Joerg

I fail to see how Hungry Plateau or Kostaddic spirits generate fodder for the herds or prevent still-born calves, but then the sable antelope is able to survive on dead plant matter for quite a while, giving it an advantage over e.g. the bison or high llama herds. Not so much the Impala herds, which graze on brown grass (i.e. dead or hibernating vegetation), too, but their riders may be more stricken by the cold. I have a hard time imagining that the horticulturalist oasis dwellers would be able to grow or harvest anything during the Windstop other than root crops that were close to harvesting, or stuff like onions which were supposed to multiply through growth but now rest inactive in the gardens. Given the more or less constant nomad occupation, the oasis dwellers most likely don't store any seed grain (pulses, whatever) but have elaborately "sloppy harvesting" methods to plant their seeds already during the harvest, to prevent the nomads from taking the seeds, too.

While Eiritha is the herd goddess for the Beast Riders, herself and her magic place predate the Covenant, and the Other Side will be something like a piece of Genert's Garden. That means the period to which you exit decides what you find there. The Eiritha Hills were raised when Death Stalked the Land, so that's some time in Storm or Dark Age. The lands still were plentiful. I wonder how much Eiritha's support to the Storm Bull recovering from the Devil's near death blow would have reduced those Other Side options. Did she use up the Green and Golden Age potential? IMO the devastation of Prax is different from the one around the Krjalki Bog. The fertility of the land in the Wastes was taken by the Chaos invaders, although Genert managed to prevent the worst by allowing himself to be eaten by Hyena(s). The Chaos horde ravaged the lands afterwards. In case of Prax, the magic of the land was freely given by Eiritha to the Bull. The Dead Place gave up all of its magic, but I think the lands around it were affected in the way that made the Covenant of Waha a necessity. Expanding that magic to the Wastes took time and effort, and the retrieved Hidden Greens still are much less sustainable than the holy land of Prax. Going to the Green Age for farming is something that Opili Wallmaker of Old Pavis may have instituted during the lull of Praxian activity following the Dragonkill. However, given that his name appears to be of Horse Folk origin (the Pentan cattle breeding tribe Derik stole his magical bull from bore the same name), I don't think that he was of pure Oasis Folk origin. Possibly the result of intermarriage with those, though. Anyway, there is a good chance that all the healers present at Horn Gate are somehow descended from Genert's folk. Ezel, Estali and even distant Old Seshnela all were part of Genert's kingdom, if not necessarily of his garden, so everybody with Genertelan ancestry should qualify. Agimori might be acceptable through acknowledging the Covenant and their direct descent from Pamalt (through making rather than blood ties, however). Eastern-descended healers might have a harder time, but with the temporary success of the Teshnan settlements in the Grantlands region even that may have been rationalized in. (Even more so if Peter was right with his Goddess Switch theory making Eest the land with the divorce rate.) Through this Genert and/or Ernalda connection, hardly anyone would be entirely unsuitable for entering the underground. Judging from Yanioth's behavior in the Runes excerpt of the RQG rules, the deeper parts of the Paps are sacred to Ernalda rather than Eiritha. There is another possibility that obviates food: Those who enter below the Eiritha Hills could be subject to the same "She is not dead, just sleeping" stasis that Eiritha and Ernalda went through in the Greater Darkness. That's what Tada raised them for. Attaining that Stasis might be automatic, or there might be a ritual or quest required. If Lunar magics were effective against the Windstop for the Lunar Sable phratries, why were both Colymar (with their Lunar King) and Wulfsland hit by the consequences? IMO it takes the Glowline to neutralize the Windstop, taking the lands enveloped by it into another reality. Can the very localized tides of Moonbroth really do that much? Even the Temple construction site was experiencing the full effect of the Windstop, wasn't it?

Don't you start with the suicide squads....

Actually, Glorantha has been on the brink of permanent destruction, and re-emerged as this post-apocalyptic and initially hopeful world, only to find itself drawn into way too hopeful new schemes that led to something approaching a repeat of that annihilation. Most recently in the Dragon Pass area, there has been an almost year long return to conditions like they were shortly before the almost-destruction of the entire world, and then the cause for this was eliminated by a dragon rising, something about as fearful again. The empire behind that magic still exists, and its minions are just behind that ridge running through the wide gap between the impassable mountain chains that is Dragon Pass. This conflict has just started, and yet already up to a quarter of the people in this place have succumbed to catastrophic events. And everybody is certain that there are more to come, and eager to make them happen elsewhere. There is a near certainty that your loved ones will perish in droves in the troubles to come. There is a slight chance that you may be able to save a few of them through acts of extraordinary heroism. The cataclysm has started, and the first two rounds - windstop and dragonrise - were only a weak beginning. This is how I would frame Glorantha for friends of the Dark Fantasy genre. Yes, there is some hope for Glorantha, about as much as there is for Norse Midgard for the time after Ragnarök. But even this rather meager promise takes all out of your characters. The outcome may be a lot worse.

Assume 23:59 Nome local time, and you won't be disappointed.

There is also sufficient "dark" stuff in Glorantha that makes adding Cthulhu sort of "yawn, another of those Chaos enemies". Pulling in Great Old Ones is the equivalent to breaking the Cosmic Compromise, but when you do so, the immediate divine presence of deities like Orlanth, Yelm or the Black Eater isn't much better than exposure to the GOOs. Chaos demons like the Crimson Bat or Cwim are almost the equivalent of Great Old Ones, and certainly on par with Mythos entities like Father Dagon. The Dark Young of Shub Niggurath wouldn't raise much of an eyebrow in the Pamaltelan Veldt, and Starspawn of Cthulhu are just an upgrade of Walktapi. Travel between planets could be changed to travel to various other- or underworlds.

I would say try the Quickstart scenario, and see whether and how much your players are willing to buy into this cultists etc. thing. There are decades of history, which is a good thing if you find yourself and your group willing to dig into it. But it is fine to take only as much as you and your group feel you can digest comfortably and go wild with that. After all, the old world is ending (this was the slogan of the Hero Wars rpg), and the recent events means that you are rising from the ruins of the first waves of disaster to avoid and/or inflict the next waves. It is possible to go to the density of "The Coming Storm" in background and character description, and even with RQG you could use that HQ supplement as a rules-free booklet of cameos and NPC backgrounds, which you would have to stat or improvise when using them in your games. It is possible to play with much less information, walking from place to place, or just joining some patron who provides places to go and foes to overcome or allies to convince (by doing stuff for them). Use this forum as sounding board. If you have a vague idea you want to check out, lots of people will be willing to add their ideas or impressions on a place or major NPC. And there are going to be more scenarios in upcoming publications.

I think of it is a deliberate heroic act, rather than a natural cultural drift. That is, a small organised group, possibly including Alakoring himself or his close associates, deliberately spread knowledge of the cult, rites and heroquests, into Kerofinela, with the assistance of traditionalist forces, and with a deliberate agenda of political opposition to the priest led EWF. Once established, it spread readily, because it was highly effective at exactly the political goals it was designed to achieve. I might agree with that if reforming Orlanthi kingship rites had been on the top of Alakoring's agenda, but I think that his primary goal was to crush the stranglehold of the EWF on the cult of Orlanth and the Orlanthi. It is Alakoring Dragonbreaker, not Alakoring Kingmaker. I think the same goes for his companions - they would be dragonslayers first, and missionaries a distant third. Alakoring died in 940, leaving a whole century of draconic speakers in power in Kerofinela, with little chance for his Rex subcult of Orlanth to gain traction anywhere in the draconic lands. Afterwards, the Sairdites spearheaded the conquest of the remnants of the EWF from the north, with the Old Day Traditionalist in southwestern Peloria coming as conquerors rather than liberators, too. The former "oppressors", the dragonspeakers, had been kin of the folk left behind. The newly arrived traditionalists may have been Orlanthi, but not kin, and these folk didn't need to be taught to be who they were, thank you very much, now leave. I don't see the Alakoring converts who had been liberated from non-kinfolk dragonspeakers as proselytizers, either - first and foremost, these folk would have liked to get even, just like all the other folk participating in the True Golden Horde, and get some of the tribute back. If you had to list the most important dragonslayers fighting the EWF: Survilstar ("Sir Vilistur") of Carmania, who proved that it was possible for mere human heroes to slay dragons Karvanyar, who slew the Golden Dragon Emperor of Dara Happa Alakoring, who drove the EWF out of western Ralios and Peloria In the south, the EWF and the traditionalist Orlanthi of Heortland cooperated to overthrow the Clanking City. While there weren't any draconic participants in the ten year siege, the Aramite Living Hero drew on Third Council magical support for his heroic status. But then Alakoring may have been diametrically opposed to the means that made Renvald Meldekbane a Living Hero, because that kind of support was more or less identical to the infrastructure built by the Third Council outside of its core lands. If Renvald hadn't fallen to dwarf treachery, he might have faced off with Alakoring defending his southern kin.

I hope that the pdf of the rules will have the option to view single pages. For electronic readers, a single column option would be even better...

Sort of... but that really plays into my perception that the Heortlings did not suffer that many deaths from the Dragonkill. History of the Heortling Peoples tells clearly that the Hendriki king of the Adjusted Lands sent forces to fight the advancing True Golden Horde, and elsewhere the Only Old One is named to have sent forces - i.e. trolls, trollkin and/or Kitori, to aid the dragonewts. IMO the dragons converged on Dragon Pass after these forces had been defeated and all but annihilated by the True Golden Horde. They had been true to their ancient alliance, but still failed to contain the fury of the Pelorians. It is quite likely that the Manirian Heortlings had ancestors in this force. And they would have a tale to tell. But none of destruction by the dragons.

Yes and no - the Sh'harkazeel myth also gives Orlanth the name Master of the Dragon Power. Heortling Mythology has a few versions of this myth. Alakoring being from Ralios and having no special connection to Kero Fin might have used yet another myth. Besides Sh'hakarzeel and Aroka, there is also Blackorm of Conquest Mountain (now Cragspider's home) and Femman (whose myth I cannot find) just for the Kerofinelan region. There may have been others for Ralios. One version makes Sh'harkazeel a dragon living in or near Kero Fin, the other version has him descending from the heavens, possibly identifying him with the dragon that followed Orlanth out of the Strangers Place and to the palace of the Stagnant Emperor. I seem to recall a version where the dragon was claiming Kero Fin as its mate, with Orlanth objecting on behalf of (though probably without asking) his mother. Alakoring's myth most likely was based on the Top of the World rather than Mt Kerofin, and there is a possibility that Ormsland may have some similar form of draconic fallout as the Kerospine Hills, since forgotten. Looking at the history of the fall of the EWF, there is hardly any chance for Alakoring's cult to make it across the Dragonspine, if at all. I would be interested when his Rex cult became so fully acknowledged among the Quivini - possibly under the influence of Arim's Kingdom? And if that is the case, what is going on in Heortland and rural Esrolia/Maniria? Maniria obviously has contact with Safelster, but that region hasn't been Orlanthi since the Autarchy. Alakoring wasn't the only dragonslayer that emerged against the EWF, the Carmanians found their own way, too - possibly inherited from the blue boatmen of the Poralistor with their Waertagi ancestry.

Usually this is associated with the grain goddesses or with the forests. Thunder Rebels with its myriad of subcults has several Esrola subcults for the various grains, and Urdraya, the wife of Orstan the Carpenter, as the Orlanthi goddess of the forests - a cognate or daughter of Aldrya. All of this is regarded more as color than as actual cults to join in current canon, but sort of still exist as names for incantations and myths. Seeing that combination, my first idea was Mee Vorala, goddess of dark plants aka mushrooms and molds. This isn''t an Orlanthi deity, though, but Minlister, the Orlanthi god of brewing and fermentation, is considered some kind of associate of her. Examples of the combination darkness and life/fertility are troll deities like Korasting and possibly Xiola Umbar. The combination is definitely unusual for an Orlanthi male, but might be less strange for some clans or tribes which have Argan Argar leanings, like the Torkani, or someone with Kitori/Only Old One leanings. On the other hand, this is an excellent combination for survival in bad times, whether as farmer or as gatherer. It will be hard to find a normal Orlanthi deity with more than one rune overlap.

Looks like I misremembered the sequence, but take a look at Arim's encounters after he crosses the Deathline - all the major creatures that are there in the lands of Kerofinela are included. KoS p.97res Also consider the Inhuman King as arbitrator to institute Kingship of Dragon Pass. Kero Fin was born when Larnste made a rest planting the Rockwood Mountains, conferring with the dragons. And her lands are the Dragon Pass. Orlanth sort of mucked it up when he slew Sh'har'karzeel (I hope I get the spelling and the apostrophs right). Orlanth was a dragonbreaker long before Alakoring, and the dragonfighting magics are manifold. The Vadrus way which first overcame Enkoshons is the way used in the Daga quests by both Orlanth and Barntar, involving a klanth and a bag of winds. The fight to prevent the cosmic dragon from taking away his mother was some other magic. I have no idea what way Alakoring used or found, possibly a third way. And as for non-Orlanthi Godtime dragonslayers, there is Waertag.

Fonritians use tattoos or scarification to embed runes into their skin. Westerners and Dara Happans don't appear to tattoo themselves with runes (or anything else) - it looks like they use jewelry instead (including piercings, at least for Pelorians), and embroidery on textiles. It is possible that use of runes might be restricted by Malkioni caste membership. Kralori might differ between provinces. At least some Hsunchen probably use tattoos like the Orlanthi, and the nomads (Praxians and Pentans) use tattoos, too. For Kralori and Vormaini, it is possible that they use calligraphy on paper rather than runes on their bodies. Or seal stamps. Less permanent solutions like paint or henna are possible, too.

Those passages in the Guide are as detailed and explicit as the Goddess Switch ever got. All names of goddesses have been speculations by participants in the debates on the digest and subsequent media, as far as I remember.

"Nothing more like dreams" is pretty ironic if you think about the power of the dragon dreams. The Iradgenderi (temporal aka illusionary reality, known in the East from the earliest era, and mustering in great strength under Avanapdur) lack a connection to the Ultimate. True Dragons have a direct link to it, and their dream manifestations draw upon that link while the dragons perform it. Because a transfer from the Ultimate is involved, this is a form of magic. Human dreams aren't well defined in Glorantha. I doubt that they are anything like the garbage-collection (from programming jargon) of the mind like they are in our world. They may be some interaction of the unconscious self with the Otherworld, occasionally drawing a bit of the conscious self along (which is when dreams receive meaning and become memorable). Maybe it is the Spirit World, maybe it is something else, maybe it is a short world (no idea how much this concept still is used in current canon) with rules of its own and no connection to the Ultimate (unlike the Spirit World). But the EWF demonstrated that human dreams, even of non-draconic speakers, could interact with the dragon dream. But then that dream was dissipated when the draconic speakers were removed from the Middle World (regardless whether it was simple assassination or utuma). A single human person's dream doesn't matter much if at all against the mighty dreams of a dragon. A uniformity of dreaming, possibly reinforced through the holy stories of Orlanth and Barntar as dragonslayers, might be an entirely different proposition. But then, a nightmare of dragonfire removing all traces of humans from Dragon Pass is a mighty dream meme to counter, too, even if the objective reality is that the dragonfire saved all those southern Heortlings and the Hendriki kingdom from the True Golden Horde (which would otherwise have plundered Nochet and probably Ezel, too).

Refreshing my memory on the God Learner activities in Esrolia, I noticed a slight inconsistency in the date of the Goddess Switch. This experiment is mentioned in the history of the rise of the God Learners and their experiments, and the date given there is 849. (Guide p.135, p.135 timeline) Later in the same text, the catastrophes are listed, beginning with the Goddess Switch. (p.136) The history of the Holy Country (p.236) names 849 as the year when the Switch causes great famine in Esrolia, and the history of Maniria (p.352) names 849 as the year when two lands in Slontos (one of these probably part of Esrolia) suffered both the catastrophes named on p.136. From these four mentions of the Switch, it appears that the catastrophic result occurred immediately when the spell/quest/ritual was completed, although the second effect with the 3-year divorce couldn't have been noticed within the same year the ritual was done. I used to have the impression that at first, the fertility and familial harmony of both lands remained unaffected, and that the catastrophe occurred several years or even decades later. Comparing to the Middle Sea Empire king list clearly marks 849 as the date when the spell was effected in the reign of Emperor Brailach, and this was only seven years after Slontos had conquered at least parts of Esrolia. The overall timeline of the Malkioneran activities, Middle Sea Empire p. 38, names 849 as the year of the proof of interchangeability and remains silent about any negative consequences. Now a famine in Esrolia outside of Slontan influence wouldn't be regarded as a negative outcome of the spell, but a famine in the lands conquered seven years earlier probably would have been regarded as a counter-proof. And like I said, the divorce rate, even if starting in 849, wouldn't have had the information of marriages lasting only three years on average within a single year of separations, and while possibly notable to an observer, wouldn't have been connected to the switch until later. Even if God Learner "evidence" was anecdotal rather than scientific in nature, this result could not have been observed before 852.

But Ingolf Dragonfriend still is an acknowledged Orlanthi hero (unlike other Third Council seats, though - nobody seems to remember (Isgang)Drang fondly). Alakoring Dragonbreaker taught the evil of consorting with dragons, but he himself never made it through Dragon Pass. His cult of Orlanth Rex somehow did, but possibly through contact with Ralios or Tarsh rather than prior to the Inhuman Occupation. History of the Heortling Peoples has a short window for northern east Dragon Pass under "evil foreign rule" (p.89, Baran's independent reign after Jaldon's invasion, which would have started around 1090). Judging from Baran's trades with Isidilian, it is likely that Isidilian's human survivors were the few free remnants of Baran's people after the Golden Horde had come over them, and that they had fled underground already when the dragons started killing the invaders. Would these benighted priests even know about such details? The priesthood of Kero Fin preaches the cooperation with dragonewts and dragonkind, to the extent that Arim's Kingdom (or any of its successors) and the dragonewt city across Dunstop never had any significant troubles. Bad King Urgrain probably pops up as a cautionary tale ten times more often than Orlanth Dragonfriend and Drolgard. There are other local bogeymen, like the Ghoul King, too. There is a pattern of what is taboo to the Orlanthi, and it usually can be summarized that so-and-so is chaotic: Rape, Kinstrife, Injustice, Undeath... Nobody ever accused dragons or dragonewts as chaotic. Dragonewts stood with the Heortlings in the Battle of Night and Day, and while they were enslaved by Palangio, so were the Heortlings. The insidious chaos of Gbaji, reborn in the Lunar Empire, is the main theme in the priestly rants of occupied Heortlings. Sorry, but this doesn't gel with the maxim that theism - especially the Orlanthi brand of it - gels with "be like your deity". With Orlanth slaying Sh'har'karzeel and Aroka, a firm and confident stance versus dragons is part of their divine identity. If Alakoring's kingship and dragonbreaking are the norm for tribes, again a confident or at least resolved stance vs. dragons is mandated. The cautionary tale is not to trust the dragons or their ways. It isn't to cower in abject fear. The Sun Domers of Prax mentioned by MOB (who unlike the Heortlings have a very good reason to be afraid of dragons, given their role in the Dragonkill and its repercussions even at home) act very like Orlanthi in their madness - they go into a rage which is directed against the nearest somewhat similar target. Not that it really matters... any bachelor newtling community will reform after half a generation, and quite likely even retain its lore and local culture as related to the near-bachelor tadpoles by the adults, if the newtling migration patterns resemble real world amphibian wanderings in any way. The memory of that location's survival conditions will only die out if two or three successive populations have been taken out of their reproductive cycle. I disagree heartily. Even Barntar, the Heortling Everyman, goes out on a dragonslaying quest to liberate the fertile rains from Daga. Facing a True Dragon means facing the impossible - it is a confrontation not dissimilar from the Eastern Liberation Bolt, or an occlusion result on a Riddle confrontation. I am fine with such a personal confrontation cementing an abject fear of dragons which needs to be overcome in a major way for future interactions with dragons, a flaw that gains a mastery or two that need to be bought down, or suffered for the rest of a person's existence. The impact will be lessened by distance, as the impossible merely becomes improbable with distance masking the true size of the event. I don't think that the WInd Temple mystics would necessarily have Alakoring's dragonbreaking powers. Other than Elmalandti, they seem to be really ancient, and possibly date from even before the God Learner arrival. (This doesn't keep them from being able to access Orlanth's victory over Sh'har'karzeel, however.) The entire malady of the Old Day Traditionalists plays out in southern Peloria, in the south (at least Kethaela) the traditionalists and the dragonspeakers carefully kept apart. The Kingdom of Night probably was happy to receive support from the dragonspeakers and later the Third Council against the God Learners, both in Kotor and against the Machine City. The Hendriki managed to sit on the edge of both empires in their forests maintaining their freedom. I am not quite clear whether or how much they cooperated with the Kitori, who also remained free of both empires, at least after the fall of Lylket. Esrolia, and in particular Nochet, appears to have been the home of Vistikos Left-eye and must have been instrumental in providing early dragonspeaker philosophy before it became an ecstatic experience. Later on, the God Learners influenced the knowledge temple(s?) of the city.

I had the impression that the dragonewt curse declared all humans as targets for active retaliation, possibly calling in a True Dragon (e.g. the Red Dragon). This, the dragonfire witnessed from afar, and the cross.ine and deathline, was sufficient to scare away any humans from either north or south for nearly 200 years, although Belintar and the Conquering Daughter created enough motivation for Colymar and Arim to test the curse, and to find it no longer active. THe reason for this may have been the immigration of the survivors of Alavan Argay about 70 years earlier and their adoption by Ironhoof, setting another precedent to sidestep the curse. (The Tusk Riders declaring themselves as no longer human, the Kitori proving that by crossing in troll shape only, o the slaves of the Dwarf of Dwarf Mine who had retreated underground are other such cases, as is Delecti electing to stay as an undead and turning the lakes into the Upland Marsh. Whateve the curse or threat of those two lines may have been, it remained broken after Colymar and Arim crossed the lines..Kero FIn welcomed back her human worshippers. That assumes the dragon cares, and is willing to have that entanglement with the world. Yes, of course a True Dragon the size of a mountain range flying overhead is sufficient to cause a primal existential fear, even if that event doesn't cause any damage to anyone not participating in the dedication of the Reaching Moon temple. I still stand by my observation that the dragons and dragonewts have avoided harming the desendants of Kero Fin as a whole,. They will crack down on offenders and aggressors, and did block any return of those who failed to protect their nests against the Pelorian invaders, but I don't really see them responsible for slaying the remaining Orlanthi population in the Pass. There will have been collateral killings, like enslaved captives not yet carried off to Dara Happa or Carmania, but I repeat that the loss of home and lives was mainly due to the actions of the True Golden Horde even before the dragons arrived to protect the dragonewt nests. The Orlanthi cities had been plundered already in the earlier raid of 1042 according to the Kumardros entry in Fortunate Succession: The name Pagadash doesn't appear elsewhere in the Fortunate Succession, but is similar in sound and structure to some the names in the Karvanyar dynasty. If Pagadash was a ruler, possibly the king of Saird, otherwise possibly a non-ruler member of that Dara Happan lineage. The Hendriki history claims that Andrin the Conqueror had somehow conspired with dragonewts and trolls in the mass death of Draconic Thinkers, but I find that claim dubious. It is undoubtedly true that he took the opportunity to conquer the now leaderless tribes of eastern Kerofinela, and buoyed by that success and increase in manpower started the Adjustment Wars in Esrolia. Jaldon's invasion between 1080 and 1090 would have weakened the eastern Dragon Pass tribes and clans considerably already - compare how Jaldon's raid prior to Derik's retaliation destroyed entire clans of the Quivini. After this, Hendriki engagement in the region ceased, and the clans were left to their own leaders like Baran. Then the True Golden Horde assembled - according to Fortunate Succession only after 1110, when Dara Happa made piece with Carmania and Saird. And another Praxian force came from the east, probably including Jaldon again. Checking the Pavis history, Opili's long period of stability might be thanks to the Dragonkill disaster for the Praxians, leaving them little resources to fight the Pavisites. The Curse of Kin was the result of a mutual breach of the Compromise, calling Godtime into the Surface World, and making the Black Eater susceptible to Change. None of the quests were in any such moment. The dragonewt curse would have been much weaker than the direct interaction between Nysalor and the womb of the Dark Eater.

It was a very recent idea for me, too. But we only have the reports of the descendants of the non-draconic survivors of the EWF, and only those who did not get caught up in the genocide of the True Golden Horde. Was there a betrayal by the dragonewts? Or rather a rush to fulfill their promise before the next cataclysm? The end of human use of draconic magic in the EWF happened just a few years before the arrival of the Luatha in Seshnela. Carrying over an unfulfilled promise would have damaged the spiritual progression of more dragonewts than perished at the hands of the Golden Horde. The non-draconic thinkers wouldn't understand what went on, and that's how we got the history.

Yes, dragonewts (not dragons) and blue moon trolls are rumored to be instrumental in those deaths. But was it simple assassination, or was it a coordinated mass utuma (self-sacrifice to reach enlightenment) on those who stood a chance to join into the Great Dragon at this time? As those leaders passed on, so did the draconic energies that had altered the central lands of the EWF. From one day to another, things that required those draconic emanations stopped working as they used to. Architecture bereft of this magical support collapsed. Animal husbandry that had taken on too much draconic identity ailed, then died off. The wonder grains of the draconic dream withered and rotted away. Did all that energy just dissipate, or was it collected in a mass transformative act?

We're playing quite different styles of games, then. Ok, if a horde of orcs has ambushed my party, it is kill or be taken out, possibly immediately killed, possibly taken away for torture or slavery, or possibly taken for ransom. But more often than not, it will be my party ambushing the orcs in their home territory and environment, or chancing on a patrol or group of non-alerted orcs, making us the aggressors, and also the ones to decide on our objectives. Killing them first and then have the necromancer or medium interrogate them might work out in murder hobo settings. I have had games where the party volunteered to aid a triibe of orcs against nasty mounted elf invaders following a twisted cult, so I definitely disagree with your 1 in 10000 encounters statistic. They never became friends of those orcs, but they parted in mutual respect and distrust, and with a pointer to the lair of an ancient archmage of dubious allegiances. Not even Tolkien presented all orcs as impersonal victims, some of the more memorable characters in the Lord of the Rings include Ugluk and Grishnakh, the captors of Merry and Pippin, as well as a number of named adversaries of the dwarves in The Hobbit. If I want opponents that can be mowed down without thought of regret or quarter, I use automatons (like golems or skeletons) or zombies. Only if you frame the scenario and setting that way. There are ways to mislead a patrol rather than to slaughter it. There are ways to recruit the minions of the bosses. While it may be necessary to kill or otherwise incapacitate the current leader of such a group, by reading the social dynamics there is a good chance to bribe or coerce the surviving lieutenant into changing sides. Look at the second biggest employer of orcs in the Lord of the Rings: Saruman.

The Yelmalians of Zola Fel valley had a good reason to fear dragons - they got consumed by dragonfire rather than by the True Golden Horde. The Heortlings from the south went there for a lost hope rearguard to buy their non-combatants time, not really expecting to return. What the dragons did saved the refugees who had made it south of the Crossline before the advancing horde. Their main complaint might have been "why this late, and not 20 years ago in Saird, so we could have kept our homes?" It isn't entirely clear what and who killed the draconic leadership of the EWF overnight in 1042, 58 years before the horde began its systematic advance on the pass. Certainly no dragons, unless this was a collective utuma advancing all of the draconic minds to the next level of existence all at once. Maybe the Great Dragon project did succeed.

In that case, if one of the opponents didn't care for survival, the difficulty for the other one who has "kill the other guy and survive" has got to be higher. Do you? If my characters encounter an orc, they will want to - avoid being killed - avoid letting the orc alarm the rest of the dungeon - get a chance to get at the orc's knowledge about the dungeon - possibly hire the orc away from his dark overlord, like promising him lordship over the dungeon once they have cleared it of the overlord and the items they desire. Weapons and/or magi will be argumentation aids for the orc to take his opposition seriously, but other than that, everything is open. Killing that orc is only an objective when the reason for the visit is revenge or extermination.

First came the Dragonkill; later, the Dragonrise. I expect there was some element of "srsly? dudes, wtf? r u RLLY gonna PO dragonkind AGAIN? k, whatevs... we r DONE w this shit. FIAT FORMIDO. I'm out. Thanks for the snack, btw..." YGMV, but IMG the Brown Dragon has made it part of the universe that Fear of Dragons is just a common piece of human nature near DP & Tarsh. IMO it didn't take the Dragonrise to keep fear of dragons alive. The arrival of the Green Dragon north of Arrowmound was a momentous reminder, too, just after humans had begun re-settling Dragon Pass (and it may have stopped further immigration from neighboring regions). The Red and Black Dragons were known for their presence anyway. And in a purely rational way, awakening the brown dragon before the temple started to bore into its magic might have avoided a much worse eruption of draconic activity. Imagine a glowline powered by draconic energies... the universe might have folded. There are a couple of such events. The Flood/Deluge may not have been a single event, but the massive loss of formerly ideal living space to rising sea levels has left traumatic memories all over the world, whether it refers to the tsunami of Doggerland, the flooding of the Black Sea Basin or the estuary of Mesopotamia, or the Thera eruption in the Aegaean. Fallout years or even decades after huge volcanic eruptions with the subsequent mini-ice ages or the black death are other such deeply ingrained scenarios of cataclysms.