Joerg

King of Sartar (hardcover edition) p.20 (Argrath Saga): conquest of Furthest (c.1630) p.120 (CHDP Sartar section) 1613: p.125 (CHDP Sartar section) 1624 or early 1625: p.127 (CHDP Sartar section) p.128 (CHDP Sartar section) p.135 (Fazzur papers) describing the 1613 opening moves of the Starbrow rebellion: p.139 (Fazzur papers) p.140 (Fazzur papers) This obviously is after the betrayal of 1625 (when he abandoned the troops at Dangerfort upon learning about the assassination of his leading followers). p.154 Only the Tarshite section of CHDP gives the 1610 date that is confirmed in the Guide and in the story about the birth of Phargentes II (son of Moirades and Jar-eel) in the Sourcebook. The common work-around is that Moirades ascended to the Red Moon as consequene of this union, and descended again some time later, meddling in the affairs of Tarsh.

You mean like the Moirades quandary, with CHDP Tarsh (and the Guide) having his demise in 1610 and the sparkling new "lost Fazzur bit" in the hardcover edition of King of Sartar having him alive and well in or after 1625 (as do plenty other mentions in KoS)? Gringle is an experienced heroquester, surely he knows the backdoor back from Hell? And a shop can be rebuilt. Getting another Quackjohn might be trickier, but some summoning and binding (and possibly stitching) might do the fowl job.

I disagree. Pluripresence is an explicit feature of deities and (capital-H at least) heroes in Glorantha. Given that the Orlanthi, Dara Happans and Lunars believe in a multipartite soul (and little available information on other cultures on this topic), there is even less of a problem there. Something like the hunt for the seven horcruxes of Voldemort might be necessary to release the trapped king.

Checking this up as a comparatively mythos-illiterate person, I couldn't help comparing the real-world Nan Madol with the city of Westel in Maslo.https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nan_Madol https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Map_FM-Nan_Madol.PNG

Dragonkill War But it was a genocidal war already earlier - the Pelorian forces went in and attacked both dragonewts and humans, wiping out the population or sending them fleeing before the dragons even had the chance to incinerate them. Assuming similar population numbers as in 1621, more than half a million people inhabited Dragon Pass. Possibly more, although the collapse of the draconic agriculture in 1042 would have led to some severe famine and possibly depopulation, but 1120 is three generations later. The cities appear to have remained inhabited until the invasion of the True Golden Horde. The Grand Dragon project is probably the least secret secret of Glorantha, next to "The God Learnes could change myths". King of Sartar mentions a few approaches for a collective draconic ascension in Argrath Book's EWF essay, whereas History of the Heortling People and Heortling Mythology concentrate on individual paths to dragonhood.

Now that's not what draconic mysticism was about, and what the first edition of MRQ Glorantha got badly wrong. Obduran the Flyer was EWF/draconic mysticism done right. His path to full dragonhood and beyond was exemplary even to dragonewts and True Dragons. Then there was Ingolf, doing the mysticism right until he entangled himself in the world, being forced to start again from scratch. (He was a lot like Hrestol in this.) But there were also the short cut approaches of Isgangdrang and his cotery, the pyramid scheme, and the "dragon as a community" approach with the huge outline, and lots of weird schemes that happened inside the EWF without being tied to their core activity, like the fusion of the Aramites with their Tuskers to create the Tusk Rider physique (that breeds true), the Pavis experiment, the Stitched Zoo, or Delecti. And I still think of the demise of the draconic thinkers in 1042 as the Mass Utuma that salvaged the draconic consciousness accumulated in the EWF to the next level (in a way quite similar to the Grand Dragon project, though).

You'd probably hold the bow in your left hand, as you don't want it to touch the liquid you are wading through. Having an arrow or two ready in your bow hand is possible, but I wouldn't do that unless I expect a target any moment now. About 28 years ago I made the experiment to march with a rather full backpack (including a tent, sleeping bag and other stuff slung onto it on the outside, only missing the cast iron stove to complete the image of the complete adventurer), a hatchet and my (rather heavy) recurve barebow through the Midsummer midnight sun Norway fjell, off any marked route, with occasional passages of very soggy ground. It is perfectly doable - the bow was a lot more of a nuisance at steep and slick slopes. The other hand is quite likely to hold a staff or a stout spear serving as a crutch or probe.

What isn't quite clear is what happens when the buyer of a traded spell fails his rune roll to activate the spell. Like with associated spells, the chance to fail the rune roll for a traded spell could be quite high as the rune is quite likely not a good match to the buyer's personal runes. At the time of the spell trading, the participants in the trade don't roll to cast the spell, only to transfer it safely (which has a 5% chance to fail, resulting in an accidental release of both spells). (Given the cloud cover requirements for Sunspear and Thunderbolt, what happens if those aren't fulfilled at the time of the trade? Is the trade not possible?)

I wouldn't go that far to say that game balance is optional. Take a pack of rubble runners. Your experienced fighter can easily parry four of them critters in a melee round, whereas a rookie might already despair of parrying the first or second attack. When it comes to escape skills, rookie characters will be left behind where seasoned travelers keep succeeding in their ride or climb rolls thanks to skill checks from earlier such challenges. It isn't much fun to roll up a new character once your original character fell out of the game, but doing so frequently without really catching up due to the more serious challenges the GM needs to provide for the old hands certainly is even less fun. In effect, that player will become some kind of redshirt actor. That can be fun once in a while, but who wants to play Kenny in every single session? I know that I am overstating the problem, and that it is possible to introduce the new character with a moderate survival skill set in an environment that is a new challenge for the old hands - e.g. shipboard activity. But that won't do when the new character is introduced in the middle of the Elder Wilds.

I would posit that a lot of illuminated chaotics would be "occluded" rather than "enlightened". For them the world being a transitory stage has much less impact on their self-awareness as for a non-chaotic who tends to regard the physical world as a universal constant. Any chaotic being is already exposed to the Void, and it is that exposition that makes them different from the rest of Creation. Chaotic taints like cave troll regeneration or Telmori Wildday rampages may be less chaotic than the hole in the soul of Vivamort vampires. For many illuminated chaotics, illumination may be just an insight why their existence is as f...ed up as it is, putting it into a frame of reference that was missing prior to the experience. Advanced mystics can avoid the taint of Chaos even when exposed to fairly ultimate sources (like the Devil, or the Maggot fought by Baroshi), and so can draconic mystics with previous exposure to soul rendering outer worlds. Quite a lot of Chaotic Illuminates have probably gone insane from the experience, but that too is not that much of a difference to their previous state of mind.

Not exactly my favorite facts, but the facts weirding me out the most have to do with celestial and water current patterns: The Sunpath creates a tropical course of the sun, with the sun more or less directly overhead even in the middle of the winter. A low-hanging sun in the sky means that it has just risen (at most an hour ago) or will sink any moment now. The sun will be slightly in the north in the sommer, and noon is not associated with the south. This will affect the orientation of housing. Day length varies at least as much as temperate zone day length, say 45-50° latitude, although Greg memorably said at Castle Stahleck that he thought we were at pretty high latitude, commenting on the long dusk we were enjoying (compared to say Mexico or the equatorial regions). At the same time, you get a night sky resembling the sky near the north or south pole, with polar orbits for all planetary bodies (including the sun disk). Water runs down the drain (Magasta's Pool, the Doom Currents) clockwise (as per the northern hemisphere of Earth), and so does the world wide cyclone (as per the southern hemisphere of Earth). Sramak's River runs around the Lozenge counter-clockwise, creating friction with the outer Orlanth storm. Lunar tides rise extremely slow (minimum tidal cycle: 1 day, maximum tidal cycle: 6 days), leading to an average of two tidal cycles per week. There are tidal waves - sea bodies/deities allied to the Waertagi that re-create the in-rushing flood of our planet, but these obey sacrifice rather than any cycles other than those obeyed by the summoners. Next to all of this, the occasional river running uphill is a minor curiosity.

Does anybody have a link to Simon Bray's story of how the scanned image of the Eurmal portrait sent to Issaries Inc. appeared to have genitals because of a hair having fallen unto the drawing?

Yes, and apparently so does Ian Cooper in his presentation of the Red Cow clan in The Coming Storm. Basically, the loom house will be full of wives born in different clans. At least half the female priesthood will be married into the clan, even if you keep the main earth priestesses inside your clan (as is the - IMO rather rare - case with the Ernaldori Earth temple in Clearwine or Ernalsulva's home temple among the Malani). I didn't suggest that her birth clan be overwritten, but that her marriage clan be added to that tattoo. A spouse in a different clan is supposed to give her (or his, in case of Esrolian marriages) loyalty to the clan into which the children are born. In all legal matters (other than divorce), the spouse is represented by the marriage clan. There might be a possibility (but not a necessity) for the birth clan to participate in ransom or weregeld payments (receiving as much as dishing out). The Sacred TIme rites are (of course) performed at the site of the marriage clan. Other than the guaranteed right to return to the birth clan in case of divorce or widowhood, how does the spouse retain her birth-clan membership? This actually might be sensible - you don't receive your hosting clan tattoo for initiating a year marriage, but upon bringing new life to the clan. A year's trial period should be enough to provide signs of offspring, and to revert to the birth clan afterwards if no offspring resulted. That's the case for greater outlawry (aka "never come back"), but what about the lesser outlawry many anti-Lunar rebels accepted more or less pro forma during the occupation? Huh? I was talking about the ritual death (and separation) upon initiation to Humakt. Does this somehow alter the clan tattoo? A similar case: what about warriors taking the service of a noble from a clan different from their birth clan? Do they wear some kind of tabard or ornament to signal their allegiance?

As Jeff isn't going to do any arbitrary changes to published canon, I think it is safe to assume that the date of 1605 as per Guide still is valid. The Threestep Isles probably are barren in the eyes of Esrolians or Pelaskites, but for Ygg Islanders they may be pleasant and suitable for crops (which doesn't automatically mean agriculture - you can have crops by horticulture, too). Malta has already been used for Alatan, as far as my real world parallels go, so the Threestep Isles might be similar to the Aran Islands in Galway Bay, Ireland. Pretty barren without some backbreaking work put in, but able to sustain a hardy islander population that braves the sea and persists by planting crops in specially prepared areas of crushed rock mixed with sea weed. Or perhaps the rock-enclosed plots of the Easter Island after its deforestation. For an Ygg Islander (the equivalent of a Greenland settler), the Threestep Isles are wondrously warm and fertile. And they don't have to do the backbreaking work in cultivating the crops, they have plenty slaves for that kind of work. Orstando founded the Wolf Pirates, sailed for the Vadeli, and (IMO now) established the Ginorth colony off Old Seshnela. All of that happened by the aftermath of the Batlle of Oenriko Rocks which crushed the Vadeli naval superiority and released the Wolf Pirates from their obligations to the Vadeli. So say 1595. 10 years later, the Wolf Pirates take possession of the Threestep Isles as one of their colonies. Further 10 years later, Harrek establishes himself here, then starts his circumnavigation. Nine years later he is given access to the City of Wonders.

I understand the adulthood initiation rites to bestow (at least the magical outlines) for the new adult's tattoos, and that includes his or her tattoos signifying their birth clan. However, upon marriage, the individual marrying outside of (usually) her clan will join a new clan. Her clan tattoo will probably be added to, so that it encompasses the new clan's symbols, too. I suppose there is something like a tattoo script to indicate "this is my clan that I married into". So, what happens upon severance from a clan? Does the individual's birth clan tattoo get altered as a result of the marriage? (Basically, the individual bears the contract between the clans inked into her skin...) What happens at a divorce, or when a temporary marriage runs out? (And is the number of children as the result of that marriage somehow integrated?) Does an exiled clan member get their tattoo altered? A resheathed Humakti? What would a serial monogamist outside of her own clan look like?

There's always the inside of your shield for extra foci. But then you really want your allied spirit to cast those Heal 6 for you, as you will most likely be incapacitated in that situation when you need it the most. In case of Heal, I think that "touch" doesn't mean "with the blade" unless that blade happens to hold your allied spirit. BTW, is healing magic Life/Fertility-based, or is it Harmony-based?

That's drastically different from my model - while there was an influx of Council missionaries, many of those hill tribes were former Tawari. The Talastari are ram-Orlanthi, while the Fronelans and Talsardians are bull-Orlanthi. The Theyalan Missionaries would have been Heortlings at least as much as Talastarings. Guide p.222: Sounds like Tawari to me. The only westward migration in the books is that of the Vathmai into Slontos, south of Ralios rather than north of it. Other councilic settlers enter northern Ralios through Kartolin Pass after the Battle of Zebrawood, again probably of Heortling (or Esrolian) origin rather than Talastaring (at the Dawn, the Heortlings outnumber the Talastarings 10 to 1). Including Hykimi/Hsunchen ancestry, or some other local beast totem not-quite Hsunchen origin (like Bisosae, Enjoreli, or in Ralios Enerali and Pendali ancestry). I have a lot less of an idea what went on in modern Doblian satrapy prior to Sheng's invasion. Fortunate Succession leaves this area out of its focus most of the time. We have a few military units with some history from the region, including the Doblian Dog-Eaters, and we have the Eel-ariash story originating here. The rest is just local color. Did the natives here join the Council prior to the Dara Happans, or as part of their empire? After the retreat of the horse warlords, the Dara Happans needed a while to consolidate their footman power before spreading out this far east. There are native deities like Arakang and Orogeria or Sakkar which are not that different from Odayla, yet they appear to have been inside the Pelorian fold rather than the Theyalan one. Was the Suvarian Lodrili inheritance that strong?

Part of the problem is logistics. Tribes like the Dundealos or the Torkani are almost a week away from the action, and that is for fast moving military units, not for the support bringing in food. It isn't like the Swenstown militia will be fed by the clans along the royal highways, not without monetary compensation calculated for other uses. It is possible to rush troops to the action, but Kallyr doesn't really have the means to feed all the troops out of the royal coffers - not away from Boldhome. The Tarshite/Imperial troops face a similar logistics challenge across the dragonewt wildlands, but as the aggressor they know where and when the strike will come, making logistical preparations easier, and they have a very professional military supply chain, and one that survived the Dragonrise relatively unharmed. But then, yes, there are tribes and clans still smarting from previous events, and there will be a sinifficant portion of "I didn't vote for her". The Princes of Sartar have a history of dealing with assassins (and Lunar assassins), it comes with the job. She led our father, uncle, etc. to his death, not in battle, but in exile. She surrendered without a decisive battle. (And yes, those two complaints are contradictory. Doesn't change how the German public of the Weimar republic regarded WW1...) In some respects, yes. Her successful action at the Battle of Dangerford was overshadowed by her bad perfomance last Sacred Time. There are communities suffering from the magical backlash. The Lunars have left Sartar. But they still strike at the Sacred Season rites! Not really. The Dragon Pass boardgame has two non-magical scenarios, and the Battle of Queens is the second of these. Things change with the result of the Battle of Sword Hill, and Argrath's supremacy. King of Sartar remains our best source for this year, and it has two lines in Minaryth Blue's memoirs (one dealing with the Battle of the Queens, the other with the coming of Argrath) and something of a lacuna in the Composite History of Dragon Pass. Argrath Saga is even less informative. There are a few future developments which are set into motion already by this time which you might be able to foreshadow. But then, that's what I expect from the Smoking Ruins scenario (are we there yet?). Of the leaders of the rebellion, probably one out of three have been culled by the Short Lightbringers' Quest or the attrition of the Dragonrise. A lot of moderates who barely avoided being chased off as pro-Lunars will return to popularity. Leika has the support of 10K Colymar tribesmen and -women, which is twice as much as the next tribal king or queen. Any other potential claimant would first have to get at least two tribes or a city confederation behind themselves before being in a position to challenge Leika. Sartar's system of checks and balances between the tribes backfires in the absence of the House of Sartar. The Dragonfall mostly affects southeastern Sartar - the Sambari will be strongly affected. The other tribes not that much. Broyan has been missing since the Dragonrise. How does this disrupt them? Trade is a lot less secure, yes, but did the Kitori outbreak that destroyed Broyan carry over into the Chorms valley? Isn't this a greater problem for Sun Dome County than for the southern tribes? The dissolution of the Kultain seven years ago would have left the then neutral or moderately Lunar-friendly tribes benefitting rather than suffering. The figureheads for good Lunar relationship in the Wilmskirk tribes would have ended up as dragonfodder, and their loyalists may have been targeted by feuds, so there is that much disruption - but the same goes for the Jonstown tribes, really.

Part of this might be covered as her tithing?

Sounds like a good spell for torturers, too. Not being able to die can be a harsh fate, compare King Vingkot undergoing immolation rather than continue to suffer from his chaos wound. Decay is a form of digestion, and would be a Darkness power rather than Death power. (In fact, applying Death to foodstuff will prevent vermin or molds. Whether it remains nourishing is another question, though.) This may depend on the nature of the venom. Paralyzing venoms are obviously an expression of Stasis. Digesting venoms are Darkness (or Water, if liquefying), and likewise diarrhea-inducing poisons. Anaesthetic venoms might be Death. Smothering poisons that make inhaling worthless (effects of carbon monoxide, cyanides, sulphides, arsenic (oxide), lead acetate) would be what? Inflammatory poisons would be Fire.

The Guide (p.711) mentions Varknathendar as the survival site of the nine Talastaring clans: These appear to be different from the Hagolings. At the time of the Breaking of the Council, the Orlanthi are split into Heortlings (who left) and Talastarings who remained. The Heortling origin of the Dorastan settlers remains unmentioned. The sons of Vingkot invasions pattern nicely to the Dara Happan reports on the loss of Elempur (and possibly Jorganos acquiring the Bow of Yelm) and the victory of Urvairinus (GRoY p.25). I don't see any convincing argument for dissociating these events. There are plenty of non-Vingkotling Orlanthi north of the Vingkotling lands - Sylilan bear people, Vanchite blue deer and raccoon people, Imtherite goat herders. Northwest, we have all those cattle Orlanthi north of the Nidan Mountains. There are plenty "sons of Storm Bull"-like pastoralists on both sides of the Nidan-Western Rockwood range. A lot of them (also) qualify as Hykimi in origin, descending from the One Mountain into the lands of the horticulturalists, creating the old ranchers vs. farmers conflict. Their relation to the Vingkotlings is another question. Sylilans, Imtherites and Vanchites probably were on the dry lands between the Osliran and the Madadan seas, whereas the rest was on the western Greatwood portion of the remaining dry lands. I would place the Hagolings (or their ancestors) on that western dry land. But then, looking at the Dawn Survival sites, the Penentelli of western and Vestantes of southern Aggar According to Heortling Mythology, this was a pass guarded by a pair of mountain giants, and impassable for mortals (though not for the retrieved herds, and neither on their theft by the Enchanter). Odayla's arrow shattered the life crystal of one of those giant guardians. Hedkoranth's Thunderstone beheaded the other giant, then the giant hit by Odayla toppled over in an avalanche that sent the body down as an avalanche of rubble. There is an unnamed twinned sierra east of Soren Mountain, south of Billiz, about straight west of Grizzley Peak (unnamed in the map on p.180 in the Guide) which could be the site of that conflict. Vingkotling-Heortling, at least up to the EWF era. I am not exactly clear what provenance the Old Day Traditionalists overcome by Isgangdrang were (I suspect they were a motley group of refugees from the draconic take-over in Saird and Kerofinela). The settled parts of Aggar appear to be the location of Thrinbarri.

Rereading on the history of the Orlanthi lands of Peloria, I noticed another deity overlooked previously: Senbara, wife of Odayla, worshiped in Cafol (Old, or Larger) (p.321). Clearly an earth goddess: "From here they visit their parents in the Air and under the Earth" Each city of Dara Ni has its own patron deity: Pir in Thubana, Jeru the Staff in Nothium (a god of wine and pleasure), Kistium with its "temple made of water" (presumably to Erinflarth), Suda with its temple of Biselenslib, Everina and (the Manimati entity) Ostodaka whose ribs keep away the river crocodiles. I wonder how the "temple made of water" looks - are these magical walls and roofs made of water? Are they artesian springs arranged in the manner of walls, or alternatively a cunning set of aqueducts constantly leaking out a water curtain to make up those walls? The structure was erected in the Second Age, possibly under the aegis of the EWF.

The origin story of the Talastarings is buried in this story: https://www.glorantha.com/docs/the-missionaries/ Personally, I think they were not directly a Vingkotling tribe but one of the many other pastoralist folks - a splinter of the ram tribe. Not quite Helerings, though.

RQG Bestiary has Vivamorti vampires and Delecti's Dancers in Darkness. Sun County has an ancient vampire in the Old Sun Dome Temple IIRC (select this paragraph to read hidden spoiler text) Cults of Terror/Cults Compendium has the RQ2 Vivamort cult. Read up on Tanisor during the Gbaji Wars (also in the history of Arolanit and Seshnela) and Ramalia. For Nontraya, search this forum for recent threads. P.71 of Fortunate Succession starts laying out the Carmanian dualism mythos, with Idovanus and Ganesatarus sharing the womb of Uleria. On the subject of this dualism, I have started to wonder whether the Fronelan Irensavalist dualism was inherited from the Enjoreli via common Tawari tales about Idovanus vs. Ganesatarus, resulting in Loskalmi Irensaval vs. Makan. Tomaris, the intellectual founder of Irensavalism, was active in the first and possibly second century, after there had been some exchange between bull folk and Malkioni. When Syranthir led his army east, his Irensavalism may have been re-adsorbed by the original dualism between Idovanus and Ganesatarus. This is the Glorantha forum. Where else would you discuss this (outside of a personal blog)?

There are D100 systems which calculate basic skill chance as multiples of attributes, which then are increased by experience. There is just one value, though. Does it have to be the straight ability score? A derivative bonus (or malus) is calculated from basic attributes is common to the D100 systems.