Joerg

The one thing Eurmal really crafts is pranks, nowadays. In the West, Eurmal is known as Firebringer and Friend of Men, and probably is the bringer of civilization similar to Aptanace in Kralorela. His going against the other gods - especially the jealous Fire Emperor - makes him a Trickster.

No, that's Ancestral Mostali, and they have all the appendages and cavities they need for their projects. Clay dwarves were molded in a new way, and designed to be self-replicating without oversight by Ancestral Mostali. Their mortar and pestle dilemma is a well-kept public secret, and embarrasses those units selected to participate in those activities to no end, at least until the proto-dwarf module gets extracted and transfered into a ripening jar (alembic, whatever) before receiving some first work orders. Note that the creation of the Clay Mostali is little different from the creation myths of the Agimori or the Dara Happans, and the results have similar properties. The Mostali product is superior, of course, than those of some dabbling deities.

Running the scenario yesterday I saw some of the worst player's luck for a while - the duckr bravely attempting to rescue a comrade being drawn after the chariot fumbled his dodge roll and got himself rolled over, receiving the worst mangling damage possible. Basically, challenging the antagonist on the outside was a "you lose your life" proposition, fighting it in the dark, on slippery ground, without much of a chance to cause damage through a 3-point "skin" and six points of bronze plate. The monster stats given for a single entity There were some bits of the scenario that require text editing. p.5 The moon at its weakest. The Dead or Dying Black Moon hanging in the northwestern sky that night. Which neuters the rune magic the antagonist except for Fear and Find Enemy (or some common 1 point rune spell). Apparently not the intention of the author, who appears to mistake the Black phases of the moon for the full phases (p.10): Overall, the scenario gives the feeling of a Call of Cthulhu scenario set in Glorantha. Which isn't really a criticism, except for the "meet cute" of the first confrontation with the lethal antagonist.

I'd subscribe to that. However, all known original Vingkotling tribes were founded by one person out of the ruling couple with a direct descent from Vingkot. The Stravuli are an exception for their founders to lack this direct descent, and they are late-comers, possibly from a time when the Vingkotlings weren't really Vingkotlings any more (as proved by the special magic of Zzabur dissipating uselessly, told in Book of Heortling Mythology). Yes. Even the members of the tribes founded by descendants of Vingkot only have a chance at having the equivalent of Cohanim ancestry, and in no way a certainty thereof. Then there were tribes under Vingkotling rule which weren't Vingkotlings. The Helerings are the prime example, the Durevings are a bit trickier, since many of them became founding members of the 9 Vingkotling tribes of Vingkot's children. Others apparently remained independent. Before the Flood, the Durevings inhabited all of Ernaldela and Kerofinela. The Flood conquered much of Ernaldela, with only Kethaela, Kerofinela and Saird remaining dry (between the two bulges of water that overlaid the Rockwood Mountains, parts of Maniria and parts of Prax). The Sylilings remained a tribe apart. Other weird folk from Saird probably did, too, like the Nogatendings with their boat birds on Black Eel River. The Harandings appear to have split off a tribe founded by Drorgalar, a mortal/demigod son of Orlanth from east of Kethaela. It isn't quite clear whether Harand married the pig worship into his splinter tribe with Urgkronika, who could have been from an Entruli tribe. Harand's father was a heroic founder who married a daughter of King Drorgalar, similar to the origin stories of the four original Vingkotling Star Tribes. Little is known about the history of Sairdite Orlanthi from outside of the original Star Tribes. We know of one extra splinter group from the Jorganostelli, the Deleskaring people of Arrowstead. Otherwise, I find it suspicious that the surviving tribes count six of the original nine Vingkotling tribes, and only one of Vingkot's sons' tribes, the rest only daughters' tribes. Living closer to Alkoth may have been the cause for the demise of many a Sairdite Star Tribe, though. I do think that none of the newer tribes should have a name ending on -tes or -telli - these were used only for the 3 summer and 5 winter tribes founded by children of Vingkot, with Kodig's royal tribe still having another ending (-vari). All other tribes with a Vingkotling root ended up being called -vuli (including the Esrolvuli). The Deleskarings may never have been more than a clan (and would be the only evidence of a clan in Vingkotling times that I can name).

God Learners as observers, at best. They were sticklers for human purity (applying the term to inclusion of beast borne humans in the Dawn Age) and certainly wouldn't have started interbreeding with Krjalki. EWF era stuff, not EWF stuff. The EWF itself was focussed on accumulating draconic wisdom and power. That other stuff basically was a re-hash of Second Council activities (another period when the Orlanthi had become urbane and civilized, and in an exploratory phase of their cycle). I don't see post-Night and Day efforts of troll and human crossbreeding. (Including the creation of the Tusk Riders which I don't see as troll descendants.) Kitori ancestry doesn't give you "Darkness blood". IMO this is a reference to the autarchy in Ralios and Tanisor, and in the end direct descent from (one of the seven) Arkat(s) who underwent the troll adoption rite before his victory at the City of Miracles, and then turned back into the human shape.

Interesting - the Bronze Age farmers worked along the same lines as farmers just 2 centuries ago. The farmer as local master, with his family and a bunch of workers and servants from (more or less) landless unfree folk. (The farmers themselves may have been unfree to leave their lands, but still outranked those who just were live-in workers.)

Troll Pak has a scene with two or three muscular trolls chasing a frightened trollkin, elbowing one another to get at the critter. I made a team t-shirt out of that for Convulsion 1994.

I didn't have time to look up the details before. The migration sequence I am looking for is likely in volume two or three. The series is by Rocca and Mitton. Google has a few scanned pages in the image search, but none of those I wanted to refer to.

A migratory group will be little different from a settlers trek across the Big Plains or across the Rockies (terrain depending on your setting). Not necessarily conestoga wagons, but the Orlanthi are a wheeled society as former chariot warriors. The French comic Vae Victis! had nice imagery of the Helvetii migration, and documentaries about the gothic migration are pretty on spot historically, too.

Large groups, not entire migratory clans or full warbands. The scenario I described was for a pilgrimage of several dozen participants. Those shepherds' shelters would often be sufficient for more than a dozen individuals, at least if conditions on the high pastures resemble the conditions in the Pyrenees near Montaillou where a bunch of shepherds would be able to house a group of a dozen Perfecti with little discomfort, often for a week or so. If you are talking about a traveling king with his companions and servants (the typical traveling court), there will be a train of pack beasts carrying shelters (e.g. hunting tents) if they are making a trip into the wilderness, and demanding (and receiving) hospitality wherever there are inhabited places. A military or mercenary unit will have a train with servants carrying tents of some kind, cooking gear, armor polish, and food. A raiding party will travel in a more spartan way, but still be accompanied by supporters (magicians, healers and porters). Cattle raiders will travel more lightly, and in smaller parties.

These ruins are at least about 2000 years old (if the Dara Happan prehistorical calendar is anywhere realistic). Depending on the available material, it is quite possible that the only visible remnants are earthworks and post holes, or collapsed stone. Fonrit will have places of Angkor Vat or Tikal quality - before somebody went and cleared away the roots and foliage. But keep in mind that those ruins are less than 1000 years old. Many a ziggurat of Mesopotamia survived as huge piles of shapeless mud. The Artmali weren't exactly everybody's darling, so their former places will have seen intentional destruction. Otherwise sound masonry will have been toppled, or damaged in assault. That said, some of these ruins will be eerily well intact, glow bluish depending on the tides, or may house strange and dangerous creatures. Such places will have all kinds of traps and magical dangers that might give Indiana Jones second thoughts, and treasures that were not meant for mortal use. There might be some moon metal if the site is really ancient - the oldest place in Zamokil was built with solidified (metallic) moon-glow. Elsewhere, the Artmali used the urban architecture and materials they had learned from the urban Agimori of Tishamto. Quite a lot of Artmali Empire ruins will have been built by urban Agimori under their rule, especially south of the Tarmo and Mari mountains. These may be disappointing in terms of blue moon secrets, but may still contain the agents of their destruction.

Traveling through inhabited lands probably means that the travelers enjoy some hospitality on the way. Usually by distant kin, as it is quite hard to go somewhere where there aren't any kin of your mother or aunt, your aunt's brother's wife, etc.. Then there are friendly temples. Especially if you are on some sort of pilgrimage. The farther you are away from your clan, the more you will be relying on travel companions from closer to this region who may get you in as a "plus one". In the wilderness the average traveler won't be carrying a tent, but will have something like a sleeping roll, with oiled hides for an outer rain-slowing layer that may double as a poncho if you are sitting guard in the rain. Such nights will be wet, clammy and miserable (unless you're a Helering). Herders and hunters will use temporary shelters that they either produce from material on the pastures, or they will carry a tent on some pack beast. These temporary shelters may be quite sturdy and survive more than a single season, and won't be occupied all the time, so you might get lucky and find such a shelter that has free space. (If there are some herders there, they will likely welcome the opportunity to interact with some other humans than the usual faces or their beasts.) Some of these shelters may have been started centuries ago. These usually will have something like an altar where you can make small offerings to local entities (spirits or deities), not necessarily inside the shelter. And some of these may be haunted in a way, or impose some debt or obligation with the local entity, if you need an excuse for generating a small side quest.

They are Scandinavian in origin (Swedish-Finnish), so the full set of Scandinavian troll weirdness applies, from lesser giants of the Edda to gnarly gnome-like creatures. "Trolla" means something like "to work magic", something which amused me when I read Drakar och Demoner's Swedish term for wizard or Magic-User for the first time - "trollkarl". So, basically, Scandinavian trolls are beings of magic. With Pamaltelan trolls, do you mean the Muri jungle trolls, or the standard uz of the Tarmo mountains and their mutant kin? Do they have any connection to the Darkness Rune at all? From what I see, their body shape is the one thing that resembles Gloranthan trolls, although their tails are something that no descendant of Kyger Litor should have. To me, they appear to be kin of the Tomte, the household spirit. They may be entities from the spirit world stranded in a more mundane world. They don't appear to be creatures of Logic, otherwise I would have plaved them near Brithos. I guess the best place for them to hide out is somewhere in Kanthor's Isles, among the Beast Folk. They may have had their previous existence inside "Impossible Landscapes", that Arkati tome of the Hero Planes that came with illustrations and weird little kobolds inviting questers. See Middle Sea Empire...

Christians learning to kinda sing... from my experience. While there are churches where the communities can carry a tune, they should consider themselves lucky. There are many people who are enthusiastic singers but at the same time really bad at it, and then there are people who don't have the confidence to sing the tunes correctly out loud for fear of clashing with the unholy mess those enthusiasts make out of their miscarriages of those tunes. But then, song, dance, or other ritual activities serve to enhance the participants' experience of the worship and sense of unity (if not with the deity, then with the other worshipers). These skills aren't about auditioning for a big stage.

Heroquesters usually have a significant number of lay members, or in other words supporters for their otherworldly endeavors, which enables them to maintain a hero band wyter at much lower head counts. I said it before, but the Lightbringers numbered just six people, and they found a wyter for their quest. (Ok, one human, and five deities, most of them rune owners, so not your average small fry heroes.) The priesthood of the wyter can be transferred from the community leader to another person. This may make sense even with a wyter bound into a landmark, as the wyter can cast (and multiply) any spell known to the wyter priest (in RQG, and quite likely to some extent in HQG as well). In the case of a portable wyter (like the Colymar Black Spear), this makes even more sense if the new priest acts as a quester on behalf of the community.

It gets worse if the Shield user manages to add a Countermagic (although that takes at least one more MP than twice the Shield's points). The good thing about a high Shield is that while the shield is up it prevents a Heal 6 quick re-attachment of limbs (or indeed any quick healings) unless you pour in a day's (or two days') supply of MP. Nothing that cannot be fixed by Regrow Limb, though. What happens if Rurik Runespear receives a Shield 2 from Argrath and 5 minutes into the battle another 3 points of Shield from a friendly Humakti? Does he get 3 points or 5 points of Shield? Normally, a high profile hero would have his people (or allied spirits) to do this kind of support.

Perhaps this is taking a bit out of the Pelorian book for worship - there you have the Enverinus (lower Yelm) priesthood which basically presides over all worship rites of the other acceptable cults in the Empire. A holy person (rune level) of the cult may be present, and may perform the worship service, but lacking that, the stand-in priest will do. Waha would be an associted cult of both Orlanth and Ernalda, and absent a regular holy person of Waha, the worship rite may be conducted by one of those god-speakers or priests. (Who may jump at the opportunity for the extra worship service they conduct, easing the POW gain...)

The event is described in Biturian's visit to Corflu, in the Issaries cult (with the main piece being about that hyena skin). Biturian makes no observations about her dress (or lack thereof).

Does this mean that the rotund butcher's delivery boy went to the Block and killed a Bullsitch?

Hmm. Is the congregation of that Nochet butcher led by a shaman, or by a khan?

A flight to Venus brings you closer to the sun. Might be a lot brighter than comfortable...

I am not quite sure whether the Aramites were on the receiving end of the wrath of Gouger in the first place, or whether Aram interceded on behalf of the sinners, or stopped the rampage after the two cities had been destroyed which may have been the whole mission of the god pig to avoid collateral damage. Given that Aram managed to find the favor of Kero Fin, either Orlanth's wife and mother had some different ideas on this issue, or Gouger had gone out of control.

Even with the many generations between Korol Vingkotsson and King Heort, the probability of your average tribesperson having an actual blood lineage from Vingkot is rather slim. Having Vingkot among the tribal ancestors is a different issue and fairly possible. There are quite a bunch of swine-related Orlanthi around - the Aramites used to be, the Harandings certainly were, and the Entruli as well. Vingkot wasn't the only son of Orlanth to father a lineage of Orlanthi kings. Harand Boardick's maternal grandfather Drorgalar was such a demigod, too, and there is little doubt that Orlanth littered the foothills of Genertela with more such sons. Whether the Entruli started out as Durevings or as earth tribes isn't quite clear. They certainly weren't directly related to the Mraloti Hykimi of Ramalia, but the difference between Hykimi and beast totem Orlanthi wasn't that clear. The Basmoli/Pendali disappeared among the Tanisorans, Solanthi, and Enerali. The Enerali became Tanisorans and Orlanthi (in about equal numbers), and numerous Hykimi of Ralios and Fronela became Orlanthi, too. The Enjoreli that did not become Loskalmi or Janubians became Orlanthi, too. The Ralians were Enerali or Galanini at the time, and became Orlanthi only under the Second Council. But then, only few of the Hykimi south of the Janube escaped becoming Orlanthi or extinct, with the Pralori and Telmori of Ralios probably the biggest or most powerful groups.

So you are saying that his depictions of the female form lack gravity?

Life support in a Scout is notoriously bad, but still good enough to avoid cold sleep with a crew of up to four or five people. Do I remember correctly that cold sleep passengers automatically took part in the revival rate lottery? But then, Traveller made a bunch of mismatched estimates about future technology. Of the few technologies it used unobtainium for, three are considered impossible with the current understanding of physics (gravity control, FTL, psi), one has defied engineering for the past fifty years (fusion reactors). True, cryosleep is considered to produce 100% casualties under current technology, too. But then, nobody in their right mind would ship more livestock than necessary to carry the frozen embryos which have a revival rate of better than 99%.