Joerg

A wyter using a hero or demigod as the pre-existing entity (godling, hero, founder) definitely has passions like "Hate Dara Happans" or "Hate Trolls", and woe to the clan/tribe/warband when they go against one of these. The creation of the wyter is a contract, and if the obligations of the contract are broken, the wyter may act. Harvar Ironfist had personal control over at most four wyters - the Alda-chur confederation wyter, the Alda-chur city wyter, the Princeros wyter, his own clan's wyter. Perhaps that of a warband. The tribal wyters of all the other Aldachuri tribes were never at his disposal. Unless his position as Prince of the Far Point gave him access to Orlanth Rex' Command Priest, but I am not entirely convinced that a priest (tribal king?) under the influence would be able to command a wyter. Let alone to command it to act against the interests of its community. It isn't entirely clear to me which blessings a tribal wyter would bestow on the clans that would be so powerful that removing it would hurt the clan. Calling in the tribal cattle from that clan will hurt economically, but that has nothing to do with the wyter.

Barntar is possibly the most venerable "subcult of Orlanth" with a life of its own. Odayla is similar. Hedkoranth the Thunder Slinger has always been a Thunder Brother, as have the two aforementioned deities. The Thunder Brothers are one of those collective cults that defy normal rules, much like the Seven Mothers. Identifications are often only semi-correct - look at the difficulty to make sense of Dendara's relationship to Entekos. Likewise the Lightfore deities...

I have become quite sceptical of statements telling "tribe A has this speciality" or "tribe B is this". Tribes are made up from clans, and clans can be extremely diverse. The Varmandi are a tribute taking war clan inside the Colymar tribe, but their specialities aren't those of the tribe. If you have played King of Dragon Pass, you will have assembled your tribe from a number of quite disparate clans with hardly anything in common between all of them. Tribal identity may be imposed by the dominant clans who usually carry kingship. So, if you want the Bachad to be renowned troll fighters, having one or two clans with such experience may create the renown for the entire tribe. Your clan founding myths are usually so far back in time that the location where it happened may have become completely forgotten. The tribal founding often is more recent, although there are a few venerable tribes around. The Aramites for instance. Those in Dragon Pass tend to be a lot younger, unless you have an ancient subtribe (e.g. a triaty) having made the move back into the pass as a group - the Runegate Triaty may have been such a case, and the sub-tribe sort of survived the destruction of one of its clans with the founding of a replacement clan picking up a significant number of survivors of the previous clan. Elsewhere, no priestly council of Orlanthland has made tribes obsolete (and the Dragonkill only affected fairly newly re-founded tribes after 1042).

I'd say yes. Ghosts should be able to attack animals with the goal of possession. Including covert possession. Dominant or covert possession? Ghosts prefer to possess their own species, or at least beings of as close a body plan as they can manage, if they want to bring physical skills of their previous life into play. Herd men surely are a good ersatz human. A Pain Spirit would prefer organisms that are sensitive. A Lust Spirit wouldn't usually target geldings. Disease spirits take whatever target they can affect. Ghosts aren't "spirits" in this sense. Ghosts bound as spirits into crystals or matrices act like random spirits, but ghosts bound to a place via the Bind Ghost ritual or Thanatari head processes are not subject to this rule. "When the binder dies" may have different meanings for "dies". I don't think that crossing into and out of Alkoth releases your bound spirits whenever you enter this part of the Underworld. (I might be wrong about that...) Entering Hell on a heroquest had better not strip your questers of all their bound spirits, either, although if you You might be able to transfer the property of place (or unmovable object) into a movable portion of that place or object, and move that elsewhere. The Thunder Oak wyter of the Varmandi might be moved into a blessed acorn, or into a shoot kept alive and then either planted elsewhere or grafted onto another tree. Whether a dryad could be moved about like that I am not quite sure. I'd think so. The object itself may even survive the destruction of the binding if the inscription of the binding is destroyed or amputated (in case of bound animals). A binding might be flayed off its carrier. But then, a familiar with sufficiently long existence in an animal body may become an entity of its own, adopting the nature of the animal body and taking it along when the binding is terminated for whichever reason.

Sure about that? The problem closer to the Shan Shan, the more it might be eclipsed by the mountain peaks, but otherwise I always thought of the Red Moon as being as big as our moon say 3 hours after moon rise. Subjectively, that is. While being the largest object in the night sky, the Red Moon isn't the most luminous, but Lightfore is, despite being only the third in size. And Lightfore probably is about a luminous as our half moon. Absent cloud cover, that means you'll be able to navigate in open territory (outside of forestation). Also, along with Mastakos, Lightfore is the planet guaranteed to be in the night sky. The second half of the night will be darker, as Lightfore moves away from the Gates of Dawn. However that is balanced by the pre-dawn appearance of Theya. What does the Red Moon have to contribute to the night lumination? Her glow comes from a strange angle. On a clear night, you may have a number of planets out or not, Orlanth's Ring might be traversing the sky or not, and the Red Moon might look into your direction or away from you. Those are the variables. Lightfore is a constant, although it changes its angle. And Lightfore is complemented by the eastern and western Jumpers. The position of the Celestial desert might affect your local night light slightly. But in Glorantha you won't experience a New Moon's Night under a clear sky. Cloud Cover will do its job, though. So might wandering shadows. Does Ignorance have them?

It is not a separate existence as a cult with its own (independent) altar or temple, just a shared subcult. Much like Arroin is a shared subcult of Chalana Arroy and Humakt. For a fringe case, Hedkoranth the Thunder Slinger might be a better case, as his subcult was almost an independent cult in the HeroQuest era. Probably not any more, though.

Helamakt exists as a subcult of Heler. Heler is a quite complex deity, important to the Sea Pantheon although tragically severed from it, and the Orlanthi subcults probably cover only parts of what Heler once had. He is a friend to the Blue Moon and her husband Lorian, for instance, and aided them in their rise.

Syranthir and his lot had fought the usurper Arimadalla who had taken over Loskalmi (or Akemite, I have seen no details beyond the Guide or Middle Sea Empire) kingdom, and fought a long retreat with the forces he could gather. The Carmanians encountered Idovanus and found him to be an emanation of Irensavel, and Ganesatarus as a good approximation of what they accused Makan of. The foundations for Irensavalism are apparently laid by the writings of Tomaris, a Fronelan disciple of Hrestol during the time when he unified it into a kingdom - I think after his spell as Vadeli Judge, which probably came to pass after he had to flee Brithos with his Brithini wife following the unpleasantness with the successor of Talar Gresat Hoalarsson (who had been slain on the steps to the altar for his own wedding by Faralz. The three approaches to be the perfect Man-of-all are mentioned briefly in Missing Lands, the first in Seshneg ending with his exile to Brithos, the second in Fronela creating the Malkioni kingdom there, and a third attempt still in Fronela, cut short by his capture by Brithini from Akem. I think there are differences in the doctrines of the Seshnegi Hrestoli and the Fronelan ones who learned directly from Hrestol, and neither were satisfactory for Hrestol himself. While there will be some exchange between Fronela and Seshnela, Arolanit and Erontree prevented a full unification. I think that Hrestol himself only ever was exposed to his ancestor, Malkion. He received his first revelations in meditation, and his second and third ones probably too. He then would act on these revelations, applying them to the problem of the Malkioni he lived with, testing them and leaving behind changed societies. (In Brithos, he acted as a catalyst to unleash latent conflicts, and his term as Vadeli Judge may have left those folk changed, too.) The term Makan for the Invisible God probably was in use after the Gbaji Wars, at first in Jrustela and Seshnela. The Abiding Book spread that form of Hrestolism to all Malkioni who would accept it, including converts in Ralios and Maniria. I am not sure whether Syranthir and his bunch ever embraced it, but post Adalla-dynasty Loskalm certainly adhered to the Abiding Book as its scripture, with its references to Makan. Interestingly, the "Sharp Abiding" grimoire was the basis for the Order of New Order (Pilif the Magus) and the basis for Malkioneranism. Like the Sharp Abiding Book, this is a redaction by humans on the manifested word of God. The Rokari live within sight of the afterglow of the Red Ruins. Anything leading to magical excesses like that needs to be avoided. These aren't my original thoughts, I'm mostly mirroring what I remember of Nick Brooke's theories from 25 years ago based on glimpses of Greg's western stories like Hrestol's Saga: The first thing Hrestol did as a Man-of-all was to fight a battle against the Pendali and win. The second thing was to go on a quest to slay Ifttala, the ancestress of the Pendali and their link to the land goddess. Ritual preparation, a ride into the wild, meeting quest guardians and gaining support or overcoming obstacles, until he had left the mortal realm and was walking among the gods. There he applied his sword to the task... Afterwards, Hrestol was released from the Underworld at his father's intercession, another quest to the Great Temple of Seshna Likita. Froalar succeeded, fathered Ylream and Nebrola, and got Hrestol released, who afterwards went into Exile in Brithos. Arriving there in flagrant caste transgression, he slew several of his would-be captors. In the end he was allowed to remain if he restrained himself to his birth caste of Talar. Upon his arrival in Fronela, he seems to have built up his participation in the four castes again, and somehow quested to establish a united Malkioni kingdom in Fronela. Only which one? Seliset, the place where Tomaris conserved his geometrical wisdom, lies in Tawars, almost in what was Akem in the second century, but otherwise part of the Enjoreli lands. But Nenanduft might have been somewhat bigger under Hrestol or his successor. I wonder whether Hrestol did some quest against the Enjoreli, too. If so, he probably refrained from slaying another daughter o the land goddess... This could be written in the board header...

Jaldon's original tooth magic ate a hole into the Rubble Wall in 940, when the EWF still was at large - Labrygon/Lorenkargartan had just about finished his Puzzle Canal. He received his relevation upon visiting the Plateau of Statues with the giant representation of perfect tooth smiles on those statue heads. So, yes, there are a number of other toothed being possible. Krarshtkids, Boggles (Trickster's Swallow?), Dragonteeth (but that's Argrath's magic, inherited from Iason or Phoenician Cadmus, creating demigod warriors from a pouch of dragon's teeth), Darkness (trolls or giants), or Enostar's New Teeth forcing one of the gates open or just helping an advance element over the wall. Personally, I favor some giant and or trickster connection, and a physical breach of Dorasor's Wall, no simple fuzzing with the gate. Gate-breaking was how Jorbal Rhino-Khan entered the original city. With Jaldon present, I think we should see Jaldon's name-giving magic at work.

I would offer Boggles as an alternative to Krarshtkids. Boggles are infamous for nibbling away at anything in the Celestial Palace, leaving Tylenea's scarf in tatters, and loving Uleria to bits.

To be exact: he was the Prince from 1582 to 1600. Outlived his children by two years or so. Nope. New model city of the same type as Wilmskirk (the prototype), Jonstown, Swenstown and the hardly inhabited Duck Point. Building cities is what the dynasty excelled at. I would expect that to extend to the initial bunch of interior buildings, too. The Princedom of Sartar had a significant population of masons, and a royal project to start a city within a year would have attracted a fair bunch to the new city, with good prospects to remain in demand as provisional housing was upgraded. Completing the Aldachur road down into Traders Valley made the Sartar route even more attractive to traders, whether onwards past Whitewall to Karse or down the River to Nochet. Refugee pressure overcomes a lot of obstacles. The loss at Grizzly Peak may have been inevitable - it was the first battle that the Sartarites fought inside an active Glowline, and while Tarkalor had the King of Dragon Pass title, it didn't prepare him for imperial magic. Or Moirades' home-grown imitation of the Imperial college. Enslaved people? You don't enslave entire tribes, you dissolve them (see the Maboder, the Dundealos, the Kultain). You may enslave the captives in a battle, or you may raid a place and take the survivors into slavery, but if you do so, you exterminate the clan. Alda-chur was an important staging area, and the Sartarite terminus of the Trader's Valley leg of the road across or around the Dragonspine. Alone would have been left alone except for a tax collecting bureaucracy - it has little strategic value (as long as it doesn't harbor rebels) compared to the other places with Sartar dynasty fortifications. If Harvar did carry off lots of people into slavery, those would have ended up in Tarsh or Saird, probably on maize plantations. Or perhaps in the Grantlands, doing the foundational work for the earliest settlers there. Depopulating the city would have given the refugees from displaced clans or the dissidents moving away at least housing for the winter. The grain harvest would have been lost, but the transhumant herds may have been salvaged to a good extent. Even with the Yelmalio cult strong in Alda-chur, I don't think Harvar would have been able to manage an occupation force on his own even if the Lunars would have let him. I don't think so. Herongreen sits on the northernmost end of the Dinacoli tribal lands, with most of their clans further south. Blue Boar Fort wouldn't have seen any Far Point folk re-settling to the vicinity of Alda-chur. That's a very harsh tribute, but not quite slavery. And Harvar's followers included Yelmalians, but the majority of the Far Point folk were Orlanth worshipers. Sure, professional Yelmalio warriors would be more reliable as occupation forces than Orlanth worshipers, but do you really think that Euglyptus would have allowed a permanent presence of armed natives in his province? Demographics: across Germany, Bronze Age wives traveled back and fro several times from the Heuneburg region to the region beyond the Tollense. A prestigious lady, but "traded" across distances like between Caladraland and Sylila. Possibly across a language divide, as the Baltic Sea region would emerge as source for Germanic language migrations rather than Celtic. The very narrow nature of the valley may have created a distuption to travel times to the fields. Many people here on the forum will be familiar with the side valley at Bacharach (below castle Stahleck) and how long a walk through that part of the city up to the castle feels.

Part of the problem there is that we get the Bad Guys all morphed into a single entity (also making the use of the hit point table absurd). And it doesn't even have its mother sharing its lair. My players were primed to run away, but getting caught by that whip... For a weapon that has no stats in the rules book, this OP weapon is featured way too often in the freebie scenarios. And the special weakness of that antagonist... there is the Shield spell available to it.

In the case of massive sunspears, I wonder whether Avivath's version was the "measly" RQ spell or a blessed variant with an area effect similar to what hit Harrek at Pennel.

Before the Sunstop in 375, the year may have had more days. There have been theories about Luck and Fate weeks... Kralorelan Sacred time is one (six day) week. Looks like the Creator has as much time in Glorantha to do his job as the one of Genesis. For the following, insert the groans of a chemist: Blood contains more sodium than iron. We all know that sodium burns up when in contact with water, thus it is eminently sensible that in order to start a fire all you have to do is let a drop of blood fall into water. Nah, that's just the color of Storm. General Storm stuff and Storm metal are easy to tell apart. If you let it fall on your foot and it hurts, it might be the metal.

p.4

The introductory text claims the opposite, but the text collection doesn't seem to be conclusive to the contrary. In the story of Daxdarius usurping a seat on Mt Jernotius as a High God, JagaNatha replaces Dendara as one of the High Gods. (p.37), but that may just be another cyclical change. Verithurus is another name for Jernedeus, the Dara Happan spelling for the gender-fluid Jernotius. Zayteneras as an emanation of Dayzatar might be agender. The pathway from Yelm to Sedenya leads via the Emperor. Having an emperor is a good thing by definition. Having a Lunar Emperor thus is a good thing. Being Lunar having a Lunar Emperor cannot be a bad thing. Illumination and the deeper mysteries of Imarja are a thing in Earth-worshiping Esrolia, and Tarsh is often seen as a remote addendum to Ezel, a reservate for the Dark aspects of Earth (Maran and Ana Gor) you don't want nearby. Babeester has her holy place on top of Shadow Plateau... Hon-eel's teachings do finally find fertile soil in Sartar under Argrath. Too bad that these insights are turned against the manifestations of the Goddess, but then Argrath may be the necessary tool for ascension.

There are high nobility Yelmies (eligible for Yelm the Emperor), and there are lowly Yelmies (not necessarily street sweepers, but e.g. the lower Yelmic priesthood (Enverinus), or of other portions of Yelm, or sons of Yelm, who may upgrade into low level Yelm worship and possibly pass that promotion on to their offspring, too. Or there might be compulsory emperor worship on the lowest initiatory level for all male adult citizens of the Heartlands of any somewhat self-determined level. After all, everybody worships the Emperor. (Yelm as the emperor's wyter...) The Third Council of the EWF imposed something like this on all its subjects, including the conquered territories like Balazar or Dara Happa. Belintar was accused of a similar crime against Orlanthi individual choice (not up to the level of demanding initiation, but demanding a magic sacrifice from the citizens of the Sixths). That's of course a pre-Lunar expectation. Or, under Lunar dominion, limited to the ultra-traditionalist families of Dara Happa, not like the Assiday moon-accepting ultra-traditionalists. Dendara the Bride? Adult, but not yet magical? Magic unlocked only upon marriage or attaining priesthood? That "Legion of Infants" scheme was a magic to weaponize the innocence of toothless babies against the magic of the Syndic's Ban. No idea which chaotic genius came up with this, but it worked and led the moonboats to the lost Arrolian territories. There are other celestial forms of the Goddess to choose from, rather than the Seven Mothers. Although Zaytenara is dangerously identical to the object of the White Moon movement... I am not quite sure. The Assiday family did accept Lunar brides, but I am far from certain that it allows Lunar daughters. Neither Euglyptus nor Tatius feel like giving their sisters or daughters much choice other than to bear heirs to other families. Still, there are past episodes where other such combinations were en vogue for a time, and then became demonized, as in the Karvanyar reforms ("Yelm is not ...") or the reactions to Spolite Umbarism (a form of illumination deemed harmful to the Dara Happan Empire).

Earlier or extended versions of the text that ended up as "Composite History of Dragon Pass" in King of Sartar. Semi-published in an APA-Zine, IIRC. Also coming up in discussion in panels with Greg about the child prodigies in the Illaro Dynasty at Castle Stahleck. The story reads like a mix of freeform roleplaying, or testing RQ, or another rpg (Arduin?), and a game of White Bear and Red Moon, written down like a protocol.

Usually, use of magic by minors (including indulging in sex or killing) attracts magical foes, often Chaos. Risking the growth of a tentacle or similarly gross things while traipsing through the first illicit sexual experience with another minor is a big turn down. Sex between an adult and a minor is considered rape. Even the Trickster will step carefully. Working magic on minors is a fairly normal occurrance (Heal Wounds, Cure DIsease), but there are magics that are considered taboo, at least on an individual basis (such as Fanaticism, stuff that causes wounds...). Enslaving children might be a gray area. As may be treatment of enslaved minors. Morak in Biturian's Travels clearly is a minor up to his initiation as a Child of the Forest. Morak does fight, though... but then he bears the blessing of the Bull, and different rules might apply. Or the enslavement might be a different (unsavory) form of adulthood rite. The Household of Death consisted of underage magical adults. These children somehow forced their initiation into the cult of Humakt without consent or sponsored ceremony by their parents.

So is there a way to input data from the TDM pdfs into this tool, or will the tool come with material already ready to be unlocked?

Darths and Droids has "I am your mother, Luke!" Works just as well.

That leaves Gerlant's hell experiences. In all likelihood before he took over from the Gbaji-disease-ravaged previous dynasty as King of Seshnela. As far as I know, neither Hrestol nor Faralz had an underworld experience before they emerged as knights men-of-all. Hrestol's road to Ifttala had a number of symbolic encounters that slipped his quest slowly from the mundane to the divine realm, but no underworld experience there either before he slew Ifttala. Only after doing so, Hrestol was forcibly sent into the underworld, too, and it took the quest of his father Froalar for him to be re-released among the living, under the conditions of Hrestol going into exile and Froalar marrying Seshna Likita (fathering the twin children Ylream and Nebrola).

Rune spells require rune points, but for a POW vs POW role, I would use the magic points in absence of biologically regenerating POW. "Find Enemies" from its collection of rune spells might be the road to a TPK if the players feel heroic enough to ambush the yet unknown danger. That whip attack and a situational modifier for darkness and slippery ground may be too much.

There are seven participants in the Troll Rebirth rite, and all seven but Arkat cried out in pain... Source: the Jonstown Compendium excerpt on trolls that Minaryth used to convey a cunningly hidden message, part of Troll Pak or Troll Gods. Arkat seems to have been a collective of seven individuals or individual bodies at this time, or a hero and six or seven companions so close that they easily got mistaken for the hero himself with the hero light on. (Or all of that.) But yes, I think Arkat may have discovered the backdoor from Hell early on in his career, possibly already as Seshnegi Man-of-All. As a Brithini soldier, he would have been resurrected in case of a lethal accident in battle, but I don't think that would count as being a kaelith. We know that Hofstaring had practical experience with slipping back from Hell before he led the Sartarite hosts in the Starbrow Rebellion - he was a kaelith by Xeotam's definition. And it seems like nobody counted the number of times that Hofstaring used that backdoor - what we learn about him instead is that he had also mastered the quest of avoiding aging - a feat he shared with Jar-eel (and possibly Hon-eel and Hwarin Dalthippa). While entering the Underworld during a heroquest counts as "technically dead", I think there is a difference between going there through a ritual and entering on Grandpa Mortal's path due to enemy interaction. Being counted as a kaelith might require first at least one successful quest into the Underworld and then an untimely death through heroic exposure. This kaelith ability might be a trickster power...

Looking at what I have seen from Six Ages so far (very little - my time on the bus is used up otherwise), the refugees from Nivorah all bring their cattle, goats and sheep, including the charioteers. None of them are pure horse folk. I don't see the need to be a Pure Horse Pentan to worship Yu-Kargzant. You need to be of a certain male lineage, but your selection of food animals doesn't play into this. The reverse might be true - if you are a Pure Horse Pentan, you will in all likelihood worship Yu-Kargzant. (Although Joraz Kyrem apparently was deeply steeped in Issaries magic, too.) There is an event mentioned by Plentonius to have happened during the reign of Son of Evil (also called Illadarga in Fortunate Succession) that reports a barbarian with an iron sword rising into the sky and bridling Kargzant. This may very well be a reflection of a Hill of Gold event, but we don't have the slightest idea about the name of that Orlanthi hero(quester). The horror! The Berennethtelli and the Orgovaltes don't show any signs of ever having herded goats, though - but then, their Rider kings may have come from Pure Horse Hyalorings rather than from Nivorah escapees. With Yamsur present at Genert's Earthfall, I still think that the Hyalorings are originally from southern Pent, and never had lived in Nivorah. There is a possibility that the folk of Nivorah may have been descended from Yamsur's folk in Genert's Garden, though, bringing their winged horses with them. Anaxial's saga doesn't specify how the cities other than Yuthuppa were populated after the Flood, and even with a number of families aboard, I doubt that he could have populated all seven cities that easily. The Grazer description in King of Sartar has Arandayla separate from La-Ungariant. Certainly an associate deity, though. Jeff has already answered the Hyalor line.