Joerg

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.

For a mercenary, this either means his not purely human matters were very lucrative, or that his business model either sucked or had been way too successful in the past. Judging from Ethilrist's texts, probably the latter. Still, demon horses need to feed.

Another similarity COVID bears to the Great Winter is the loss of opportunities for an entire batch of young people who lost their initiatory schedule, as in learning to be "normal humans" through interaction with the other initiees. Lokamayadon's actions during the breach of Compromise that was the Battle of Night and Day did a similar thing to the Heortlings in his time.

IMG Hyalor was a man from Genert's Palace, a descendant of Yamsur who had neglected the welfare of his steed for too long to recover Hippogriff intact. When the Starlight Ancestors migrated eastward along the edge of the Glacier, Hyalor entered from the Redlands from the opposite direction. There is a slight possiblility that the Clawfoot tribe of Eirithans was actually a tribe of equine riders that committed a breach of a taboo (before Waha made breaking such a taboo obligatory).

I'm afraid that this is closer to canon than a dumb theory has any rights to be. Jrustela is a remnant of greater Brithela, aka Danmalastan, the ancestral land(s) of the Vadeli. The island on the edge of the Neliomi Sea is only a portion of that mainland, although it still contains a number of significant features like Kala's Hills (the birthland of Dronar and/or Dromal, children of Kala and (an incarnation of) Malkion). More to the point, the Curustus Range is what remains of Magnetic Mountain, plus the western mass of the Spike foothills that escaped the implosion of the Spike through attraction to Magnetic Mountain. (Possibly including bits of the actual Spike, aka Truestone.) As far as I can discern, the island of Brithos somehow ended up on the Genertelan/Neliiomi side of the Breaking of the World, with the main rift aimed at the core lands of Endernef (and occupied/corrupted Zerendel, the Kadeniti homelands). Parts of Old Seshnela were considered Brithelan turf, too, like Neleoswal. The definition of Brithela varies a lot, and might be limited to the island of Brithos in Enrovali territory at other mentions.

Sadly that's not the case either - the Clanking City head sorcerer Triumvirate is an amalgam of three sorcerers, and has six arms.

Or it is the "Here I am" (as in Mother of Space)?

Mythical bollocks doesn't mean this cannot happen, does it?

Just because werewolves are tied to the 28 or so day cycle in our world doesn't have to mean that a Lunar connection was anywhere in the original gift by Nysalor or curse of Talor. While Talor may have had some beef with Croesia, the Blue Moon goddess of the city named after her, there is no link to the wolf people in its description at all. If the rise of the Red Moon yanked the Wildday date from the transformation, that would have been a momentous and memorable event in Telmori history, with huge mythical repercussions, and probably quite a bit of questing. Occam's Full Moon Razor should provide some stuff for adventuring. edit: and this was not meant as criticism of any kind, but as a suggestion to investigate the consequences of either possibility. Ideally in whacky gaming.