Joerg

Lokamayadon's quest to reach the High Storm Tarumath may be the closest any quester may have come to achieve that. I don't think that the God Learners would have done much of that - they were after the runic attributes and powers of the deities and couldn't care less for their personalities or preferences. A few Storm Gods allowed themselves to be tamed, but usually for the promise of marital bliss (by Sea or Earth goddesses). Aerlit even sired the prophet of Logic, and Kahar achieved Stillness in his meditative quest to get the hand and body of Harantara. A number of "aspects of Sedenya" likely underwent some editing to do away with overly Yelmic traits, e.g. Davu. Mr. Bombastic, aka Lover Lover? More appropriate for Tolat on Trowjang. The Godunya Rune is manifested in his bridges, acting both as mundane bridges for his mortal subjects and as the Kralori version of Dragonewt Roads for the eastern 'Newts and sufficiently enlightened draconic sages. There doesn't seem to be a dragonewt-rune-like ensemble of structures in Kralorela, the three (big) dragonewt cities of the islands off the Genertelan Mainland don't align in any recognizable runic pattern (any more?), and we have no information whether they are connected by magical roads other than the Bridge reaching the northern one. There is no evidence for earlier dragon emperors having made use of this geographical pattern, and it is unclear whether Yanoor or Shang-Hsa MHNBC used the symbol. RQ3 Gods of Glorantha gave it to the Immanent Masters as well as to Godunya. Godunya had visited the EWF - possibly early enough to meet Obduran the Flyer. He fairly certainly visited and used the dragonewt roads of the Pass and was aware of their pattern. The Immanent Masters are attested for the EWF, and Isgangdrang's personal "accelerated dragon worship" appears to have been a variation thereof. The God Learners were familiar with dragonewts from Ryzel in Maniria (then Slontos). They probably knew the dragonewt rune, and Gilam D'Estau might have used his limited insight into the Dragonewt or even just the Beast rune to subvert Yanoor's empire. The Beast Rune was described as depicting a dragon's scale. (Even though it looks like Truth inside Law upside down.) That's Dara Happan society, or rather Yelmic society, which admittedly spread out over all of civilized Peloria, but Dendara appears to have played a role in Darsen and Pelanda outside of Yelmic context as well. The celestial wife of Yelm certainly goes well with Light and Harmony. Her planet (or orb) rose up from below - it isn't clear whether the other (city) orbs of Dara Happa (as shown in the Copper Tablets) rose from the city towers (much like Yelm did, helplessly, when Oslira came) or whether they descended from their father Yelm much like the Three Brothers (of Fire: Lodril, Yelm, Dayzatar) had done. It is known for subcult entities to change or add runes compared to the main deity. That doesn't mean they have no trace of the rune that they don't display, it just says that this runic association is not one of the primary ones. If he was acculturated at Genert's court, his conduct must have been pretty scandalous to those taking the Dara Happan court for their definition of civilized behavior. I think that his people were the original Hyalorings, the horse cavalry serving the Earth God. Possibly avilry and griffin riders, too. At some time, they must have offended the Founders of the Animal Nomads of the southern (core) part of Genert's Garden. Spurning Eiritha? This might even be behind Storm Bull's absence from the Battle of Earthfall. We never got an explanation for that. The enmity might have extended to Tada, or may have exempted him. Morphologically, I find it hard to derive the equilateral triangle from the square or vice versa. If you take four dragonewt runes and arrange them so that their bases fit into a square, a Godunya rune with an extra star inscribed would result, but that's the closest transformation geometry offers. Numerologically, you go from 3 sides 1 bar in the Dragonewt Rune to 4 sides 2 bars in the Godunya or Dragon Rune. The logical next steps would be 5 sides 3 bars (aka a Fate Rune inside a pentangon) and 6 sides 4 bars (or in other words an 8-ray asterisk - the symbol of Pole Star in the center of the firmament - inside a hexagon). That sequence could be part of the draconic devolution sequence, from Orxili (hexagon) to the Ancestral Dragons (pentagon) to the True Dragons (diamond) to the netenic dragons aka Dragonewts (triangle). Much like Moon and Chaos, too. When I waffled about subcults replacing runes of the superior deity, I thought that the subcults of an owner of a rune should always have that owned rune of the superior. Thus, no subcults or aspects of Ernalda without Earth, no subcults or aspects of Orlanth without Storm, no subcults or aspects of Yelm without Fire, none of Humakt without Death, none of Issaries without Communication...) Yamsur was there for Earthfall, and perished in that battle (and was lucky that his name is remembered). This doesn't leave much room for a previous martyrdom. What does Six Ages have to say about that martyrdom? I understand Six Ages to play before Earthfall, or at best having Earthfall some time during the storyline. The Glacier came before the invasion of Wakboth.

Pretty much in the same way that Esrola is the long form of Esra, the corresponding plant goddess of barley. Esrolia has had millennia of cultivating Einkorn wheat, so I expect there to be cultivars closer to more modern wheats. It would still be different from Emmer or Dinkel (spelt) Wheat, and probably a lot less primitive than aboriginal einkorn. In our planet's prehistory, einkorn wheat was selectively bred even before people started farming because only the richer grains would be carried elseplace. Wheat cultivation from those beginnings to the onset of the Bronze Age was twice than the onset of the Bronze Age to now. Egyptian wheat exports probably went to Minoan Crete already. Mediterranean Africa fed Rome and probably the Greek and Phoenician colonies before it shortly after the onset of the Iron Age. I never saw Esrolia as a barley-exporting place, to be honest - if you ship a cereal overseas, it is usually wheat or rice (the only old transport route for rye that I have heard about was up the Norwegian coast in trade for dried cod). Barley exports are usually in barrels, in liquid form.

Fine. Such specialization happens mostly in urban centers or at industrial places (major salt mines for instance). As the rural Pelorians or the rural Orlanthi go, there isn't that great a difference in specialization. Overall accounting might be stricter in Dara Happa, and areas with water regulation will have additional overseers, though as often from the ranks of the local population with a farmer job on the side. The degree of urbanisation in Sartar or Esrolia is no less than in Dara Happa. Places like Aggar or Brolia differ, of course, but also from one another. For comparison, the rural provinces of "civilized" Tanisor have half the urbanisation of Sartar in 1621, only the coastal lands of the Quinpolic League come close, owing to the fact that the primary production from fishing can be city-based (unlike similar scale agriculture or herding). Most of the Lunar satrapies have only 3/4 the urbanisation of Old Sartar (20%, although that includes the Lunar population of the New Temple - substracting that from the totals, there are still one in six Sartarites from the cities). Exactly. With the Gods War culminating in the (Greater) Darkness (which should be the normal interpretation), your post-Gods War Storm Age would follow that sequence of seasons. And it is not that wrong to name the Gray Age the resurgence of the Storm people - the majority of the humans in the Unity Council are Heortlings, with Esrolians significantly fewer than the sum the Heortlings, and most other human populations significantly smaller than most Heortling groups. There are still plenty divine activities in the Greater Darkness. Sky River Titan at Snake Pipe Hollow and into Magasta's Pool (which appears only now), the victory over Sky Terror and the Lightbringer's Quest for Orlanth, the end of the Artmali (who may have resurged a bit after the Vadeli had been drowned), Pamalt's victory over Vovisibor, the migration of the Men-and-a-Half, Storm Bull and the Block, ... True, there are a lot fewer battles between non-Chaos enemies in this period, or at least we don't learn about them. The Dara Happans have Shargash destroying the world (and enemy gods) for its renewal. The end of the Vingkotling aggressions may have contributed to the onset of cooperation that led to Unity Battle and Unity Council.

I say it is connected, possibly in a detrimental way. As soon as she intrudes into the Illaro dynasty rites, Sorana Tor loses the prestige as the bringer of sovereignty, and the FHQ grabs at the opportunity and establishes herself (and her matrilineal offspring) in that role. The cult of Maran Gor has used this "blood for fertility" rite in Dragon Pass for time immemorial. Even if you lost a battle at home, the next harvest would be bountiful so you could start to rebuild.

If they are auto-calculating spread-sheets, possibly yes, but mere scratches of symbols of Order on parchment or pulped aldryami are probably not enough to trigger Bull senses. Does your berserk go crazy if you attach a piece of cloth with a charcoal image of the Chaos rune to his backside, without him noticing? (Once he notices, better run...)

Peloria with its north-running central river is a bit like the Mississippi Valley rotated south to north. Do the Eolians really herd the reindeer, or are they more like the Lulesami in Viking times, following the herds in a nomadic hunters' cycle? Jeff has been acculturated to rye-bread land Germany for quite a while now... There are few countries that produce a decent wheat bread - France, obviously, and at least Juteland in Denmark. US hamburger and hot-dog buns are at the bottom of what the art of bakery may produce, alongside with all those other breads that are already stale when taken out of the oven (looking at Northern Norway, here, a country which convinced me to bake my own bread while I worked there...). I shudder at the thought of having those bakers use rye... I was raised on gray bread - half wheat, half rye. Yummy while fresh from the oven, ok after a day, cardboard afterwards. Even with chemical additives keeping moisture up, the taste deterioration remains. That, or full grain rye bread, which goes well with lightly flavored cheeses. Esrolia works well for other cereals. I am not convinced that the Loess soil that you find south of Peloria is that well suited for rice, anyway. You wouldn't have wanted rice paddies during the Flood Age. They are basically an invitation for neighboring bodies of water to go where you grow your food. Is there any rice grown in the Nile Delta? Similar conditions to the Esrolian mesopotamia. One reason that rice growing didn't spread quickly may have been the preparation time for the wet fields - Esrolian irrigation is designed to keep the earth moist, not to drown the entire field. Hence you will have furrows for the water to distribute, but not necessarily on level ground - these furrows work better if the field is slanting somewhat so that the lower part receives some of the water let in above, too. Slontos was as suited for rice, but had millet. (No wonder they did the Goddess Switch there...) 1622, first contact with Argrath and Harrek? Are they different from Kralori ones? Are those Fire Chilis an originally Caladraland product? Potatoes are originally a highland plant, and while the moon itself may have counted as highland, Zamokil doesn't really. As a nightshade plant, the proximity of the Enmal mountains as a guarantor for heat might work well enough, and without frost, the tubers will provide prolific expansion of the stuff. I have Turinamba in my garden, introduced as decorative plant. Now it is a pest. The tubers get toxic easily when exposed to sunlight, too. Not that trolls would worry about that. The toxins act as allergen in smaller amounts, too - a reason why I avoid any potato products that aren't thoroughly processed. Better acroleine than solanine. Using the Latin root for drinking as in "potable", I suppose. If not potato, what other pre-Hon-eel ersatz starch did they bake into the bread? Turnips (the kind Beat-Pot had to peel)? In the famines and ice winters after the great wars (both of them), rutabaga was used to extend just about any food in Germany, which quickly put it off the ingredients except for where I live. (I'll be having rutabaga mash tonight, again. Holstein-style, with plenty carrots and some beef, which may be Holstein, too.) (Which reminds me of the unfinished waffling about cattle I promised some time ago...) The turinamba I mentioned before might be a fitting replacement - a sunflower-like fruit stand, and edible (if smaller) tubers below. Where I live, bread is supposed to have a flavor... Black whole grain bread goes well with curd and herbs, too. Good to have such feedback ever once in a while.

You should rephrase that last sentence to "during a very high tide only the driest spots..." or otherwise "are covered by water" rather than "remain above". Not the best analogy, really - her strength gives out but she reaches Pole Star anyway? That's not concurrent to my experience of walking uphill... I guess that the Loper people and their Teshnan descendants have a myth about her driving or leading a herd of sea beasts up the Celestial River, and the more beasts she has in that herd, the longer the trek up to Pole Star will take. Choralinthor lies roughly in the same direction as Magasta's Pool. Now we all know that Magasta's Pool really encapsulates the Void through which Chaos invaded after the Spike had been destroyed under the concerted attacks of High King Elf (who axed the shaft at its basement), Zzabur (who had sent the Breaking of the World) and the implosion of the Chaos invaders upon contact with the pure Law below the Celestial Palace. That void is still there, and whenever the red glow faces towards Magasta's Pool, it gets attracted and is lifted up, drawing the Pool and all the waters rushing towards it upwards. Thus, the Red Goddess has no powers over the waters of the world, but her cycle affects the work of Magasta to keep the Void sealed. Ho hum. Even with the ascendance and drop of the Void within Magasta's Pool, I am unwilling to accept that this tidal cycle is the dominating one in Glorantha. That of the Blue Streak has been dominant for all of History and even before, probably since the Ritual of the Net. The following sentence puts this right. I would suggest to change the order of these sentences. Enter two further factors that may contribute to the severeness of tides - Storm (mostly local storms, as the usual Great Orlanth wind direction north of the Pool is westerly and doesn't affect the southward coasts), and the big "Tidal Waves" allied to the Waertagi, like Sog. Yet another factor might be the respiration of the Vent, which may raise or lower the surrounding land by a few feet at its extremes. When all these factors combine, a Rungholt/Dunwich event of the second Marcellus Flood might be triggered. (In Seapolis, the population might take shelter under the waves for the duration of such events.) Harrek has been to Maslo, although he doesn't seem to have raided the Maslo Sea where the Master of the Tides dwells. The Wolf Pirates appear to sail in and out unmolested by the local Ludoch merfolk. It is possible that the Kethaelan ones have contact with (undocumented, but extremely likely) Ludoch around the Threestep Isles. Alternatively, they might have contacts to the Sea Trolls and their instinctual awareness of the dark goddess of the tides. And their Dormal openers will most likely start the ritual of Opening as soon as they make landfall. (Even if that isn't strictly required after the rise of the Boat Planet in 1624.) The Merfolk appreciate those high tides as well, as it allows them to comb the usually dry lands for stuff otherwise only available in trade (much like the local Pelaskites do to comb the mudflats for shells and crabs at low tide). The Rightarmer and Leftarmer fisherfolk are likely to use permanent fish fences to catch fish that have strayed into shallower "valleys" of their islands, caught in the outward rush of the falling tide. Coastal fishing boats will remain ashore if the tide is still on the rise on Freezeday as the riptide when the Blue Streak finally appears threatens to pull all vessels out into the Closing. They might even have different ones for zones of differently high tides... I wonder whether the 8-day cycle of the Boat Planet interferes in any way with the tides, or the Tidal Waves.

An artifact of unknown provenance and without any dating. Given the tendency that deadly dungeons accumulate treasure in the form of magical artifacts brought by the explorers who succumb to the traps and denizens, I don't think that the item has been in the Machine Ruins that long. The Flood in the Storm Age standing waves arching high above formerly dry land. Like the First River, this is an invasion of active water, not content to sit passively in puddles but with towering slopes of water rising above the neighboring lands, leaving only the mountaintops or the treetops of the Redwood above the water. In effect, two glaciers of liquid water. Annilla's attractive powers might have helped, but they wouldn't have contributed cyclical tides. (And ironically, Mernita is depicted as a dry island in the Oslir Sea on the Flood Age map of the Guide) That map also shows the Trembling Shore with its disputed lands far to the south of Kero Fin. Sevid is roughly Esrolia and edges of Arstola. There is no Choralinthor Bay yet - Choralinthor is the love child of Faralinthor and Esrola, and Faralinthor is the rather peaceful successor to Slarelos, cut off from the oceans. I understand the Ingareens to have arrived on Waertagi ships. I am not entirely certain whether the Waetagi sailed the Slarelos Sea, so I date that arrival to after the Breaking of the World by Zzabur's Great Spell which pulverized the Spike. The Breaking of the World and Magasta forming his pool is also the prerequisite for the tidal cycle of Annilla. We already have the Third Eye Blue folk with a tattoo on their brow, and as goat herders the "molester of goats" thingy in one of those Lythande stories would be culturally appropriate, too. I am open to suggestions that tie the TEB with Annilla.

Did the old Cults of Prax distribution describe all the Sable phratries, or just those at large in Prax at the time? According to your genealogy, there are no descendants of the twin founders by the male line among the Sable Riders (or their herds). Is that intentional? It also places Waha as an ancestor in the Golden Age, where he definitely doesn't belong - he was born from the encounters with Death (Eiritha hiding, Storm Bull receiving the instant resurrection by sacrificing the Dead Place instead). As such, there is no way that your genealogy stands up to questing. Oh, and are there Waha lineages among the herd beasts? Their encounter with Waha obviously predates the Covenant lottery, giving him plenty of opportunity to sire sons on both halves of the tribes (and the Morokanth are proof that he did). There is the actual possibility that a magically powerful person born to the khan and a female slave from another tribe might rise to the position of the khan, giving that person no (recent) ancestry in that tribe at all.

If potatoes are unknown in Genertela, they are unknown/not dominantly cultivated wherever the Middle Sea Empire sailed or rode. That might leave Maslo/Thinobutu or the farther East Isles. The same is likely to be said for sweet potatoes. But then, potatoes are highland plants, whereas yams and sweet potatoes are lowland jungle environment crops. Manioc/cassava and yams sound like crops you can find under a jungle canopy, which makes Elamle-ata a place to look, or Fethlon in Teshnnos and Kralorela, or Teleos. I'd look out for sago palms in such environment, too. I wonder how much temperate root vegetables are absent. Beet roots and carrots are mentioned in Pelorian context. Radishes are likely, too. There is an alternative explanation for the absence of potatoes - the great potato blight that erupted when the trolls brought all their bugs and fungi from Hell. There ought to be something like Teff somewhere, maybe as a crop of the Blue Moon. There is an entire class of hymenoptera that emerged on the surface in the Green Age - the sprites. But yes, hummingbirds are way more frequent in Glorantha than in the ancient world. Esrolia has them, for instance.

Of course she did! Heler helped, too. The Troll Gods cult of Annilla tells the story, as do the Artmali myths in Revealed Mythologies. The Red Goddess and her previous blue incarnation Lesilla lack this Sea connection (the other "blue" phase Orogeria even lacks a moon). The only water connection I can find for the Red Goddess cycle is at Moonbroth. Which IMO had better been tied to Annilla, too, unless somebody did something there in/shortly after 1247. (Possibly sable-related?) Possibly a prequel to Alavan Argay. There is a synchronicity between Sshorg(a)/Oslir(a) invading Dara Happa and Lorion conquering the sky. Unfortunately, all of that was hidden by the Golden Dome that shielded what would become the star map (this happened 20,000 YS later, according to the Dara Happans and their Copper Tablets). The dome turned blue in the process, although I wonder whether this is a return to the earlier, hotter flame of Aether rather than the lesser golden one of Yelm. But then, the vertical departure of Lodril may have caused the decrease of sky heat. I have come to believe that the Yelmic Sunstop occurred a good while into the so-called Golden Age, or that it was a great many local effects hiding the greater truth beyond. One of the Gloranthan paradoxes is the existence of the Gates of Dawn and Dusk in a world where the sun hasn't made any recorded lateral moves. Speaking of Annilla's point of emergence from the Underworld, is it the Gate of Dawn, or is it the eastern gate of the Southpath? They aren't that far apart.

I have come to expect "male bonding activities" to become pretty physical and intimate practically anywhere outside of Yelmic nobility. Orlanth is touchy-feely, and Lodril probably is little different. Ancient (pre-Ice Age) Malkioni society had a females to males ratio of one to four (or worse, as the dronar caste is supposed to be more numerous than the more noble castes). I don't think that theirs was a life devoid of all intimacy, though, or that there were enough lesser goddesses for all of them. This "male" comradry should extend to all such genders. Female sexed individuals (including hermaphrodites) are under a certain obligation to have offspring in ancient and not so ancient cultures. Their sexual activities beyond those granting this offspring are probably less regulated, although patriarchal societies will limit their access to functional males drastically. Again, this will require other outlets for intimacy. To me, it looks like there are two major sexual taboos or regulations in Glorantha for consensual interaction - straight (functional) male-female sex outside of the wedding vows (or magical/religious rites), and sex with non-adults (with quite different standards for adulthood than our modern ones, though).

The woodman's axe is a craftsman's tool quite often. Apart from lumberjacks out or straight planks or paper pulp raw material, you have carpenters and shipwrights who will visit the forests to harvest specific non-straight trees for their natural shape that fits into their current project best. Twisted trees make some excellent special parts. The axe is an aldryami weapon and tool, too. Even fire is a tool aldryami gardeners may use - both axe and fire in limited ways.

The Grain Goddesses or more correctly Land Goddesses (the big names in the Sourcebook) each have their favorite grain, but support pretty much the whole range of cereals suitable for the temperatures. They may have a special birth myth in which their seed in the primal earth develops that way. Cereal grasses are wind-fertilized plants, which points to a greater role of Orlanth (or Umath before him) in making them commonly cultivated than one might otherwise imply. Both barley and rye have the "haired" fruit stands which make the effect of wind going through a field even more striking, which might be a reason why the Orlanthi like barley so much. I always associated wheat with solar pantheon farmers, but if you look at Glorantha, solar cultures and rice farming go hand in hand. Objection: the Henk Langeveld days... Loren was discussing his then fledgeling Carmania campaign: https://glorantha.steff.in/digests/HenkDaily/v940212p1 wherein I argue for rye rather than oats that RQ3 Gods of Glorantha suggested for Fronela. But yes, there are a number of Darkness aspects to rye, including ergot and the color of the bread you back from it. (Also the color your oven takes on when you bake rye bread... something evaporates from yeast dough and creates a hard layer of soot everywhere. But, to address the original post: Pela is the wheat goddess, Esra is the goddess of barley. Thunder Rebel names Suchara the rye mother and Usara the oats mother. The latter two don't get much coverage. Dragon Pass: Land of Thunder introduces Suchara Vale, adjacent to Shadow Plateau just upriver from Karse. (Another place associated with darkness...) Wetland Ralios and Tanisor... western coastal Old Seshnela probably never was much of a rice land, and neither does Arolanit look like rice-growing territory. Jeff's new table of grains and associated goddesses re-writes older sources once again. Pelora as barley goddess does make sense ecologically (short hot summers), but I wouldn't have expected barley as the main crop of Lodrili dry farmers. I have no objection at all for barley as the main crop for Saird, btw. I was curious about brown and black rice, so I asked Wikipedia. In the real world, brown (or red, or black) rice is the rice grain with the inner peel still intact, whereas in white rice that peel is removed in preparation. (Some sort of threshing or light milling, I assume.) To be honest, I have always seen Esrolia as an exporter of wheat, despite the name "Esra" associated with Barley in Heortling mythology, and barley being the preferred grain in King of Dragon Pass (especially the early PC/Mac version which asked the player to adjust the grain balance for the agricultural year). RQG confirms that flax is a major crop in southern central Genertela, too, with all its linothorax armor. Probably some for the fibre, the other part for the linseed oil (or the whole seeds as food additive). I haven't heard about oats beer yet (let alone drunk any - at least knowingly), but wherever grain is cultivated, beer (in the wider sense, not necessarily the Bavarian Purity Law sense) will be brewed. There are the options for winter grain (sowed in late Earth Season or even early Dark Season) and harvested earlier in the year, or summer grain (sowed at the onset of thawing, Storm or more usually Sea Season). I miss millet and buckwheat as cereals (or pseudo-cereals) in these lists. Oats has always had this "now where do we put this odd cereal?" feeling to me. Porridges (of various cerials or pseudo-cerials) are the natural way of preparing grass seeds for human consumption. It is the kind of meal you can produce in a clay cooking vessel situated on the edge of the hearthfire for about a day. On the whole, I wouldn't expect the various exile groups from Brithos to vary greatly in the grains they cultivated on the western shores of Genertela or their home island. We know that the Brithos agriculture was continued throughout the time the glacier encroached their island, and we know that Arolanit has copied the Brithos way of life painstakingly, and the Sog City colony is little (if any) better.

Now that you say this... the Boggles are the product of Ratslaff farting. Is Umath nothing but an oversized Boggle?

I don't think of the Orlanthi as being uncivilized. Their civilization has different values than those of the Dara Happans or Esrolians, but they aren't less civilized. Places with capital punishment for minor infringements aren't any more civilized than places with communal responsibility for wrong-doings. Whether an overabundance of incarceration or amputations, a society doesn't get more civilized by that. It is one way to play out which god overcame which, and where. Rewriting history and myths. Well, you wrote: The Gods' War ended with the Ritual of the Net and I Fought We Won, at the end of the Greater Darkness, on the cusp of the Gray Age. The Storm Age starts in the Golden Age - some say with the birth of Umath. The Gods War starts with Umath being denied entry to the Upper Sky, or with Orlanth slaying the Emperor. The Gods' War covers (most of) the Storm Age and continues into the Greater Darkness, and ends with it. All theist nobility are. They are required to (oversee the) sacrifice to the ruli

These days, a BRP (actually, RQ) character sheet looks to me like a collection of stuff I have little to no chance to succeed in. I originally switched to RQ (3, in a setting of my own) because I wanted to have the simulationist rules with a "increase skills through on the job application" mechanic (the skill checks) and no such unnecessary ballast as levels or experience points. Nowadays, I think that the skills should be something like breakout-abilities from raw talent (the skill category basic ability, like e.g. Communication, Perception) increased to a sensible chance at success for everyday abilities (like e.g. Listen, Scan) that can still be made harder by situational impediments (like bad lighting, weathering, ...). It is ok if the game tells me what are my chances. It sucks if the game tells me I have no realistic chance at success at anything but a very few exceptions. Foreign languages - you'll slowly get into that, by exposure. Think "The Thirteenth Warrior". There are some skills that require fundamental training. Literacy, for instance. But the initial learning should push you up to an applicable skill. In case of doubt, a skill that tells my how much longer my character needs to finish the task as opposed to someone fluent in that script and language. Having an alternative skill at high proficiency should be another form of getting a decent chance to develop a new breakout skill. No player complains about new skills as rewards. Players will complain about new skills as barriers that prevent them from agency.

I always thought of Disorder as overlapping moon runes: If you squint, you'll find one harmony for each three disorders.

When I said "There's this guy", I meant this one (Guide p.600): But yes, he really is "this guy", no information where he came from or how he mastered the tides. Prince of Sartar reveals that there is a moon affinity to their place and probably culture, and that affinity must have preceded the rise of the Red Goddess. Given the tidal nature of the place, I found a Blue Moon connection a lot more likely than any Sedenyic nonsense. I don't think you need to see it to detect its magical pull on water. I am fairly certain that there is at least one instrument in God Forgot with glass balloons filled with various qualities of water on a swiveling base, following the Blue Streak as it travels up the Celestial River to Pole Star's home). Possibly with tubes allowing the liquid to wander between several such bulbs (or more likely on liquid of caustic Nelat water and another, immiscible one of similar density to fill the places absent the brine). Possibly an entire set of partially functional instruments of this kind... As Olodo? We know that they were in contact with the Waertagi since before the Dawn (as was Nochet). There may have been some exiles or travelers on Waertagi ships, possibly during the drought of the Gbaji Wars.

While they are one of the five Greater Tribes, the Sables are quite different from the other four tribes (all of which have Founders who are sons of Storm Bull). This makes their Waha khans weak enough to have the queens (chief priestesses of Eiritha) of the (originally 7?) phratries get a whole lot more say in policy and everyday rule than in any other of the Great Tribes. (To be honest, I am not quite that certain about the Morokanth, but this goes for High Llama, Bison and Impala.) Yet the Sable Queen of the Kostaddi phratry flipped on her alliance with Jannisor on the cusp of triumphal success against the Lunars after a "revelation" by one of the Twin Stars (in female guise, unlike in the tribal myths). Who exactly is responsible for calling forth the Founder in a Praxian tribe? What form of descent must the officiating priest (khan) have from the Founder? If the Waha Khan performs the rite, then no descendant in direct male lineage is required, as there is no way that a Waha Khan can be descended from the Founder in the male line - he has to be descended from Waha instead.

There is this guy on that island in the Maslo Sea, for instance. There are the Ingareens. There were the Outer Atomic Explorers. And there are numerous heroic folk traveling up and down the Sky River. The rise of the Blue Streak hand in hand with the Sky River Titan should be a regular sight there. No idea whether this was visible from the port that is visited in the Eleven Lights quest.

Yes to this. Whether you are talking Celestial Court or the Court of Runes as depicted by Zzabur (who claims to be the Rune of Sorcery, and at least personality-wise shows a remarkable absence of likability), the earliest manifestations were fairly solipsistic until they found that others were possibly about them, too. Prior to Orlanth offing the Emperor, Vadrus was the most badass Storm guy around, doing great deeds of e.g. wife-taking (bad euphemism, here), and continuing to do so well into the Lesser Darkness like drying up the Faralinthor Sea (orphaning Choralinthor) and beating up just about everybody. Rain is a weird consequence of Heler (and possibly other entities, like the sea god who stepped on the Keet sage) losing their direct connection to the Seas. We discovered the dichotomy between unsaturated (hypotonic) and oversaturated (hypertonic) waters of Heler and Nelat rather recently, and possible mythical implications thereof. Bringing (rather than making) rain (or not) is the battleground between Storm and Sun, with Heler having some agency alongside Storm. The Light Rune has become synonymous for the sky, at least during Yelm's great Sunstop that makes up at least the second half of the Golden Age. Those were not part of the Trickster treatments I was considering. More in the sense of slow dismemberment, frying the pieces and serving them to the Trickster... Apart from those patches of tar and feathers that just won't wash off, right?

He has stolen powers from all the elements. But if you read up on the wooing of Ernalda, his fertilizing rains are mentioned there, too, and that should be before he encounters Heler and his folk in Battle but leaves as besties with benefits. As long as you can direct destruction at others, it's not that bad. It is one of two origin stories of the Malkioni (I call it the Brithos version, as opposed to the Danmalastan version which has Malkion re-incarnating as ever more devolved versions of the Invisible God/Creator/Logic. Both these versions are in Revealed Mythologies, and both are still canonical as in-world texts and beliefs.) That's close to "Eurmal Friend of Men", the probably friendliest variant of Eurmal found anywhere in Glorantha, worshiped in Fronela. I am a fan of the game, but you should play someone else's copy of the game before deciding to shell out that much money. No, the sequence of the Seasons doesn't directly map to the sequence of the Ages. Storm Age is another name for the Gods War, except for the bits that are best described as Greater Darkness or Chaos Age. Other cultures than the Orlanthi call the Storm Age after the death of the Emperor the Lesser Darkness. Some scholars put the start of the Storm Age into the Golden Age, either with the birth of Umath (quite early) or with the incident that led to his Chaining/Dismemberment by Jagrekriand/Shargash resulting in the rise of the activiies of Vadrus and his brothers. The era after the worst of the Greater Darkness was stopped by the Ritual of the Net in the Underworld and the I Fought We Won battle in what remained of the World of the Living is called the Silver Age by the Theyalans (who saw a resurgence of culture and a continuation of the cooperation from the Unity Battle and the individuals in the I Fought We One battle which led to the Unity Council) or the Grey Age by most other cultures that have memories of this period. Quite a few survivors of the Hero Wars had no notion that the hardness and impossibilities of the Greater Darkness had ended until awakened from that trauma by contact with others, like the Lightbringer Missionaries (if they were lucky) or by neighbors like the Garangordites in Fonrit (if you were as unlucky as the Artmali descendants living there). Pamalt: There are a number of myths around Pamalt in Revealed Mythologies, possibly more than we have about Genert. As far as I can make out, the initiation rate of the people with Yelmic ancestry is higher than that of the rest of the Pelorians, if only (according to the RQ3 Yelm cult) Yelm the Youth initiation - a very basic initiation with hardly any benefits and no usable rune magic. (Apart from Yelm, only the cult of Aldrya offers a similar rather meaningless initiation as the Children of the Forest, at least in the old RQ2/RQ3 material). Part of the reason is that the yelmic nobility acts as a form of priesthood overseeing the holy folk of other cults. Their role in the bureaucracy is accompanied by religious duties, too.

That's a cycle, too, in a sawtooth pattern. On average, you have two drops down Magasta's Pool in a week. There may be a saying like "once in a quadruple Blue Moon" for a rare event. Triple one weeks are fairly frequent, as are single one weeks. There is no info on whether the high water mark changes with the speed of the Blue Moon's ascent. The current tide can be predicted from the time needed from the plummet back to the average tidal level, add this much time again to prepare for an easy departure from port, or for the time by which your coastal fishing boats had better returned to shore. Lorion's constellation is directly east once a day (or night), not necessarily visible to the naked eye. It sounds like Lorion picks up his wife at the Gates of Dawn for the journey up the Celestial River.

There's always the Lightbringer's Quest, with the stage "Lost in Hell". Magic power and hope in the shape of a feather from the wife, sent to the dungeon. The Red Cow clan regularly raid the Godtime equivalent of their own village, escaping through the secret caves. Wells that bring in water from the side of the settlement are a possibility for this, too - Nochet has aqueducts, and possibly intersecting catacombs. Boldhome has its pockets for some overhanging rock climbing, if you want to. Duck settlements with stilt houses or floats have the underwater approaches Jimmy B has always been so fond of. The underbelly of sheep are probably applicable only on the Other Side, unless your party consists of Enlo or ducks? Stowaway on a vehicle or sufficiently sized beast is a well-proven trick. A Eurmali can turn everybody's appearance into that of a highly embarrassing beast of burden, possibly causing some sweat when the cargo of that "donkey" or "beetle" is checked by the guards. The Orlanthi have a couple of rote techniques for such ventures. Flight and Teleportation are dull and should be discouraged, likewise Divine Intervention. That leaves donning your Sandals of Darkness, casting Wind Words to distract the guards, seducing and/or sedating the alynx, putting up Darkwalls or similarly un-flashy magics. Invisibility spells require spell trading with a ready source, and there is no telling what the trading partner wants in return. For missing hand holds there is the possibility of the Glue spell and some MP storage (applied to the rope or log you put against that wall or ceiling).