Joerg

As far as I am concerned, a body of water is already a divine entity in itself, although it takes a certain size or amount of life supported for it to be worthy of worship beyond thanks for partaking in its bounty. Any form of nymph (including naiads) are spiritual emanations of a magical place (such as a hill, a meadow, or a body of water), and something separate from the physical divinity of the place. Bodies of water may have or be currents, which adds another form of water divinity to the mix, such as river deities. Then there may be divine entities related to the sapient water beings in the water, such as the mer-kings or -queens. It takes quite a big body of water to have a sufficient population of sentient entities and such a ruler. Does every oasis in Prax have a naiad? How about lesser water holes? One difference might lie in whether River Horse can visit or not. Water deities can lay dormant, like the serpents (seasonal rivers) of Prax. Or Choralinthor prior to the Breaking of the World.

I took the bird women to mean or include swan maidens like the Hiording ancestress.

All of that goes mainly for green elfs, who have elf females only for procreation. Yellow elves have no females, brown elf females are "optional" alongside dryads. The two peninsular yellow elf tribes flanking the Maslo sea show how biology does not explain hostility or friendship. (One interesting variation on plant people I encountered moderately recently is the culture of the canopy in Kevin Hearne's "The Seven Kennings" series, starting with "A Plague of Giants". Human devotees undergoing a risky rebirth ritual to emerge as forest defenders, like e.g. Warthorns who plant themselves to (fatally) erupt in thorny vines taking down invaders.)

Perhaps a one-time effect of Path Watch?

That's about two hours as the griffin flies? And that nearest citadel happens to keep giant hawks if my memory doesn't lead me astray. The Griffins of Griffin Mountain are encountered rather close to Greatway (Harc Skybraver). If the human population experienced a tenfold increase, should we assume that the number of griffins remains unchanged, or that the group on the eponymous mountain is the only group in all of the land? The Opili nation (more famed for its cattle than its horses) managed to deal with the griffins by bringing in way more horses than the griffins could prey on, but that's a nation of horse nomads. Upkeep of a horse at a citadel is problematic, especially since no grains are grown (in any meaningful amount) anywhere in Balazar. Importing horse fodder overland is a topic we already discussed in the context of campaign logistics. If you use oxen able to live off the land to pull the carts, it might be possible, but Balazar is not a territory for sedentary cattle (or sheep) raising, either. The Opili managed to pass through Balazar either on their way to the Battle of Quintus Vale or on their way back, but I guess they left a swath of devastation behind, requiring a few years to return to normal fertility. Yes, there are bison in Balazar, but not quite the amounts that used to cross North America prior to the introduction of black powder. Bison apparently migrated between the Rockies and Appalachia, with no option to reverse their migration as the grazing behind them would have been mostly depleted, until they entered the forested lands of the east. But maybe trying to evaluate the sustainable levels of griffins vs. horses is a backwards argument. It is possible that there is a griffin presence here because there used to be a lot more horses than there are today, before the trolls claimed the Elder Wilds. There is a region with customary stork nests in the village near Schleswig, the former wetlands of the Eider, Treene and Sorge "rivers" that had occasional tidal surge incursions from the North Sea. Those wetlands are gone, and the stork population has diminished greatly, with those remaining having had to give up on a rich diet of frogs for a diet of field mice. Storks still return to their ancestral nesting grounds from their winters spent in Africa, but the sustainable number of storks has been reduced. The Elder Wilds griffins might be in a similar position, with a once sustainable amount of their favorite prey declined a lot, reducing their numbers and threatening any long term horse populations. Griffins are wide-ranging apex predators with a mythically motivated appetite for horse-meat (possibly the best source of food because of the kinship and the Fire rune?). They can and probably will hunt other prey in the same size range, but horses may answer a hunger for the Fire Rune that the sky-related creatures cannot satisfy otherwise. Eiritha's beasts may be too lean in Fire. Flying creatures might be taboo (else Dykene might have a problem for their Vrok Hawks). How many horses does an adult griffin need for health and magic in a week? How much of other prey? Those of Dykene are - riding Vrok Hawks. Those of Trilus are upstart Votanki hunters having dethroned the Yelmalian imported nobility, with Lightbringer allies for better magic than Foundchild. Trilus is semi-ruined, too. Elkoi has a small Lunar garrison, presumably including mounted troops. This citadel is the furthest from Griffin Mountain and even has enough grain to produce a local beer, so keeping up some horses seems to be more feasible.

Horses are hard to keep in Balazar, becoming prey for the Griffins in the long term. Probably true for mules as well, but those might be less tasty.

According to Plentonius (GRoY), Shargash destroyed everything, and then himself, towards the extreme of the Greater Darkness.

So how does watching the Blue Streak fall into Magasta's Pool give any clue to when the next passage is going to happen?

The Blue Streak is visible only during the plummet, which is when the tides run out. During her climb, Annilla remains invisible. You know that it will return to the far side of the Sky Dome when Lorion crosses the Gate of Dawn, but you don't know how fast she will rise.

There you have a term bound to confuse non-native speakers in this context (and presumably some native speakers too). Would sailors rig up a beam from two logs to lift heavy cargo items across the railing? Which begs the question how well the sailors can predict the tides, especially the Annilla tides (as the effects of Storm and the "Red Moon" are rather predictable). Shelter from wave action is dependent on the tides and shifts in the wind.

Good question, possibly the start of a different thread. As far as I recall, attaining Divinity is to establish your own bit of the God Plane. Which is something demigods and worshipped living heroes can do, too. Apotheosis by leaving the mortal plane to such an abode counts, too. Attaining demigod status within Time is fine. Attaining deity status and staying inside time is not. And yes, that brings us to the follow-up question what is the difference between demigods and free-willed deities within Time...

Storm encountering Shargash is tricky - if the Shargash side can push Storm into the role of Umath, that's very bad news. Orlanth never mangaged to slay or destroy Shargash, not even after his conquest of the Skies. He did fend Shargash off numerous times, emerging with his goals fulfilled and Shargash thwarted, but never destroyed. Other than Umath, there is also Pamaltelan Bredjeg overcome by (the sword of) Tolat. Two opposing heroquesting parties may not agree on the myth they were following to the encounter, and establishing which of the parties is more correct is half or more of the contest.

Not mere laissez-faire pollution, but intentional chemical warfare. Far from that, as descriptions of the river valleys leaving Nida and Greatway attest. That's pretty much on spot. The gods agree to stay out of Time except in their roles as determined by the Compromise, such as Yelm's sun disk/orb rising and setting in a daily pattern (no Sunstops!), and Orlanth doing his circling around the Doldrums (no Windstop, either!). While they may grant magic to their mundane plane worshippers, they don't participate directly in struggles inside Time, unless the compromise is broken and their followers summon them then. Contractually obliged to obey the compromise - and allowed to take action against the (initial) breakers of compromise. Time is a linear progression of cycles, such as days, weeks, seasons, years, and (unfortunately) greater cataclysms (usually following events breaking the Compromise). As long as all the gods behave, the Gods' War cannot hurt us. As soon as the Compromise is broken, the Gods' War returns into History. Mutual recognition as King of the Gods and Emperor of the Universe certainly includes that proviso. Let's see: establishing the cult of Jogrampur was an insult, but no breach of the Compromise. The apotheoses of mortals like Dormal, Arkat, Errinoru or Sartar were all fully covered by the Compromise. as they upheld the order the participants of the RItual of the Net agreed upon. Zistor may have produced a lesser form of the 1621/22 Windstop. The Third Age WIndstop and the way Orlanth and Ernalda were affected was a major breach of the Compromise, another one by the Lunars. Zistor enslaving (and tapping) "Bingista the Good WInd" would have been a breach, too. Praxians summoning their Founder, Protectress and Ancestors or the Greater Spirits of Prax is not a breach of the Compromise. Even the presence of Waha in the battle against the Faceless Statue was tolerable. The Moonburn of the RIst Forest apparently was a breach of the Compromise. The battle of the Night of Horrors was a breach of the Compromise without any greater deities involved. Same can be said for the fatal battle between Yomili and Halwal at the Red Ruins. Both were a case of massive magic overload. The Dragonrise was skirting on this - the dragon awakening may just have averted another magical overload. It is fine for gods to visit Time within the prescribed ritual context, or as visitors to places like the City of Wonders or Glamour. It is not fine for the gods to show new agency beyond their agreed upon domains. Zzabur's Runic Entities with Will, choosing to lure mortals into worship and sacrifice... Worshippers are allowed to change the mask/appearance of their deities. The Bridling of Kargzant in or around 110 ST apparently was hero-driven and allowed, merging some of the entities we now are going to find described as Yelmalio in the Cults Book. Hopefully with the cult description mentioning that event. Even Lokamayadon's Tarumath might have avoided breaching the Compromise, hard to tell because that was one of the follow-ups to the Daysenerus reveal at the Battle of Night and Day that opened the way for further major entries like the Black Eater. The Lead Serpent summoned against Belintar seems to have been (just) inside the acceptable behavior of the Compromise. The Red Moon breaks the Compromise in a few ways - its Chaos component, disturbing the Middle Air without a complete take-over (aka becoming the mask of Orlanth). Had the moon been lifted up to a planetary path in the Upper Sky, less offense would have been taken. The awakening of Zistor apparently did that, yes. Which of the crimes contributed or provided the tipping point is admittedly hard to put down. Renvald manifesting Orlanth would have breached reality, too, but was enabled by the already existing breach, and acted as a countermeasure. As the result, there is a Godtime element that has Orlanth overcoming Zistor the Machine God. It seems to be a rough patch on the wounded Compromise. Look what you made me do? In a way, yes, that's what the Gloranthans appear to accept as the right way. My personal theory about the inevitability of the Gods War is a massive overproduction of Creation by the gods in the Golden Age. Umath's birth was a pressure valve opening up the enclosed Creation enough to allow some more new contributions to Creation. Ragnaglar, Malia and Thed were abusing that condition to collapse the order of the Golden and previous ages, imploding the Spike to open the Chaos Rift. (Aided by Zzabur, High King Elf, and others.) The additional entities from the Void consumed most of the Godtime World, except for a few pitiful shards and some memories, which became the material Arachne Solara constructed the Web from. (And from the now tamed Creation inherent in/consumed by Kajabor.) With the Greater Gods tied to the runes that make up the Cosmos, such a process would repeat the Implosion of the Spike, applied to a much smaller playground or stage than the previous such event. The potentially salvageable shards surviving such a deed might be too few to restart the Cosmos. There is no cookbook how to break the Compromise, and neither how to steer clear of doing so by a hair's width.

I wouldn't take that littoral...

I was especially mentioning the RQ3 character sheet. On the RQG sheet, I am willing to wager runes and passions - basically what you are. Gifts might be ok, and so are possessions and bound spirits. Knowledge may be shared, rather than wagered, and that may include most skills. Funny - my sequence of things to wager on the RQG sheet would be runes first, passions second, characteristics other than POW or CHA a distant third and skills as knowledge to be shared or leaked. Maybe in a weird gift/geas way, or after the hero establishes the heroic entity of his ability (never "skill rating in HQ). With the hero point mechanic in HQ to cement abilities, that heroic entity might be assumed, but I don't see the RQ check boxes as quite the same narratively. Basically yes - I would be willing to wager a mastery in the skill, and possibly receiving something akin to a Humakti or Yelmalian geas "Never use X". If your skill with the spear makes it into a nom-de-guerre or gets otherwise acknowledged by the people you encounter while questing, you may be able to bet it, but in HQ I would establish the availability of that ability for a wager with a roll. Bragging about stuff makes that easier. Having someone introduce you as a javelineer makes it easier, or possibly allows it without any challenge of worthiness.

That's an automatic loss of identification for the opposing quester. The quester may retain their magic but will fail their quest. Using HeroQuest 1 rules: By both sides. The RQ3 character sheet lacks categories to wager stuff other than gifts received from geases. No such detail survives contact with player actions, at least in my experience. You'll need to improvise anyway, and you need to find a "power level" you feel comfortable to run your game with.

Nice image, and yes, tubs will go alongside sandbars in tidal zones near the channels. Are the tubs that flat-bottomed that there is no list to either side? Beaches you go alongside will have a slope, which keeled vessels might lean towards while flat-bottomed vessels in an alongside position would lean away from the shore. The Annilla rhythm of the tides will ease leaving the beach, even if the weekly cycle is on the sinking trend. Beaching at the summit of the Annilla cycle may ground a vessel for days, in extreme cases for weeks, which may make masters hesitant to risk this at minor markets. Getting caught in the tidal flats threatens loss of ship outside of the Mirrorsea Bay. Wave action against beached vessels may break the structures.

Victims wrote this history... Ecological warfare, suppression of the winds, clouds of poison... harmless fun? The dwarfs don't like competition, and their grudge against the people of Malkion is old. The "rubble" is the body of the enemy... True. Zistor was no signatory of the Compromise, but breaking what keeps the world together is not good for the world. The Machine God was wrong in a number of ways, like the worshipping machines, and tapped energies going into the project. Mechanized prayer mills are a mockery of theist (and Malkioni) worship. Tapping deities is a known sin of Zzabur and the Vadeli, contributing to the worst part of the Greater Darkness. Who? (Pun intended, but does reflect lack of reference.) Interesting possible solution to the conundrum where the 10,000 dwarfs came from. Dwarf Mine probably doesn't have 10,000 dwarfs in total, let alone iron dwarfs. Greatway and Nida are the only Genertelan colonies that might field as many iron dwarfs, Slon and Curustus possibly as well. Personally, I would look towards Gemborg with Martaler below the Caladrian range rather than Isidilian for this military intervention, possibly expediting Nidan forces. Arapam's role was to loan dwarf artifacts to the army and to alert dwarfdom to the fall of the Machine God. I think of him a bit like 3CPO after the arrival of the 10k.

Given the mix and match of Gloranthan fauna through earth's deep history, why stop at marsupials? There can be other synapsids, too. I wouldn't know which taxon the Lascerdans of Dawn Age Umathela would belong to...

The mystical refutation might be just an inversion of the vector, dissipating the energy into the beyond or the absolute. Powers gained as temptations or mystical tools may require expenditure of some magical currency, or may be always on, but in that case they were probably carried in from the Other Side.

Any physical/enbodied entity or object in Glorantha has a physical body available for mundane interaction, a spirit available for animistic interaction and a body of knowledge available for sorcerous interaction. With few exceptions, it will be part of a divine manifestation or several, too, potentially owning/consisting of a set of souls. Runes are involved in all of these. Magic as per my definition is not an energy potential, but a flow of energies, a transaction. Magic energy available for casting such as personal POW or temporary stored in matrices or crystals might be closed loops of magical flow, almost like somethíng stationary. When casting a spell using MP, the caster diverts off some of their internal flow of life force into whichever shape the magical exchange takes (Battle Magic, Sorcery, boosting any kind of spell including rune magic). We aren't that far from the runic or skill augmentation rules here. Are those a form of magic? While there is no transaction of any magical currency (such as MP, rune points) there is some form of magic going on. Which sort of logically extends into skill rolls. Reducing Leonardo's inventions into convenient accumulations of crits and specials doesn't quite fit my impression. If they do, where are the creations that accumulate his failures and fumbles? And how would people (including the creator) interact with those? Does Leonardo have a trash pile with unique blunders that may activate when encountered? Do some of these escape occasionally, or get liberated by nearby tricksters?

If you take a bleeding wound while embodying your deity on a heroquest, could your blood coagulate as a living crystal?

Precedence might be available - the uz have heroquested to the moments of broken Compromise in the Battle of Night and Day to negate the Curse of Kin. Their own summoning of the Black Eater at that time was into a break of the Compromise. Similarly, Renvald Meldekbane called in Orlanth to deal with Zistor after the revelation of Zistor as a deity within Time had broken the Compromise, which means that that last episode of the Machine War may be accessible to heroquesters. But: to what end? There is a consensus that getting rid of Zistor was a good outcome. Why mess with that outcome?

The Greenstone domain would extend into Arfritha Vale and Swan Valley, which were sort of conquered by the Clearwine-based Colymar. I have been wondering about temple authority in that region for some while now, including the granary services.

The Essence Plane etc. might be more of a perception category than an otherworld you visit. A realm of knowledge and data, including spells. All magic is bringing energy from beyond the mundane plane into the mundane plane to achieve modifications of the mundane plane, or at least that's how sorcerers would see that. But sorcery may also include the application of knowledge to modify mundane reality. Skills are a form of knowledge.