Joerg

Storm Season raids aren't out of season - if the frosts don't stop you, Storm Season is magically better suited for raids than Fire Season. It is Sea Season and Earth Season raiding that hurts your clan more than you can hurt your enemies. KoDP is less flexible than an Orlanthi clan in leaving ring positions empty before the Sacred Time rituals. There will always be people qualified to step in in the rites unless the clan has been hit beyond viability. In that case, desperate measures are normal anyway.

That number of hungry uz will leave a stretch of denuded land behind them, unless cooperation with locals (like the Duke of Naskorion) provides them with provisions - lots of them, not necessarily human-digestible. Another effect might be the end point of the journey. Read the formation of the Black Eater at the Battle of Night and Day (which then led to the Curse of Kin) from History of the Heortling Peoples: At this battle merely the uz of Dagori Inkarth, the Obsidian Palace and Halikiv were present. Maybe Yolp, too. However, if all the modern populations just of Ralios and the Elder Wilds alone unite, they will make up ten times or more the number that was present at the Battle of Night and Day. The long-term consequence is a difference to the trollkin curse. Possibly a new race, other than the Dark Trolls (who are stunted versions of the original breed, too).

My first contact was the Dragon Pass boardgame which gave a glimpse of a world of army-shattering magics. It took me some time to get the Glorantha vibe from the RuneQuest 3rd edition publications, but King of Sartar opened the way. Then came the RuneQuest Daily, and the addiction. Glorantha encourages me to take part in the world building, with a community of extremely well-informed people to discuss ideas and concepts. It allows deep research just as much as it allows to jump in and play many kinds of game - whether troubleshooters for your clan, high magic and heroquesting, deep cultural immersion or enjoying a parade of exotic foreign places.

Do you have an ETA for a pdf?

Do you include the weeders of the river marshes who practice some limited hunting along with fishing and gathering? There may be other minorities on the fringes of Pelorian urban society who practice hunting and gathering besides offering odd jobs and begging. Some might have quite respectable specialisations, like honey gathering from wild bees. All of these would register as "fifths" in the Dara Happan society, the downtrodden equivalent to stickpickers.

Earning my money with detection (of trace elements and polluting substances), I'll attest that you will only find what you are looking for. "Detect Enemy" is fundamentally different from "Detect Storm Worshiper" (which shouldn't exist in-game) or "Detect Ritual Foe" (which should exist, but depend on context of a ritual, or a warding for a sacred place). Bearing a grudge doesn't make one an enemy.

Not everything is bathwater in the Hero Wars books, but there is some to be found in the Stafford Library books (and in older manuscripts). Still, the Guide has been written in a mode of conservation of concepts. The Middle Sea Empire still has a lof of "church" and "congregation" going on. I wonder how the current view of Malkionism as philosophical schools rather than chain of veneration (powering officiating wizards magically) is - neither Western Culture nor the relevant regional descriptions say anything about attending "services" or other forms of mandatory readings and donation of magic. (BTW, I just downloaded my Gods War pdf package in the hope that the Middle Sea Empire pdf would be searchable. No such luck - a weird encoding seems to prevent any text search except for the cover and a few paragraphs - try searching for any of the emperors' names. Must be the curse of the God Learners.) Liturgists appear to be part of the bathwater, and the blessings from scripture as well. Weird subcult names as carriers of a heroquesting role still appear to be a thing, though. The Eleven Lights suggest quite a few of these. On the subject of unsuitable mounts - how much modification is deemed acceptable? Skeletal horses are available, and somewhat horse-like carnivorous heads might be found, too, e.g. in hydras. Horse armor might make up for lacking ferociousness in normal horses. Praxian mounts are harder to find. Boars are available as steeds, and the old (I think Ral Partha) hobgoblins have facial features suitable for Tusk Riders. Insect-riding pygmies (Wasp Nest) or trollkin are a real challenge.

True, sapient "monsters" that aren't draconic or beast-man related (manticores) don't get much press here. Giants, griffins, grotaron, gorgers, gargoyles etc. are mentioned elsewhere (and probably a few species not starting with a g, too). Having something like a culture appears to be a criterion, which seems to be the argument for excluding the timinits from population numbers. Others suffer from being rather off-focus, like the Andinni races. If you mean Scifi-like cultures the Stargate or Enterprise TNG/Voyager crews might upon landfall of an unknown planet, you're probably right. Some of the "humans with plastic" cultures attempt to paste archaic-seeming societies onto space-faring ones, like the Klingons, the Drasi, or the various-themed cultist Jaffa. I agree with Dan that real atheism is sort of contrary to the premise of Glorantha. The Brithini, Vadeli and a few others are non-worshipers, but acknowledge the presence of deities, and limited use thereof. Rationalism requires quite a bit of culture. Absence of culture can result in quasi-atheism, like the timinits of the Third Age. There might be some weak form of nihilism among some of the Andins. Areas returned to the Wild goddesses. There are none in Genert's Wastes despite a massive loss in human and otherwise population (neither Pentans nor most of the Praxians were present in the Wastes at the Dawn). Aldryami presence appears to be optional, although the Biturian Varosh stories makes them Children of the Forest (aka "lay initiates of Aldrya") in Cults of Prax when Morak is given over to his semi-bestial kin in the Redwood Forest of Prax/Dagori Inkarth. It might be a case of "domestication" of genii loci as tribal deities or spirits. Once the land has been attuned to agriculture or pastoralism, the wild aspect appears to retreat. The Kralori foxwomen etc. are found among the Hsunchen in the Shan Shan valleys, and not among rice paddies. Ducks are misfits in central Genertela. They lack the noble history of the keets (along with the ancient fault of the keets of irating Togaro), probably having forgotten it after stranding in Genertela. The Pithdarans (Agimori humans) of Seshnela are a bit similar - they too were stranded in a foreign place and gave up most of their old ways in exchange for local ones. I suppose that a keet sage could stir up the Manirian ducks just as much as Hunralki from Jolar does the Pithdarans. I'd rather play a magisaur if I wanted to have not quite a dragonewt in my game. Dragonewts are many things, but not at all newts. The main similarity between a newtling and a scout dragonewt are the RQ hit locations. Newtling slaves of dragonewts might be a way to play a nonhuman character with very weak draconewt magic, however most newtlings who choose to serve the dragonewts probably do so for almost their entire bachelor stage. Given the rather short remaining time of free will before turning into a rather single-minded adult, having only one-use dragonewt effects probably is not a problem.

Apart from the mounts, I would have thought that early riding plains indians restricted to native resources and a few Spanish imports would be a good match for non-pygmy human Praxians. (Most other Earth rider cultures have fairly good access to smithing, even if metal is somewhat hard to get.) That doesn't mean that I would go for feather ornaments for Praxians any more than for Orlanthi (who love them), but for bone harnesses, wampum chains as ceremonial armor, or similar. Head-dresses of bisons might be available. No early Arabians for the Lunar Empire? Or possibly Maccabeans? Suvarians as Achaemenid Persians? Murharzarm's muster has them on foot, wearing linen clothing, wicker shields, javelins and long knives - which I suppose could be gleaned from selecting certain Egyptian troops. From this we proceed to Peltasts from Darjiin and Sylila, which might be present in Seleucid forces. I wonder whether South and East Asian military might offer more useful miniatures for western or central Genertela, especially cavalry, but possibly also crossbow forces for Westerners. What about huns, visigoths etc. from the Catalaunian Plains? Too much chainmail in about half the minis, I guess, but might be re-purposed as furs with a bit of clever painting.

I am not a historical miniatures person, but: Ancient Persian or Kshatryan Indian cavalry might fit, or Macedon or Diadoch forces. Visigoths or Merovingian Franks could work, too. The Beast societies of the Rokari military offers an excuse for variety of equipment and styles much like in the armies that Alexander faced. For the Safelstrans, Orlanthi with loaned equipment from other cultures might be a theme, or a continuation of Seshnegi types. The Enerali-descended folk are likely to field cavalry. Mercenary troops prevail and may even have classical Greek style equipment - not necessarily only Yelmalians - or Hannibal's Carthaginians, Nubians and Hispanic mercenaries (minus the elephants). You might have Hsunchen mercenaries - Pralori stag riders, mixed human/lion Basmoli forces, Telmori neolithics accompanied by wolves. Naskorion has troll allies, and troll or trollkin mercenaries might be possible, too, although possibly even less welcome than human mercenaries. Bandits are likely marauding mercenaries without contract. Same as above, only dirtier and shabbier. If you can get medieval peasant militia with improvised farming tool weaponry, those can be mixed into bandit forces. If you are playing near the lake, marines deployed from galleys probably are a typical intervention force, too - possibly armed with weaponized oars (rower soldiers, linothorax). Go wild with your field signs. That's where the mercenary forces have their magicians for regiment-affecting magics, and the Seshnegi-style forces quite likely, too. Druids might be a good source for wizards in the field, if you can find ones with high head-gear. Inquisitors might work, too, if you can cut down the crosses or modify them to staves.

Seven kindred of Triolini, which is descendants of Triolina, Phargon and Mirintha. That means there is at least one kindred that hasn't been named anywhere, unless the niiads (the demigod merfolk of the deep) are meant. Zabdamar, dwerulan, sea trolls, sea elves all don't fit this criterion. The gilled Waertagi might, but they are little more than a bastard race. Personally I would be interested in exploring the chasms where the earth cube was split, That enormous vertical reef could have a weird mix of underground races exposed to the seas and merfolk, weakly illuminated by glowing lava or luminescent microbial lifeforms.

I'm still pondering the inherent contradiction of a horse-headed mace. The Alkothi with their underworld origin are fine equipped with maces, but why would a pure sky culture like the Grazers make a weapon of Darkness, and couple it with the head of their treasured sky-descended horse (which they have been breeding back to more celestial features for ages)? Who among the Grazers would wield a mace? They have a shamanic brotherhood around Golden Bow. Bow and lance are their weapons of choice. A purely ceremonial staff with a horse-headed knob on the end doesn't have to be a mace, or a weapon at all.

I wouldn't call timinits beast-men, they are Gloranthan species (rather than races) of their own. They don't have any human parts or the ability to look human, either. They may have been part of the nature (goddess) worship of Jrustela before their interaction with the humans, but that form of culture appears to have been lost. The Guide offers rather sparse information about the Timinits - a sidebar about Lucans and a half-a-page box naming the most common ones, a few mentions in the Second Age Gazetteer of Jrustela, and mention of timinit colonies brought to Kumanku and Umathela. The box on p.503 claims that the Timinits have no culture. The Jrustela book by Mongoose pictured the timinits as an integrated part of Jrusteli Malkionism, with significant minorities in Jrusteli cities. This is sort of corroborated by their occupation of God Learner ruins both in Jrustela and Kumanku. In Umathela, they appear to have served mainly as a self-sustaining force keeping the forests at bay. Timinit population numbers are absent from the Jrustela, and unknown for Kumanku. There is no mention of interaction between the Uz of Jruztela, their cult of Gorakiki, and the timinits. One might think that these insect-like folk would be of notice to the insectivorous trolls.

Apparently, a convention scenario written in 1993 saw a limited distribution at auctions: http://glorantha.temppeli.org/digest/gd7/2000.02/3127.html While this is an opportunity for MGF and silliness, it doesn't quite do justice to the Mostali in Gloranthan myth. The same is true for some of the human cultures as well. Do we really get into the Fonritian mindset, or the Dara Happan one? Orlanthi with their rebellious nature are probably easier, and still their clan structure is something we only begin to understand. Ian's Red Cow books are the first where the women's outsider origin has been tracked and used, for instance. And you probably better bet that there is (or used to be) a mechanism doing things. While I agree that non-defective clay mostali have no imagination, I think that True Mostali might be somewhat different in that regard. Mostali certainly have observed the minions of Grower, and came up with their own, improved copies of those. The mineral monsters in Anaxial's Roster are such creations. Isidilian's Cannon Cult and Alchemical Transformer are part of his Openhandist Individualist leanings. Isidilian is something like a counterpart of Leonardo the Scientist, able to eperiment and to utilize the unpredictable humans. Describing him as friendly might be missing the point. I am convinced that he masterminded the appearance of the dwarf army after the collapse of the Clanking City defenders through his agent. It may have been his influence that allowed the leak of mostali techniques and technologies to the Sartar dynasty. In all fairness, there are certain human philosophies which aren't that far removed from this world-view. None of them very pleasant or humane. Maoism, for instance, combining an already quite mechanical vision of Confucianism with Marxism and other de-humanizing tendencies in 19th and 20th century philosophy. "Intellectual national socialism", worship of Ayn Rand, various doomsday sectarian stuff (apparently including some of the current people in the White House). And basically any movement that puts dogma over the individual. Facio, ergo sum - I work, therefore I am. There is no outside in Glorantha, all (except blatant Chaos) is part of the World Machine. There are out-of-control minions of Grower, one of the first features of the World Machine producing uncontrollable chain reactions. Are there non-heretical mostali at all? I am convinced that even the most orthodox diamond mostali is painfully over-aware of its shortcomings. Some embrace these shortcomings, joining one of the popular heresies like Individualism and Openhandism, while others self-censor rigidly and attempt to be more of a good little gear in the machine than is demanded from them in order to function properly. True Mostal probably carry a lot less of this self-defeating distrust in their own rightness. Hasta la Vista, mortals...

There are hardly any. The Rascullu of Pamaltela appear to be a God Learner creation of the Six-Legged empire, and probably have no mythical precursor. They are now honorary Fiwan (Hsunchen). Delecti might have been behind this, or a student of his. I don't know any other Beastmen in Pamaltela, and none in either Jrustela or the East Isles. Vormain might and Kralorela certainly has Fox Women, and probably other such entities there.

My initial thought upon reading "Weapon of Ghani" was whether this could be a mis-scan of Gbaji. Kana Poor is of course notorious from his appearance in ILH2-Under the Red Moon, where he is named one of the 12 apostles of the Red Moon alongside the Seven Mothers (minus She-Who-Waits), Etyries and Valare Addi, and controversial names like Fjordaur and Oskrascota. On p.80f of ILH2 Kana Poor's story is told. The inclusion of his name in this document makes me assume that that information still is at least somewhat canonical.

My photonic pulse idea was tailored for discrete satellites and target areas angled to the beam in order to generate the best resulting vector. Even a ring just spanning Mars would have to be made of Unobtainium at the moment. That's part of the reason why Larry Niven's Ringworld had to use an Unobtainium named Scrith. However, once it was in the story, Niven made good use of its properties. Stabilizing a ring that is starting to swing out of sync is anything but trivial and probably requires huge arrays of attitude jets. For a less advanced material technology, I would go for discrete satellites. Basically your shelf in orbit, ready to act as zero G transshipping point, maintenance yard, production facility tether etc? While such ginormous ring structures sure look impressive, I wonder whether separate modules linked by a railgun-and-capture shuttle system would be easier to maintain. I would mirror all energy in, either directly via focal mirror arrays, or pre-processed as coherent light optimized for my receptors from a tailing or leading platform, beamed at an angle that avoids intersection with the planetary surface (and preferably at wavelengths that would be absorbed, dissipated (fluorescence) or reflected by the planetary atmosphere if off their aim). Any major space installation can be made into a planet-harming missile with sufficient malice, but so can any piece of debris aimed at a planet or installation. Developed planets will still have them, but will provide protocols and failsafes that avoid major ecocide and impact damage. I didn't think about this before - how would you orient this artificial magnetic field? My initial idea was to create a magnetical torus around the planetary equator, with evenly spread satellites contributing to the shape. Does it matter whether you have a magnetic pole through the planet or a torus around it?

I posted my speculations on why the Ludoch are restricted to the regions mentioned by Dave and Harald over in the Deep Discussion thread. Basically, they had to immigrate after Sky River Titan/Engizi/Lorion led the rivers to join Magasta filling the Void left by the implosion of the Spike, since there were no seas left between Genert's Wastes, Seshnela and Pamaltela west of Kimos. Same for the Malasp and the deeper Piscoi, whereas the Ouori were lucky that the Neliomi west of Genertela didn't freeze over completely. Ludoch and Malasp probably were among the army of Magasta when the Void in the middle of the world was contained. On the Genertelan shores, at the Dawn 300 are reported living in Deeper, on the exit of Choralinthor Bay - I expect as many again in the neighborhood of Erenplose, and maybe some near Threestep. They ally with the Waertagi (who established dry docks in Nochet and Sog's Ruins some time after Worcha's Rage, probably after Faralinthor's demise) and accept subservient alliance of coastal humans ("Diroti"). They don't seem to trouble the God Learners of Slontos and God Forgot (but may have been troubled by them - see frex the Iron Fort in the Rightarm Isles), or the Wolf Pirates, and they are friendly to the Dormal cult. @scott-martin I don't know when the concept was discovered, but the Seven Great Kindred of the Triolini and the different Mer-Tribes appear to have been around at the time of Charlie Krank's take on the Neleomi Sea and the Wartain mertribe. Never having seen a single Aquaman comic, I cannot say whether that branch of DC Comics had any influence on the hobby. I know that my own deep sea fancies included pinniped creatures and propellered ones very early on in the seventies, and at least the pinniped stories still are around for an entirely non-Gloranthan project of mine. Bad creatures from the waters abound in European mythology. Take for instance Grendel, the Neckr, and various stuff that made the transitions into Monster Manuals. Mermaids are a disneyfied version of Selkies, courtesy of Hans Christian Andersen.

Noticing that I'm drifting into deep theories, here's a carry-over from the Merfolk thread: Among the Triolini, I agree with that assessment. The Zabdamar females are sorcery- and theism-users, much like the humans on the coasts of the Kahar Sea, while the males are powerful shamans. I have seen speculations (in preparation for a never-to-be "Drastic: Sea") that there are 10 tritons (rare male-only sea deities, sons of Mirintha and Phargon), seven of which are the ancestors of the Seven Great Kindred of Triolini (five of which are known to us, a sixth of orca-like Cetoi has been mentioned to me as lost in Tanian's Victory), and three each as the patron of the three magical approaches. Waertag may be a (re-) incarnation of the sorcerer triton, according to that speculation. For some reason, river and coastal fisherman cultures don't figure prominently in most of Glorantha's big epics. Lorion/Engizi, Oslir, Janube, Poralistor, Zola Fel, the Chaos-purifiers Syphon and Sounders River, Black Eel River - these are the only rivers with myths, and their river folk don't get much attention except for the Troubles Waters campaign in River of Cradles and a cameo appearance of the Nogatendings in a heroquest. The humans with Ludoch allies are Pelaskites, presumably leftover Helering fisherfolk among the Manirian and Wenelian Isles, possibly the Sofali of Fethlon and Errinoru, plenty East Islanders and Masloi folk in the Marthino Sea. One might claim that it was this very alliance that kapt Heler and his tribe is a bit of a problem. They start as cloud people in southwestern Glorantha, coming into conflict with the Vadeli of Oabil and the Brithini of Zerendel, then moving into Maniria, where they prepare to face Orlanth and the Storm Tribe, only to find that battle canceled and themselves becoming the third Great Tribe next to the Durevings of Ernaldela and the Vingkotlings of greater Kerofinela. Somehow they disperse into general Orlanthi culture, just like the Durevings do. Maniria outside of Kethaela gets hit badly by the Flood and the mountains-drowning sea to the west of Kethaela and Kerofinela. Coastal folk of Kethaela see their coasts become the battlefield between the thwarted sea invaders and the Vingkotling defenders. The Ludoch (if already present) would have been pressed into the forces of the seas. After the Worcha gambit fails, the seas retreat, leaving only Faralinthor with an ever-shrinking perimeter. Ultimately, the sea gets destroyed by Vadrus, and only its earth-born son in hiding Choralinthor manages to survive. This doesn't bode well for any Storm Age merfolk presence in the region, unless they managed to find refuge with the Vingkotling-ruled coastal folks of Dureving and Helering descent. The tides turn when Engizi and his brothers revive Choralinthor and Solkathi, and Magasta creates the Homeward Ocean. Sshorg, Sevasbos and Neliomi are the only seas present in the Inner World when the Spike implodes. Looking at the Ludoch distribution, I would expect them to hang out with Sshorg. Waertagi contact with Ludoch would suggest a western presence at least prior to Worcha's defeat, but nothing of that is recognizable in the Neliomi. The Darkness and the Grey Age is a great period for the merfolk - they get to feast on the detritus of the dryland wars, and to multiply into the outer edges of the Homeward Ocean, probably the biggest piece of Inner World Glorantha remaining intact during the Chaos Age. (Sramak's River doesn't appear to fracture, either, and would be the biggest piece. Heortling Mythology p.108 shows the true devastation of the Greater Darkness, much worse than the God Learner Mythical Maps ever hint at, and has the "Oerian Sea" "where there once were elves", i.e. the former foothills of the Spike.) Magasta's call to the rivers ties the universe together long enough to leave something to bind in Arachne Solara's web. Ludoch and Malasp arrive in the waters of the Homeward Sea. Ludoch are present at Deeper after Choralinthor awakens again, and they are likely present when Erenplose sinks, forming a second nucleus for survival there. For almost two centuries they rule the Manirian coasts uncontested by humans, and quickly make their offer of a tributary alliance to the two centers of the Pelaskites in the Rightarms and Karse (the Pelaskites paying the tribute, in addition to the Kitori tribute they pay to Ezkankekko's Kingdom of Night). The Pelaskites profit from the alliance, and quickly spread all around the Mirrorsea Bay and into the river estuaries in the Dawn Age. Little is known about the Dawn Age in coastal Maniria prior to the arrival of Palangio. The Waertagi are in league with the Ludoch, and probably help them establish tribute on the Manirian coasts. Pay the Ludoch tribute or get raided by the Waertag when they show up (or buy the Waertagi off with metals you would use yourself, rather than that weird sea-metal coveted by the Ludochi. At some point, the Waertagi pick up a huge load of Olodo ancestors and drop them off at Jrustela. The Malasp presence there probably keeps them inland, but on the rivers. Coastal fisherfolk may have remained, or may have newly settled as other tribes migrated westwards into Slontos. Elsewhere I speculated about Sofali-descended Diroti in eastern Nolos or around Korst and Alatan. Other Tarinwood/Pralorelan Hsunchen may lead a fisherfolk lifestyle, too. If so, they aren't listed as surviving Hsunchen in the Third Age, but we know that especially in Ralios lots of Hsunchen groups grew extinct (as Hsunchen) after contact with the Theyalans. In Tanisor the Seshnegi may have been a factor, too. How much do the Ludoch frequent river estuaries? Would they be found at Old Karse, Jansholm, Vizel or Rhigos? Handra? What is their relation to the river deities? Lorion is a sibling of Togaro,whose child Sshorg presumably was caretaker of the Ludoch and other merfolk in the Darkness. Engizi may be a son or aspect of Lorion, and so are his brothers (Creek and Stream), unlike the rest of the rivers in the region which are branches (children and grandchildren) of Sshorg. In the Imperial Age, the God Learners ruled Slontos. The Waertagi were defeated, but this didn't alter the Ludoch presence there, or in the Mirrorsea Bay where the Slontoli invaded Heortland in a naval and overland operation after annexing the Ingareens. History of the Heortling Peoples doesn't say anything about Ludoch obstruction, but the Iron Fort above Deeper may have been a factor in this. In the Machine Wars, the Ludoch played no role to be sung about. Neither did the Esvulari or the Pelaskites of Heortland and God Forgot - most will have fled before the ecological warfare devastating their homelands, probably bolstering the Nochet population. Over here in Europe, fishing communities managed to remain apart from adjacent urban communities for a millennium and more. Given the Foreigner Laws of Aventus, we know that the Pelaskites were recognized as a distinct ethnicity in Heortland about a millennium before the Hero Wars. Fisherfolk tend to settle apart from farming communities, although fisherfolk villages will admit a few farmers to supplement their diet with field crops and herds. Those blood-lines will remain isolated from the rest, though, and vice versa in places where the fisherfolk form a (however sizeable) minority. The Diroti islands of Nochet probably are the largest urban community of the Pelaskites, outnumbering the inhabitants of Seapolis, or the fisherfolk quarters of Karse. We know that Ludoch approach Nochet and swim through the air of the Harbor Market (thanks to the Fish Road). (A pity that the Harbor Market scene of Nochet on p.258 doesn't show a floating Ludoch... having a troll merchant of Argan Argar there is ok, but a Ludoch would have been special.) While I agree that the Pelaskites outside of the Rightarm Isles probably have taken on many of the Heortling Adjustments, they still remain apart in their relationship to the Ludoch, their worship of sea deities, both those remaining in the farmer equivalent of fishermen and those providing crews, captains and shipyard folk to the merchant houses of the Esrolian and Heortland coastal cities. For comparison, look at the fisherfolk bloodline in the Red Cow clan - these folks have managed to keep their fisherman identity and even skin coloration through all the marriages with neighboring clans, which makes me assume that there will be similar river-worshiping fisherfolk bloodlines in those other clans. Maybe some shepherder lines dedicated to Heler in his cloud aspect thrown into the mix.

Something like "use baseline profile average Heortling Thane with following exceptional stats: ..." and possibly a rune passion profile (giving roleplaying hints for the NPC to the narrator)? Such info could easily be fed into a character-sheet generator and produce full or short character profiles which could be DIY printed on cards or in a booklet, or be made available as an app.

So basically the magnetic field could be produced from photovoltaics rather than from hydrogen fusion, and since these satellites would be in an orbit, they could receive passive acceleration via a laser or mirror array somewhere in the L1 region or several arrays in areostationary orbit sending extra light to a receptor area (which could be its PV wings). The question is whether the satellites need power when going into the shadow behind Mars. If not, a single feeder array at L1 and some limited storage capacity would be sufficient.

The entire concept of the World Machine, of cogs and gears inside it, is one or two steps ahead of the Antikythera mechanism. It is what their "deity" Mostal is about, a distant ideal. The concepts of e.g. Crystal Spheres interlocking shows an imagination of apparati a few steps ahead of what artisans could produce. This means that the myths of artisans like e.g. Dian Cecht and Creidhe devising Nuada's silver arm, or Daedalos with his inventions, create such a mythical reality already back in our Iron Age, if not earlier. Since Glorantha is a place where myths define reality, such a presence is almost mandatory. I will yield to you that clockwork homunculi were the Unobtainium of 19th century writers of speculative fiction, like E.T.A. Hoffmann. The idea of clockwork-powered apparati matters only to people who have regular contact with clockwork devices, which in Glorantha is restricted to the mostali. Non-mostali Gloranthans will marvel at metallic creatures, and strange interior details will be part of that marvel. But then fireworks and black powder weaponry are at least as far distant from Bronze Age technology.

p.9 – In Medias Res – accusative plural female of “medius, a, um” since “res” is accusative plural, and female, meaning “into the middle things”. “In Media Re” (ablative singular) would be “in(side) the middle thing”, indicating a fixed location and not a direction. (Direct translation of the phrase “into the middle of things” would result in “In Medium Rerum” and “in(side) the middle of things” would be “In Medio Rerum”, with Medium a neutral noun rather than a flexed adjective, but that’s not a phrase used by the Romans and their successors.) I did learn during fact checking that this method was identified by Horatius Flaccus and describes the start of Homer's Ilias.

Tin mostali create magically animated stone and metal entities, while brass mostali may create clockwork creatures whose power may still result from magically overcharging the pendulum or spring. Hybrids of clockwork and magically animated creatures probably save resources and converge production capabilities to better efficiency. The text didn't suggest that jolanti are made from either metal or clockwork, btw. Clockwork-powered tools or prostheses would be useful, too, and could be powered in the downtime work periods without any loss in efficiency. I am all for high-strung dwarves or at least their applications waiting to release their stored force.

Which is why my last sentence suggested to use the peak power of solar events to create an artificial magnetic field in the L1 area, which is interposed between the source of the flare and its target, and towards the planet. You'd need reflectors with photo-voltaic cells eliminating those wavelength that would harm the martian ecosphere, probably already ongoing under normal conditions, and ready to ramp it up as soon as the flare (which intensifies the intensity of such wavelengths) arrives.