Joerg

The marriage quest in Sartar: Kingdom of Heroes has the Malani priestess Ernalsulva from the Greenstone Temple as the contested earth queen priestess for a Colymar (Orlmarth) and a Lismelder (Greydog) candidate. Despite the Clearwine temple being right across the corner. The Clearwine temple is the main earth temple for the southern Colymar clans (the northern ones have the choice beween Clearwine and Greenstone), and probably serves the neighboring tribes, too. The Hill of Orlanth is holy to all Sartarites and protecting it was the initial action of the Starbrow Rebellion, by a confederation of tribes. (Actually by the members of Kallyr's High Council.) Orlanthi etiquette yes, towards the temple. Pilgrims to the temple might be exempt from involuntary hospitality. Preventing a pilgrim's access to a temple would be an offense against that temple. A feud might balance that, though. The Hill of Orlanth Victorious was the site for royal rites, a good luck place for starting heroquests and military campaigns. Harmast started his (first) LBQ here (not sure about the second, but possibly too). Possibly one of the holiest places in Sartar. And probably the border marker for three local clans. Places inhabited by local deities (like Tarndisi's Grove) may be outside of human-claimed lands. The worst example of offensive practices probably is the Lead Cross quest which requires the slaying of Chalana Arroy healers. But other than this diametrically opposed pair of Life and Death I have a hard time to think about really offensive practices between cults of the Orlanthi. Heler or Orlanth vs. Elmal/Yelmalio is the next most likely problem, I guess. Then there is the Lariat and Stick feat by which an Orlanth cultist might humiliate Storm Bull cultists. If an Orlanth temple was having a great hunt, it would certainly include the local Odayla holy people in it. Odayla may have a separate existence, but he is a Storm Brother (i.e. subcult of Orlanth), too. The aurochs hunt that Argrath is going to hold in a number of years (possibly as a preparation for the big marriage to Inkarne) will involve Orlanth, Odayla and Storm Bull holy people.

There is the effect of generalization of the settlements to the hex map which plays into this, though. The boardgame rules forbid the coincidence of cities with river hexes, hence even a river port is always displayed on a hex adjacent to at least one river hex. Check Furthest, Bagnot, Dunstop, or Dangerford for reference.

A very nice story on the subject of separation, but I miss the essence of distilling - the transmutation of liquid to steam(fumes and back to liquid. Steam is a well known effect in Glorantha - shamans use steam huts for their journeys, and the cleansing effect is used mundanely as well by many cultures. Steam is useful for straightening or bending wood along with the grain, a valuable technology for making spears, ships' planks and numerous other items. Beer is heated, and overheating beer gives you intoxicating fumes - something certainly also used by shamans and other holy people going into trance. These fumes may collect on the outside of vessels filled with cold water, and licking your fingers after wiping such a vessel will give you the taste of liquor. The principles of distillation are open to discovery by observation, and possible in the practices of holy people. And anything which creates intoxication will find its way into ritual use. The secrets of booze come in two steps - that of fermentation, the making of wine, beer, kumiss, often a two-step fermentation starting with making the starch accessible and then producing the alcohol and the sparkling - and the separation of the booze from the water and solids. Separation of liquids usually involves a phase change - or in Gloranthan terms, a transmutation to fumes (Air) or solids (Ice, Earth), rarely the method of extraction with immiscible fluids (oil and water). The use of Heat or Cold, powers associated with Fire and Darkness. These methods are well known to perfumers, dyers, and herbalists and apothecaries. And of course alchemists. The mystical goals of alchemy are paired with observations of material transmutation. The smelting of metal from ores is as much a mystery as is the condensation of fumes with the production of liquids and resins (including pitch) or the precipitation of crystals (including edible ones like sugar e.g. in honey or syrup, or salt) from liquids or even fumes (like salts of hartshorn). This may very well be an animist procedure - with the spirit (in the sense of elemental spirits of a special kind) being summoned or called out of the original substance. The ritual @Eff describes is a combination of such a summoning and a separation. As such, it is an interesting version of an alchemical technique. But I wouldn't call this distillation. A myth about distillation is a myth about steam - the violent meeting of water - water separated or separating from the sea, a Heler theme - and the hot earth or liquid rock of Lodril/Veskarthen. And then a myth about how that released spirit condenses again. The use of lead pans for the crystallization of salt from brines (greetings from Nelat) is an ancient technology, and there is bound to be a myth about this, too. With the myths about the animated Stone, there may be lesser myths or allegoric stories to explain these processes, trade secrets that are conserved in crafters' guilds and/or cults. Or in the knowledge cult. With both Heler and Nelat involved in this, the mysteries of the weird secrets of liquids (including the weirdness of liquid Sea Metal) is a sorcerous approach to the seas. By people outside of the seas...

Isn't the River Ritual a Sea Season rite? The 1622 Sea Season is additionally hampered by the Windstop, so did they perform the rite in the same season the Cradle floated by?

Anything in connection to stone walls refers either to Duck Point where Duck Point refers to the city that Sartar built after having been rebuffed by the Colymar tribe, or to possibly Stone Nest (mentioned in Dragon Pass: Land of Thunder). The map of DP:LoT shows less detail than maps of the Lismelder Lands which apparently were created by the Tales of the Reaching Moon team from the master maps that Jeff presented at Kraken this year. The Halberd Game maps has the secondary road from Stone Nest (the end point of the royal highway) to Duck Point (the river port at the easternmost outflow of the Upland Marsh) different from the master map, the course in the DP:LoT map is true to that master map. But then the master map has no road from Stone Nest to Duck Ferry, a place which logically would have an overland route to the royal highway - just not of the quality of a secondary road in Sartar (which probably is the quality of a primary road everywhere else on Glorantha). The Duckton Road is the road from Quackford to Stone Nest. As it leads onward to Duck Point, it isn't clear which of the two settlements is meant with Duckton, or whether both are.

Here on our own planet, a biological phenomenon is another strong incentive to use the month as the intermediate measure of time. The closest celestial phenomenon to measure the menstrual cycle would be Tolat/Shargash, usefully the blood red planet. Unfortunately, this is a male-associated body (and the only one of the 8 planetary sons of Yelm I haven't seen a female version of). An approximate alternative would be the half-cycle of Entekos with 31 days, suitable because of the wifely connections.

Does this mean that say the 20,000 tribesfolk of the Jonstown confederation assemble in a suitable sacred place near Jonstown to participate in the rites, or do Malani, Culbrea and Cinsina have their own rites (and if so, where and how does the urban population celebrate)? Or does each clan send a delegation of holy folk to the tribal rites, while others take care of local deities and of the ancestors back at home? Do the spirit masters have a routine of visiting the holy places of local entities, or are these called into the sacred circle even dozens of miles away from their seat of power (e.g. Tarndisi's Grove)? The Colymar for instance have two urban and holy centers in their tribe, the Ernalda temple at Clearwine and the Elmal temple at Runegate, which happens to be the seat of the home clan of the recent Colymar kings. Where do the e.g. Enjossi hold their rites, and (importantly to them) their rites to the Stream? How do the Varmandi transfer magic between the tribal ceremony and their immobile wyter in the Thunder Oak? It is easy to over-define such things, but examples would be useful.

How important is the character to her clan? As long as she participates with her cult (or as close an approximation as she can make), her efforts in re-making the world will amount to something, but her clan won't benefit from the resonance with the world she creates magically. On the other hand, the fact that she was sent to aid the other clan means that her clan either needs to work off an existing obligation or build up a new one that can be expected to be paid by the clan she is helping.# Such an obligation may be used on a heroquest, summoning that specific support (usually through an item taken along) to help with a challenge. Sometimes you collect that aid for a specific challenge, including crossing over in the first place, which is one stage where it is nice to have a trickster. If you can loan that trickster from that other clan, you don't have the trouble of him staying around with your clan for the rest of the time. Sometimes it is an augment for dealing with a guardian. In HQ there is a system called "lingering benefits" that you can collect when performing above the specification of a certain station in the quest. Now there is no guarantee that this specific station will play out like what you prepared for (that's the heroquest surprise rule, also shaped by the efforts of the antagonist quests which are bound to coincide with yours, often from unknown and even less expected angles), but on the whole it is better to come prepared and leave that boon unused than not to have the option of that boon. Sometimes it may be a ritual performed for your clan, at your clan, which the other clan is better at. Sometimes it may be diplomatic support in the interaction with a third party. This game of obligations is played on the clan leadership level, and your character may be told what is expected of her, but there is a chance that she is not considered to have the need to know. On a personal level, spending Sacred Time at home might be very important to that character, and you could make this a dramatic journey to achieve a last minute attendance at her home clan. Friedrich Schiller's poem "Die Bürgschaft" (don't worry, the link is bilingual) is a tale of desperation to arrive at a set time. Many of the obstacles are appropriate for a late Storm Season travel, too. A trip like this can be a memorable adventure.

Ethilrist? When he found out the nature of the emperor's gift, he served out his contract fully, then re-appraised his service and upped his price. Harrek. He quit quite spectacularly, too. And it will be fun to explain to the White Bear guy why you named your steed after him. Fazzy still is in the process of quitting.

And that's the story of "Sit here"...

So "recording their answers and only bursting heretical brains" is just going through the motions? Or is the questionaire an algorithm similar to the probe sent to Babylon 5, demanding replies to a number of hard questions and only refraining unleashing the demon if the pre-determined one and only truth pleasant to Theoblanc. Possibly requiring a certain inflection in addition to the one and only correct wording... Wait... demons? Performing the will of the Invisible God? I thought we were talking about the White Wizards? There is something fishy about this (and no, I am not talking down the Waertagi here).

In order to question them, they must have made the mistake to attend his tribunal, right? Theoblanc clearly made use of forbidden Vadeli (or Zzabur's) magics there. "It's a trap!"

That word after "and" is correctly spelled with "ath" rather than "v"...

So the First Wizard of Seshnela decrees the infallability of his office's decree, and Malkioni outside the military envelope of the Kingdom of Tanisor are supposed to be bothered? Even if something like this happened, I doubt very much that the decrees of that pony show will have any effect on anyone not voluntarily submitting to that God Learner-like hubris. Theoblanc does not have the power of the Middle Sea Empire behind his decrees. Yomili had no influence to speak of in Fronela or Ralios, and if Slontos still followed his decrees, that may have been out of lethargy rather than out of conviction, and Slontos still was part of the same empire as Seshnela, even if traffic between the Archduchy and Seshnela was blocked by the Closing and Halwal's activities. Seriously - did the previous Ecclesiastical Councils change the Malkioni magic or truth in any way? The last ones didn't do anything about Arkati magic or to save Seshnela from internal dissent. There is no such power as in the investiture conflict between Rome and the Holy Roman Empire. The King of Tanisor may push the agenda through by military conquest, but what other means can Theoblanc bring to convince local wizards or talars outside of Guilmarn's reach to follow his lead?

No - Shield has a Countermagic 2 effect, blocking a Dispel 2 or Dismiss 1 per point. While you can Dispel the Truesword with a Dispel 2, you need to boost that spell with magic points to bypass the Countermagic effect, leaving the Shield in place. And once you notice that the opposition uses Dispel or Dismiss, you can cast Countermagic on top of that shield (ideally for as many points as you need to overcome that Countermagic effect, which works against the casting of Countermagic or Repair, too). I am not entirely certain whether you need to overcome an opponent's POW in a POW vs POW contest to dispel a Fanaticism - the target of the Dispel is inside the wearer's aura, after all. By the same logic, a sword with a bound spirit that has POW will have such an aura, too, and that may have to be overcome as well.

On the other hand, there is a frenzy of blood-letting in Esrolia post Pennel-Ford, with rich pickings from the Red Earth Alliance houses (that may already have suffered on the way in). Defeated, but laden with plunder is better than defeated and barely holding on to one's shield. The good news is that you know pretty well where the bulk of the troops in Esrolia are, and while both sides of the slaughter are hostile to you, there will be opportunities to kill and plunder rather than ask nicely on the way back. The party might pick up a few Esrolians as guides and allies (read: additional PCs) to direct them to rich, soft targets. They might even already have one or two in their party. What authority could Guilmarn have this far beyond the woods? Not even Tiskos (which is of Rokari confession) acknowledges him as the direct superior of their prince. Estali pretty much shields the access to Maniria, and those cities on the lake are as hard to starve out by siege as Nochet when you don't have the superior fleet. Rist and Erigia. And possibly those tree stumps in northern Pent. And Prax. Possibly the Grazelands (thinking of that Wood Hackers episode mentioned in King of Sartar). The Legros Valley has a tribe of humans exhibiting all the qualities we expect from the ancient Entruli confined by the Arstola Forest, a model civilization for human behavior under aldryami overlordship. Did you mean the (former) Holy Country, or did you mean Dragon Pass (Kerofinela)? And western Maniria has its own dragonewts - the one unforested region that I am pretty certain won't be re-forested in a hurry. In the French edition of Nomad Gods, the spirit of Redwood was somehow co-opted into the Lunar spirits that the Sable Riders have an affinity with, alongside Bronze Treasure (Tolat, never Shargash) and of course the Twin Stars. Are you talking about Herilia (nowadays Erenplose), lost in the first Sinking of Slontos in the Gods War? The kingdoms of Herolal etc. appear to have been in early contact with the Serpent Kings via the eastward journey of Aignor's son. The expedition of the Vathmai established Lightbringer cults in a not that peaceful manner, but it also ended the Pralori overlordship. There is Basim on the other side of the watershed, too. They are caught between the Waertagi (and a Brithini army carried by them?) and the Tanisorans. Nolos is probably not defensible, but the Pasos islanders might be able to flee into the elf-dominated channels of Old Seshnela. If Aamor survives the betrayal at Brithos, this Man-of-All prince in exile might have the motivation, resources and contacts to harbor a fleet of refugees. Possibly on Ginorth, as the Wolf Pirates will be the major naval opposition to the Waertagi and their crusade against the Cult of Dormal (which they probably see as a continuation of the Free Men of the Seas?). Possibly on that coastal stretch just south of Erontree.

Distillation of birch pitch: at least fifty millennia, probably closer to 200. The Neanderthals were experts in this pyrotechnology, and the resulting pitch was the universal glue for just about any application that required sticking hard stuff together. Distillation of potable spirits: no idea who started that, and with what method. Chemistry alert: Temperature control without thermometers stuck into the gas is a bitch, although placing your wine or mash in a container that has the cooler attached inside boiling water, the temperature won't be enough to distil over too much water. If the cooler is allowed to run upwards a bit before branching off, you even have a fledgeling column effect, reducing the temperature for the stuff you collect at significantly below the temperature of boiling water. Using boiling salt water (with the side effect of getting purified salt out of the brine) may rise the temperatures somewhat if you have sophisticated means of heating that water. But tossing hot rocks into a puddle inside a skin will keep the water boiling, too. I haven't seen any suggestions for a paleolithic distillation apparatus, but a hollow bone or even a hollowed out branch might make a good cooler, and a suitably sized skull with the extraneous holes stuffed with clay or some sort of gourd might make a good vessel for the mash to evaporate in. Try and find archaeological evidence for such a method...

I don't think so. Boosting MPs dissipate once they have overcome whatever countermagic effect there may have been. But why limit your blade to just Truesword? Add a few points of Shield with the same amount of Extension, and any dispel needs to overcome that Countermagic effect. As soon as you recognize the opposition starting their dispels, have one of your spirits add a Countermagic to those points of Shield. The increased MP for the weapon make parrying with it a much smoother experience. Also - if you (plan to) have such a weapon, why didn't you bind a spirit into it? That spirit will resist enemy magic with its own POW as a second layer of protection in case the first layer (the Countermagic) has been overcome, as the sword is its body.

Each of the two Yelmalio settings that have been described in some greater RuneQuest detail have their alibi light lady of Yelmalio, although in case of Starnia Stormrender, she has rather few male rivals. "Devotee" translates as rune level. I wonder how many templars will be (biologically) female. Or is Vega just the only biologically female rune level in the Sun County hierarchy that openly identifies as female-gendered (i.e. taking on the female role in a marriage, risking or even welcoming motherhood - or at least a successful pregnancy)? What is the proportion of "covert females" in the ranks (including male-plumbed templars strongly identifying otherwise)? The templars are likely to have "sacred brotherhood" relationships with fellow templars. No idea whether these are monogamous or polyamory in nature...

And, as of today, Yahoogroups will be taken off the net. At the moment, the content is still available, but that might change when the date changes in Silicon Valley. Has anybody salvaged the World of Glorantha and HeroQuest RPG groups?

I wonder what kind of "The Lion Cub" story one might weave from the Solanthi. Hakkuna Mattata, anyone? Yes, there definitely should be heirs to the Pendali lineage, although every able-bodied male of weapon-bearing age should have been involved in the raid/mercenary business. The Greymane business has been the hottest investment the Solanthi and their neighbors have seen in generations, whether led by the old lion or his two sons Hardral (who sided with Broyan) and Varstari (who took Lunar silver). How much lion behavior do we want in the Pendali/Basmoli lineages? We know that Greymane has several wives, and that his favorite wife owns the farm where he would usually spend his time after the 1618 raid. We don't know anything about the mother(s) of Hardral and Varstari. Could be his favorite wife if he chose his favorite by her fecundity, could be other wives if he chose his favorite wife for her qualities as his hostess and entertainer inside and outside of the bed-chamber. Greg wrote a couple of lineages for the Pendali kingdoms, with the divine lineage descended from Ifttala unbroken by other lineages edging in - not even cousins with a similar lineage. But then, Greg distanced himself from those Pendali houses As to ancient Pendali culture: Do we have a pride of female queens supporting the strongest male as their alpha? This kind of social structure would be a form of polygamy where the females determine the membership in the pride, with the male acting as the genitor for their offspring and occasionally called in to aid in the hunt on extra-dangerous prey? But then, the Pendali and their distant heirs among the Solanthi aren't hunter-gatherers (with rather little gathering), but a nobility among pastoralist/agriculturalist subjects, acculturated themselves to such life. Tenants take the role of infertile wives in a pride - contributing to feed the alpha and the mothers of the pride. The Holy Country section of the Guide refers to Ditali and Solanthi collectively as Entrulings. But given Greymane's boast that even the Solanthi shepherds drink from golden cups after his 1618 raid, we can assume that while the boar and pig are playing a bigger role in their sacrifices than among the Heortlings, their agriculture is pretty similar to that of the Heortlings. I wonder into which direction the Arstola aldryami want to go with their magical seeds. Apart from the bottom of the river valleys, Maniria is pretty much forested already, until you come to Ditali lands and Longsi Land (where the Esrolian shepherds are strong). While the climate is a lot more clement, the degree of cultivated land appears to be similar to what Caesar and Varus found east of the Rhine, with too much bloody forest already. Not an obvious target for magical reforestation, rather a target for a takeover of a woodland council as in Umathela. The two big targets with unforested lands are Ramalia (which is adjacent to Tarinwood rather than Arstola) and Esrolia. Do the Redwood aldryami have any plans to participate in this venture, or does it require a forest with a Great Tree? But then, if Peloria is going to be subject to this, there a no such elf forests outside of Dorastor in Peloria, and the closest strong presence of aldryami are the refugees from Erigia in Rathorela who lack such a Great Tree, too. But then, the reduced fertility of Prax might be an additional problem for the Redwood aldryami, although it wasn't Chaos that destroyed the Redwood savannah, but the humans directing Oakfed against the trees.

I wouldn't expect many Solanthi to return home from that battle. Many would have been slain by an enraged Harrek Those who broke and ran may have been rounded up by cavalry on that wing, and may have ended up as prisoners waiting to be ransomed. As successful as Greymane's earlier raids may have been, ransoming back thousands of warriors will have been above the financial abilities of their kin, so many of the captured survivors may have ended up in slavery. If Greymane or any of his closest companions - including his sons - survived, then possibly as the result of a successful Divine Intervention, but an enraged Harrek might be able to interfere with even that. The Battle of Pennel Fort may have hit the western barbarians almost as badly as the Dragonkill hit Saird and Peloria.

You can have your cake and eat it: while the tribes existed in that place, dissident clans may have been displaced from the Alda-chur region and forced to take refuge in the Alone confederation. Where exactly did the information that they weren't originate? As far as my short research found out, Sartar Rising: Barbarian Adventures created this information. It was the first official product presenting such information on the tribes of Sartar, and its presentation was met with some disbelieve and criticism. Dragon Pass: Land of Thunder basically copy-pasted that previous publication, embellishing it here and there, and adding local detail. DP:LoT is one of several fan-sourced publications from the HW/HQ1 era. While this was a very nice acknowledgement of the Glorantha tribe which had kept the interaction with the setting alive, this publicized detail information where Greg Stafford had already created such detail info earlier, but due to the (temporary) loss of the master maps to this scale and their gazetteers, Issaries Inc needed to put out something, and this crowd-sourcing was an invitation for fans to let stuff from their campaign settings flow into published canon. I cannot say for sure, but I suspect that the information in Barbarian Adventures had to be created out of whole cloth as the previously made concise documents were AWOL The designers decided to up the ante, to set up the "rebels" vs "enslaved tribes" polarisation in that publication to illustrate the consequences of the occupation. I think they overshot that target... With Composite History of Dragon Pass their main document, the authors somehow cobbled together their list of tribes, and as Harvar's recent victory over the Righteous Wind was a lot more immediate than Terasarin's obligation to some Tarsh Exile refugees, the BA version saw print. TL,DR: The special composition and origin of the Tres may have been the product of losing Greg's detail info on Sartar. One thing that Barbarian Adventures and Dragon Pass: Land of Thunder did quite well was their section on "inns in Sartar". An inn usually is a hamlet's meeting hall, with the proprietor something like a thane in charge of dealing with assemblies, and with travelers seeking hospitality. I would suggest that they have tribal moot places away from settlements, on sacred hills or similar. Their tribal kings may have been on the itinerary between the clans, or even the clans' thanes, and have their administrative building in the city. Unlike with the Quivini tribes, that city was available basically from the time of creation of those new tribes. Tribal villages were built around the same time as the city was built. The Amad were more exposed to hostile interaction with the trolls than the other two tribes, so making a tribal stronghold may have had a higher priority for them than for the Bachad and Tres. I suspect in the maps analyzed by Jeff they were written as of 1621 or even 1613, if they are based on those master maps. Those numbers are now being taken kicking and screaming to the onset of the current timeline. From my experience working with Jeff, he is more likely to make an educated guess on such numbers than to start a spreadsheet calculating filters like losses from the Windstop, and recovery efforts, and return of folk from exile, to calculate these new numbers. I have some old notes that had 500 inhabitants per hex, each hex one clan, and exact hex outlines for each tribe (matching the White Bear and Red Moon map). I think that this kind of info led into the Sartar campaign, and into the creation of this finer scale map. WF15 is set prior to the Windstop, IIRC. People may have perished, may have ended up as slaves, or may have fled out of the Windstop area. The Torkani occupied that place before the arrival of the Bachad, and the Bachad may have acknowledged that prior claim of the Torkani.

Listen to that individual: sure. Believe everything that lunatic writes: don't.

This still leaves the tribal Yelmalians among the Aldachuri and the Dinacoli. Coming from Saird, these tribes possibly have been converted from Elmal for significantly longer while remaining Orlanthi rather than striving to imitate the Dara Happans - why else would they have fled from the Conquering Daughter into Dragon Pass? The Aldachuri accepted dissidents from Vanntar, possibly about some of those policies which make Vanntar into a variant of Confederate Louisiana.