Joerg

I guess much of this interaction between spells from these very different sources will have to be house-ruled, since it is nearly impossible to produce a multi-dimensional matrix for all these possible combinations, but from the answers I have seen so far, a few official guidelines appear to be helpful. Not sure what you mean by this. Does the stacked Protection effect from both Shield and Protection act as the resistance (making it 6 points vs. 8 points), or is it 6 points vs. 4 points for just the Spirit Magic spell? Similar concerns where Multispell or Extension are involved. Basically, does stacking of effects strengthen the magical resistance of the single components? Does stacking a spirit magic effect with a divine Rune spell render this effect immune from magic targeting just spirit magic? As to the Berserker effects, I have been in an adrenaline-induced fighting "zone" or rage a few times, which corresponds well with the overall description of Berserker, but also with the effects of <weapon> Trance. Basically what I experienced was an extraordinary control over moves without any ethical considerations holding me back. So there is a possibility that two or more incompatible spells could be there on a single target, but only one of these in effect. If so, casting a Protection 3 or Countermagic 3 over an Protection 1 Extension 1 needn't remove the extended spell, but might simply suppress its effect. But given the book-keeping nightmare of such layered spells, it is probably spell strength (plus boosting) that decides which of the magics applies. But then, the Attract Magic sorcery spell creates just this situation.

There isn't any road through the Colymar Wilds or the Thunder Hills, but there will be paths between Asborn's Stead and the Nymie Vale to the south and Apple Lane to the north. The original Colymar tribe did not extend north of the Colymar Wilds, although the addition of the Hiording and Karandoli clans early on in the tribal history will have extended Colymar interests beyond the Thunder Hills. Possibly the Jenstali clan, too. The Karandoli king Venharl dragged the Colymar into the Taral War, apparently against the interests of the original five Colymar clans (the Karandoli were reported "destroyed" under the next king Robasart, from the Arnoring clan, although some reconstituted form of the clan with nobility descended from the Arnoring clan continued until at least 1491, with King Ortossi lured on the Other Side on a hunt), but the addition of the Runegate triaty to the tribe meant a strong presence in the Afritha Vale, and the addition of the Varmandi antagonized the Malani. The conquest of the Tree Triaty away from the Malani put the main strength of the Colymar into the Arfritha Vale, away from the five original clans plus the Black Spear/Anmagarn (and the more recent addition of the Enjossi on the Stream). The Colymar Wilds play an important role in the identity of the tribe and its Black Spear heirloom, and building a road there would probably damage that identity and magic. There will be trails east and west of these woodlands, also used by the herders for the summer pastures atop both the Starfire Ridges and the Thunder Hills. The area where both the Karandoli and the Jenstali clans used to settle may be regarded as haunted. The Antorlings probably spread into those lands of these clans which remained attractive. Basically, this history of the Colymar shows how two disparate groups were joined under one tribe. The enmity with the Malani certainly played a role why Venharl found initial support with his activities away from the tribal center, but later on the Arfritha clans became quite dominant in the tribe. It is probably only thanks to the strength of the Clearwine Earth temple that the tribe avoided a split into those two territories, and the custom to install old clan nobility in the new replacement clans (Taraling replacing the Lonisi, Karandoli reformed after their heavy losses in the Zarran War, Antorlings from the third Tree Triaty clan after the Zarran War). The Lismelder are an offshoot of the Malani, and despite their feud with the Malani, the Colymar never really trusted them, although they stood by them in the Beastman wars and against the undead of the Marsh. I think that the best route for medium to larger parties on horseback would be across the Thunder Hills into Antorling lands, following the cattle drift paths there, and then down the Arfritha valley through Hiording lands. These routes are ok for mule trains, too, but not for wagons.

Precisely because a dagger is shorter and can be realigned quickly. A medium or large shield is fairly bulky. Attacking with its edge brings it out of its protective alignment, and using it for a body slam locks it with the body in question unless you succeed in a knockback. I wonder whether we might see rules for locked weapons and subsequent wrestling or kicking, perhaps in the shape of martial arts.

The God Learner philosophical devolution of beasts has Hykim and Mikyh as the first physical manifestation of beasthood, and follows them up with a host of single purpose and derived taxa, plus ancestral trees resembling the Linnaeus taxonomy concepts, like Mother Mammal or Fralar, the ancestor of the Carnivores. Also, for most Hsunchen the beast god worship is ancestral in nature. I expect some Hsunchen magic (and not just limited to full or partial shape-changing) to be introduced with the Bestiary, at least for Telmori and Basmoli. But basically, worship of the unspecific Beast rune entity has a lot less application than worship of the totem beast spirits (or deities). Trying to gain some draconic powers or insights through Hykim and Mikyh sounds like something the God Learners might have tried, and may have found lacking in their conflicts with the EWF.

No you can't... because the spell parameters are touch and active; So the caster of the spell need to always touch the weapon for it to work AND concentrate to maintain it active. The way I see it, you need an allied spirit in a gauntlet or similar, or in the weapon itself, to cast the spell for you. That way the concentration is only in danger when the spirit-holding item is damaged or attacked, and mounted attacks aren't much of a problem, either. The other use is to stand in a pike formation with planted pikes ablaze with magical fire. Probably a standard move for a Men-and-a-half formation and for Caladraland spear formations (like at Pennel Ford), and sadly unavailable to Sun Domers. In that case, the flaming blade is very much a deterrent to whichever mount is approaching, much more than the actual damage, and not much less frightful to the front ranks of any attackers on foot. The prohibition against mounted combat doesn't take awakened herd beast mounts for the Praxians or other intelligent mounts into account, either. Fighting from such a mount will be similar to fighting from a chariot. That paragraph on active spells (p.247) has a few other problems, too, like the statement excluding divine Rune spells, as mentioned in the Magic vs. magic thread.

Shield's countermagic effect effects thing that are 1 "point" above it's countermagic (I'm going to try be consistent and call this Spell Points, or SP.). Rune magic has 2 SP per RP spent, so therefore the Dispel Magic's 10 spell points would overwhelm the shield's 4 SP countermagic and go on to dispel the 6 total SP of spells protecting the target. Dispel Magic is the Spirit spell, not the Rune spell, so the spell points of the Dispel are just 5. If the Shield is effective to up to 5 spell points, then depending on the priorities the Countermagic effect of it could cancel the Dispel, but unlike Countermagic, the Shield would remain in place, or the Dispel effect takes place fist, removing the Countermagic effect. I would expect the existing spell to take precedence, but I am not 100% sure about that, hence the follow-up question with the boost. The other question is whether stacked effects also mean that the spell points stack. Dispel 5 with a boost is enough to cancel either the Protection 4 or the Shield 2 despite the Countermagic effect if both Shield and Protection are counted as separate spells. Without targeting a specific spell, the most powerful defensive spell is targeted - that would be the Shield spell. Dispel Magic will automatically target the strongest spell it can affect, so if the target wore a Shield 2 (which a 5 point spell can affect) and a Spirit Screen 6 (which the 5 point spell can't), the Shield would go. Again, the spell's 6 SP beats the shield's 4 SP and would pass through untouched. It ignores the shield after that, pitting it's 6 SS vs the protection's 4 SS on the resistance table. If that is the case, the stacking of the effect with the Protection effect of the Shield doesn't make the Protection harder to neutralize. It's unclear exactly how incompatible spirit/rune magic spells are supposed to be handled. As I said above, I'd probably just ape the incompatible spell rules from sorcery. So, in this case, the countermagic would suppress the protection. I'd also require that any unwilling target would have to have his POW overcome. Shield gets overwhelmed, so as above. Does Shield's Countermagic getting overwhelmed cancel the Shield? I don't think so. The spell description says "the spell must be at least 1 point stronger than the defense of the Shield", but is that 2 points (as per the description above) or 2 points plus 1 as per Countermagic spell? Is an incapacitated target able to resist a spell? Huh, yeah, that's true! A neat trick, that. That depends on whether boosting a spell with extra magic points delays the spell strike rank or not. I have heard it argued that boosting a Divine Rune Spell doesn't affect the strike rank, but I am far from sure about that. The rules actually say "Rune magic spells always take effect at strike rank 1." This opens a new can of worms with regard to applying Rune spells to heal a comrade who will die at the end of the round. With a literal reading, you can't make the decision to cast the rune spell on a later strike rank. I do expect "at strike rank 1" meaning from the moment the caster can react to what happened in the melee round (which may or may not be delayed by the caster's DEX strike rank). The new sorcery rules have sort of opened the "one SR per MP" meta-rule, as each additional point of intensity takes 2 strike ranks, in my reading regardless whether the caster can do so by a single magic point or whether he has to double it (multiple times) for lacking the direct rune and/or technique. Each point used for boosting a sorcery spell takes 2 strike ranks, just as any point of intensity. Which gets me to the next question - if a sorcery spell requires two techniques, can both of them be inferred from just one related technique? Is the Command technique enough to cast a spell requiring both Summon and Combine (quadrupling MP cost just for the techniques)? Answering the parenthetical: Dismiss Magic clearly spells out that only the spell strength of sorcery needs to be overcome, so 2. That's for the Divine Dismiss, but the box next to the Dispel Magic spell talks about the intensity of the spell, not just about the strength, and in the sorcery section the total intensity is for the basic 1 in all three parameters, plus 1 for each increase in one of the three parameters (strength, duration or range). A sorcery spell is always at least a 2-point spell (at least one technique and at least one rune), so does an intensity 1 spell require two points of Dispel Magic to be effective, or is one point sufficient? On the other hand, Rune spells are supposed to be superior to Spirit spells, so maybe this difference is intentional. Unless I misruled that all the time, RQ3 rules required only the Intensity component (which translates as "Spell Strength Intensity" in RQG) to be overcome for dispelling magic. I find the use of "intensity" and (spell) "strength" to be slightly inconsistent, and the explanation on p.247 reads somewhat circular when comparing to p.384f where strength is one possible form of part of the total intensity of the spell (as cast by the sorcerer, i.e. measured in points of Free INT required, never mind the actual consumption of magic points). There is also multiple use of "intensity" when the potency of a fire is measured in variable spells requiring certain intensities. (Loaning "potency" from the poison rules here. There shouldn't be much overlap between poison and fire potency/intensity.) The page referenced for fire intensity (p.157, referenced from p.325 and 330) doesn't say anything about fire intensity. There is such a table for the Conflagration sorcery spell on p.392, however.

The archetypal deity for the helering gender is a warrior's companion, and a warrior in his own right, although he also fills the role of the damsel in distress (in the Aroka myth) and has mothered a couple of beings In The Coming Storm, the most prominent helering person is Aethelric the girl, housecarl and one of the bodyguards of the Red Cow chief, combining the very male activity of the tough and respected warrior with surprising femininity. Intimate companionship probably is possible even between members of the same gender, as Orlanthi males are very much into hugging and kissing. There are basically only few sexual taboos in Orlanthi society - sex with non-adults, forced sex against the expressed wishes of the partner (aka rape), and possibly bestiality while in human shape. Breaking marital vows is a different issue, but those vows might define the extent of exclusivity of the marriage. Marriage is more than just a personal relationship, too. Depending on the type of marriage, it can involve adoption into the partner's clan, and many a marriage has served as a peace bond between conflicting clans, creating something of a hostage situation for the individuals moving to the other clan. Point of the Vingan or Nandan genders is that hanging around with people of your own gender means hanging around with the cis-people of your opposite sex (provided you have exactly one, the number may as well be zero or two). Helering gendered folk hang around with just about anyone in whichever role they feel like, although they are supposed to stick to the role of unambiguous cults whenever performing as such - which means permanent abstention from reproduction even in the male role if a follower of Ty Kora Tek, to get back to the original topic. It is possible that there are gender-fluid groups somewhere in Heortling society with very few (if any) standard males or females, but they haven't been described yet. Clans with high numbers of Vingan warriors have featured in King of Dragon Pass. I haven't seen a strongly Nandan presence anywhere, yet. I do wonder what the Imarjan take on nandan sons is in Esrolia. As non-mothers, they are barred from deeper mysteries of Ernalda, but they might be eligible for Dark Earth priestesshood. Actually having given birth on the Other Side would remove the barriers to queendom, too, although their fertility would be constantly questioned unless they spent most of their time being pregnant from Other Side intercourse. I have no idea about hermaphrodites in Esrolian society, either - there they might have to form communities of their own to be recognized as female gender.

Good catch. Important note that nandan is a gender, not just a deity, as that implies that the stricture that males cannot join the cult is still applicable. The inverse conclusion is that someone with male sex joining a cult like Ernalda or Ty Kora Tek is by definition of nandan or at least helering gender. Which gets us to the weird situation that there would be a lot of female sex initiates of Vinga (or other male occupation cults) whose gender is really helering rather than vingan.

Just to stir up muddy waters slightly more - if a dual wielder attacks twice, does this mean he used up his first, unpenalized parry, but can start parrying at -20%?

What happens when a stronger version of a non-stackable spell encounters a pre-existing weaker version of the spell? Like e.g. Enhance INT? Dispel and Dismiss target the intensity of a spell, which appears to mean the sum of magic points or twice the number of rune points put into the spell, or the points of Free INT required to cast this sorcery spell (including points prepared in an inscribed spell through sacrifice of POW). Does this ignore magic points used to boost a spell (like Axe Trance or Sword Trance)? Let's use a 5 point Dispel Magic on a person having a 2 point Shield and a 4 point Protection. What happens? Does the person casting the Dispel have to boost the spell with one MP in order to overcome the Shield's Countermagic effect? A sorcerer casts a 6 point Neutralize Spirit Magic on the person. What is the resistance to this spell? Let's use an 8 point Neutralize Magic on that same target aiming at the Protection, and succeed with the resistance roll, rolling 40%. Will the target still benefit from the Shield's Protection effect? From the Shield's Countermagic effect? Would a resistance roll of 69% still succeed? Countermagic gets eliminated when overcome by another spell for more than one point exceding its strength, including Shield. On the other hand, Shield can be upped by Countermagic (combined with a sufficient boost) in order to stack the effects. Shield also stacks with Protection. What happens when someone casts Countermagic on a person or other entity under the benefit of- Protection (or Spirit Screen)? Does a 1 point Protection prevent the recipient from receiving a 4 point Countermagic? Now lets add one point of Shield to that one point of Protection, and cast the same 4 point Countermagic on the recipient. What spells are in effect? Countermagic can be a nasty spell when cast on a combatant who has just gone down in a combat, preventing cheap Healings to reactivate them in a hurry (or to avert death). Not quite a Seal Wound, but potentially as deadly. A 3 point Dispel Magic hits a person affected by Neutralize Spirit Magic (Strength 2 Duration 2, i.e. 2 points of additional magic - but Intensity 3, or is it autmatically 2 points because of the spell cost plus 2 points for the added intensities?). Is this enough to remove the spell? Is it enough to target a specific other spell active on the target after winning the resistance roll? If not, how about a 5 point spell: Does it have to overcome the effect of Neutralize Spirit Magic first? Sword Trance doesn't combine effects with Berserker or Fanaticism, but it is theoretically possible to have both Sword Trance and Berserk active, say with a 90% skill in sword attack and 15 points boost the effective attack would be 240% (vs. 180% for just Berserker vs Chaos). Add in a Bladesharp 3, effective attack becomes 270% (vs. 240% for just Berserker plus Bladesharp cs Chaos). The other effects of Berserk are still on (like increased CON or Countermagic, or inability to parry or cast spells) would still be in place. Somebody casts a Countermagic on a Berserker. Does the effect stack with the 2 points already provided by the Berserker spell? Assuming that the caster can overcome the magic points of a person under Berserker influence, what effect will Logical Clarity have on that person?

May I refer you to Oliver Dickinson's "Holding the Baby"?

Magic points can still be used as a measure for magical attrition when a non-Channeler beomes the target of a weave. IMO the channelers of WoT grasping the Source is similar to the result of Tapping, holding way more magic points than they could generate on their own. But then, looking back at the three magics of Rolemaster, that is exactly what Channeling is about. Do you have any concept how to do the Dream activities?

Nandan is mentioned as a gender in RQG p.81, Sex and Marriage box.

In my scenario featuring female descendants of an Asrelia priestesses charged with bringing great-grandma's corpse to her maternal family's tomb I meant to have a pregnant woman and an woman with a toddler on her arms/being breast-fed as pre-gens. The version which I managed to finish so far went into the German HeroQuest scenario collection, and there both forms of maternality can be used as an augment. I see no reason why maternal activities should not be used as a passion in RQG, and I can see few activities more appropriate to accompany fertility magic. Yes, these women will carry their babies into conflict and possibly battle, and out of it as well, and be recipients of divine as well as human protection. In social conflict, like demanding hospitality from clans which may have a few in-laws, demonstrating maternality will be a good boast. Even in social situation with trolls this can be a powerful augment. Uz society is extremely matriarchal, and respect for childbearing or child-raising females is ingrained in troll behavior. True, there is the downside of holding a very tasty looking squirming snack in their arms, but trolls aren't monsters, with the probable exception of Death Lords and their gangs. Toddlers can disarm or distract most martial men, giving the mothers inroads to lay down the existence of another way. This isn't limited to followers of Orlanth.

It is when it is tied to a big rite in the real world, like the dedication of the New Lunar Temple (that was thwarted by the Dragonrise). Given that the White Bear Empire was the foe of Loskalm, and presumably the civilized city states on the Janube, there might have been a major magic of the White Bear Empire under way which might have served as the focus of the Syndics. No idea about specifics yet. The Death of the God of Silver Feet definitely implies that Death was used. This makes me wonder a bit about the consequences of the Lightbringers passing through the Gates of Dusk. We are presented with the weird stuff happening at the Windstop as a consequence of Orlanth having passed into the Underworld. But Orlanth didn't go alone, Issaries was among those who also were dead to the Surface World. Was there as much of a breakdown of communications as we are made to believe the death of Orlanth caused in the Darkness, or was there only a (significant) part of Orlanth away in the Underworld? From Glorious ReAscent of Yelm, it appears that Orlanth's Ring disappeared, with the stars of the Lightbringers. The Windstop did repeat that feature, world-wide, until the Dragonrise quest undid whatever the foul magics of Tatius had done to the sky presence of the Lightbringers. On the other hand, neither Issaries nor Lhankor Mhy or Chalana Arroy and least of all Eurmal experienced any problems with their magic inside or outside the Windstop area despite the absence of their stars. (Though, looking at the description of the Dragonrise in King of Sartar, the text doesn't sound like Orlanth's Ring had disappeared after Whitewall. That text complained that it emerged a few days early. KoS does mention the Eleven Lights, but doesn't elaborate anything about them, and the three new lights would of course have kept the two-weekly cycle of Orlanth's Ring in the sky. But then, Orlanth's magic has never been described as being subject to celestial visibility.) There is a dearth of written documentation about the Greater Darkness while Lhankor Mhy was in Hell. The Silver Age saw the magics of all Lightbringers and even the gifts of Ernalda return to the Surface world in small doses, although only the Dawn itself brought the full release of what was known within Time. With this in mind, maybe the Syndics managed to capture the God of the Silver Feet and to push him through a gate to the Underworld (possibly using the Gate of Banir rather than the Gates of Dusk). The slow process of the Thaw might be a parallel to the long ascent of the Lightbringers from Hell prior to the Dawn. Dormal's arrival in Loskalm (or maybe already at Threestep Isles) may have triggered something in the Underworld, or been accompanied by that. The Lunar efforts followed several years later, with the birth of Jar-eel and her participation in the infants' procession. 0

While I think that Arkati would be involved in such a drastic re-arrangement on the mythic landscape, I would expect them to be on the opposite side. Even after the God Learners cut off all paths to Arkat on the hero plane, there remained those dark warriors as heroquest obstacles or at least encounters wherever your quest would take you. Your post made me wonder if the Kingdom of War could actually have started as all those foiled guardians gathering mortal followers to right what the Syndics did wrong. The deity of communication would have been present whenever a negotiation or a deal was made as a stage of a heroquest, but not necessarily in a form you could attack. From the description of the event, it sounds like a coordinated commando raid at numerous points of attack, taking down the communication with teams far apart striking together. This is similar to the 1042 mass utuma of the dragonspeakers of the EWF or the Umathelan hunt for people who knew or even only knew of that special secret by the GIft Carriers of the Sending Gods. Snodal may have drawn on methods of Halwal, the God Learner who turned against the God Learners, allying with the most varying groups like pagans, Irensavalists or Arkati. The choice of the God of Silver Feet as the target was not (only) to undo the cohesion of the White Bear Empire, but to undo the spell by Zzabur that Snodal learned about looking at the future map of Fronela, showing much of it drowned. (Although I wonder whether that wasn't just a map of the world-wide great flood caused by the glacier plugging Magasta's Pool for a while...) Apparently Snodal had figured out what was targeted by that spell, and by removing the target, the spell wouldn't be able to take effect. The exact results of the Syndics' assassination will have come as unexpected consequences.

RQG p.298 claims that Lhankor Mhy cultists may only marry inside the cult. I recall quite clearly that earlier cult descriptions had the requirement that Lhankor Mhy cultists were only allowed to marry light cultists, emulating LM's partnership with the Lady of the Light of Inspiration (who may have been Ourania, Mistress of Heaven). It was quite hard to find female light cultists among the Orlanthi, unless you allowed Mahome as lowfire. My LM character went for an initiate of the Redaylda subcult of Elmal, which went well with the character's fascination with fast horses and attempts to breed ones near Karse from exotic stock. A weird passion for someone from Pelaskite origins and strong in his roots, but anyway... Then there is Broosta, Daughter of Pavis (the only female one) and Lhankor Mhy initiate, married to Fleeter Nemm, also a Daughter of Pavis. Does her priesthood in the Pavis cult override her LM marriage restrictions? On the other hand, Broosta gives a model how to get your prospective partner accepted by the cult if only marriages inside the cult are sanctioned. The prospective partner has to become literate and a LM initiate on the side, wearing that weird veil, etc. (I wonder whether henna tattoos or permanent ones on the chin, possibly in elaborate patterns, may serve for the "fake beard" requirement...)

Um, no? Channeling uses four elements and spirit. Strands of these are interwoven into the weaves. The strands can be maintained by the channeler, or they can be tied off. It is possible but extremely risky to pluck strands from an active channeling, making it unstable and prone to release its energies uncontrollably. Nynaeve's Healing knack is a weird Wilder talent augmenting her normal spell-weaving abilities for healing weaves significantly. She has an affinity to the patterns. You are mixing up the core components of the weaves and the purposes. These purposes are certain patterns in the weave, and those patterns can be modified or other patterns might be interwoven. I would call these "patterns", and give them certain requirements in the strands that are essential, and possibly common variations with extra strands. I think that the four elements plus spirit serve pretty much the same purposes as the elements in RQG. IIRC, two of the elements were more closely associated with female magic and the other two with male magic, but nonetheless both Aes Sedai and Ashaman had personal preferences overriding these gender affinities. Hmm. I recall this differently. The Aes Sedai would fill themselves with the source from the environment (or in rare cases where the environment wouldn't provide any, from personal storage), then use this huge amount of temporarily available power to put into their weaves. The amount of the Source an Aes Sedai could hold or channel could be increased through Angreal. I am not quite sure how much of this power came in elemental/spirit flavors, or whether those could be chosen by the channeler at will. Something like this looks like it is tied to a characteristic like POW, but might be an exponential effect of that characteristic. It should be a trainable characteristic. An Aes Sedai filled with the Source would have a huge amount of "magic points" available. There was a safe margin for filling yourself with the Source (or channeling it through you), and there was the risky way to channel more than you could normally contain, requiring ever harder rolls, with various risks like Stilling or explosions. Creating the patterns is a matter of skill, and affinities or lack of those to certain elements or patterns can modify these greatly. Is this a game convention? Most weaves in the series lasted significantly longer and also took longer to take effect. Healing weaves were a process of healing rather than toggling the health state. All of this sounds like all the magic comes from the caster, rather than the caster re-directing a bunch of magical flows into a pattern. IIRC the problem with channeling wasn't providing the power, it was providing the control over the flows opened, or containing the power. The latter wasn't helped by the euphoria that came with grasping the source and filling yourself with the power. This sounds like it makes for quite weak channelers. The Aes Sedai feel way more over the top with their abilities. They do get drained of something channeling the power, even though while holding on to the source the euphoria will carry them through the fatigue, only to crash a lot harder afterwards. This sounds like it does something with the channeler's constitution. Then there are the forbidden weaves - weaves that will other people fear and abhor Aes Sedai. Mind manipulation is one of the most common ones.

Appears to be functional in Chrome, too. They can't in character creation, but I don't see why passions or non-opposed runes shouldn't be able to go there through play. And I wonder whether enlightenment/illumination can break the 100% total for opposed runes. Or Tapping. The upper limit of 21 is annoying, too - there are other races which may use a human character sheet (perhaps only with a small alteration in the Man vs Beast pair), and there might be other ways to break the human condition (like Chaos features). Form restraints can be a pain when they don't fit the work flow.. The Man/Beast pair is a bit counter-intuitive in that you need to change Beast for Man to adapt, even though the check box in the square sort of indicates that. Intuitively I start from top to bottom. Sorcerous Free INT is misleading. It calculates points above 13, which is wrong - a sorcerer with INT 13 can learn one technique and one rune, so the algorithm should substract 11. Anyway, the term Free INT is not used for the potential of learning runes and techniques, but for the un-assigned points of INT.

Storm Tribe p.194ff (for Hero Wars) has text quite similar to the quotes from Heortling Mythology. It suggests that the two sisters generally receive joint worship, which may (or may not) be outdated. Thunder Rebels (also for Hero Wars) named a couple of Mahome's brothers as husbands of handmaidens of Ernalda. p.190 "Torabran, who burns the dead to set our breath free, whose wife Teka was the first person cremated." p.87 has a text on funeral rites, which mentions the teka urn. "On the eighth day the family burns a man’s body on a pyre or a woman’s body in a funerary oven. After a man’s ashes blow away on the winds, the relatives place the bones and other remains inside an urn. All of a woman’s remains go into an urn. The funerary urns (known as teka) are buried in the urnfield." There appears to be a clear linguistic connection between the teka urn and the Tek part of TKT's title, and the Kora has been interpreted as another form of "Gor" (as in Maran and Babeester, denoting a Dark Earth connection). I am not quite sure whether Orlanthi practice cremation on female corpses. If they do, they might follow the practices detailed in Thunder Rebels, but I think that body burials with various embalming techniques are at least common, too, especially in Esrolia. And there is a possibility that Storm Tribe leaders of old received body burials, too. If only for the simple reason that burial mounds make for good locations in scenarios, and having a well-preserved corpse inside animated by intruder activity makes a good adversary.

Danmalastan emerged from the Green Age, as did the Six Tribes, if you subscribe to the Zzaburite version of Malkioni history. Alternatively, the Vadeli preceded the Brithini in the West, and may have been visited by Martalak. There is no contest that Martalak precedes Malkion Aerlitsson. But that doesn't mean that the Six Tribes didn't exist yet. Zzabur's One World is Early Creation Age, the same event as the Musicians, Dancers etc. in the East. Vith and his wives getting children is the same step as the formation of Danmalastan with its six tribes. That's an interesting hypothesis. You won't find any evidence for this in the Stafford Library or earlier publications - all of the Stafford Library is written under the doctrine of the Three/Four Separate Worlds. Meksornmali had three parts - square land, where the theists with their priests (priests? at this stage of Theism?) lived, semicircle land (admittedly not a good description for triangular Danmalastan), where the sorcerers lived, and triangular land, where the animists/shamans lived. Sorcery did not come from the north or the south, it came from the west, and only the west. The Jabbi Isles are well inside Sensan (aka Shan Shan) mountains (continued southwards, they would run on to Teleos). Agreed, as far as this statement goes. We do disagree about what else counts as sorcery.

"Sorcerous cult" is already a contradiction in terms... It is quite possible that Invisible Orlanth has sorcerers attached who provide the magical extra to the warriors. I understand that you discount- the possibility of men-of-all from non-Rokari denominations to learn sorcery, but I need better arguments than "it isn't that useful in the middle of combat". Now it is me who is saying "that's just a lore skill", one allowing to make predictions and to milk the utmost out of beneficial constellations for rituals. This works for a purely theist priesthood just as well. Buserian is named as the overseer of Abgammon in the Decapolis, which is dated at YS 60,000, whereas Umath's invasion of the sky ("first rebel gods come to Yelm) is dated at 75,000 YS or later. The eight planetary sons might be the orbs standing above the cities, but then the copper tablets show only one planet in each cardinal direction, and one each in the four lands. (The position of the inverted pyramid/ziggurat isn't quite at dezarpovo, either). Does it? The caption (or preceding text) says that it shows the sky from above. I see the symbols of all the planetary sons of Yelm. It is possible that Dayzatar and Yelm are superimposed, but I think it is more likely that we see this from Dayzatar's position. What's the source for this? The map on page five is titled "the last stable sky", which means to me that this was the formation visited by Umath, and not some draconic precursor. But all of this is straying from sorcery, and doesn't really tell us why the overseer of the city of priests of all celestial people should be the one wielding sorcery. Unless this is based on the similarity between the rune of the (near) eastern son and that of Zzabur in HQ1. I am happy with Pelorian sorcery being primarily of Fronelan origin (or at least passage, and this includes Syranthir's Carmanians) until the EWF and Sheng brought in other (human) varieties. This still leaves Kachisti, Vadeli and Waertagi for various shades of blue-skinned sorcerers in Entekosiad, native Pelandans learning or stealing from them, and pale-skinned ones accompanying Syranthir. Irensavalists only? RM names Ferbrith as the entity contacted by Hrestol's Joy, and that applies to a significant portion of Loskalmi even after Halwal helped overcome the God Learner dynasty. Maybe it is just me thinking in two languages at a time, but calling a dualist theology strict monotheism sounds fairly paradoxical to me. "Spirit Screen" or "Banish Spirit(s)" for starters. Something to counteract spirits. Never mind that Siglat is a demigod with divine ancestry and essence. Do you really think that Siglat or his followers fought in the nude, without any magical protection? We know from the city descriptions in the Guide that there were both weird Hsunchen and Orlanthi trapped in Loskalm after the Ban fell. Those opponents in the frieze appear to be Orlanthi. The description also says that this is an artistic convention rather than the actual equipment. If it was, what business does Meriatan have wearing all that shiny armor, and bringing his sorcerer companion to the meeting with Congern and his wife? The Loskalmi victory certainly was supported by virtue of having the better armament. Hrestol had his revelation through the experience of Joy. Afterwards, he became the first Man-of-all, and after leading a force to a victory against the Pendali as a fighting commander, others like Faralz took up this way. Arkat learned sorcery as part of his becoming a Man-of-All in Seshnela. It was this sorcery that was inherited by the uz, not that of any zzaburi companions of his. Never mind modern Loskalm. Let's look at the Men-of-All before the unholy rise of the Rokari school with its perversion of the original caste system, turning the entire talar caste into mounted warriors without first qualifying as men-of-all. Experiencing Joy is what being a Hrestoli Malkioni is about - that is what set them apart from the Brithini. All the Makanist Hrestoli of the Middle Sea Empire were encouraged by seeking Joy rather than being promised mere Solace. The Irensavalist dualism is a splinter group of Hrestolism that gained great purchase when Halwal (a Makanist Hrestoli wizard) supported them against the God Learners. There is no evidence whatsoever that Talor was an Irensavalist, only conjecture. Prince Hrestol himself surely was not an Irensavalist. So basically the New Idealist Hrestoli Men-of-all are a form of illuminates, from whose ranks some rise to the rank of wizard? Note that the experience of Joy is open to the Dromal caste of Siglat's Loskalm, too, and doesn't result in elevation to the Horal or Man-of-All caste. Your reduction of Hrestolism to just what Siglat and Gaiseron created from Halwal's inheritance in Fronela may work for Loskalm and parts of Junora. It doesn't work for southern Seshnela, Umathela (where Makanist Hrestolism underwent changes after the Cult of Silence), Safelster, or Maniria. Understanding non-Irensavalist Hrestolism should come before postulating stuff about offshoots, whether in Loskalm or the East Isles. There is even a chance that RuneQuest Sight tied into Joy, too. Rokarism denies Joy of Heart, Ascended Masters, Men-of-all, and various other fairly ubiquitious Hrestoli notions which are found in all other sects except the Rokari. Even the Aeolians may be descended from Hrestolism, or adopted it along with (bits of) the Abiding Book. The magic of Malkionism is called the Materialist or the Humanist world view. Making the entirety of Loskalm a sect of mystics somehow leads this description ad absurdum. Malkioni magic is about the mastery over the material world, not of liberation from it. Not even Irensavalist wizards should be created that way.

Orlanthi families don't work like core families, anyway. It is quite common for children of career parents to be raised by uncles or aunts, together with a whole bunch of first cousins or even young uncles and aunts. If your father is a herder, odds are that he was away for all the summers of your childhood, and that your male role model was that uncle or cousin working at the stead. I am a bit puzzled why "ancestral pride" is limited to direct ancestors, but it probably saves explaining Orlanthi family structures until far later in the learning process about them.

Another thought on parrying a blow with two blades instead of one - what AP rating will be used in a parry with crossed blades (or bo sticks, or whatever)?

YGWV - your Glorantha will vary. I expect the upcoming cults book to provide all the cult restrictions etc, so then you may decide how to deal with spells that shouldn't have been available to your characters. In case of doubt, the spell knowledge could always have come from Spell Trading, or from a special blessing by the deity. Play your game with the resources at hand. Your game doesn't have to be canonical. If you think that an idea of yours might cause trouble later on, just ask folk with access to more material. Providing useful answers to concrete questions might cut down on snarks and ill-tempered replies.