Joerg

Grandfather Mortal and Triolina are named as the parents of Phargon. Malkion and Jeleka are the parents of Waertag. The Sourcebook has changed the text about the Wartain mertribe (originally published in Wyrm's Footprint, absent from the issue that discusses the Neliomi Sea and the Malkioni campaign run by Charlie Krank) from Wartain to Waertag, resulting in Waertag the Boat/Dragonship builder being the descendant of Waertag (formely Wartain) the mer-king of the Neliomi Sea. While I doubt that Wartain/Merking Waertag was one of the ten Tritons, there is some likelihood that he was at most two generations distant from the Tritons, and one more from Phargon. In the West, Malkion is the equivalent of Grandfather Mortal - ancestor of all the Castes, of all the tribes of Danmalastan, and the person to perish spectacularly in the Fifth Action. Or he is his own grandson, driven mad by witnessing the death of Grandfather, leading Chalana Arroy to the rest of the Lightbringers. The dumb point I am trying to make here is that Triolina and Phargon are awfully similar to the Ludoch (or rather Wartain niiad) wife of Malkion giving birth to Waertag. Only without the fish tail. I have also seen speculation that of the ten tritons, seven fathered the tribes that would become the Great Kindred of Mermen, while the other three were the Sea avatars of Sorcery, Theism and Animism, and that Waertag (either generation) might be the Sorcery Triton. Again, that minor issue about the fish tail...

I remember a map maker (possibly Colin Driver) remarking on the difficulty to assign forestation to areas of the map, as there are different densities and intensities (tree heights) to the definition of forest. Quite a lot of Fronela has the same kind of endless Spruce wasteland that surrounded the Alaska Highway before the lumber industry started its ongoing attempt at extinction. There are no two thoughts about whether that kind of woodland is forested or not. The arctic forest of birches and pine that I experienced in Scandinavia north of the arctic circle might be regarded as shrubland or open savannah by other standards (e.g. different climate), with few trees if any exceeding twice my height (my height being 6'6 / 2m). Herding activity, especially by goats (which are fairly common in Fronela) may suppress regrowth and create areas of quite open woodland, suitable for riding through. Other migratory herds may take advantage of such an environment, too, and the proximity of the Glacier will stunt regrowth north of the Janube outside of intensive elf-activity. Animal habitation depends on the type of forest. If it some more of the spruce wasteland or northern Siberian taiga, biodiversity will be fairly poor. If it is somewhat more open subarctic pine and birch forest, the wetlands in between above the permafrost may provide lush biodiversity in summer, and offer areas where lichen can grow for delectation by the reindeer/caribou and possibly other modern and pleistocenic macrofauna of the arctic, such as musk oxen, non-Praxian bison, woolly rhino, ground sloths, mammoths or mastodons, and possibly wild or feral equines. Otherwise, think the Ice Age animated flicks. This would be migratory hunting lands for most adjacent populations of hunters, whether Rathori, Borklak's Dark Trolls, snow trolls, Eolians or Char-un. During the Ice Age and post-Ice Age period of the Gods War, the reindeer people east of the Oslir had a pretty gruesome notoriety, hunting other humans for food (if not for themselves, then for their herds, as reindeer are pretty omnivorous and used to high protein diet - there have been arctic expeditions feeding their reindeer with dried cod). I wonder whether the people of Thrice Blessed are descended from these charming folk. If so, even the trolls might wish to tread carefully. East of the gulf were the northern reaches of Genert's Garden, with its own extra fertility that may have been lesser in the western part of the continent, which also was a lot closer to the core lands of Valind. I haven't read the Fronela book (probably wasn't part of the bundles offered to me when the Mongoose license was running out), but I would expect that it focussed on the God Learners vs. Traditionalists struggle. All coming from Greg, as far as I can tell, with the possible exception of the troll presence in Troll Pak which may have been a collaboration with Sandy Petersen. Snodal's Saga seems to be the main source for the struggle against the White Bear Empire, which appears to be a Third Age, post-God Learner development. Possibly some call-back to the unity the beast totem people had shown in the events around the Battle of Eleven Beasts (substract the Praxian mercenaries' beasts to arrive at the Fronelan count). I take this Waertagi text to be part of the post-Flood era activity when the inland seas receded or were evaporated by Storm Gods and other land-based foes. That sounds like a description of the Flood that led to Anaxial's Ark and other such shenanigans like the Thrinbarri battles, or the Trembling Shore. A reduced Greatwood is shown to have persisted during the Flood. I am not actually sure about that. There would have been rivers reaching inward from the Neliomi Sea, but none at that scale anywhere else on the Neliomi shore - half of Arolanit (a coastal land) drains into the Nidan river, which empties into the south. And then continued to push onwards as the Poral and Listor and finally the Oronin rivers. But alreade the implosion of Mt. Ladaral that led to the creation of the Brass Citadel was a combined action of the Brithini with the Waertagi and the Neliomi waters. The Janube Sea invasion during the Flood may have been based on the use of Tidal Wave or its offspring by the Waertagi.

The Manthi (or Manthie) are the offspring of Manthe (or Manthi) and Natea, and their sibling Magasta. Lorion is one of the most prominent first generation offspring or Manthi and Natea. Descended from Daliath and Framanthe, Mind and Soul of the Waters. The Sea Kings (or Queens) would take the asociated bodies of water (offspring of Sramake and Daliath) as wives/husbands, giving birth to the currents of the Seas and the primal rivers (other than the Styx). The Gnydron ancestress (then ancestor) Janelosp was one of the Niiads descended from Mirintha and Phargon, children of Triolina - Mirintha with Nelat, Phargon with Grandfather Mortal. Descended from Sramak and Framanthe, Body and Soul of the Waters.

Sorcery spells overcome their targets' POW with their own magic points rather than the POW of the sorcerer. This means they act as self-contained magical creations rather than as extensions of the sorcerer's aura. Unless active, they have a temporary existence independent of the sorcerer, and will persist even if the sorcerer dies, until their duration component runs out or their substance is dispelled. A Neutralize Magic with shorter duration than the spell itself will only temporarily negate its effects, and possibly only in a limited area/volume. A sorcery spell has Visibility, which makes any discorporate entity embodied for purposes of being eligible to be attacked in the Middle World. A discorporate entity in the Middle World has to assume Visibility to interact with an embodied entity, e.g. initiating Spirit Combat. A Visible spirit may be attacked with magical weapons as spirit combat action.

Real world flints are opal (silicaceous algae shell fragments) sedimented and then compacted into a mineral glass. With the Manthi being sea deities, they may have some form of organ containing material which can sediment or remain as dry residue if they die on dry land. Such residue might compact to flint under sufficient stress - possibly exposure to lightning or thunderbolts. One fun way would be to find them in Godtime, Flood Age, on the Trembling Shore while Worcha approaches again and again, its impact causing earlier defeated attacks and loss of substance to aggregate as flints. That would explain how such artifacts exist in the region where Harmast lived.

In a related sense, can sorcery spells (which are temporary entities possessing MP) be attacked in spirit combat?

Way too broad, IMO. Control <Entity> is a spell useful first and foremost for shamans and people with access to Discorporation, since only those have the ability to reliably beat down a spirit to zero MP in spirit combat. Embodied characters cannot do anything against a spirit breaking off spirit combat when things don't run its way. The only other use is to cast Control <Entity> on an entity bound in a matrix or a crystal, to keep giving it commands within the duration of the spell, including the command to return to the binding object. Ghost is an applicable term for entity, as are Disease Spirit or Healing Spirit. Landscape spirits sounds rather broad, too. Even "nymphs" would be too unspecific, IMO - there shouldn't be a spell that works as well on a naiad as on an oread or a dryad. Even if you (or your minion spirits) have to pummel her unconscious in spirit combat. Guardian spirit is a job rather than a type. Not applicable, IMO. Wyter is a job rather than a spirit type, too.

Many Hrestoli sects do, and the Ty Kora Tek cult talks about taking care of souls until their reincarnation, too. Ancestor worshippers include the Mani clan of Old Pavis, whose founder reincarnates every few generations. That's a bit more troublesome, and it is where the five-partite soul (or six, or seven) may come into play. Plus, Daka Fal worship contacts a deceased person's spirit rather than the soul. A perfect re-incarnation like Mani of Mani Tor would require all parts of the ancestor to come together as one. IMO that's the absolute exception. Then there is the possibility that the soul portion tied to your deity (e.g. Storm for Orlanth) remains with the deity, and may have neither the desire nor the need to be reincarnated. That wouldn't prevent the spirit of that ancestor from responding to a Daka Fal ritual, though. If a spirit is reincarnated, I would remove it from the spirits available to the Daka Fal rites. Once that spirit's body dies again, the ancestor might be available to the original Daka Fal lineage as well as to his newer family (which may quite likely be a different one).

That's sort of a given, if you look at the River Horse spirit in the Bestiary (p.184f) or in Nomad Gods rules pdf (p.42). All the oases are connected to the Heart of the Seas much as the headwaters of the rivers are, and we know that all rivers have their deities/spirits as a whole and lesser ones for sub-sections (like Kinope for the part of the Zola Fel going through Sun County in Prax). The local oasis folk are permanent worshippers of that water entity, and the temporarily resident nomads will offer worship and sacrifice, too. Especially if they want to access separate water holes in the same catchment area, too. Not sure whether the local cult will have much of a rune master, at least not among the humans. There might be a local awakened animal or some other creature with more affinity to water acting as the Godtalker and leading the worship. Newtlings may serve in that role, for instance, but intelligent fish or crawfish might as well..

The latest information was from ImpCon4 a few weeks ago, where I think it was in the final text edit and art commission stage, before layout, with a possible but definitely not definite release date in late 22. That would be about 5 years between start of the project being announced and pdf release for a sourcebook (or a set of two sourcebooks?). There are other projects like the new Troll Pack or the Nochet/Esrolia one which have been just beyond the horizon for longer.

Note that "Ancestor" can and will include the childless brother/sister of a direct ancestor, and entire side lineages if included in the family rites. Otherwise people who died heroically before leaving offspring are still included in the ancestor worship. An ancestor roll-call may be a long litany of names, similar to a list of supporters in a kickstarted product (like e.g. the Guide to Glorantha). And outside the bloodline praxis of Daka Fal, the clan praxis will include kin by clan membership, too. Making Hofstaring a potential ancestor in the clan sense for most Culbrea.

Seriously, a sorcerer about to cast a spell is hardly armed in a way recognizable to a fighter, but still counts as a valid target for violence. So does a Morokanth able to do flying kicks that will dent your body as badly as a troll maul. Or a wrestler able and ready to do a full nelson on you or a friend of yours. There is always Onslaught, the over the top Humakt character created by Martin Laurie, a death-crazed killer without much use for truth except in the term "true death".

Welcome back, Jose! I still have very fond memories of that play-by-email game in Kustria. I had no idea that it was you hiding behind those letters.

Is that truly the case? The "mining" of the transaction does create crypto-currency, agreed, as they piggy-back on Ethereum. A couple of "miners" spend resources (and waste energy) for one of them to be rewarded by a virtual token that probably will be traded. Does the purchase, though? I cannot see any indication that you need Ethereum to waste your money on such a certificate. Not that I am even considering to make "in-app purchases" for an ostentation app I wouldn't use, but as far as I can see, VeVe uses an "in-app currency" like many online games, converting dollars to donuts or whatever they are called. There is no call to buy Etherium or any other such collectible pseudo-currency. Money-laundering can be done with any kind of transaction. Transferable in-app currency for a 3D-representation of something like a book you cannot (virtually) open and read, or a statuette of a made-up entity, is no different from purchasing some non-standard appearance for a virtual entity in a multi-player game. Pretty pointless from a materialist point of view, a rush of oxytocin for people who feel good from ostentation. Greenwashing aside, a certain energy expenditure for feeling good is accepted practice in our society, and if enough people do a thing it becomes culture. I don't have to agree that e.g. House music or the success of a soccer team is a cultural achievement, as long as enough other people see value in that, that value exists. Enjoyment of any kind will. Most enjoyment will use up resources that would sensibly go elsewhere, like this forum.

A wyter is a manifest spirit holding the spiritual energy of a collective. One of the IMO earliest such expression in Gloranthan publication were the Protectresses in Nomad Gods, the collective magical power of the herd beasts of one type manifesting as (daughters of) Eiritha in a shape that has the beast body and the eater head of the tribe. Though this seems to be a consequence of Waha's Covenant which defined the respective roles of the two-legs and four-legs of each tribe, without any definition of who would be the protector and who would be the protected in the Golden Age (and mainly Storm Age) bliss of pre-Earthfall Genert's Garden/Tada's Kingdom with its savannah and abundant fruit trees. The earlier fore-runners of wyters were the magical regiments' detachable spirits, with discoporate magicians using mystical methods to attack over vast distances. David Gemmel's Drenai novels have a similar concept both with the suicidal Temple of the Thirty and with the horse nomad shamans. Both the Kingdom of Sartar as a whole and the cities founded by Sartar and his local co-founders (like Wilms and Hauberk Jon) had wyters before the founders took on that role. In case of the Kingdom, we know that Sartar undertook a Westfaring to provide the wyter for the Quivini.

Zola Fel driftwood arriving with the spring floodings may be specifically collected by the Sun County equivalent of stickpickers, to be delivered as their tithes (and entitling them to partake of the food sacrifices of the temples). There might be a trading agreement with the caretakers of the Torch in Redwood, possibly with a permanent (regularly exchanged) contingent of Sun County templars guarding that site in exchange for rafts of deadwood broken off in the winter storms. I don't suppose that the Redwood elves allow logging rights to any other race but the Elder Giants, at least not of their signature redwoods. Other "undergrowth" or edge vegetation like regular pines might be granted as lumber to the river folk. There is a possibility of charcoal expeditions from Sun County and Pavis to the Boathouse region in winter. The bogs might have areas where peat could be harvested, as fuel for regular fires (say cooking). There may also be dead tree trunks in the bogs which might be dug up and dried before being used as fuel or even as building material - I would expect the bogs to have mitigated Oakfed's rage that turned the Praxian savannah into a steppe. There might be coppicing near the bogs, both for spear shafts and fuel, and there might be migratory coppicing near the Boathouse region.

Griffin Mountain was ported into Glorantha, and in the elf and dwarf stats and descriptions it shows, IMO. That doesn't take anything away from it being one of the most inspiring examples of wilderness sandbox adventuring, one with deeply Gloranthan flavour. Rockheart as king of the Greatway Dwarves - no way. The dwarves show little if any caste-specifics. They might be purpose-created human interface automatons, or possibly drones remote-controlled by teams from several castes. They might carry the curse of the Trickster. They might be humans transformed into dwarf bodies. IMG I would replace the game data and much of the descriptions with somewhat more orthodox openhandists and individualists, a surface team of mainly iron mostali with a silver caste magician, a beast tamer/automaton driver, possibly a few Jolanti, a food processor, led by a gold mostali with two more gold assistants, and accompanied by a small host of nilmergs (possibly resting in a small hive carried by an extremely limited Jolanti bearer). The Griffin rider would become a gold dwarf alongside Rockheart, a communicator so dedicated to his task that he joins the solar creatures in flight. My clay mostali remain closer to their castes even if they are broken. IMG Strongbark would become a borderline psychotic aldryami, kept away from the home forest to interact with the other inhabitants of the region, a task he seems to be well suited for, and his band are similar. Almost of them are purpose-pruned Other Race interface specimen, although I probably would re-design one or two of his band to be a lot more tree-like, miniature ents. At first reaction, player characters should take them to be some different form of forest creature.

What changed aren't necessarily the animals, what changed are the humans. The Hsunchen still are able to talk to and understand their totemic beasts, and to some extent their prey and their predators, too. It is by engaging in agriculture and non-Hsunchen forms of pastoralism that the humans lost that ability. This can be seen as a loss of innocence. Intelligence in the RuneQuest sense may be a thing similar to illumination, an acquisition that cannot be undone (other than by the ritual applicable to the Praxian covenant and divine intervention or similar).

Other planetary bodies associated with female deities have been called moons, too, despite moving on the Sunpath or the Southpath. Artia the Bat, Uleria (=Mastakos). And Entekos=Dendara=Moskalf.

Bearwaker: could be a chaotically blessed Rathori who arrived on a Wolf Pirate ship (massively present in the region since 1605, but may have scouted and possibly experienced a mishap earlier).

In our mundane world, excellent aeration, and use of dry fuel (including the corpse) to avoid steam formation as much as possible. In magical Glorantha, purification magic attracting all soot. Thunder Rebels mentions at least half a dozen lowfire husbands of Ernalda's handmaidens, including the funerary fire, Torabran.

The Lunars have that practical institution called "vexillum" where they gather portions of various units into a single unit. I would imagine that they would create vexilla for this kind of duty, too, including: Some of the worst troublemakers or shirkers of each regiment people loyal to a rival a bunch of people near the end of their term of service (avoiding pension payments) recruits without much promise The regiment in WF 15 actually was only 500 nominal strength, as it was a cavalry unit.

Between the two hardcover rulle books and the Bestiary, the GW version has the same text as books 1 to 4 of the AH DeLuxe box, as far as I remember from my attempts to translate the material back in the late eighties. The sequence of the texts was different.

The oasis folk are the survivors of the Tada-Shi, the main inhabitants of Old Prax and Genert's Garden. I see them as horticulturists, with access to odd plant spirits/deities. Most oases have a mix of common crops (date palms for instance) and a special crop or three only available at that oasis.

I would guess that the Snake Pipe preceded the collapse of the region. There was a city nearby where Korang the Slayer had herded all his captives, which was drowned along the enemy by Sky River Titan's blood. That could mean that the ruins of the city are beneath Skyfall Lake. There was no Skyfall, but there was something for Hard Earth to work with to capture the iron spear of Korang the Slayer. According to King of Sartar, the peaks of Cliffhome are the remains of the Earth God. (However, Conquest Peak is one of the peaks making up Aedin's Wall, so at least that peak must have pre-existed.) The Hollow is a good distance away from the battle site, but it might be the place where Hard Earth gathered the substance he trapped the evil spear in.