Joerg

In Hrestol's Saga Hrestol refers to the sun as Yelm rather as Ehilm (the sun god of Safelster in general and specifically of Fornoar and Uton). (Later, Faralz refers to Polaris as Eurmal the Firebringer...) There is a genealogic chart of deities somewhere out in the Internet that has Ehilm as a son or grandson of Yelm - no idea whose research produced this. Anyway, Serpent King Sonmalos ruled frpm 89 to 104 and expanded the Malkioni/Serpent Kingdom into Nolos. By this time the remaining free Pendali had been largely pushed out of Seshnela and into Enerali lands. An alliance between the Pendali/Basmoli and the Enerali/Galanini, plus mercenaries from Serpent Brotherhood peoples would have been the normal opposition to the Seshnegi army of Malkioni-descended settlers (some Malkioni, some pagan) and assimilated Pendali from earlier conquests. In Seshnela, there was a strong pagan faction, headed by Damol, a demigod who had been tamed over 50 years earlier. It is possible that the cult came from within Seshnela rather than from the outside. If Seshna had as many husbands as Ernalda, there would surely also have been a sun god among those. Aignor the Trader, the pagan grandson of Hrestol who mated with Seshna to father Sonmalos, may have been another source of new gods to arrive in Seshneg, as was Boltror, Sonmalos' likewise serpent-legged son who chose ascension to Seshna rather than the throne, leaving that to his serpent-legged son Mimtak who had been born abroad, in the east. The invinvible sons of Damolsten come to mind... Historical Malkion has been dead for a few generations before Damol gets tamed in the reign of Thamor, but both Ylream and Hrestol were his great-grandsons. Kinship with the house of Froalar is still fairly close, despite different mothers. I am not so sure about that. In my reading, the Basmoli that arrived in Seshnela sometime in the Darkness were regular Hykimi - wareran-shaped lion Hsunchen - who were led by the demigod Pendal, offspring of Ifftala (daughter of Seshna) and Basmol the lion god. To me, Pendal looks like a lion-blooded prince for the earth folk who had put up the cities now defended by the Basmoli and ruled by the sons and kinfolk of Pendal. This seems to be a relation similar to that of the non-sedentary Galanini with the sedentary Enerali and would explain the co-existence of shape-changing lion warriors and civilized pagan Pendali quite nicely. There are only three beast folk I guess it's the lion blood which scares any horses senseless. Chariots are of course an elegant way around this problem. They were interbreeding especially with the Waertagi, who in turn appear to have left some sailors' brats in the ports. The Wartain triolini were Niiads (or now Naiads) when Aerlit encountered Warera, not yet Ludoch. (Diendimos was a brother in arms of Aerlit with a lot less social graces, I suppose, although is mating with Ludocha went better than that of Porjanks with Malaspa.) I assume that both Waertag's mother and Nelarinna, the wife of Ygg, were Naiads rather than air-breathing descendants of naiads and storm gods, too - especially since there aren't any Ludoch that far west of the Solkathi, but only Ouori and possibly orca-shaped Hrekeen (a race of Triolini closely allied with the Waertagi and wiped out at the Battle of Tanian's Victory). That dire lack of women should be a thing three generations or more in the past by now. There appears to be roughly a parity between male and female births in the generation of Hoalar and Froalar. Looking out for demigoddesses of land, sea or fertility may still have been a status thing among nobility, but I doubt that the more numerous Dronar caste had many of these opportunities after the second generation or so. There would still be a great number of Dronar bachelors, I suppose. In Seshneg, I expect the majority of foreign wives to be temple priestesses of Seshna - the same class of priestesses that previously provided wives for the Pendali. Old Seshneg has rather few ports. Of the Pendali royal cities, only Orphalsket and Kaanilket are situated on estuaries (and how did Avalal do without a royal city?). Apart from west-facing Frawal, all the Malkioni ports face north towards the Ouori-inhabited Neliomi Sea. I wouldn't blame Arkat for this - rather the interaction of the Malkioni with Hrelar Amali, both constructive and destructive (the Vadeli-aided destruction), or previous uniformity imposed by the Second Council or the Bright Empire. Arkat's Heroquesting secret was anything but changing the actual myths, it was recognizing intersections and using these to switch paths. The fallout from the Battle of Zebrawood probably did more damage to the local ecology of unique deities than anything Arkat did. Possibly closer to semi-physical Dehori or the darkness nymphs or hags, from what I remember about them. I haven't seen anything of Talor's exploits in Fronela other than the abstract in the Guide. Up there, the Enjoreli (civilized) bull people (kin to the Tawari hykimi the same way the Enerali were kin to the Galanini or the Pendali to the Basmoli) were the active Dawn culture next to Akem/Frontem. I have no idea how these Malkioni coastal colonies came to pass. Frowal was founded on a land lease of one of the Pendali kingdoms, possibly similar to many an European coastal colony in Africa during the age of Imperialism - exchanging a significant but in the end hopelessly underpaid amount of "civilized" goods for a lease on some land. Neleoswal is claimed to have been founded on a former outlier of Brithos/Danmalastan, which might just be possible. By the time of Bertalor, how anonymous were metal and crystal? Given the role of the God of the Silver Feet in pre-Ban Fronela, an old relationship between Issaries and TEB appears quite likely. Gringle being an experienced heroquester might have given him the correct phrases with which to bind Piku and his family to his service. And thus Hrestoli Adventurism raises its head again. I fear that Damol and Aerlit are mostly lost now, as are all the goddesses of Brithos*.

Basically this appears to be a campaign to be provided with the Swedish edition of the Introduction box (with downsized rules, szenarios, dice) expanded by a campaign that leads the players from Dragon Pass into Fronela. I suppose that it is possible to play a campaign on the Janube without delving too deep into New Idealist Hrestolism, as there is plenty material in the Guide to play with. @Jeff - how much editorial oversight/insight into the Glorantha factoids will you have? Is a translation into English possible, or do I have to buckle up my Swedish to get this? In case no English translation is planned, would a German translation be ok?

Sure, but then only those larger cities are where you would expect a sufficient number of wrongdoers to end up in the temporary care of law enforcement. Those, and ports where you collect drunk sailors to simmer down before the ship leaves, although that almost sounds like guild business rather than law enforcement.

Only where local information has been made official - so that you can put in the local detail you need for a scenario. The Colymar lands and the Red Cow lands are somewhat well mapped. Elsewhere, a lot less so.

I don't think that prison would be regarded as a form of punishment, only as an intermediate holding area. Such a prison would only be found in an urban environment. Prison as in waiting for seeing the magistrate - not sure that there is much of a waiting limbo, unless the magistrate has to come from the next city. It is quite likely that there is little time between capturing a thief and getting a verdict. Of course, then a wait for the public execution of the verdict might be involved. Financial forfeit may very well result in indenture or outright slavery if not paid off. That's work gangs in the quarry or similar. Arson is one offense that is likely to receive a quid-pro-quo response, a public burning. There are few crimes that were more feared in urban environments. Think of Hammurabi's code of law.

In German language and education, boy did that term and its abuse come up in school - especially history. Which makes me prefer the biological terms species and subspecies unless we are talking about domestic animals. In the Gloranthan context, the Man Rune trumps biology.

No, those are a few separate ways to embark on that journey. The full curriculum isn't done in a single read of all that matter (or even participation in the Guide to Glorantha Group (re-) Read, e.g. when we take it up again for volume 2), and we are in the happy position that we have lots of material available at least in electronic format for studying. Thinking through the implications of certain statements may come a lot later than encountering them the first time. It is getting quite hard to keep track of slightly differently edited reprints of earlier material if what you remember stems from earlier versions. And the effect of slight edits is probably best documented in Greg Stafford's edit to "Pikat Yaraboom likes red-headed women" with the addendum "to eat", which spawned the Griselda story "A Tasty Morsel". If you are new to the game, you might have it easier as you don't need to unlearn or revise how you remember a certain depiction. When I come across a description which is clearly lifted from a previous publication, my attention to details tends to go down as much as with trying to redact a text I wrote myself. Sure, one and a half dozen years under your belt make you a newbie...😉 Before I started playing in Glorantha, I played exclusively in game settings I had created myself, admittedly initially with slots to include adventures and their locations from other worlds, including one for RQ3 based on its Vikings box and general fantasy influences at that time. I have GMed very few scenarios that I haven't written or at least sketched out myself. I always found it easier to tailor the game to the player characters in my group, the plot hooks lying around, and to figure out whether the players would let themselves be hooked by that. My own journey into Glorantha started with a few convention visits meeting enthusiastic RuneQuest and Glorantha fans when I was admiring the RQ game system as the answer to me being fed up with collecting wagonloads of gold to level up. My first Gloranthan game was the Dragon Pass boardgame, and my personal break-through reads into Glorantha were Troll Pak, Pavis, the Cults of Terror cosmology that made it into the Guide, King of Sartar, and the Holy Country stuff in RQ2 Companion after getting the rather shallow world description and cult descriptions from RQ3.

Ok - my definition of a bully is that of the guy or gal who perceives those not strong enough to resist them as victims he or she can exploit to their breaking point, and who gathers a bunch of only slightly weaker like-minded thugs to support that stance. What follows is at least two out of extortion, overt violence and a process of social annihilation of the victims until they face unexpectedly hurtful resistance. In Orlanthi society inside of a kinship group these activities are closely monitored and restricted. Outside of the kinship group, everything goes. No argument about that. Nochet is shock full of Orlanthi, as the Esrolian culture is just a variant of the Orlanthi or Theyalan one, with Orlanth still the most frequent male cult even without the Heortling population of the Sarli district. The other main warrior tradition, Kimantor, has as much a tendency to loom and intimidate with its Darkness tradition. And every larger urban center attracts or creates the dredges of society. Glamour doesn't really have a native culture. It started as a population of zealots and opportunists following the reborn Red Emperor to his new, magical city, and then it attracted dissidents against the local powers from all over the Empire in order to gain some political and magical support at the imperial court, balanced by the envoys of those in power (who may have plotted to replace their cousins or siblings ruling their places). Power games and intrigue permeate the city of Glamour, which means that of course you will find bullies there. The nature of Dara Happan patriarchy is based on a similar principle, agreed. The inheritance of disowned and brutalized horse warlords returning to their neighbors of old in a most dejected state after losing their world order, and now desperately adopting their chieftainhood as an ersatz imperial wisdom before emerging at an opportune moment when an outside force provided an unexpectedly strong resistance to their regime of terror. The Carmanian bull shahs that preceded the Red Emperor were storm bullies, and left their impression, too. Alkoth of the Shadzorings was the epitome of bullying. So was Daxdarius. Gloranthans aren't racist. They are fiercely tribalist, even the "We All Are Us" Lunars. Gloranthan civilization soars when the definition of "us" is expansive, and it collapses when it becomes exclusive. The Orlanthi (at least the Heortlings) have a weird anti-cyclical pattern in this throughout the three ages of History, becoming exclusive about two or three centuries early and being swallowed by the new kid on the block, only to resurge at the end of that power's cycle.

That one's easy. She doesn't wear any (or much of anything else) after her Fabric of Love was torn and rent by the Boggles. I suspect that that fabric was little more than a full body sized scarf worn lascivously before it was torn (though that is something that is up to debate). (If you are wondering what this is about - this is the kind of basic Gloranthan mythic foundation that is described in the Glorantha Sourcebook - the Celestial Court and its antics that led up to the Gods War, or, in this case, delayed it for a while.) More to the point, we will do so. Feel free to plunge in. Fresh impressions of and perspectives on the myths we have been familiar with for decades will help us refine our understanding of the world.

Fair is fair. Perhaps "outcry" would have been the better phrase - for all my practice writing English, this isn't my native language. I do think that there is some emotion in that response, though. "I am not roleplaying a bully." "These aren't murder-hobos." In my opinion, getting into the mindset of a Bronze Age character needs to shed some of the mindset you were brought up with. A certain way more pragmatic approach to death, including the character's own. Different standards for e.g. charity - try and convince an Orlanthi clansman that giving charity to a complete stranger can be expected of him. "But that's not my kin!" One of the interesting things in playing Vampire - the Masquerade was to identify with the monster in you, while keeping it in check. In a similar way, this applied to any fantasy game that has you wielding weapons. Playing a Humakti means playing a fanatical professional killer, a taker of lives. Playing an initiate of Orlanth means that you have to bluster and bully when appropriate, and there are plenty situations where bullying is appropriate. Playing an Ernaldan may mean to be manipulative, scheming and mean when the situation demands it. Being like your deity means being less human, and that often translates as being less humanitarian, too. This style of gaming is not for everybody, agreed. Many a group of players requires the knowledge that they are the good guys in an absolute moral sense. Such moral absolutes aren't exactly part of Glorantha, though. But MGWV, YGWV.

Sun cultists have various options for burials. There is cremation, and the holiest of the sun worshippers are expected to leave no ashes behind but those of the timber used. Some use magical fire. Those cremations which leave ashes behind may have rites to deal with the fuel part of the remains. One possibility is for the family of the deceased to smear themselves with these ashes as an exhibition of grief. In another twist, the cremation ashes of a person slain by a foe might be worn as spiritual armor or a charm on a campaign of vengeance. (The same might be possible among Orlanthi, maybe with the additional legal twist that while visibly wearing these ashes, a revenge killing won't be subject to weregild.) In such cases, the funeral ashes would become a magical ingredient. Grazer sun cultists (and presumably Pentans and Char-un, too) erect platforms for birds of prey (or carrion) to devour the mortal meat. Since birds are creatures of the sky, in the end this is a burial by fire, too. There is no indication that the de-fleshed bones of Saraskos were removed from his last resting site. Shiny burial goods probably will be taken away by birds like crows and magpies, too. What exactly does "initiates of Orlanthi" mean now that lay membership has returned big way? I expect cremation to be the main male burial mode in Theyalan (Orlanthi) cultures. I wonder whether all the ashes of an Orlanthi cremation are buried, or only those bigger lumps of remains that don't get airborne. Having the fine material of one's ashes go with the wind surely is a form of Orlanthi burial, too, isn't it? Those bigger lumps of bone will be mixed with the charred or melted grave gifts. Female burial rites appear to vary. Body burials of shrouded corpses in the earth appear to be one mode. (It doesn't make much sense of the procession carrying the sleeping Ernalda to her tomb only going to her pyre.) An extension of this might be mummification. There are however the Teka urns mentioned in Thunder Rebels, in the context of the Lowfire husbands of an array of Ernalda's maids, and I suspect that this might be a practice from southern Esrolia. River and sea cultists might have a range of burial options in wetlands (bog mummies), on the bottom of bodies of water, floating down the river in a burial boat or on a raft, possibly setting that boat on fire, or giving the dead body to their merfolk overlords to "return to Magasta's Pool". Darkness cults may have rites that include consuming the deceased - the trolls definitely do. Others might employ insects to de-flesh the bones before stowing them away. Zorak Zorani have the praxis of posthumous employment of their dead bodies until hacked apart beyond recognition. There are bound to be some cultures that display the (prepared or de-fleshed) heads of their ancestors in their houses, or at least at their temples.

Don't forget Divine Intervention as the great villain's escape. The only way to capture someone with a remaining pool of rune points is to incapacitate them before they can use them if these rune points allow a magical escape. Offering ransom is a specific form of entering the hospitality of the captor. It is no coincidence that host and hostage have the same word stem. Breaking hospitality is secondary as a crime only to kinslaying. It does happen, it does impose a demeaning fine if your bonded Trickster did it (see the Lightbringer's Quest station at the bottom of the Obsidian Palace), and it will cause your allies to turn away from you. You end up as an outlaw. If you still don't trust your captive's oath, get a Humakti to cast a binding (Sever Spirit-inducing) Oath on you and your captive. That's about the best insurance that Glorantha offers short of maiming your captives. Actually, if you hold an oath-bonded Storm Voice for ransom, having him participate in your rites in a guest of the clan role is sort of mandatory. If he breaks the oath sworn by his deity, those will be the last RP he regained for a long, long time. Thanks to the Unity Battle and the World Council of Friends, there are few foes who won't be amenable to weregild. Chaos foes unbound by Lunar niceties, Zombies, and Tusk Riders aren't good prospects for surviving captivity. With trolls you have a fair chance, provided you know how to negotiate your ransom - read "A Tasty Morsel" in the collected Griselda stories. Heartland Lunars are no strangers to ransom and hospitality, although their definitions may be different from an Orlanthi's expectations. A ransom usualy exceeds the value a slave might have in the market. If there is a bounty on your head (or parts of it, like a beak), your ransom had better exceed that bounty significantly to make the extra fuss worth the while for the captor, including keeping other bounty hunters from snatching you up. Things get weird when your sworn in captor gets captured himself, or when you are robbed from your captor by a third party. But that's the scenario kind of complication.

If not as a scenario book, what would make this a RuneQuest Glorantha product? We do have an in-depth description of a clan in The Coming Storm and The Eleven Lights leading up to the Dragonrise. The actual composition of the clan leaders at the time of the Dragonrise is up to how the events of the Eleven Lights campaign turn out, but it is quite likely that the dithering clan chief with his Lunar-appeasing policy will be out of office before then, and otherwise that he'll be out of office as soon as the Lunar occupation crumbles. What we could do is an adaptation of what the Red Cow clan would look like after the Dragonrise in both HQG terms and in RQG terms. I had the opportunity to play in a test game of Ian's Dragonrise Heroquest scenario, and the characters Ian handed out would be a good guess for the next generation of Red Cow leadership, with a few political survivors of the previous ring mixed in. I hope that we can find a format which provides at least some ongoing support for the HeroQuest line. Possibly in the shape of the aperiodical Wyrms Footnotes, which would be a way for Chaosium to provide additional support for its line without having to adhere to the much higher standard of regular publications - black and white only illustrations still are the accepted standard for magazines, right?

I expected some outrage like this, but I stand with my original statement. Might makes right, and those niceties that you cite only pertain to others of their peer group. Orlanth cultists feel no qualms whatsoever deliverin death and devastation on Darjiinians or Dara Happans, and Praxians (Storm worshippers of a different bend) have no such qualms visiting similar devastation to their Theyalan neighbors. Umath did institute hospitality, which is the temporary extension of personhood to outsiders visiting his camp. Without intermarriage to other clans, those clans would be as much outsiders as everyone else, but most Orlanthi would think twice about going off to kill their sisters' offspring. The initial interaction with the durulz of Duck Valley shows exactly how civilized Orlanthi were. The duck hunt of 1613 instigated by Fazzur exploited that weakness in Orlanthi character, too. Orlanthi show loyalty to sworn friends and oath brothers - like Orlanth and Heler (although that has lots of sexual undertones, too), and they accept adoption through marriage like Beren/Elmal (and the other four Vingkotling husband kings). These people become kin. The people who aren't kin aren't protected from Orlanthi power play. Orlanthi tribes are hard to establish and to maintain, and when central authority breaks away, any semblance of respect for some other former members of the tribe is blown away. Vadrus is the embodiment of this kind of Storm behavior, but Orlanth himself used to be one of the Vadrudi, and only Ernalda's wiles and influence imposed the measure of civilization on him and his people that ultimately made them the pinnacle of human civilization at the Dawn. Disorder is never far from Storm. Orlanthi outlaws and Praxian outlaws quickly end up in Vadrudi territory - the Praxians have Gagarth, the Wild Hunter, as patron of their asocial elements. The Barantaros rebel band that grudgingly followed Kallyr was effectively a Vadrudi-style hero band, too. Storm Bull within Orlanthi culture is another collection of sociopaths barely contained within their kinship rules. The same goes for Eurmali. Zorak Zoran or Vorthan (the Fronelan cult worshipping the war god associated with the Red Planet, known as Jagrekriand by the Orlanthi and as Shargash by the Pelorians) is another barely contained deathbringer cult without the veneer of honor that is associated with Humakt (and not all expressions of Humakt). Likewise, Orlanth can be very ugly viewed from other perspectives. In Esrolia, this is Kodig, one of the three (or four) Bad Men of their myths. (But then he is a fair match to the ugliness brought about by their Grandmother despots.) Harald Smith (aka @jajagappa) created Orlantio as much of a trickster god in his Imther myths. And that Hero Wars era stuff about Bad King Urgrain? That's Orlanth, too. The Yggites and their overseas descendants among the Wolf Pirates are an example of a Vadrudi society. Earth worship doesn't necessarily come with moderation, either. The Dawn Age Pendali of Seshnela were a hybrid culture, led by mixed descendants of the lion hsunchen Basmoli and the resident Earth Priestesses (demigoddesses), and their warfare against the Malkioni of Froalar's lease (from one of the sons of Pendal) was terrible. The Solanthi participating in the Lion King's Feast of 1616 were led by a distant descendants of these, and a typical Orlanthi leader of his homeland: Greymane. And the Serpent Brotherhood of the Hykimi in the Great Forest (of Ralios, Seshnela and Fronela) was earth-influenced, too. That didn't make the Pralori rule over the neighbors of Tarinwood and Pralorela any less brutal. "Wait, these aren't storm worshippers!" No, although many descendants of these groups now are Orlanthi, and they all were worshippers of the Land Goddess, which made their conquests possible in the first place. The Kingdom of Tarsh was founded with the cooperation of the Shaker Temple and subscribed to its blood rites. Sorana Tor may have been a pleasant to look at goddess or demigoddess, but she was the avatar of Ana Gor, the deity of human sacrifice. The Illaro dynasty (from which Phargentes and Moirades are descended on their non-Lunar side) took this to the extreme, until Hon-eel channeled those activities elsewhere (the Corn Rites). The influence of Sartar and his peacemaking was another mitigating factor on the Sartarites, who may be some of the nicest Orlanthi you are likely to meet. Yet, when irated, his surviving grandsons waged a very brutal and successful war of assassination against the leaders of Nochet.

To kill a man and refuse to pay weregild can be a powerful statement, though. While it does equate to a certain level of outlawry, it can also be part of a strong war clan policy to remind the other clans how powerful the party perpretating the deed is. Provided that the killing itself was done within what is considered honorable, and that the cause for killing this individual was tied to upstart behavior of the slain. Storm worshippers are bullies. This is somewhat mitigated in the Orlanthi culture by the influence of Ernalda, but then Ernalda herself can also have a vicious streak and a long memory for insults. While there are myths where Ernalda is eager to show her loaded Storm husband another way, there are other incidents where she releases that loaded weapon to get the better of long-standing foes, as in "The Making of the Storm Tribe" where she tricks her old enemies of Darkness into attacking the assembled bunch of violent leaders and their followers. Two flies with a slap - storm guys united, dark folk beaten.

You'll have to discern whether a person was captured in a slave raid or whether a fighter in combat yields in exchange for ransom. Most people who have some kind of offensive magic will be able to yield for ransom. Those that cannot will end up as slaves. The point is when yielding for ransom, the yielding person gives their oath. They will expect fair treatment and provision so that their captors can receive the ransom, but in exchange they are to obey the reasonable demands of the captors. Only captives who wouldn't yield honorably would be subjected to slave bracelets. Biturian using them on Norayeep might only have been a way to transport them, but then Biturian's dealings with artifacts of high magic are extremely unusual or exaggerated anyway, sadly distracting from the story told. Blindfolds and conventional manacles go a long way to subdue rebellious captives, too, as does regular infliction of pain - if only pour encourager les autres. Organized slave-taking expeditions e.g. by Lunar tax collectors in occupied territories might use slave bracelets. It is quite possible that there is a slave bracelet industry somewhere in the Lunar Empire. Even if so, it is highly unlikely that their output is anywhere high enough that slaves will carry such items for the rest of their lives. More likely they only carry them while on the road to their new (somewhat permanent) owners. The permanent owners might use branding or similar methods to both deface existing identity marks and to impose some other spell of retaliation. We know of the Fonritian noose. But then, the one slave revolt of which we have seen at least a few panels in Prince of Sartar - Beat-Pot's rebellion - doesn't show any indication of either slave bracelets or markings on Beat-Pot while in the kitchen or defaced tattoos on his fellow rebels. Apparently, the Lunar method of keeping slaves under control was to mix slaves of varied origin in order to make organisation among them harder. Offering conversion to a slave cult as a way to privilege might be another insidious way to ensure long term obedience. Those slaves who won't be tamed provide the meat for gladiatorial games, high risk jobs or sacrifices (e.g. to maintaining the Glowline or the Corn Rites).

Niven's Known Space universe doesn't really have cockpits prior to the Pierson's Puppeteers selling their monomolecular hulls to the other sapients of Known Space. During the initial stages of the Man-Kzin Wars, space craft were sublight craft powered by plasma torches (which could double as weapons should some of the humans have skipped on their altruist medication). Those vessels had bridges rather than cockpits. Kzinti love boarding operations, for the thrill of the hunt and the satisfaction to feel their prey beneath their claws (and if pressurized, between their teeth). It is rumored that the Puppeteers used the Man-Kzin wars to cull the most aggressive and unsocial Kzinti traits out of the population by using them up in battles against those unpredictable space monkeys. Those fighter craft pilot felines were either the Kilrathi of the Wing Commander series or the Orions of the Starfire board game series (and books). The Kilrathi still hulk a bit above humans (at least above "aren't you a bit small to be a storm trooper" Mark Hamill), but are a lot less massive than the Kzin. IIRC, Orions are even slightly smaller of frame than humans.

If you already are at a 95% chance of succeeding, that's the best you can get while having to roll at all. There don't appear to be rules for magic that you can cast without making a roll.

The Countermagic debate with respect to e.g. Berserk and whether you can cast rune magic on top of it or whether you trigger the spell doing it in that sequence still isn't decided...

Now now, such threads show the true value of illumination or other ways to enlightenment (which are btw other such threads). You don't become any more stable, but you learn to compartmentalize. Mystics learn from austerity. The Glorantha tribe (aka its fandom) member goes where these questions are to experience similar conditions for their meditations.

Unless they have only the budget for slight latex add-ons to the faces, like Star Trek. The Ewoks of Star Wars are the equivalent of the ducks in Glorantha - diminutive, ridiculous, mean. The Other Suns "aliens" were just cheesy. The Kzinti are part of Niven's Known Space universe. Anderson had various cat-like humanoids encountered by Dominic Flandry (complete with primate-like mammalia in one case, IIRC), and also earlier a Cynthian ("dog-sized, bushy tailed and white furred except for a blue mask effect around the eyes") as one of the three crew members of David Falkayn's ship. The lion pride social structure apparently has its appeal for a carnivorous species with sexual dimorphism, like the Hani in the Chanur cycle. Niven's Kzinti with their females bred to not being able to speak are a weird inversion of that trope. But then the Gloranthan trolls are not that different except for the gender reversal. The Space Opera genre seems to humor the human habit for pattern recognition in its description of aliens. It usually has way too many chordate species, though. Even if you allow for a great number of endo-skeleton species, the chordata are a fairly unlikely candidate during the Cambrian Explosion to become a dominant life-form on the water planet, and having the spine as a carrying construct is plain bad engineering by evolution.

The bottle-neck in terms of production schedule seems to be art commission (but you'd need extra editors and layout folk, too). While Chaosium has succeeded to assemble a staff of talented artists for their Dragon Pass line. If another setting makes a splash, you'd need to assemble an additional team of artists and train them to produce the style of illustrations you want. Not necessarily an identical style, though, although it should be somewhat compatible with the styles used in the rules. The other problem is whether such additional teams would be economically viable. It looks like Chaosium has fairly broad shoulders as they have just taken back the Pendragon line and taken over the Seven Seas line and kickstarter fulfilment. But is the customer base broad enough that two different supplementt lines will sell? Judging by the need to reprint the rulebooks, it looks like there is quite some potential for customers, although scenarios etc. always sell a lot less than essential rules. Ensuring quality writing and editing shouldn't be that much of a bottle-neck if you look at the array of big names Jeff has mentioned. Chaosium does accept that putting out a publication that is up to their standard takes time, but that goes for each of these products, and in different steps. We might need a few clones of Jason, though. In terms of paper miniatures or miniatures, I think the way Petersen Games has gone to use their line of board game pieces as role-playing aids is the way to go. If we have such character cards, they should come with a board or card game you can play outside of the RPG.

Still, the SAN loss consequence rules are probably a good start for handling the exposure to the Kabalt liberating bolt attacks, once we get around to deal with Eastern Gloranthan mysticism.

I guess I'd go for LHBein, RVBein.

Look into the book that comes with the GM screen package for at least a few major Ernaldori characters.