Joerg

Those turtle galleys are a Jrusteli model, with a Greek Fire syphon as their main armament rather than guns. Iron Fort might have some wrecks from the arrival of the Closing.

Aram Ya Udram lived in the Silver Age until around 175 S.T. He rode his boar alongside that of Vathmai of the Entruli, the founder of the westernmost tribe of the Entruli (and both shared the bed of the Queen of Nochet, probably at the same time, too) before the Dawn. And he rode his boar alongside whatever steed was favored by Lalmor of the Vathmai, grandson or great-grandson of the founder, when he set forth to bring the Theyalan ways to the other Entruli early in the second century. Not stopping with the Queen of Nochet, Aram wooed and won the favor (and Necklace) of Kero Fin, and bearing this token of sovereignty he spoke for the humans on the Dawn Council, aka World Council of Friends. The God-pig Gouger was sent by an irate Ernalda when humans failed to give her the respect and worship she deserved. Several settlements ("cities") were destroyed by the God Beast before Aram tricked it and attacked it with a darkness demon he had overcome earlier. When did this happen? Ernalda returned to the world at the Dawn, following her (hitherto unseen) daughter Voria on the first day of Time, the only day in Time that saw all the gods walking the surface world. Prior to this event, the gods (and their magic) were trapped in the Underworld, and their agency was limited. Not completely, however - King Heort perished when he faced Orlanth's liberating bolt (although we have no information how that came to pass - for all we know Heort might have chosen this as the means for his self-immolation, King Sartar might have copied that idea). I sort of doubt that Ernalda had enough agency to send a god-pig while ascending the stairwell out of Hell in the grand procession of the gods attending the Ritual of the Web. So when was Gouger released? One option is that Gouger stepped into the Greater Darkness just before Ernalda met Nontraya. The world, or what was left of it, was already swarming with demons, and somehow the destruction left behind by Gouger would have amounted to little more than a footnote in the catalogue of disasters. So let's play through Gouger emerging in the Silver Age. That suggests that there was a magical tit-for-tat with Ernaldan fertility magic and grateful sacrifices by her followers going on, until some of them stopped these practices. And then several cities of worshipers of Ernalda were eradicated, when the entire population of Esrolia resided in Ezel (number unknown), Koravaka (countless dead) and Nochet (3000 at the Dawn, possibly fewer before). Aram and his elite boar-riding warriors chase the god-pig, Aram tricks it and makes it succumb to the Darkness Demon. The tusks are retrieved and built into the temple structure at the Ivory Plinth. This means about 900 folk in the Silver Age as casualties to Gouger when the entire ancestral community of Caladraland was 200, likewise the Harandings, and supposedly the Vathmai (unless they, like the Aramites, were part of the Nochet survival group emerging from the Obsidian Palace). Or we could posit that the "Dawn Survival Site" of the Aramites refers to a temple erected a few years into the Dawn, after Manirian pig totem Orlanthi cause trouble with the Earth Goddess, creating the Mournsea, and a runaway god-pig enters the lands of Esrolia and Kerofinela whose inhabitants were innocent of that crime. Someone (Mostali?) erects the base steps of the Ziggurat and tops them with the hollow teeth that are made into towers, carved from the inside. The Dawn Survival Site census reads like it was collected after the fact, possibly from taxation records of the Shadow Lords who maintained communication and trade between the sites, and the newly erected Plinth would have been mentioned as if it had been there two or three years earlier. Pig Hollow and Redeye may well have been a recursion of the Gouger incident, possibly aimed at the EWF. The Aramite hero at the time was Varankol the Mangler, apparently still a human at the start of his military career which saw him as one of the heroes of the Machine Wars (the leading EWF hero in the conflict, which failed to show any dragons in the struggle). My pet theory is that Varankol had his pig's tusks implanted after it was slain under him in battle, starting a trend which would soon lead to a dominant inheritable trait empowered by Remaker magics among the Aramites, granting tusks to the riders as well as the steeds.

Pity it isn't the Pavis Garden... On the outer estuary of a major river? Whatever could come to mind?

The original population numbers for Sartar were calculated by assigning 500 people to an arable wargame hex, and calling that number a clan. Subsequent refinement has led to a smaller number of clans with more members each, but the exact distribution remains unclear. There is a sketch map of all clans in Sartar, the Far Place and Hendrikiland on the Well of Daliath which could be matched to the hex grid to arrive at rough initial numbers which then could be tuned down for heavily forested or very rough terrain. Or you could wait for RQG editing, art commission and layout resources able to take on Jeff's Sartar Campaign (and gazetteer) WIP for which the writing has been done for quite a while now. Population numbers leave space for interpretation, e.g. whether they show the total population, the population above 5 years old (which is supposed to have a better than 50% chance at survival barring cataclysmic troubles), or just the productive adult population at home (not counting clan members away in military service or other long-time employment who might return at the drop of a coin, or led away as captives waiting to be ransomed or bought back or otherwise freed). Whatever your story arc needs. Back in the early 2000s, I was part of two groups of GMs exchanging campaign logs and background for the region they gamed (or wrote) in, the Whitewall Wiki and Yahoogroup and a less prominent Wilmskirk Yahoogroup. I know there are several people GMing and writing in/for the Far Place who might be up for such a form of collaboration and cross-pollination.

Accumulation of more land per household depends on the favor of the chief (and on the available amount of arable and potentially arable land, or land fit for pasture or cash crops) and the favor of the Earth Priestess(es) on clan level and ultimately in the great Earth temple(s) responsible for the lands claimed by the clan. A good part of the expenditures to develop a hide will be in recompensation of the work force. (Pasture is mainly hay-making land near the stead, with access to transhumant high pastures slightly less of an issue. Harvesting hay or equivalent winter fodder is a major activity for herder households, and will draw in grain farmers when their work load is at a lull. Grain harvest still has priority, but live-stock fodder is a major economic factor that decides on sustainable herd size.) The Colymar lineages tell a different tale for the various branches of Colymar's descendants. While some branches may dip into obscurity, these cousins will have an easier time to become associates of current leaders than stickpickers with less of a name among their ancestors. Ancestral fame is inheritable, as the RQG character creation demonstrates. Marriage politics support the ossification of nobility by creating matches where the offspring will inherit from both father and mother. This may be intra-tribal (like Beneva Chan marrying Kallai, merging the Colymar-descended royal bloodline of the Taralings with the Colymar-descended lineage of priestesses at Clearwine) or even cross tribal or confederation borders. This pattern can be found in the genetics of wealthy Bronze Age (Urnfield culture) farmers of the Lech Valley, too, with patrilocal males and brides being brought in (with wealth and status) from all over Germany, e.g. the Unetice culture. https://www.mpg.de/13979712/1009-wisy-052382-social-inequality-in-bronze-age-households True, but you still require the "Make it so!" from some person in authority to maintain community support. The principle of "Follow Chosen Leaders" allows you to make your fame with adventurous nobility as patron, or some temple leadership, or a successful mercenary leader. Rarely (possibly typically for adventurers), an individual leading a group of like-minded adventurers troubleshooters will obtain enough recognition in their own right to rise beyond tribal or confederation nobility (i.e. dependence on a patron) into becoming the equivalent of a Sea-King, a future ruler with the military and magical power and potential to take over a significant domain for themselves. At the height of their successes, Londra of Londros and her Temple of the Wooden Sword had such a status, and even in retirement she is relatively free of pressure from her Stormwalker associates. Her associate Alebard has inherited most of the disbanded temple's warriors and manages his domain (Alebard's Tower) as a Colymar tribal thane roughly equivalent to a clan leader in status, with special privileges though no greater role in tribal politics (unlike Asborn Thrice-Born who acts as a tribal thane with huge political influence). Robbed, sure. Murdered, only if you meddle with the Lunars (not that the Occupation gave you any choice in that) whose idea of Dart Competitions (aka state-sanctioned secret murder among oligarchs) goes counter to the weregeld culture of the Orlanthi. Stead-burnings are possible, creating huge amount of weregeld damages to the in-laws even if you manage to eradicate your target community. Most of the time you don't, resulting in unexpected reappearances of vengeful foes thwarting your greater schemes. Lokamayadon learned that last lesson. Assassination does exist in Orlanthi culture, both openly as in the Humakti Death Squad assault on Termertain and as deniable (and culturally chaotic) late escalation of conflicts. The House of Sartar used covert strikes against House Norinel and its associates in the wake of the death of Sarotar, giving rise to two of their rival houses before Hendira reclaimed the top position in Nochet.

Ironbreaker may have (had) a stronger Stabilize enchantment than other items. Adamantium is the ultimate material in Glorantha, but that material would have been mentioned in the Paulis narrative. Another explanation for the name could be "the Breaker made from Iron" rather than "the sword that breaks iron". There are three possible time frames for Mostali hostile or at least neutral to Nysalor's Bright Empire to have dealt with Arkat and his companions - Arkat's time in Seshnela, with dwarfs from Belskan providing the sword, his Telmori campaign in Ralios with Bad Deal and the Nidan dwarfs as the origin, or his decade of fighting in and around Kerofinela with possibly Isidilian or Martaler (or rather their followers) providing the item. Greatway seems to have remained loyal to the Bright Empire while it lasted without being targeted specifically like the Heortlings targeted Dara Happa.

The average Animal Nomad clan will stay within reach of an oasis only a few weeks every year, spending more time in slow migration across the chaparral. There will be watering holes without permanent habitation, possibly because they will be over-exploited and require some time to regenerate between visits. If you buy into the "Praxian herd beasts graze on spirit plants in addition to the physical plants of the chaparral" explanation, these spirit plants may regenerate at a slower rate, too.

WF15 was written without access to Greg Stafford's more detailed Sartar notes, which have since been returned to the Chaosium archives, and are treated preferentially. This has turned quite a bit of earlier output by e.g. Jeff into the same canonicity as fan-produced material on the Jonstown Compendium. Personally, I have always seen this data as guidelines. While it is pretty hard to justify the existence of another wealthy clan in an already cramped area, inserting another marginal clan in less-than-optimal conditions should always be possible, even in official material, although the usual way is to identify one of the existing names with an alternative name you have been using in your writing. One and the same clan may go down in the histories under four or five different names. Starfires, Woodpeckers, Orlmarth - all the same clan (except when possibly a Lismelder clan might be known as Starfires, too).

I read that as "less than 10%" rather than "an average of 10%". Whether a clan keeps unfree at all varies in Sartar. A lot of clans have Hendriki ancestry and refuse to keep unfree, possibly even a higher proportion than in their ancestral lands in Heortland, but about half of the clans do keep unfree as part of their social and economic make-up. I hesitate to count people surrendering for a ransom as part of the unfree population - these people become oath-guests with a somewhat different set of rights and obligations. Captors are more likely to accept a high ransom, and may refuse it for people whose ransom is a pittance or whose background is not known for quick payment of ransom. In such cases, captives may become unfree. Oath guests are supposed to participate in the same everyday clan activities their captors do, although not necessarily in the same leading role as their captors. This will include harvesting, droving herds, maintenance of infrastructure, but also feasting and (social) hunting, at a reduced but still recognized original status. They may spar with the locals, too, and would even be expected to join them in driving off enemies of the clan. Which can (and should) result in conflicting loyalties in case their own kin raid to free other captives not receiving the benefit of becoming oath guests - that's the stuff roleplaying scenarios are made of. Captive bandit outlaws rarely have the means to pay a ransom (although they might have a stash of wealth deposited with a supra-clan-level temple to draw from, but in that case why live as a bandit?) and will end up in the worst jobs for unfree - hazardous or unhealthy work conditions. Mining and quarries or naval service (whether fishing/whaling or military) have greater lethality than other occupations, but often require at least some professional skills. The other health risks for unfree are malnutrition and exposure, and those may take the greater toll. (Unless you fall into the hands of priesthoods requiring human sacrifices, like the temples of the Reaching Moons, Shaker Temple, or similar.) There is a use for semi-free or unfree live-in workers in well-to-do or personnel-deprived households. Unfree or semi-free doing field work for their patron household do the same amount of work and may get similar provisions and accommodation, with first pick going to the semi-free. There are no hereditary unfree in Sartarite culture. Offspring of (usually female) unfree will join the pool of semi-free household members. (Male unfree impregnating non-unfree mothers of whichever gender may not even be recognized as biological fathers.) Captives may be outlaws caught in banditry. While it has no legal consequences to slay an outlaw, setting them to work will be more lucrative. In Esrolia, debt slavery seems to be a thing, with low status Houses (or rather their grandmothers) selling off part of their population as indented workforce or as actual slaves. It is not clear whether indenture as a means to work of debts is practiced among the Sartarite clans - a person's work force is part of the capital of a clan (and one of the reasons behind the weregeld system). Except where cash crops with different harvesting times are in play, all harvesting activity will be more or less simultaneous in the valleys of Sartar, leaving little space for poorer folk earning some extra upkeep as migratory workers. Orchards or vineyards might be an exception to this basic rule, but Apple Lane appears to work without hired help for the harvest. More typically, people working in different areas (herding, crafting) will serve as additional hands for work-intensive farming activities.

The Full Moon Corps is strong because of their magic rather than their (first rate) equipment. Full iron gear is rare outside of the Iron mostali, and extremely rare the farther you get from Belskan in Seshnela. The Lunar Army manages to field the Steel Sword Legion as one of their prestigious elite forces. While it is an above-average military unit, as far as I can see its possession of iron swords in the rank and file is more a matter of ostentation than a military asset (except in fights against uz or aldryami).

My pdf says a sleeping goddess rather than a sleeping priestess. Of course a goddess can be a priestess of a greater goddess, but my Whitewall at the time of the assault only has human "defenders" who are dead, not sleeping. Pining for the fjords... The escaped human defenders might be in a sleep-like frozen state on some peak in the Stormwalks as the result of their escape, for a while.

Canonically, all the assaulters found in the fortress of Whitewall were two dozen dead bodies. A sleeping priestess would have been noted IMO. A statue of the goddess, imbued with her presence by the ambient magic might be possible - and might have required traitorous priestesses of the Earth Queen in order to provide a sufficient presence for the slaying to take effect.

Gambling is one core activity in Shamanism.

All it takes is a plausible claim to tie into the presence in Godtime. Stuff like statuary and possibly altar stones may be moved around by victors. Of course it stopped shy of the higher elevations of the Pelorian bowl, but that doesn't mean it could not followed the river bed further up. Glacier fronts move forward and backward, leaving chains of moraines along those fronts. Another possible location diaspora may have resulted from the lands being shattered into shards of reality in the Gods War, patched together in the web of Arachne Solara.

As above. It is not Elempur, which was destroyed long before in the Gods Age. So was Nivorah, the city of horses, which was re-settled (in at least two different places) after the Ice Age (possibly with genuine ruins from post-Flood Nivorah in both places thanks to transport by the Glacier). Old city sites tend to be re-settled - they are magical places. Sometimes even a fragment of a former city like e.g. the top portion of a ziggurat tossed around by the Glacier or other violent forces will create a shadow of the old city. (in the improvise Blue Moon plateau troll game under HeroQuest or Hero Wars rules that I keep bringing up, Greg had us troll tribes find the Cap of the ziggurat of one of the Eight Planetary Sons deep underground. Our efforts to transport this back to the Blue Moon Plateau were thwarted by the Lunars who intercepted our hidden transport and claimed it as one of the pieces of their Red Goddess.)

So her riding the Crimson Bat is an acceptable part of the Compromise thanks to the outcome of the conflict at Castle Blue?

These conflicts predate history, and the brief lull of the Unity Council was an exception to the natural order. The uz are a species of underworld demons, descended from voracious breeder and raider demigods (and ultimately deities). Already before the diminuations of the Gods War (Dark Trolls hurt by Yelm, Cave Trolls by Pocharngo, Cold Trolls by Pamalt) the uzuz ancestors like Gash and Gore would leave Wonderhome and go hunting for exotic culinary experiences in other places. Back before Death came into the world, eating another being was little more than an inconvenience of transitory nature to that being. After Death had entered the world, the trolls had been hurt bad by the shenanigans of the other races and tribes of deities, and they were out for revenge. So that's why the uz don't mind eating sentient beings. Experiencing different tastes is a form of cultivation for trolls. This includes sentient food. The Kingdom of Night (led by the Only Old One) saw the humans (especially the Esrolians) live under the hegemony of the trolls, and even the Heortlings who collectively were evenly matched to their troll neighbors were paying the (reciprocal) Shadow Tribute. Their matriarchs tend to be immortal demigoddess Uzuz who feel the grudge. And Gbaji's wounding of Korasting's womb added injury to insult, and the mere presence of trollkin keeps reminding them of the injustices dealt to them. The Tax Slaughter just added the Heortlings to the foes from the Gbaji Wars. Clay Mostali (aka ordinary dwarfs) suffer attrition, and it takes extraordinary dwarfs to achieve diamond status with better chances at immortality. Greatway (and its dependent dwarf settlements) and Nida were at odds with one another about the Second Council participation and the God Project, possibly leading to mutual recycling of groups of dwarfs caught away from their secure homes. Nida was wrecked by Gonn Orta early in the Second Age, causing a massive need for replacement of lost dwarfs, even including the higher up diamond dwarfs and Elder Mostali. Humans as well as Chaos invaded dwarf strongholds, causing attrition, and retaking lost complexes caused attrition too. On the aldryami side, you have dryads with life expectations of millennia, as well as great trees. And you have ancestral spirits available as advisors or teachers. The mostali who witnessed High King Elf slaying Stone (causing the Spike to implode, parallel to Zzabur breaking the world and the Chaos Horde invading from the Bridge of Slime) succumbed to the experience, and aren't around any more. (At a guess, High King Elf would have had problems to escape that deed.) Both Mostali and Aldryami have less interaction in the Dragon Pass area after losing a great many strongholds during the Gods War, with only occasional attempts to recover those (like the Aldryami Reforestation project). The Mostali long term projects for Dragon Pass are less obvious than the Aldryami Reforestation. They seem to take exception at the Reforestation efforts (see the last scenario in the RQG scenario The Smoking Ruin). This assumes that the Aldryami are more altruistic than the combined Western First World in their treatment of refugees flooding into their territory. There is cooperation between Uz and Aldryami, e.g. in the Bee Tribe. Rarely as equals, though. Dragonewts have their ancient agenda, and all others (including the Elder Giants who opposed them way before the Green Age) mainly are disturbances or consumables for that process. There are limited resources in terms of territory and magic that create tensions and conflict. There are opposing agendas. And there are old grudges embedded in the cultures. Moreover, a happy coexistence of all the species makes for a rather dull gaming environment. There can and will be local cooperation - the Jrusteli agreement (now broken by the Slon Mostali) worked well for centuries. You can build a new Unity Council in your campaign, in the face of rising Chaos and Cataclysm - go for it! But keep in mind that there will be conservatives fighting tooth and claw against such woke ideas in all of the groups concerned. Life span, and different divine ancestry. There is racism amongst the Aldryami - survival of the more aggressive or sturdier forests in face of competition is their way of Growth, too, ever since the Grower outgrew the equilibrium of Growing and Making (and Taking). And it will be the Gardeners who are at the forefront of these internecine conflicts, rather than the bow-armed guardians. The Errinoru jungle is fragmented into ten territories, with one (Laskal) devoid of a Great Tree and central authority. The two tribes east and west of Maslo couldn't be more different in their outlooks, the tribe to the south of the bay is somewhere stand-offish and doesn't interfere in either of the other two affairs with humans. The Mostali have difficulties agreeing on the priorities of the repair of the World Machine, with Slon successfully recruiting the formerly independent Jrusteli colony into their Somelz project. Slon and Nida are on good talking terms via their satellite strongholds. Greatway has been on the verge of open rebellion against Nida since the collapse of the Bright Empire, with only temporary unity against the Zistor project of the Machine Wars. (Making the rent for magic and items lent to the humans and trolls of the force opposing the Zistorites a lot more expensinve than their presumed comrads had expected.) Of the two Kralori/Shan Shan Mostali strongholds, one was annihilated by Kralori dragon magic (or possibly False Dragon Ring magics), while the other north of Teshnos survives in strict reclusion, refusing to acknowledge Iron. The central Pamaltelan dwarf stronghold practices Vegetarianism, possibly in cahoots with the local aldryami (not necessariy Errinoru yellow elves, but possibly local Green or Brown elves of the higher and colder ranges). Dragonewts have two distinct major cultures - the Kralori imperial way and the Dragon Pass reign of the Inhuman King (mirrored in the transplanted colony of Ryzel and possibly a mobile dragonewt city in the Elder Wilds), plus a number of leaderless ("barbarian") colonies like in Vesmonstran and Teleos where reincarnation from the Egg is not a matter of hours. (It still has to happen somehow.) Yes. They share ancestresses, which cannot be said for their relation with any of the humans. (Except possibly some of the Tusk Riders, and if so, that was a mistake.) Those Heortlings were the ones who first betrayed the cause against Gbaji by taking down the soft (and rich) target of Dara Happa, and then betrayed Arkat's Command to compensate for this betrayal by sharing the riches of that conquest as an expansion of the Shadow Tribute (which many ceased to pay, too). Before the Sunstop, relations were if not cordial then at least cooperative. After the Battle of Night and Day, Palangio intercepted the Shadow Tribute, the reciprocal tribute that united the Theyalan peoples, and when it took on again after Arkat removed the occupation, the betrayal of Arkat's cause stood between them. The Shadowlords provoked the Heortlings, and the Tax Slaughter resulted. Yelmalio once more polluted troll hunting lands. The Hsunchen (Hykimi/Fiwan) coexisting with the Errinoru elves have similar pan-continental languages and practices - Bat Hsunchen from Laskal and from Teshnos speak the same language, and Damali from western Genertela and the Shan Shan mountains speak the same language. The Basmoli of Prax speak the same language as the Basmoli of Tarien - all of this despite displaying different human phenotypes (races). The Praxian Basmoli are of the Wareran phenotype, the Basmoli of Pamaltela are of the Agimori phenotype. The Bat Hsunchen of Laskal are of the Agimori phenotype, those of Teshnos are of the Vithelan (Eastern) phenotype, and same for the Sofali off the Pamaltelan and Teshnan coasts. While the local totem animal may be a different child of the ancestral totem deity and require some differences in diet and habitat, the culture still is shared. The non-Hsunchen humans have vastly different ancestries. The Doraddi (including the Kresh and the black ancestors of Fonrit) are descended from the Agitorani, the last and most successful attempt of Pamalt and his friends to create humans. (There may be some admixture by former Fiwan/Hsunchen.) The Thinobutan Agimori in their diaspora are not descended from the first drinkers among the Agitorani, they have eight different ancestors created from clay by their own creator god (who bears similarities to the Fiwan Earthmaker and yet has significant differences as patron of agriculture and technologies). The various Thinobutan-descended populations don't share much of their cultures, except for memories of the Great Outrigger. Dara Happans were made by Yelm and his friends in a manner similar to Pamalt and his friends, however there was no such thing as immortality for the first batch, or any First Drinker shenanigans. Orlanthi (and other Theyalans) on the other hand are the lesser children of lesser Storm and Earth deities, and various other lesser deities following the Storm King under his Earth Queen, including previous ruling husbands of the Queen. Further west, animal totems produced both the Hykimi Hsunchen (possibly slightly polluted by the Kachasti Speaking Tour) and the Beast Totem Civilizations of the Pendali, Enerali and Enjoreli in the "Old Religion" belt between the Theyalans and the Malkioni, with the Entruli possibly another such case. Different pastoralist animal totems are found among the Hill Barbarians (nowadays Orlanthi) bisecting these Old Religion lands, with people of ancestry comparable to the Beast Nomads of Prax. (The Beast Totem civilizations may be offshoots of these Hill Barbarian animal totems, or variations of the Hykimi, under different civilizing influences from Earth Cults and Logicians than in Genert's Garden, which produced the Animal Nomads and the Hyalorings.) The Ancestors of all these groups are a persistent presence from the Spirit World, activated regularly in ancestor worship rites practiced by all humans, even by the Hsunchen and the Malkioni. Not enough that you have conservatives holding out against any new ideas, these conservatives have actual instruction by their ancestors! You raise valid questions. There is another layer of extelligence (oral traditions, art and written records) to Glorantha - the presence of the ancestors who may be contacted in the Spirit World, a realm both timeless and within Time. This additional layer (and rather active prophecies and divinations by the cults) create different dynamics than our modern (Western) world.

So do I, although for less than pious reasons. Christmas is almost religiously observed all over the (somewhat westernized) world, as an opportunity to give gifts or have feasts, without any spiritual overtones e.g. in Japan or Saudi Arabia. The High Holy Day sacrifices are an opportunity to gain access to (nearly) free meals, even feasts beyond the normal means of the lower classes. It is good to be a lay member on such days. Even better to be able to officiate in a minor associate role for some obscure local deity or spirit, and sit on one of the higher tables, being recognized beyond your normal station a few time in the year. That's the attraction for low class people to become holy persons (God Talkers without most of the priestly privileges or most of those duties) of minor deities. Without the feasting, votive images (possibly self-crafted) will do. Much like Europeans with state-supported churches pay their church "taxes" but attend only sporadically, even when it comes to high holy days (but more regularly on funerals or weddings).

In case of Orlanth the Mountain Wind we have a map indicating his magical influence adjusted to topography, the effect of the holy mountains. While the long range effects of Top of the World and Kero Fin indicate the far range, using the lesser radii on these two peaks indicates a stronger "lived-in" topography. Are the gods walking the landscape? Not regularly, unless you come into areas of manifest Godtime, like the Eternal Battle, the Block (ok, the Devil doesn't do much walking beneath it), the Skyfall, or the Footprint, or into the time when holy days (empowered by the rites of mortals) bring these deities into the realm of mortals. This is easier in in-between places, whether by accessibility (like hidden lands or castles like Castle Blue) or by ritual (and heroquesting) approximation of the Holy Realm.

I wonder whether conception requires an actual ritual to work, making any pregnancy an act of will (although not necessarily on the part of the participants in the actual impregnation).

Becoming a permanent part of the timeless mythical structure of Glorantha, assured existence, escape from Death.

There are trickster bands providing entertainment and (at least social) disruption for all layers of society. Some of these sanctioned, others outside of laws and more or less persecuted. On a household level, storytelling, games and other such social activities will flourish, even in an oppressive system like oldster Fonrit with 12 hour or longer workdays.

When does exposure to Chaos accumulate enough to receive a taint? Triggering the sense of a sufficient number of Storm Bull detectors might be a scientific criterion, but in that case the problem is shifted to what amount of Chaos exposure or emanation will trigger their Chaos sensing. (And it wouldn't be Chaos if that was a reliable amount, would it?) My day job involves measuring stuff, and there is no way to measure nothing, all you can get is an absence of a reaction to your probing. At some point, statistical distribution of impurities will outshine homeopathic potencing, even for the most exotic extract.

At a guess, even broos, vampires, Vadeli and antigod races will have sacred time rites. There is a Kyger Litor quest depicted in that rather trollish relief style somewhere in Trollpak, showing a formative quest of KL. That would be a good candidate for uz sacred time rites.

The Salinarg chapter in the History of Dragon Pass reads a lot like a play report of a game of WBRM. Assuming those rules, and typical attrition in such a game, and rallying rate of units destroyed in the field... half the city militia and parts of what would later become the Sartar Free Army would have been "destroyed", with up to 50% lethal casualties. (100% when eaten by the Bat or sealing a treaty with Delecti or the Tusk Riders.) Civilian casualties would be Runegate, foraging victims, victims of the zombie horde, collateral of the Crater Maker attacks, and subsequent victims of famine and diseases. Subsequent tax slavery might count as casualties, too.