Joerg

Basically, we don't know. Of the five husbands of Vingkot's daughters, we have fair info on Beren and can derive a bit for Ulanin, the two riders, but the other three are enigmatic. They all create alliances with people from outside of the Vingkotling domain, and with the exception of the Orgovaltes (and the destroyed Lastralgortelli), they all occupy the northern border of the Vingkotling realm. (The Orgovaltes guard the east against whatever may come from that direction, like Chaos or Beast Riders.) Porscriptor must have had some mythic "excuse" for consuming a fellow human just like Maran Gor, I guess, and it certainly will have been magical. One culture which had leaders like this were the chariot emperors of the Jenarong dynasty, with Emperor Eats Women (Dagguneri). Six Ages has both rider and charioteer tribes in Saird way earlier, probably around the time of Beren's marriage to Redaylde, so this could be an origin for someone that might be called a cannibal. Cannibalism and head hunting needn't have been chaotic from the beginning (although certainly disturbing anyway), and given what the Vadrudi did to the ancestresses of the Merfolk, the Orlanthi verdict on rape too only changed with that botched trial of Thed demanding justice. "Innocence" also covered a lot less savory activities until people awakened to the fact that what they used to do was wrong, and after that such activities were taboo or restricted to special ritual roles. There is at least one other case where a formerly acceptable occurrance or habit was turned from good to bad - the birth of multiple (healthy) troll children. Prior to the first remedy ot the Curse of Kin, twin births were thought of as especially blessed, like Gash and Gore, but with the quest that turned single births of trollkin into trollkin litters, twin births became suspicious, and twin uzko births now are called "superior trollkin".

St. Ehilm's at Jansholm originally was a brainchild of mine, and was meant to be the Aeolian version of Elmal. Those were more or less self-generating. I used Storm in Law e.g. for the temple design. For symbolism, sure, use them. Saints are no more, and deities aren't Ascended Masters, but rather Srvuali (devolved aspects of Runes) receiving worship by the ignorant, or a share of the Invisible God worship in Henotheist circles (triangles?). None of the False Gods in the old Prosopaedia were Erasanchula (Celestial Court Rune deities), but second generation ones, the heirs to the original runes. HQ1 suffers from the "church"ness of the Malkioni. There was already a fair amount of back-paddeling (-pedaling?) as far as high medieval chivalry was concerned, but then that had been in the air since at least 1995. But heck, we still had chainmail in that picture. The Esvulari do appear to have tribes, with the Bandori (who appear to have managed to remain extra-territorial from Rikard's Malkonwal) as one example. These tribes have standard Orlanthi components - if 50% of the Esvulari are urban, the tribes down there need ordinary fisherfolk and farmers/herders to aid in feeding the city. These Orlanthi possibly have minor tribes like triaties inside the greater tribes, and while they might get a seat on the ring, they are unlikely to ever head the tribe. None was ever published, although I would guess that there is a manuscript in at least some state of completion that was prepared by the Unspoken Word crew before they lost their license. Within the framework of HQ1, Mark's approach was working just fine for me. Outside of those framing conditions (like strict non-overlapping Three Worlds model and use of "church" and "liturgy" and "blessing" in describing Malkioni), things need to be re-interpreted, just like various publications about them slowly approached what went on down south in Heortland, and inside the cities. The strict endogamy of the Aeolians is something I still have to come to terms with, but at least everybody is a warrior, whether commoner, noble or possibly even zzaburi (those who don't make the cut for sorcery?). Have fun down there, and make it fun for your players. I keep learning about these folk, and writing about them was my debut in producing Gloranthan roleplaying stuff.

Kargzant is Lightfore, since the Sun Swirl. According to Plentonius, Antirius became the real sun, until his reunion with the rest of Yelm. No Hill of Gold for Kargzant. Which possibly means Elmal = Reladivus = Kargzant on some level, with all the horse connections. Yelorna is Lightfore (when she isn't Ourania). Yelmalio is Daysenerus, an aspect of Antirius, when he isn't Halamalao the Light atop Flamal's Tree. Pretty much the Sun Dome, that lost warm reflective power of the sky, stripped off him at the Hill of Gold, though still remembered for it. There may be some Ghevengus/Vrimak component that is underplayed except in Balazar. I am not sure whether Daysenerus really is the High Sun of the Elves. High King Elf and Yelmalio stood side by side in the Darkness (presumably before the Hill of Gold?). Yelmalio in that role wasn't too different from the horse gone sedentary, Elmal. I am not sure whether Shargash wasn't at the Hill of Gold, sharing the ZZ role, or the Orlanth one, when Antirius received one of his wounds. Then there is a deity Lightfore, too, an avatar of Dayzatar rather than a son or fragment of Yelm. No clear horse connection. No appreciable Hill of Gold component, either, though possibly a quest for the Compromise.

There is no indication whatsoever that the Slontans or the Manirians transported to Jrustela and Umathela were Malkioni, let alone kin to the Waertagi. The terms Slontos and Maniria are used in a number of ways, sometimes defining a specific portion of that region, sometimes the entire region west of Kethaela. The Guide makes either of them inhabited by Entruli at the Dawn, who then became Orlanthi under the influence of the Lightbringers, although some of the coastal kingdoms may have adopted Malkionism by the 4th century. There is no information about the native religion during the reign of the Bright Empire, but its expansion may have been behind the "exiled by enemies" immigration wave of Olodo to Jrustela (Middle Sea Empire pp. 8 and 11, IIRC). The notion that the wizards would have ordered the Dronar and Horal caste folk from Seshnela (second migration, sent there by Nralar the Old, according to Guide p.621) to join the Orlanthi religion is surprising, to say the least. The notion that the third wave (folk deeply accepting the Abiding Book) did is even weaker. The first wave of around 475 are from Maniria, which (even by Imperial Age standards, Guide p.351) was the place where you would expect Orlanthi, ruled by Pralori. I'll address other issues separately.

Last time I checked Slontos was located in Maniria. The Dawn Age Slontans were reluctant to admit Lightbringer missionaries from Kethaela, but relented around 120. What kinship would the Waertagi have with the Slontans? Helering descent indicates hostility rather than friendship. The Aldryami have been their rulers for over a millennium, that should be giving the elves a better handle on their religious practices, in that context. True, the God Learners did meddle - mostly in order to gain heroquest powers by riding the Umathelan Orlanthi myths, and to test out their exchangability theories on chosen test populations. The God Learners pushed the aldryami back into the deepest forests

Two of the most important "sons of Yelm" aren't among the Planetary Sons: Golden Bow/Sagittus and Hastatus the Spearman. The Yelmalio cult clearly is the Spear cult, with the Golden Bow (Kuschile) only an allied aspect repatriated at some time. Avivorus is the Dawn Age Sunspear hero/avatar, not the warlike footman who may have already fought in concern with the gazzam-carried archer howdas prior to the Flood. Yelorna does share some of the Zaytenaras attributes IMO. Sedenya claims quite a few of the Planetary Sons as previous incarnations, including Zaytenaras, but at least also Jernedeus/Jernotius and Verithurus(a), and possibly two to five more. Only Shargash never gets identified with Sedenya.

I think we can safely assume that whoever was resettled from Slontos to Jrustela (by the name of Olodo) and finally Umathela had been in contact with the Theyalan Lightbringers. Whether they would have had other names for Orlanth and Ernalda I am not sure. Ehilm was the Ralian sun god known to the Malkioni (and probably the Brithini), and identified with the Fire Rune erasanchula (original runic being) that was among those who fell to the temptation of receiving worship, hence the False Gods according to Zzabur's propaganda. That name may well have bled over to Slontos from Galin and Helby. Worlath doesn't show up in Ralios, but that name may have been in use by the Dawn Age Slontans (who had contact with the Serpent Kings if I read that stuff about the wife from the east correctly in the Seshnelan King List). Baraku is a name from the Doraddi myth cycle. The Umathelan aldryami might know about Baraku. I doubt the immigrants brought there by the Waertagi did, although their descendants may have learnt it from the elves. In a way, Baraku is similar to Bisos or Storm Bull, and even more so to the god of the Andam Horde. We have no data what kind of herd beasts he brought, only that they didn't agree to the fodder available on the Veldt. A herder deity, and by extension also a raider deity. Elf Yelmalio is a must have. Sharing that cult with humans may have come when God Learners made the connection with lands formerly ruled by Palangio and transported that idea over, some time after Tanian's Victory. The cult may have garnered new momentum with the new platforms purging the God Learners at the end of the Imperial Age.

The difference between deity and spirit appears to be mainly its preferred habitat - God World or Spirit World. Now Spirit Travel gets you through the near Spirit Plane into deeper regions, and across boundaries delineating domains of various great entities. Take for instance the Lowfires. Mahome, Gustbran and Oakfed are children of the god Lodril, and known to the Heortlings as gods. The Praxians worship Oakfed as a Great Spirit, and are able to manifest him as such (without shattering the Compromise every time they do it). The problem here is that once an entity has amassed a certain level of power/godhood, it may be encountered in various aspects. I have no doubt that the great spirit Oakfed is the same as the god Oakfed, but the entity you encounter in Prax when released is definitely the great spirit, not the deity. On the other hand, when called forth by a worshiper of Gustbran, Oakfed is the divine presence of that lowfire, possibly embodied by the worshiper, possibly using a fire elemental as its temporary body. Some tricks pertaining to that Great Spirit may fail to work against the divine entity, and vice versa, but on the whole they are the same. In the end, we are faced with the elephant's ear, leg, tusk, trunk and belly all over.

Yes on the de facto #2 among nobility, no to the 3rd most important god - that would be missing out on Barntar, the god of Orlanthi farmsteading, who regularly eclipses Orlanth himself when Orlanth is a deity non grata. Or at least that used to be the case among the Heortlings. Pelorian Orlanthi have been exposed to a variety of other sun deities and are much less impressed by a cold sun sitting atop Wintertop Mountain, or another horse-friend sun god. To be fair, Heler isn't much better represented - mentioned as worshipped in Longsi Land, as an associate cult of Orlanth, and giving the name to the fluid gender. Barntar amasses a whooping six mentions. There is the Monrogh/Yelmalio effect which has bled away a vast number of Elmal worshippers, at least as much as Sartar is concerned. Esrolia knows Yelmalio too and isn't too fond of him, but has an ancient sun cult (Harono) and Heortling Elmal, too. On the other hand they are so cosmopolitan that they even acknowledge Yelm in places. Tribal Yelmalians aren't really that different from Elmal worshippers IMO. They will be horse breeders and riders, practicing the same Kuschile mounted archery the Elmal folk do, using the same sort of spears and armor. They usually aren't full-time warriors but mounted herders, horse breeders, farmers, or nobles. Elmal and Vingkot (and his heirs) shared the stewardship over the Orlanthi (of Dragon Pass, Saird and Kethaela). In many ways, Elmal has become a Thunder Brother, as the son in law of Orlanth. Or, if not Elmal, then Beren and Ulanin, the Rider husbands of Vingkot's daughters. But so has Heler in the role of Helamakt. This way, Heler's skills are available in a substratum of the Orlanthi magic. Elmal as defender against Darkness is a role rather underplayed in King of Dragon Pass, but IMO of greater importance than his role as defender against Chaos. On the whole, for a culture professing to be so anti-Chaos as the Orlanthi, they are fairly helpless against it. Orlanth had one big victory in the Upper Air (aka Sky), and a joint victory with an uz force over a lesser force on his Westfaring. That's it. He survived other encounters, but didn't emerge victorious. Elmal offers a fairly impressive "thou shalt not pass" where Yelmalio only offers "I'm still standing" against Chaos, but this pales compared with Storm Bull, or the secret of the Star Heart used by Heort. Elmal is one of several sky companions in Orlanth's hall, and there are companions from other (usually unfriendly) elements, too, like Heler and Mastakos for the seas. The message here is basically no matter who happens to your parents, you can earn your seat at Orlanth's table. I am quite curious whether Six Ages will have the Foreigner Wedding or rather the escape to the plains and Pent. (Waiting for the Android version...) The location on the Black Eel River is neither Berennethtelli nor Pentan.

Yeah. Old Veskarthan was enraged, and he sent a ripple which helped Slontos roll over. There was no breach of the Compromise, though. Volcanic blasts are a known side effect of worshipping volcano deities, whether local ones or the almighty big one. The number of survivors was exceptionally low, but population would rebuild to previous size within 10 generations or so. Nor did the cult of Caladra and Aurelion disappear (at least not from Caladraland, Slontos and Jrustela might be a different subject, although the cult write-up does mention the Manirian site in the present tense). It apppears to have always been strongest around Low Temple and the western parts of the volcanic chain anyway.

So when the God of the Silver Feet was murdered by Prince Snodal and his co-conspirators, the Compromise was broken? And how did that feat leave Issaries unimpaired outside of Fronela? Was this just the local godling rather than the greater god? The Compromise was broken at the Birth of Nysalor not by the birth of Osentalka but by the sun stopping in the sky, counter-acting the flow of Time. It was broken (first) at the Battle of Night and Day by the manifestation of Daysenerus in Palangio (before the manifestation of the Black Eater). The Only Old One summoning the Black Serpent to defend the Obsidian Palace against Belintar, while not succeeding in its purpose, doesn't register as breaking the Compromise, or does it? Monrogh's revelation of Yelmalio did not break the Compromise in any way. He elevated a forgotten and at the time extremely minor cult among the Heortlings from less than a spirit cult to a fully fledged divine cult again. Bad things happen when others break the Compromise, as the Heortlings learned at the Battle of Night and Day. Forming the Cult of Caladra and Aurelion did not break the Compromise, and it did raise worship of Aurelion from a minor spirit cult (at most, possibly at Meetplace in Slontos, as the Seshnegi of northern Jrustela weren't really theist worshipers at the time of their settling) to a full divine cult (or at least half of one). Orlanthi heroes re-introducing a magical or divine beast to the ecology of Dragon Pass is another such example, whether the songbird returned by Moirades, the aurochs returned by Argrath or the leopard introduced by Enjeem. Re-awakening Tada or Genert won't be breaking the Compromise, unless Genert is manifested in the Middle World (no need to do that, really). Tada always was a demigod who was part of the Middle World.

Sure, it's messy, but it is also a lot like Schrödinger's Cat - alive and not alive, while the first victim of Death should be DEAD all over, not a little bit dead. Every being made of the Man Rune aka every mortal being shares the experience, and Flesh Man had a front seat view of it, and experienced the certainty that Death would come for him, too. They all are instances of Grandpa Mortal, but they aren't the original experience (until the moment they die).

Not necessarily - Arkat received the unhealable wound from meeting himself on the hero plane. But I do think that it is stretching split identity a bit if the witness who goes crazy from seeing Darhudan's Death is Darhudan himself, still alive. One or two generations distant works better for me.

Or on some other newt's last ever incarnation.

Hmm. Since you are already in the Underworld when you come up to the Styx, you have already died. You might play that card to receive some immunity. On the other hand, the Styx is likely to have similar purifying powers as Daliath's Well of Wisdom (the two may be adjoined). If you take the Greek mythology back to Glorantha, the bath won't destroy your body, but dissolve your identity - memories, passions, ...

Vamargic Eye-Necklace was half Great Troll, half Cave Troll, and full ZZ Rune Lord. He might have become a Kitori before becoming a Death Lord, though, thereby avoiding the CHA limit. See

I don't think that their eggs leave any fragments when they "hatch" - I doubt they even break the shell. I can see scales of True Dragons as triangular or kite shields, to cover an advance against missiles, but I think that in melee they will use a sword-breaker or a dart-thrower (think atlatl) in their right hands.

I was using both that and Anglo-Saxon immigrants lording over Romano-British subjects in my original approach to the Aeolians. Since (Roman) chain mail is no longer appropriate for the visuals, I might go Bactrian as one influence: https://www.pinterest.co.uk/pin/572520171371878528/ We do have three castes of Aeolians and a non-caste of non-Aeolian Orlanthi, some of whom may still act as rural nobles within the southern tribes.

The Blue Man lost face, and the knights established their access to sorcery. And the Man-of-All is the one who has mastered the approach to sorcery (a technique, a rune), not the person training for it. Having mastered the training for sorcery (literacy, technique, rune) doesn't make you a Man-of-All yet, there are other things to master, too. It can be assumed that a non-zzaburi who approaches the path of the Man-of-All will have mastered her own caste's proficiencies, but that leaves two more castes' proficiencies besides that of a sorcerer. When I studied chemistry, I met enough people good at chemistry who failed to master the math test, even if they could apply the math to physical chemistry, despite being allowed to use whatever literature they brought into the test. I assume that it will be little different for talar caste applicants failing to get their dromal assignments done, and vice versa. Hrestoli society has a place for these aspiring or flunking aspirants for man-of-all status. The two sample societies in RQG don't have them. The Rokari do have a soldier caste and a noble warrior caste, but neither are encouraged to encroach on the zzaburi privileges. The Esvulari Aeolians don't even have a soldier caste - every Esvulari is expected to be able to pick up weapons and fight, although they do of course have professionals, both among the commoners and among the nobility. In a way, that's a fair step to the Man-of-All. The concept of Men-of-all is a development which arrived in their lands only with Arkat's crusade, and by that time Arkat had already moved on and was about to move on even further, adopting an uz mother, and his followers after the Gbaji War appear to have been able to use the Kitori shapes and magic. There is a possibility that the real contact with men-of-all occurred only with the Slontan invasions of Heortland, and by that time the Esvulari noble cavalry may have been long established. There were numerous things in HQ1 which weren't quite as I would have liked them, but I did like the possibility of having an "order" of guild magics under the general heading of sorcery, with "orderlies" invested deep enough to use their scripture for their magic. The RQG sorcery rules work fine for what was RQ3 apprentice and adept level - for these, they are indeed a step up, with less paperwork though highly increased MP cost. The combination of Technique and Rune is a solid concept, one already used (but under-explored) in HQG, and great for the specialist user. It isn't something a non-specialist could even approach. There is bound to be a pre-Apprentice stage of sorcery. The question is how these people perform sorcery. I wonder whether the Menena caste is tied to the Earth Mother, or whether they are tied to the very principle of motherhood, regardless of element. There are a significant number of sea-wives in Malkioni history, too, starting with Malkion's mother Warera. Not all Tilntae are tied to land or trees. Immortal Malkioni society apparently started out with a much lower number of women, and it isn't clear what concept of marriage they had. A few generations later, there would have been about the same number of female as male Malkioni/Brithini/Danmalastani, and the ubiquity would have been reached. These few generations later may very well have been born in the Grey Age. Malkioni society is sufficiently patriarchal that children are supposed to be born within of wedlock or acknowledged concubinate. On the other hand, Rokari society has been discussed as lustful and concerned primarily with keeping reproduction inside the caste, and less obsessed about keeping sexual affairs within the marriage. Menena certainly looms in any debate about caste restrictions and mores. The Brithini custom of assigning the sons into castes depending on birth order suggests that Hrestol and Fenela would have had two older brothers, one a Dromal and one a Horal. Likewise their cousin, the King of Brithos after Hoalar underwent the ultimate sacrifice, does appear more like a firstborn than like a third-born son. But then, maybe the count-up starts with the father's caste? That would produce an awful lot of Horali-born Talars, though. By the time of the Gbaji Wars, the Seshnegi kings clearly considered all of their sons as members of the talar caste, as the two-generation dynasty preceding Gerlant's reign proves (Seshnelan king list part 1)..

A person's magical aura isn't limited to that person's skin, but should extend a few inch outward. That makes most clothing a part of the person's magical self control, excepting long robes or cloaks. That spell might better be called "wedgie". Given the proximity of private parts, it is not so much about lifting an opponent but about distracting him (or her) significantly.

Thrown spear or atlatl is distinctly different from thrown axe, which is different from thrown knife, as visitors of the Kraken will be able to attest. Bows may use different styles and releases - if you are using the English draw, a release behind your head is quite impossible, whereas thumb release as used by the Parthian on that frieze discussed a while ago here seems to allow such. I own have shot a small variety of bows, but usually using the English release, and only a few times using the sling release that fully-teched up compound archers use (maybe not fully, I have yet to see laser visors at work). That said, if you stick to your release style, you can pick up just about any bow and use it after acquainting yourself with its properties and ammo. (Which in my case often enough means not to draw it to full length because the arrows are way too short, reducing me to using the opera release way ahead of my face.) Instinctive release and aimed sniping aren't completely exclusive, but might be treated as separate skills. Sniping will come easy with crossbows as you don't have to exert force to keep the tension in the bow as you aim, and it works well with not too heavy bows and some means of matching the line of sight across the point of the arrow and an anchoring in relation to your eye (such as face walking or string walking in barebow field archery), or a "visor" in the shape of stripes on your lower arm matched to a distance for completely horizontal shots. (If you are defending a fortified position, you will probably have distance markers out there in the killing field, and corresponding markers on your bow.) Missile quality plays a big role. A stronger bow will need stronger shafts or way more fletching. Using perfectly matched arrows (craft(Fletcher)), your accuracy will be great. Using run-of-the-mill military issue arrows will require some experience to correct for different draw lengths or individual strength of a bow. Weapon quality and familiarity cannot be more than a modifyer to skill, though, and skill may easily surpass 100% for archers used to firing under deleterious conditions (e.g. from unstable platforms like chariots). Picking up an unfamiliar weapon (or ammo) in the middle of a fight should come with a penalty. Using a weapon after a few shots to determine its oddities should eliminate most of those penalties (it's like "shooting in the sight").

Yinkin is part of the Storm Pantheon, as are (nonlisted) deities like Elmal the Sun God, Mastakos the Charioteer (a water deity), or Chalana Arroy, Issaries and Lhankor Mhy, and most of Ernalda's Earth pantheon. He has one Middle Air aspect, as father of the Toling clouds. Other than that, he is a down to earth lover, fighter and hunter, patiently waiting for prey to show up (other people might say he's napping).

Looking at Raw Greed as a spirit of reprisal, addiction may be a curse contracted when overstepping things man wasn't meant to do. In case of forbidden substances, the curse could be an aldryami or mostali one. Eurmal has broken countless taboos, and has attracted and even willingly embraced curses that affected the entire community.

There is no shortage of EWF era or earlier ruins in Dragon Pass, or ancient tombs, which may hold if not artifacts then magical clues or secrets to discover. 13th Age Glorantha has a number of new takes on dungeons, too, if for a D20-like system.

But Daka Fal is about Man Rune ancestor worship. It appears that Yinkin (in the shape of Tol) did sire a number of human lineages, at least one of which ended up in the Berennethtelli tribe and among Harmast Barefoot's ancestors. Sartar's lineage may have been affected, too - not just his granddaughter Onelisin but also her daughters were alynx-women. Ancestor spirits are an entirely different company than (hsunchen) beast spirits.