on land - pretty much the definition of the first rivers to plague the dry lands of Glorantha (except when they had always been there in local myths). The main difference between Sog and Oslir is that Sog retreats again, while Oslir would have gone on and on. (And did in the Flood Age.) I wouldn't say Engizi but Lorion for the leader of the rivers. Same entity, but has yet to invade the heavens. You might make the invading river the sea dragon slain by Waertag and repurposed as his city ship. Not recognized or recognizable as such by Orlanth and the questers on his path. There are few known contacts between the Orlanthi and the Waertagi. As you commented correctly, the inland sea north of the Spike arrived only with the Flood. Orlanth beat back the two standing waves that covered the Rockwoods east and west of Kerofinela, and the remnants of the seas became Faralinthor - a sea notably free of Waertagi activity as it shrunk, or was slain by Vadrus, or both. Any Waertagi presence here would have to have been after the Breaking of the World, long after the reign of Yelm, and shortly before the departure on the LBQ. Castle Blue is the one point of contact between Waertagi and Orlanthi. Apart from Bisos vs. King Blue, a story of mutual respect and even friendship.

If you are playing in or reading about Glorantha under duress, where should I direct human rights activists to help you out of that quandary?

Rural tribal Yelmalians: They are in Dykene and Elkoi (admittedly not Orlanthi places), and in New Pavis and used to be in Old Pavis (there as elf friends). Agriculturally, their Cloud Clear is valuable in certain circumstances. True, the presence of distant Yelm may be hard to invoke outside of the Sun Dome temples or at least minor Yelmalio temples where Yelm has priests and receives worship. That goes for the Lunar provinces, too - I don't think that the shrine to the Red Emperor in tribal Seven Mothers temples will be sufficient to give access to Shield or Sunspear. I thought that all those flat lands near the Dragonewt Wilds lend themselves to horse-riding cattle herders, and hence to a significant rider class of potential Yelmalio worshipers. There are trollkin and ghouls to deal with in the east, another good reason to have Yelmalio worshipers. Jeff's recent comment to the effect that the Far Place tribes immigrated with Yelmalio as their cold sun god, and Greg's quite clear statement of affairs from 23 years ago. https://glorantha.steff.in/digests/GloranthaDigest/vol01/1990.html I was wondering about the peltasts recruited in Sylila and the Provinces, too. The Silver Shields are presented as a Lunar unit, but the recruits would have come from hill barbarian lands. Peltasts come in all degrees from mostly irregular skirmishers with the distinctive shield to ersatz-line regiments with javelins, the distinctive shield and spears and side-arms. In the absence of nearby hoplites, I can see some sort of ersatz-line regiment peltast force being fielded from tribal Yelmalians. Harvar Ironfist's infantry forces may be of this type rather than the standard templar hoplites. On the other hand, where you have fully equipped hoplites in sufficient numbers for phalanx warfare, you will train the servants to act as light skirmishers and back-rank hoplites rather than as independently moving peltast formations. Massed foot archers are rare in Dragon Pass warfare. The Tarsh exiles have some. The Lunars use Thunder Delta slingers instead, whereas the Sartarites use duck slingers, crossbow-drakes or javelineers. Or not deployed separately from the hoplites. So which cults in their neighborhood teach those goodies? The clan temple to Orlanth or the Seven Mothers won't chase any Yelmalian away. Elf friends can visit the aldryami for bow-enhancing magics, I suppose. The only indication that the bow is a cult weapon is the Kuschile Archery skill the cult teaches. The Golden Spearman may be a subcult of Yelmalio in some places, or the allied cult Hastatus closer to Dara Happa. But isn't Pole Star an allied cult with shrines in the Yelmalian temples? Elmal and Rigsdal go hand in hand, too. Now the Orlanthi version of Rigsdal is less of a dance master than Polaris is in the sky myths, but at least the ability to keep the overview is going to come in handy. Yes, at times the Sun Dome Templars come across as comic relief. But then you encounter them on the field of battle. Palangio the Iron Vrok brought lots of efficient magics into the cult of Daysenerus, I expect. Possibly used swords and everything. But then Palangio became anathema to the surviving cult, and many things that might have been associated with Palangio or his association with the Bright Empire were declared taboo.

Not according to the Heortling mythology which has Umath and Asrelia as designated couple. Umath is born a bit less than halfway into the Golden Age (according to the Dara Happans YS 40,000, which makes Gata's pregancy 25,000 years YS), and Asrelia was the nubile parthenogenic daughter of the Earth. Ernalda may have been born some time nearby, in the role of the maiden learning those dances. Entekos must have risen around that era, too. Twin sister or even portion of Umath. What follows is the marriage contest, with Dendara winning and various contenders among the concubines and other palace women. Presumably including Ernalda. Then we have the eight plus two Planetary Sons / nine City Orbs (adding Raibamus to the eight lesser suns). And Murharzarm appears, too. On the other end, Umath gets around and begets the first of his sons. Kolat, Storm Bull, Vadrus. Possibly Humakt. Orlanth has all the signs of a late child, and may be in the same age group (though not generation) as Valind, Daga and the rest of Vadrus's spawn. By 50,000 YS, Murharzarm has overseen the taming of Oslira, and becomes Emperor through the Ten Tests. By 70,000 YS, Orlanth had been born, and Umath invaded the Sky, only to crash into the northern Pillar, and then being dismembered by the underworld god that took the place of the southern planetary son. Anyway, Young Ernalda would have had her experiences with those three dances as her (possibly forced) coming of age process, possibly before becoming the concubine of the Evil Emperor, possibly as a survival strategy when becoming a concubine despite really being the Maiden. That gives enough drama and a setting that might be worth exploring a less than perfect young earth goddess making her mistakes and unwise decisions.

A big enough body of worshipers can shape and alter reality. The Easterners found out when worship of Avanapur (the name used to have a d in the neighborhood of the p) resulted in this entity surpassing even Vith in power and majesty. It took Mashunasan to present Avanapur with the Ultimate to end his/its reign of nightmare (but order). In a similar event, the cult of Jogrampur in Umathela (a God Learner experiment) proved to be an effective theist cult even though the deity worshiped started out as entirely imaginary. (or possibly a half-understood memory of Avanapur?) Theism is the magic where worshipers sacrifice to a deity for a magical blessing. The cults of these deities as presented in RuneQuest are a "fairly recent" innovation of the Silver Age or the Dawn Age. There were chief sacrificers before, which we may call priests, and there may have been initiatory secrets shared with the more dedicated worshipers when they crossed over to the Other Side of the Gods Domain (as opposed to the Other Side of heroquesting), but the new rules of Time brought about a distinct change to how theists interact with their deities. Shamanic sacrifice to deities is pretty similar to pre-Hantrafali interaction with a deity. A blessing was asked for and an offering made, and the deity responded if pleased with the attention. The Theyalan Lightbringers spread a very effective method to receive blessings from a deity - the cult structure we know from RuneQuest. The Waertagi and the God Learners spread this method or practioners of it all around the Homeward Ocean into places beyond the original range of the Lightbringer missionaries or the Bright Empire. The concept of subcults varies. There are cults who treat their different rune level commitments as different subcults, there are subcults which appear as deities of their own alongside other manifestations of the same deity. There are minor deities and heroes which are treated as their own cult objects, or as just a subcult of another deity. There aren't any unified, world spanning cults of a certain deity. Variations in worship and perception of a deity are the norm rather than the exception, and at times the identification between different regions' object of worship can be big enough that the identity of the deity worshiped may only be discerned via a third, middle way expression of the cult. Few Orlanthi would think of Eurmal as the Friend of Men, but in Loskalm the trickster is known as such and held in some regard. In Fronela, Vorthan is a somewhat acceptable cult to the local bull-worshiping Orlanthi, and not the arch-foe that is Jagrekriand or Shargash. Context is important. Local myths may shift expectations from your previous local interpretation. Orlanth the lord of bulls may be different from Orlanth the Ram God. There will be common myths, and there will be unique myths to one or the other expression. Orlanth is both the Dragonfriend and the Dragonslayer. The patron of Great Living Heroes like Hardrad Hardblow or Renvald Meldekbane and the royal authority of Orlanth Rex. The red planet of Tolat is counted among the Lunar spirits of Prax where the cult of Shargash is at best tolerating the Red Goddess as mother of their emperor.' I don't see any systematic rule to this, it all depends on the myths that survived the Greater Darkness in a place, and how the current visions of these deities fit into this. Where there is a myth to that effect that makes a deity different from what your expectations are, an aspect or appearance of an entity may be colored by that.

Using a one-handed weapon in the off-hand after the main hand has been taken out is different from dual wielding in the main hand and the off-hand. I would allow half effectivity as basis for hand replacement, but I see a point in making dual wielding a different proposal - there is more to a weapon attack than just flailing around with your arms. Getting in an effective attack with the off-hand after having done so with the main hand requires a shift in the stance if you want to use more than half your damage bonus, for instance.

This might be scepter-derived. From the impression of the Vampire Kings of Tanisor and nowadays the royals of Ramalia, the Vivamort cult (not the deity, but the cult) may have its origin in westernized nobility. Enerali and/or Pendali nobility. The net is a worker class weapon, and so are whips, bolas, flails, pole arms and hay forks (sai). A thrown weighted cloak might be a standard weapon, but that manoeuver risks damaging the vampire's armor against light. Depending on their cohabitants, they might use pratzim sticks instead.

Rural Yelmalio can work just like Elmal, with a lot less emphasis on the hoplite thing. The mounted skirmishes of the Dragon Pass board game like the Bush Children (refugees from the formerly Tarshite Bush Range) are probably using Kuschile archery. Yelmalio/Lightfore/Golden Bow is one of the biggest cults among the beast riders, strong in the Impala and Zebra riders. I fear that among the Dinacoli the Elmali have been uncanonical for at least the past quarter century. The Dinacoli are of Tarshite descent, and when asked Greg said around 1995 that they worshiped Yelmalio, not Elmal. As that was the period of the "great Elmal debate" back then, there was hardly any time when the Dinacoli could have had Elmal without contradicting Greg (or adopting a Quivini clan into their Tarshite-descended tribe). The Dinacoli would have established a Yelmalio shrine in Jonstown during their membership. And likely in Boldhome, too. A single Parthian shot doesn't do much to halt pursuers, but a massed Parthian shot will hinder advancing slower troops significantly. I used the Bush Children routinely to delay Lunar advance with their superior speed allowing them to retreat after rolling the dice for skirmishing in the Dragon Pass game. The Vantaros converted a long time ago, still north of the Death Line, without Monrogh even being prophecied yet. The WF15 mentions of Elmal among the Far Point tribes are in error, as far as I am concerned. The question to me is whether the suppression of traditionalist (non-draconic) cults in the EWF spelled the end for the Elmal cult among the Pelorian Orlanthi. The common cause against the troll taxmen in Saird may have helped. The Dragon Pass rules mention horse archers for Sun County despite there being no such units in the game. On the whole, these riders may be integral part of the Templar doctrine, with Impala or zebra riders having replaced the horse archers in Prax. There are significant areas of flat terrain around Alda-chur, and that's where the Yelmalians reside. Grazer territory is at least as hilly. Are their pike-heads bladed, or do they have points similar to bodkin arrows? The latter may explain the absence of bladesharp. Disruption isn't much of a combat magic except to distract and slightly weaken powerful opponents. But then, rather than providing better individual combat magic, I would like to see combat magic that affects entire files or regiments. The Tarshite-speaking Sun Domers may have such old magic. The Stonewall phalanxes come with a lot of traditions, quite a few of which may be detrimental in "modern" warfare. They also come with much shorter pikes.

The sword-breaker may be so popular because it takes care of those awful and sharp death runes fetishized by the Vivamorti enemy cult of Humakt.