Joerg

The practical form of the rites at the Wild Ruins have been included in the location description in numerous places, making the Darjiinian Stork Dance that (almost?) claimed one Red Emperor mask tame and harmless in comparison. From the inside, (some of) these violent interactions inside the rites might be heroquest challenges, possibly randomly pitting participants against one another and transferring some immanent ability of the victims to the victors. Other "victims" of these rites (possibly all of them) might experience a lesser apotheosis as guardians of the Otherworld, caretakers of the Web. For centaurs acquiring legendary centaur abilities (i.e. some of Ironhoof's feats or abliities), the rite may double as an Axis Mundi contact with ancestral spirits providing magic, possibly including some sky rune magic.

While I am fairly confident that @soltakssdoesn't need any coaching for throwing Chaos at players, this sounded like a plea for help: Give them spines like sea urchins have, and either make these material projectiles, allowing them to squirt nasty stuff, or use them as "wands" to fire off beam or pulse magics. Or both, or randomly (we're talking about Chaos, after all). Sometimes the use of these might cause damage to the beast, releasing an environmental hazard (poison, acid). An illuminate's Third Eye can serve as such, too. For laughs, you could give a shark an allied spirit taking the shape of a pilot fish, and give that one the laser, either as targeting aid (leaving a soot about to be hit next MR, allowing the player to decide whether to use a shield passively, taking them out of the action for that MR) or causing actual damage immediately. Alternatingly... Harmful pests on a bigger Chaos monster have a precedent with the ones inhabiting the Crimson Bat. Scale these down. These things could inhabit mostly harmless Chaotics as well, such as slime deer or Gray Ones (effectively chaos herd men without any relation to Eiritha, madmen from the Sultanate). They could be foliage/vines/kelp/grass clinging to such creatures, or even non-chaotic ones. Or the stuff could cling to the player characters, possibly for quite a while, before having leached off enough ambient MP to attack measurable resources of the hosts. As if the Siegfried story isn't enough to make players paranoid about leaves sticking to them. Introduce diseases affecting mainly the resident flora and fauna, creating chaotic-looking scars or tumors while remaining essentially harmless. Once the players get used to that, return with active chaos features. Have terribly disfigured variations of regular flora or fauna adapted to feed on and actually destroy chaotic stuff (e.g. feeding on gorp). Discover chaotic side effects of this much later (e.g. when they start to bud beautiful humanoids with chaotic intentions), or they draw a specific kind of other chaotic to breed explosively).

There are different schools of thinking about blubber serving as armor or serving as hit points, it seems.

At the risk of thread meandering: The Praxians as presented in Nomad Gods take their identification as Praxians from the three tribal deities: Founder, Protectress, and Ancestors. If there is a divine representation of clans inside these ethnic groups, it has to be in the Ancestors section. Regardless what the rules say, any personal interaction of the character with a group of peeople will create a relationship that the GM might give a rating. All interactions may be tested in the course of a game, but few such interactions need dice rolls, if such rolls are to be reserved for critical (possibly life-or-death or quest-relevant situations). On the other hand, if a player wants to roll dice, maybe the GM should find out whather the player thinks this will define the character in a lasting way, or whether this is just for creating a memorable situation (establishing a minor plot element) or a small benefit towards an expected future challenge (such as equipment). The FATE rpg has (for my taste way too many) mechanisms towards this end where a RuneQuest GM usually just juggles the NPCs and background situation without much in the way of written preparation or taking down notes. And in a fast-paced, task oriented situation little of that might be wanted. IMO the reasoning simply is that RQ already juggles way too many skills on the core rules character sheet. with a lot of "nice to have" information that is non-essential most of the time. The simulationist world builder in me cries out to leave a data trail for each and any interaction of the characters with the world, creating a robust set of data points that may be drawn on later on. The narrator wants to push on the story, providing enough chrome to provide both context and immersion while handing out plot points. The enabler seeks to give the players room (and posibly a currency) to leave their mark on the story and in the world.

The arrow from Runegate to Wilmskirk ignores territory a lot. There is a trail along the Colymar wilds between the Starfire Ridges and Tarndisi's Grove that can be traveled by small groups of individuals and herd beasts, often in single line as per the illustration on p.98 of the core rule book, but moving a warband would already take long, and moving an army's train through such a route might take weeks. After the siege of Runegate and the Bat feeding of the town (which apparently lasted several days, chaotically devouring the stack of defender units one per day using its Chaotic Magic attack) the Lunar forces marched rather quickly in force towards Wilmskirk, in all likelihood using the secondary road through Lismelder lands towards the royal highway from Duck Point to Wilmskirk, the bridge at Quackford and the route south of the Stream, through Famegrave. Highways and Byways does offer a "local road" through the Black Spear Clan territory and the fringes of Tarndisi's Grove. It is true that this is a well-known track for Colymar tribesfoik, especially royal messengers carrying communication between the Taraling clan and Clearwine, and the occasional trusted merchant with a smal mule train. Non-Colymar might provide some other identification to avoid harassment by elfs near the grove, like the markings of Issaries (or Etyries) or elf friend insignia. (Kitori lead masks amd grey cloaks ought to work, too.) The boardgame map (e.g. https://boardgamegeek.com/image/224075/dragon-pass) rather ignores the difficulty of crossing the hills of Sartar, especially some of the rougher and wilder places. (Its representation of the Dragonspine is missing, crossing the Starfire Ridges west to east looks deceptively simple, too). AFAICS Apple Lane is not going to see any major Lunar force in 1602, but that doesn't mean that there is no visit by a detachment possibly outnumbering the inhabitants of the hamlet. Passages like Birne's Squeeze take about an hour per 100 men on foot to pass through in a more or less continuous line, which would be full capacity. While most of such a route will allow even traffic in the opposite direction, or marching several people abreast, there will be choke points where there is barely enough space for a single cart or two mounts abreast, and in all likelihood rather churned ground after the passage of the first fifty travelers. A herd of fifty cattle having passed through a field's gate will leave a morass about a foot deep in fertile soil unless you have a prolonged dry spell. (In the line of my field work I tend to find it easier to cross the fences nearby...) A trail may be less susceptible to such damage, but treacherous footing will be an everyday occurrence on the march.

The Redline History in the Sourcebook has beautiful maps in roughly 50-year steps, which is the best temporal resolution the original historical maps by Greg Stafford can offer. There is the reign of Palashee Long-axe, and the warfare of King Phargentes against Exiles and Sartarites. The conquest of Bagnot and Dunstop by Lunar Tarsh ought to fall into this period. After Grizzly Peak, the exiles are greatly diminished to the immediate neighborhood of Kero FIn. No large scale operations to assimilate them are on the record. Chris Gidlow's Tarsh War freeform offers a possible conflict for 1619.

Not necessary - the Red Emperor is a capital H hero with the heroic escape (from Death/ Hell) ability, like all the heroes named in the boardgame. (Delecti and Keener Than aren't named as heroes, btw.)

Not really - theme is the Pavis Royal Guard, player characters are mounted archers, the main fighter is an impala Yelmalian with a spear gift. The "stuck impale" can have advantages, too. Most happened to arrows, where it is advantageous.

Does a passion at 40% make sense (you'd normally not augment with a skil that low), or would a differently named passion (love family over clan, distrusted by clan) at 60% be the result?

The Salinarg section of the Composite History of Dragon Pass always read to me like a game session report from a customized White Bear and Red Moon scenario (using one of those older combat resolution tables prior to the Corbett ones in the Dragon Pass iteration of the game). You can't go wrong using the game counters and their movement rates to locate the battle sites (if you don't have the game, most units are detailed with their WBRM stats in Armies and Enemies of Dragon Pass, too, otherwise check out the Boardgamegeek page for Dragon Pass).

Jotisan would have been involved in Tarkalor's venture to revive the harbor, apparently starting as early as 1570 (after his liberation of Whitewall from the Kitori tribe). Whether he could have become the City Rex of Karse is another question - Karse apparently has a status that doesn't associate it completely with the adjoining parts of Heortland, but gives the Marzeel estuary (formerly Creek-Stream River estuary) some special status. I suppose the "Baron" of Karse inherited from the use of the Midkemia Press City of Carse re-printed (in a much nicer format) by Chaosium has gone the same revision way of Heortland knights, but the territory of Karse is shown as separate on Jeff's tribal map for the region: Jotisan is not numbered among the 1594 Holy Country assassinations of the Sartar lineage (in the hardcover edition of King of Sartar), but that list only names descendants of Saronil. Given the Lunar efforts at the time, I have some doubts whether Jotisan survived after 1594, but it is possible that Eonistaran's branch of the family was ignored until Salinarg and his son Harsaltar proved to be unexpectedly effective in delaying the Lunar victory. Jotisan might be among the prospective heirs of Sartar unavailable for the 1600 succession while involved in a Tournament of the Masters of Luck and Death, and siblings of Termertain might, too. For all we know even Temertain might have taken part, possibly losing some of the lineage qualities in heroquest challenges but dropping out alive.

Apparently the glyphs for "-some" and "-ful" are easily mixed up.

In my games this hasn't been a problem yet. One easy way to amend Slashing lethality would be to double only the damage after deducting armor. Still hard on unarmored opponents.

I started wondering whether humans could initiate into Aldrya or Kyger Litor as a spirit cult or spirit society without undergoing the full ordeals. Such a lesser initiation would not bestow the full benefits of the cults (such as e.g. the abilty to grow an elf bow) but might be far enough for fellow humans to consider such individuals as part of the Elder Race religion. Compare Isidilian's pet cave humans worshipping the Cannon Cult and the Alchemical Transformer.

There is a doubtlessly fun way to gain a plant rune, described in the Elder Secrets text on elf women...

For a typical quest-giver king he is a bit too sprightly and active, but fortunately he likes to absent himself from the day-ti-day business of being a battle leader etc. and goes on weird and often apparently meaningless quests, like the giant's drinking cauldron or chasing down a Gold Wheel Dancer. And he may get stuck on those expeditions ever so often, requiring a rescue team. "Last time he was stuck in Wachaza's net trying for Daliath's Well. Untangling him for long enough to turn the net into Arachne Solara's one was tricky..." The four characters are the PoV characters in White Bear and Red Moon. They can be fun in Freeform games, but suck in simulationist RPG. Argrath can be the antagonist to quite some extent, too, while being your boss at the same time. He constantly pulls off disastrous results, almost like Jon Snow in AGoT. The White Bull Society lost and will lose more than half its on site members in many a battle.

There is only one "deity" worshipped essentially for "being human" and that is Grandfather Mortal / Malkion / Daka Fal. Aldrya is more than the ancestral deity of elfs, unless you group dryads, pixies and runners in that category, too. She is goddess of the plants embodying the forest, and its oversoul (the dryad of dryads, or "all dryads"), but not of all plants. And she is the embodyment of the Grower after the Compromise (sort of shared with Murthdrya and possibly Mee Vorala). There is some similarity to the role Eiritha plays for her Animal Nomad descendants, but only the herd animals share in that special communion with the Protectress, the others having given up on that in Waha's contest. "Initiating" into that aspect of Eiritha can be done through that one use spell available to the Waha cult. Maybe the "humans" of Glorantha are the flavor-less expressions of the man rune, devolved from the more powerful (immortal) ones like the Brithini, Vadeli, Agitorani and whatnot. And not just starting with the introduction of capital D Death (which changed or rather destroyed Grandfather Mortal). Most of the "Elder" races of Glorantha are junior devolutions of the real deal, too. Only Mistress Race uz are the real elder race, the burnt ones (and the variations thereof like the hot ones or the regenerating ones) are crippled lesser versions. Small domestic cattle alongside the aurochs. Same with the Clay Mostali (and already the non-Clay Iron Mostali), just ersatz for the real deal. And hardly anybody interacts with the original (Niiad) merfolk any more, of just "Srvuali" ancestry and the Man rune, all we encounter are the bastard groups like Cetoi, Piscoi or Zabdamar, all of whom have as much Storm ancestry as they have Sea ancestry. The dragonewts are a mysterious case, but the real dragonewts of old are all True Dragons by now, or died as dinosaurs. It isn't quite clear whether there were newer nests with new eggs, or whether the scouts we have now are the "Lost Boys" of dragonhood, or whether there are some newer nests who did not yet have enough time to experience experiences. The extant true elf races (green, brown, yellow) aren't quite what they used to be. Ok, maybe the Embyli haven't changed all that much in the Gods War. The Vronkali and Mreli used to be a single species, but depending on their decisions in the Gods War (more so than by the associated tree species?) they split into the followers of High King Elf (who stretched the "we belong to the forest" beyond what the mreli were able to tolerate) and the accepters who went to sleep, many never to awake again becoming the mreli. But then the entire concept of coupling the Man rune with the plant rune was a paradox, fine for the earlier part of Godtime but almost necessarily torn apart as the Gods War arrived. Aldrya requires that you become a plant entity, not a beast entity. Give up that dragon origin, and she will allow you in. (After all the Beast Rune is a derivation of the Dragon Rune, although a different derivation than the Dragonewt Rune.) A forceful transition may make you a plant entity, and you might retain your man rune, but will it make you an elf? And if so, what kind of elf? Will you have an associated tree? (The one your previous self was nailed to?) Do the Embyli have an adoption ritual for females? The Aldrya cult is about the Song of the Forest (speaking of "all that jazz"), and you can only initiate if it resonates inside you. There are even rootless elfs without the ability to participate in Aldrya's cult beyond lay membership, even though many continue to live with and for their "online" kin. So yes, much like the higher insights in Auld Wyrmish require a certain form of mutilation, so does the entry requirement for the Song of the Forest. Rootless elfs may be the equivalent of dinosaurs or wyrms in dragonewt society, or trollkin and cave trolls in troll society.

I see a certain parallel to the difference between Eiritha worship (the initiate being the cow in the application of rune magic) and horse queen worship where the magician is the horse keeper, not the horse herself. There is an actual Orlanthi plant man aspect of Orlanth: Durev, carved from (dead?) wood by Orstan the Elder, who became the leader of the Downland Migration tribe and whose marriage to Orane the Weaver sort of pre-enacted the marriage of Orlanth and Ernalda. But this is a plant (made image) having undergone a (painful?) conversion into man, pretty much the inversion of the Aldrya initiation ritual.

Tolat is the (adopted) war god of the Zaranistangi, adopted already in Pamaltela, where the uncle of Artmal was recognized for his aid against the storm invasion. The Zaranistangi ruled Melib at the Dawn, but managed to conquer much of mainland Teshnos prior to the conquest of Melib by the wielder of the lost Red Sword for the Middle Sea Empire. Unlike the native Teshnite fire gods, Tolat is an effective war god, thanks to his Underworld nature/portion. I don't think that his cult is for the polite Teshnan nobility, but possession of the Red Sword is half the way to Teshnan imperial power. Whoever wants to challenge the establishment (possibly instituted by Sheng, or at least willing collaborators) beyond Harstar's emigration to Melib in the name of Calyz (the most useful of the fire deities) is going to follow Tolat.

Second Age Hrestolism Fronela Talor's kingdom seems to embrace some form of dualism demonizing the demiurge. I don't know whether Talor himself had a dualist creed or whether the teachings of Tomastus slowly gain popularity under some spiritual successors.(The Third Age Rokari philosophy seems to have preceded its triumph under the alliance between Mardron and Bailifes by a few centuries in relative obscurity, too.) The Hill Barbarian kingdoms start out as allies against the remains of the Bright Empire who seem to have been allied with Hsunchen tribes, and the antagonism, against the Hykimi is a recurring theme in Genertelan Malkionism, possibly more so in Fronela than in Seshnela and Ralios. By the time the Adalla dynasty (that seems to have rejected the dualistic ways) receives Jrusteli support against the dualist faction that included Syranthir and some of the barbarians, the Hrestoli impetus has shifted from Seshnela to Jrustela. It takes Halwal's disappointment with (or non-appointment as had of) the orthodox God Learner Makanist sect for the irensavalist revival in Fronela, while the exiled Carmanian branch leaves the God Learner sphere of influence completely and opens its own prong in the struggle against the EWF. Halwal did profit from the Closing, but it is hard to say whether he was informed of that. (He would have been one of the Jrusteli sorcerers cooperating with the Zzaburi of Brithos to tuirn the Fireberg Umaliath away from Malkioni lands, so there may have been opportunity to learn of this.) Halwal's liberation of Fronela from the Seshnegi empire (the Closing has already separated Seshnela from the overseas territories) fails to affect Yomili's Seshnela, which means that Halwal leaves for Ralios to try a repeat of his Fronelan alliance. Fronela escapes the cataclysms of 1049-1053, but was the first place to be hit by the Closing. Ralios Rather than Gerlant's and Nralar's peninsular kingdom west of the Tanier Valley, the Autarchy of Arkat and his Stygian successors was the most influential land with Malkioni background at the start of the Second Age. "Autarchy" translates as self-rule, leaving the administration to the local archons rather than having a centralized authority. A federal state, one might say. To the Arkati, the man-of-all interaction with the Otherworld is both the basic model to go on quests and an irresponsible and potentially disrespectful interaction with the Otherworld. Hrestol himself on his quest to slay Ifttala, the ancestress of the Pendali and daughter of Seshna Likita, encountered a number of Otherworld entities and had respectful and courteous exchanges. (Up to almost ending up in a tryst with a forest princess, like Damol's and Ylream's grandson's double marriage with Forest King daughters two generations later.) The Arkati become the Guardians of the Otherworld, establishing stationary quests as antagonistic testers of the Heroquesters. "Quis custodiet ipsos custodies?" - the Arkati. With their focus on heroquesting, their enthusiasm for philosophical debate seems to be a lot less than among their Seshnegi neighbors. After the demise of Gerlant and possibly the apotheosis of Arkat, Gerlant's brat Nralar has the audacity to demand tribute from the Archons of Stygia for his ascension, and doesn't get any. (Spoilered because of political snark, open at your own discretion.) Nralar destabilizes the Tanier valley in a grab for pan-Malkioni unity (again not unlike a current grab for a neighboring country, although in the opposite cardinal direction). This unity against an external foe stabilizes his interior, but his way-too-long reign leads to his older sons and their followers leaving the country for newly established Jrustela, draining the country of some of their best minds. Gerlant and Nralar positioned their Hrestolism as staunchly non-pagan, a bit of a repeat of the Silver Empire stance three centuries earlier. One possible point of internal dissent might be the beast totem Horali brotherhoods, if these already exist. Bertalor's main reason for his attempt at a Malkioni "Ecclesiastical" Council may have been the Jrusteli debates, but the weakness of his kingdom's military might have stemmed from an overzealous policy against these pagan magics. Then again, there is a good chance that it took the Fornoari and mercenary occupation of Seshnela prior to the Return to Rightness Crusade to establish these beast totem societies, or an inheritance from the subsequent conquest of Tanisor and Safelster. After two short and unsuccessful reigns of sons of Nralar in Seshnela, the country collapses against a strong Tanisoran kingdom (which may or may not have been part of or sponsored by the Autarchy), and Seshnegi history gets determined by Jrustela for a century or two. Seshnela does become the seat of the Middle Sea Empire, which deserves its own segment. Jrustela, Umathela, Slontos and other overseas areas Jrustela experiences numerous independent pioneer cities, apparently formed by the disillusioned ruling elite of Seshnela despairing of their undying monarch. While the Jrusteli did include the Olodo settlers from Slontos who had arrived there (and in Umathela) before them after a while, there seems to have been a high proportion of Brithini-descended immigrants with strong ancient Malkioni lineages, or desperately constructed claims of such (like the ruling lineages descended from Gerlant). One important section of the Abiding Book (one that may have been among the first excisions of Rokar in the next age) were the sacred lineages, the Ancestor Worship component of Hrestolism. The Umathelan debates resulting in the Abiding Book are fairly detailed in Middle Sea Empire (alongside the annotated Second Age history of Seshnela, unlike the Dawn Age and Bailifides king lists on the Well of Daliath), expanding on a shorter presentation in Revealed Mythologies. What is difficult about these Stafford Library sources is the "church" terminology that has been declared obsolete in the current vision of Glorantha (already in the Guide). Cleaning up those first millennium Christianity parallels is a job I will leave mainly to Jeff, hopefully in the next three or four years.

Dawm Age Hrestolism The first and half of the second century of Seshnegi Hrestolism was identical to the Serpent King dynasty. Most of the Men-of-All (apparently rising from all the castes) were pagan practitioners of worship to Seshna, Aerlit and other such deities in the region. The kingdom of Frowal annexed or conquered several Pendali "kingdoms" of fortresses with some urban character and acculturated the population of those kingdoms, of no (recent) Brithini descent. Some former Pendali warriors and definitely their descendants became men-of-all, too, but most of the man-of-all candidates appear to have been of Brithini ancestry throughout the Dawn Age, with "Brithini" active in their courts and cities and leaving descendants. The rather small Brithini-descended populations of Froalar's and Neleos's colonies accepted the kinfolk of Hrestol's wife from the "duchy" of Horalwal on Brithos, a coastal portion of that island that seems to have held a third of the population under the Talar of Brithos with their own very influential talar Antalos, a direct descendant of Malkion (like Neleos) and of Menena but not of Talar, the son of Malkion who was the first ruler of Danmalastan/Brithos and the archetype of the Talar caste. It is unlikely that a third of the population of Brithos left on Waertagi ships as the result of the civil war started by Faralz on his quest for the hand of Antalos' middle daughter. Antalos' youngest daughter became the wife of Ylream, Hrestol's serpent-legged half-brother, and mother of his daughters (but not of his serpent-legged successor, a son of his twin sister and high priestess of Seshna). Antalos did have very loyal supporters, and the influx of Brithini-descended people to Froalar's and Ylream's kingdom would have been significant, probably a third of the population already in place, whjile leaving about 70% of the previous population - mainly of farmers and lower caste urbans - on Brithos, under the new ruling talar. The Brithini active in Seshnegi history in the second and third century may have been from Arolanit or insular Brithos. The ones we hear about are clearly of the talar caste, possibly in the kingdom of Seshnela as merchants or diplomats, or as recent exiles, as they mingle and mate with Seshnegi nobility. One dowager queen and her child by one of those talars seems to have been taken back into Zzaburite territory, only to return for another succession struggle. These Brithini seem to have cooperated with the non-pagan or anti-pagan Seshnegi who would have been a party or movement evén during the Serpent King dynasty, accepting of the sovereignty rites that also brought peace with the Pendali barbarians (and possibly their non-lion-descended farming population) but refraining from personal interaction with those pagan deities. They would have been in oppostion to those purely pagan or man-of-all pagan people uniting behind the sons of Damol, the demigod son of Aerlit and the daughter of Fenela Froalarsdaughter and Yadmov son of Neleos. (Weirdly this pagan great-grandson of Froalar was an ally of Aignor the Trader, the other pagan grandson of Froalar via Hrestol's Vadeli Judge son and presumably a Vadeli mother, who sired the second line of Serpent Kings upon Seshna before his murder.) Their stronghold Damolsten remained renowned for a martial spirit, and became the home for an early God Learner order. The anti-pagan party grew strong at the end of the second century and started the Silver Empire, a Hrestoli entity that expanded into the Tanier Valley, annecting Fornoari Enerali, Pendali refugees, and possibly other Ralians with different beast origin and/or Kachasti ancestry, encroaching on the domain of Hrelar Amali with its own paganism before it was strengthened by contact with Lightbringer missionaries and magics. This was the first "pure" Malkioni kingdom in Seshnela, two centuries after Hrestol had established one in Loskalm. The SIlver Empire spread some measzre of Hrestolism into Safelster, though it isn't clear whether by conversion or by establishing Hrestoli rulers in conquered territories marrying into native Fornoari nobility. Something like this is a possible ancestry of Gerlant (the alternative for Gerlant's lineage claims in the Abiding Book being a lineage from Malkion's Expulsion March hiding among at least partially Kachasti-descended beast barbarians). The SIlver Empire faltered when the Hrelar Amali Enerali (and possibly the Tanier valley Pendali) were strengthened by (Second Council) Lightbringer ways and regained control of the Tanier Valley, making incursions into Old Seshnela. This may have preceded acceptance of the Beast Totem warrior societies, which seem to be a Ralian inheritance to the Seshnegi Malkioni only. (Or at least I have a hard time imagining the Fronelan coastal Malkioni tolerating a bull totem warrior society at the time of Talor.) The Hrestoli creed of the Silver Empire with its Brithini-friendly orientation seems to have survived into the fourth century and into contact with the Bright Empire. Fourth-century Seshnegi-style Hrestolism was behind Arkat and the God Learners, but developed in rather different and distinct ways. Fronelan style Hrestolism inherits from the kingdom established by Hrestol after his experience as Vadeli judge (an office inherited by his son by his dissident Brithini wife). If anything, the mystical Man-of-All aspect seems to be stronger in that first century Loskalm than in Seshnela, where the practice had been continued by and under the Serpent Kings. Talor resulted from a tradition that had little in common with the Silver Empire experiences of second and third century Seshnela. The ongoing struggles of the Gbaji Wars strengthened the Malkioni wizards, who were the first to declare Arkat anathema. The Seshnegi nobility (usually men-of-all) kept supporting the war effort but the majority did not join Arkat on his religious experimentation. Men-of-all from the warrior caste might have been more open to Arkat's acceptance of Lightbringer ways. There is little evidence for zzabur-caste born men-of-all. The wizardly henosis required for sorcery may have made the (token) mastery of the other three caste trades less attractive, and possibly there was some political distance between the wizards and the men-of-all. That said, some of the nobility became men-of-all and supported the wizards, and wizard-sponsored men-of-all from the soldier caste may have been a thing, too (thinking of something along the line of Richelieu's musketeers vs. the kings musketeers). Gerlant is the mystery man-of-all who leads a cavalry force into a decisive battle against the Bright Empire party in Seshnela. His forces come from barbarian lands but are foes of the Bright Empire. Gerlant remains active in the Gbaji wars, as do his sons, all but one (Nralar) of whom die during the war. Gerlant and the last survivor of the plagued dynasty of Gbaji Wars Seshnela remain on Arkat's side, apparently all the way jnto Dorastor. I know a lot less about Talor. He is a man-of-all from the ruins of Hrestol's coastal kingdom of Fronela, who spent his career fighting the forces of the Bright Empire and demons from behind the Gate of Banir. He has a special hate of the Telmori shock troops of the Bright Empire. He dies and goes to Hell, where he is picked up by Harmast on his second attempt to bring Light into the world. Talor's defining feature is his ongoing experience of Joy - "the Laughing Warrior". Whether that epithet implies a birth to the Horali caste is unclear, but it would be another thing he would have in common with Arkat (alongside the Hell escape as rescuee of Harmast). There doesn't seem to be evidence for pagan practices in Talor's homeland, but the source material I have access to is sparse. All I know is that Harmast and Talor emerge in Ralios, travel across the Nidan mountains to the (bull) Orlanthi of southwestern Fronela and join forces with the coastal Malkioni against the forces of the Bright Empire (who probably put their main effort against Arkat's troll and Hendrik's Heortling invasions from the east). Talor and Harmast strike against the heartlands of the Telmori (already once ravaged by Arkat prior to his Hell experience) and seem to enter Dorastor from Ralios via Kartolin Pass. Talor gets to meet Arkat (no longer in troll shape) and Gerlant and strikes off a friendship with Gerlant before he returns to coastal Fronela. Harmast apparently survives meeting Arkat again and returns home to Kerofinela/Kethaela.

There is a perennial disagreement about what constitutes Hrestolism and what doesn't. Practically all Malkionism is divided between who is important: the wizards and the men-of-all. The wizards draw upon the traditions of Zzabur, the men-of-all draw on the revelations of Hrestol. The old Brithini way has Zzaburism, refined over the millennia and purified by eviction of all impure practices. There are no men-of-all. Other than Arolanit and the Brass Citadel in Sog City, the descendants of the Brithini in Genertela have departed from Zzaburism. and are called Malkioni instead. And all their colonies (also the ones founded since the Dawn) have embraced the teachings of Hrestol, based on his Man-of-All revelations of henosis with the Invisible God. The dominant sect in Tanisor, the Rokari, define themselves by rejecting this core tenet of Hrestolism, but they have inherited and modified all the changes Hrestol's revelations brought to Seshnela and the countries conquered by Seshnegi, spreading their ways to people of non-Brithini descent. (Tnere may be small communities of Danmalastan descent who made it to Genertela between the Expulsion March/Breaking of the World and Hrestol's revelations, some possibly carried there on Waertagi ships. The God Forgot Brithini ways are suspicious, but might just as well be the result of just another God Learner experiment.) This covers all non-Hrestoli Malkioni. Calling the all the others Hrestoli might be tempting, but isn't that helpful. Arkatism has plenty interpretations, some aligning well with Hrestolism, others not that much (e.g. Arkat the Troll). I would agree that Mularik's Arkatism has strong elements of Hrestolism and few of the pagan orientations. Arkat received the full fourth century Seshnegi Hrestoli experience when he defected from the Brithini forces to the kingdom of Seshnela. His opposite number in Seshnela after the end of the Gbaji Wars, Gerlant, had the same experience (he was not from the kingdom of Seshnela, either, but from one of the regions formerly ruled by the Silver Empire). While Gerlant and the previous dynasty had continued the fight alongside Arkat, they had condoned the condemnation his conversion to the Lightbringer ways (Orlanth and Humakt) by the wizards of Old Seshnela. Arkat's successors shared Seshnegi Malkionism to quite some degree in Safelster, although with strong Lightbringer influences that extended to sacrificial practices the further you got away from the lower Tanier valley. Halwal liberated the various Arkati sects that had hidden under God Learner rule, co-opted quite a few of the God Learner-descended nobility to his cause and seems to have managed to syncretize three different main expressions of Arkatism (following one each of the Three Rivals) and to have their troops march alongside him against Yomlili. Halwal's orthodox God Learner Hrestoli ays will have contributed the glue between the genuine bits rescued from obscurity, re-inforcing Hrestolism a little more in Safelstran Arkatism. The Galvosti sect (based on Holut) with their own charming take on tapping of non-Malkioni has been described as a Hrestoli sect in the Guide. Their ancestors may have been one of the groups following Halwal, but if they are an Arkati group, that isn't made explicit. Tapping goes against the teachings of Hrestol, as far as we know. (Greg's old, hardly published stories about Hrestol don't mention that magical practice.) Galvosti seem to tap only humans and possibly (local) deities, not the world around them, a weird restriction compared to what Zzabur and the Vadeli did to the Neliomi Sea and their lands in the Gods War, or what the sorcerers of Arolanit do to their home country. The obscure Boristi sect seems to draw on Arkat's experiences confronting Chaos in the Gbaji Wars. Whether that makes them Arkati or not is another question. (Halwal had previously re-constructed Fronelan Hrestolism against his own God Learner Hrestolism, joining forces with the local Bull Lightbrinnger population and possibly allowing a little of their traditions into the Fronelan mix. It is unclear whether he brought some of the Irensavalist stuff into Safelster.) Arkatism may be more defined by their approach towards (responsible) creative heroquesting than to its roots in Malkionism - another semantic trouble in these definitions. Rokarism was a movement against Seshnegi-style Hrestolism outside of the immediate cataclysm area, i.e. the Tanier valley. A portion of those older-style Hrestoli went into exile on the Castle Coast (depopulated by the Old Seshnela cataclysm) and founded their own decadent utopia there. A majority went into hiding, confessing to the Rokari doctrine when observed but maintaining at least portions of older Hrestoli ways, not dissimilar to how the Arkati "survived" under the God Learners. One monastic community of God Learner-trained wizards was rescued from the Old Seshnela cataclysm by Jonat and transplanted into his nascent kingdom. The kingdom of Ramalia escaped most of the Slontan cataclysm and went into paranoia mode. Seshnegi-style Hrestolism never was tainted with that Demiurge doubt that Fronelan Hrestolism seems to have built up from the beginnings of Hrestol's Kingdom in Loskalm, or at least that one disciple Tomastus built up. Taking that apart requires a look into the history, and attempts to extrapolate the shape of Malkionism from the known history of Seshnela and the less-well known history of Fronela. See below.

Zzabur says that the gods are (no longer) (the original, One World runic) people and don't have any free will to exert on the Mundane world (any more). What (material) Creation comes out of the Chaosium is roughly in equilibrium to what is constantly lost to Chaos, slowing the eventual deterioration enormously (unless there are cataclysmic discharges). According to Zzabur (not really illuminated or a God Learner)... Zzabur knows all about the morality of the Original Rune entities, and he exemplifies their virtues (Might Makes Right). Orlanth often means well, but is dreadfully impulsive, easy to anger, and bound to over-react. Slaying the Emperor both to take revenge for the dismemberment of Umath and to take his rightful place as King of the Gods is a case of meaning well rather than over-reacting, though... The theist ability to impose (human) personality onto the deities is a powerful force. The deities are still archetypes, but less remote archetypes. "When the gods were more man-like, mankind was more god-like." Many of the successful mystery cults have an element of incarnation, of returning as (little more than) a human interacting with humanity. (The major Elder Races don't usually need this un-distancing for their niches.) Agency: yes. The Compromise is the bundle of agency of the deities participating in the Ritual of the Net, as well as representing those not directly involved. Who wove it into her web. Was it? The ecstatic worship at Wild Temple predates RuneQuest, IIRC. Montheistically founded Belief in the Neverland sense is different from Sacrificial Quid Pro Quo of polytheistic theism. The Orlanthi are die-hard fans of their home colors, even when it drops into Third League, whereas the Pelorians find another Major League team if the previous one doesn't make the cut. In both cases, mass sacrifice powers the Quid for the holy people's Quo. The distribution of the Quo is different between Peloria and the Theyalans, with a lot more administrative overhead in Peloria. With the Malkioni Quid pro Quo practically all Invisible God Quo goes into the administrative overhead handled by the wizards. Again, "belief" isn't quite right. The worshipers re-enact stories that have demonstrably worked until now. Sometimes a different story or a variation of a story works better in the context of a new problem, and successful cults adopt and adapt to those new or different versions, and sometimes an older, almost forgotten story contains answers pertinent to a current context. The older stories never have been away, but they may not have been empowered to reflect on the world of the Compromise, and the newly discovered paths would have been included in potentia from the outset of the world of the Compromise. The "mores" in "o tempora, o mores" means customs and practices. Morality is behavior according to these. Ethnicities more than ethics. Demiurge? The Mostali were not wrong when they blamed the overabundance of divine Creation for bursting the bubble of the universe, the birth of Umath taking apart the (running) World Machine, with all manner of subsequent damages emerging from this primal disruption. And they suffer from having lost access to the master copy of the World Machine blueprint, and have to make do with inferior, incomplete work orders to each of their castes. Their collective effort to set this right created the Iron caste, giving them access to world-destroying magics. None of the gods outside of the Chaos pantheon are world destroyers - even Shargash / Zorak Zoran who destroy the world piecemeal given a chance to find release from their cultural/moral shackles went the full monte. The monomyth is good for the general outline, but easily breaks down on specifics or local observations. It works best near the Theyalan source material or the material re-interpreted by the Theyalans themselves.

Humans need a lot of tenderizing to become palatable to duck tastes. (Which goes for humans used as duck food as well, but that only happens in extreme cases.)

Predators as much as protectors of young or herds in total will have a breaking point to which they fight, dependent on how cornered etc. they are, whether you call that "faith" or "survival instinct" or other semantics. A demoralized mount will not approach threatening opponents unless the one on its back is more threatening.