Joerg

While I think that both sides' magicians in the Night of Horrors would not shy away from sending Chaos against their enemies, my own interpretation of the event was that the spectacular over-use of magic on both sides caused reality to collapse and offer access to things not of this world. A similar thing occurred in the (final) battle between Yomili and Halwal in the Tanier Valley.

Asking Google, I note that Harald and I had a very similar exchange already a bit over six years ago on the Glorantha forums that made it to the Well of Daliath. (And while that project led at least to a German language publication, I still need to prepare it for the English language audience...) I dropped the Fish Road option from that pilgrimage scenario in part because of lack of information. @Hyperlexic's "Lore of Glorantha" page on tumblr sums the available information beautifully. Based on the (much more detailed) descriptions of the dry place termini of the Fish Roads in Nochet, Seapolis and the City of Wonders, I see no evidence of such physical intrusion of the Seas onto the shared dry land places, and I guess as above, so below. For a water breather, entering the Fish Roads is similar to a land dweller entering an Issaries/Etyries market - while there is a threshold, it doesn't offer any physical resistance, only a transition from one set of magical rules to another. (And maybe there are more things in common to the Fish Roads, or at least there may have been such when Belintar was still alive/reincarnating, like certain crimes against rules that lead to magical consequences, e.g. hurting a Ludoch swimming through the air at Seapolis or Nochet.) The "As Above So Below" principle might also be applied to the dry land / air volume made available to the merfolk by this magic. While the Wonder Transfer at the City of Wonders (beneath it, which indicates that the Choralinthor Bay extends under Loon Island) and the termini at Nochet and Seapolis allow merfolk to enter the air it would be a far greater gift to them if they could swim into the Fish Roads to breathe without leaving the water. If that is the case, the Fish Roads would be full of resting Ludoch and other air-dependent merfolk (like Ysabbau, the merfolk closest to them after the Ludoch, and imagine what that would mean). But then, Ludoch or other air-dependent merfolk don't appear to need to surface while swimming through the air, even though they are magically surrounded by water. I would like to think that the entire airspace above Loon Island is accessible to Sea Entities without experiencing adverse effects. If only to have giant sea monsters flying around the towers of that city while it stil was visibly there. And if the Transfer was far enough below, the Fish Roads passing through Loon Island might not have been blocked by the disappearance of the City of Wonders, although any dry land approach might now be useless. Air access might still work. I note that in order to make the transfer, a sea dweller has to swim into a Fish Road volume and then approach the transfer from within the fish road. Theoretically, a land dweller strong enough in the Water rune could do that, too, and then swim through the air, but he might have to hold his breath or have magic to breathe water. But let's suppose that there are rites that allow entities to enter or leave at other places than the main ones mentioned in the Guide. E.g. in Deeper where the Fish Roads connect to the Diendimos grottos. I doubt that open boats can work in fish roads, unless used upside down and pulled below without going through a transfer. The difference between the air inside and the water outside disappears, so why should the water push up the intruding element if that is replaced by its own element? Buoys pulled down that way should work, and might replace wagons, or at least the need for wheels. Fish Road dirigibles pulled by domesticated beasts or by people of either element. Land-based beasts of burden or domestic beasts, e.g. on the way to the markets of the City of Wonders, should be (or have been) able to enter the roads through the transfers. Getting them to stay calm during transfer may have required a similar amount of skill as leading beast onto a clear patch of ice on a deep body of water.

Fish Roads and their termini on dry land are areas with magically altered rules. There are Gloranthan precedents for such places to have a hazy border region, sometimes tinted (lkie the Glowline), sometimes just a discontinuity in light as with the Issaries Market spell or its cousin Warding. Other than their existence being announced in the Guide to Glorantha (a map, and mentioned for the dry land termini of Backford, City of Wonders, Nochet, and Seapolis), I know of no canonical information on these. Which means I get to make stuff up. I am currently investigating how these magical roads might work, and have arrived at an unofficial concept of the roads being marked by underwater buoys turning these roads into something like an alley, perhaps with a canopy of additional buoys overhead suspended between the buoys on the side. How gradual would be the rim effect of the Fish Roads? And how do visiting sea creatures visiting Nochet, Seapolis or the City of Wonders (before 1616) know how far they can swim before falling out of thin air? And what about additional termini? Watch this space.

A well curated luxury edition in real leather (or a vegan substitute of similar haptic and status) with commentary and comparison to how the canon in the Guide to Glorantha came to be would be appreciated, too. (It's my birthday, so I am entitled to make a wish...)

That Antigod could have been Sshorg, drowning most of the Vithelan civilization during the Flood Age. But then, the Veldang peoples only arrived on Glorantha after Orlanth had slain Yelm, as their ancestress Veldara was born in Hell, to Dead Emperor Sun and the younger twin sister of Umath. Before the Great Darkness, though, but that feat with the Red Sword uplifting the land needs to be in this conflict, too. The Zaranistangi claim descent from Emilla, the planet goddess for the body known as Mastakos by the Orlanthi and Uleria by the Dara Happans, with traits of both these deities, and they helped Artmal and/or a successor emperor against the Storm Invaders and obtained Tolat's sword and blessings from that. But then the flood and the pastoralist expansions may have taken some time, or we have a case of cycles crossing from later into earlier ages. For there to be a Artmali Empire to be overrun by the Storm pastoralists descending from the slopes of the Spike, the Sun Emperor must be dead in Hell, and the Good Wife must have voluntarily followed, turning black in the process. And for Artmal to be fathered by Lorion (later known as Sky River Titan, worshipped by the Orlanthi as Engizi) the rnvasion of the Sky turning the golden mirror put in place by vain Brightface blue, Lorion must have been ascending, accompanied by the Blue Moon. But then we have Annilla morning for her unnamed Elder Giant husband, and bearing his dead child to turn its body into the Blue Moon, in the Troll Gods composite myth. All of that could have happened with Yelm in the Sky, after the dismemberment of Umath. Both the God Learners and Greg Stafford had their troubles aligning the Veldang Godtime experiences with the Monomyth. There are Loper People ruins in western Teshnos which I assume to have been of more recent date - the early and middle Second Age - but Melib has blue-skinned folk of mixed ancetry, and major temple cities.

Heroquesters collect stakes of communities that support them, and the communities' investments may backfire significantly even when the questers are successful. If your community leaders are the questers, they are likely to bring in the community resources they control, wagering much if not all of the wel-being of the community for that quest. (But then, community leaders may decide to go all in on some third party heroquesters, like lending the Black Spear to some local troubleshooters...)

Rice is endemic to many civilized places, and you don't get much more civilized than Govmeranen's Empire. The Vithelans dealt with the first coming of Sshorg (in what the rest of the world called the Golden Age, shortly after the birth of Umath) and may have started irrigation after the Togaro invasion that sent the keets quacking. Kralorela got rice under Emperor Shavaya (Miyo is said to be his daughter), after Metsyla/Osdero was drowned in the Flood that also hit Dara Happa and made Kerofinela an island in a valley of seas. This was roughly the arrival date of the Tolat-worshipping Zaranistangi king who found such an inspired use for his copy of the Red Sword, keeping Melib above the surface. Lowland Melib has Annilla as goddess of rice (or possibly as goddess of irrigation/drainage, tying in with her tidal powers). I had the impression that mainland Teshnos only came under Zaranistangi rule with the Loper People expansion, within History, possibly only in the early Second Age. The Loper King somehow made it to Ralios and fought the Seshnegi during their conquest of the Autarchy, possibly as an ally or mercenary of the Autarchy. After Paslac's fall, the roamed eastern Safelster and Slontos, where the (or a) Red Sword was lost and obtained by a Jrusteli adventurer who used it to become king of Melib.

One and the same, really. Plenty of gods go by a myriad of names, and the go-to name (the one you use first) may vary with the shrine you visit. Each name will have slightly different stories, preferences, possibly offer a different special rune spell alongside the typical array.

How long would those copies remain uneaten, though?

Jonatela has that monastic Seshnegi order of sorcerers transplaneted by Jonat who will have brought the Makanist scripture.

Accumulating insanity might be one consequence, but many more substances inducing near-death-experiences (a perfectly valid alternative term for "Discorporation") attack the health of the practitioner, or end their lives. Like certain famous pop stars...

Teshnos is rice country, as is Melib, where Annilla has a rice goddess aspect. I suppose that plantains take the nutritional role of potatoes in the upland parts of much of Teshnos, and I could see the amazons of Trowjang cultivating manioc, and possibly sago. But then I am not that keen to bring those highland tubers into either my kitchen or my Glorantha. Your Gourmantha May Vary.

Attempts to forge the Block into a chain for commercial purposes were met with extreme resistance by the resident Storm Bull cult. None of the initial engineers returned.

Not since Talor's curse. You need to arrange for the least disadvantageous suvival of a day and a night out of control, as a monster that won't be affected by ordinary metal weapons (but would by magic, natural weapons, falls, drowning etc.). If you see going on a mindless rampage as an advantage, your Glorantha differs a lot from mine. Your approach is similar to taking a tax for developing a disability. With one major exception - the Telmori bodyguards for the House of Sartar, stationed in Boldhome, or accompanying the individuals under their care. Salinarg and the daughters of Terasarin married their Telmori bodyguards.

You might find some of them on the market of Casino Town or Nochet, but would I think that a lot of the special magical items were architectural in nature, nothing you can grab and carry off to a penteconter. A successful raid on the City of Wonders would carry away a tower or something, like that piece of red coral from Bambara Maunde that ended up as the core of a city elsewhere in inland Fonrit. But then, maybe there is a former architectural feature of the City of Wonders now overlooking a part of Skullport? If not from the 1616 raid, then maybe from the 1624 one, after Harrek learned about that Fonritian heist? (Note to self: write that up as a scenario.)

You can read monthly collections on the Well of Daliath, or weekly annotated ones in the Journal of Runic Studies, a newsletter put together mostly by Ludovic from the God Learners podcast. Going to the source will offer some glimplse at the discussions, though, where Jeff will elaborate certain points.

Sorry, but this is nonsense. You might as well charge a cave troll or a walktapus rune points for "Heal Body" and "Regrow Limb" for their regeneration abilities. Throw in a "Resurrection" in case of Walktapi torn apart. And I repeat: Talor did not bestow the magical nature of the Wolf-shape state. Yes, a significant portion of the Telmori received a blessing from Nysalor as they fought on the frontlines against that incessantly irritating Arkat and his ever-shifting alliances. As a result, Arkat (and his Orlanthi allies) took the war to the Telmori, and made an example of their ancestral temple city, scattering both the Pure Ones (who had not received that blessing) and the Blessed Ones. But he did not destroy all of them, and when Harmast brought back Talor in the last year(s) of the Gbaji Wars, Talor and his relief force for Arkat was sufficiently beset by the remaining Blessed Telmori that he worked up a curse after the guarantor of the Blessing had passed away. Talor exposed the Blessing for what it was, a chaotic feature, and apparently stripped away the protection that Nysalor and his Enlightenment had shielded the Blessed Ones from the raw violent anger that chaotic source instilled. Talor could not take away the invulnerability, but he managed to take away the control to shapeshift at will, and he took away any conscious control over the Wolf form when the transformation would creep on them on Wilddays. (Interestingly enough, the Fronelan and Ralian Telmori experience Wildday as a day of half or crescent moon...)

Guided Teleport is a 3 point rone spell. It is usually connected to a hilltop shrine or temple of Orlanth or Mastakos or one of the sites where Orlanth performed one of his feats, one that the caster has visited before and had the leisure to do the week-long rite. (The Luathan shore or the Gates of Dusk would count as memorable sites in Orlanth's myths, but getting a week long ritual done there might be tricky.) The Cult Compendium restricts the use of Guided Teleport to priests. Priests who need to maintain a POW of 18, so they would have to have learned this 3 point spell (twice, under those rules) while having a POW of 21 as it isn't taught to non-priests. Under RQ3, I assumed that you would have to sacrifice for the spell at the target temple, which happens to be a week long ritual, but one that costs 3 POW under those rules. Under RQG rules, you would only need two pre-existing rune points and invest one POW on Guided teleport. The Red Book of Magic is a bit unclear whether you can have more than one such site - this is very much an emergency spell, and you don't really want to call up the context menu when activating your escape hatch. But let's assume that your courier teleporter has a few such sites, with easily electable identifiers (say, tattoos) so he can offer a good selection of destinations. Let's be generous and give the character six or more rune points. This would enable him to do a return trip once per season, taking along all the equipment he carries. Let's be generous and overload him slightly. He could carry a sizable amount of coins, or some other high value cargo like refined hazia or a bale of quality silk. He cannot carry a passengerr beyond a small animal holding his allied spirit. An alynx might be able to hold on on its own if he wears suitable armor like linothorax. Our teleporter may carry messages - written, embroidered in his clothing or that bale of silk, small meaningful tokens, or memorized text, ideally in mnenonics like skaldic staves or a catchy tune. Zipping around the world might be temple business. Our traveler might be just a God Talker, with fewer duties to his community, and retaining 50% of any profits from that journey for himself with only half of the proceeds going to the temple. And he conveniently arrives at a place where he could hold a worship rite to regain those rune points,provided he can assemble enough of a congregation and acquire the sacrifices. But then, if you want distant target locations, your God Talker would have to have traveled there on temple business and time, or forfeit one or two seasons of income. The journey back only takes an instant, but stlll... And this is a major investment by the community supporting the God-Talker. Those are six rune points unavailable for the community's well-being.

There are no Pure Ones east of the Tobros Mountains. None in Dragon Pass, which is why they aren't mentioned in the Bestiary.

That myth also names Vadrus, and puts him into the pit filled with the seas, which he churns up. Do you have a source for that myth?

Hon-eel's (re-) introduction of maize shows that crops can be transplanted and added with the appropriate rites. The re-introduction of Clearwine to the Stream area by the Colymar is a similar feat.

If you look at the RQ2 description of were-creatures, their changes are described as chaotic or innate and not based on rune magic. The Wildday transformation would not require any rune points. Alternatively, spending the Wilddays in beast shape doing beast things should count as worship WRT regaining any rune points involved in that change. That contradicts the statement that the Telmori use rune points to initiate shape-change on days other than Wildday in the Bestiary. The Bestiary also implies that no such change is possible on days of the Dead or Dying Moon (in Dragon Pass). While that is congruent with the Lunar combat factor in the Dragon Pass board game, those Wolf Runners aren't Telmori but users of magically flensed werewolf hides. Mini-Harreks. The gift of being able to change at will came from Nysalor. Talor did not bestow the gift, he only marred it by taking away agency and control. No rune points for innate abiities powered by Chaos, whether it is cave troll regeneration or Telmori shape-shifting on Wilddays. I'll be interested to see the were-tigers of Pavis County in RQG treatment. There is the weekly tidal cycle of Magasta's Pool and all connected seas rising and falling, also observable at Moonbroth. This might have to do with the Chaos Rift inside the Maelstrom pulsating? If so, then Wildday would be the high mark of the tides without any Annilla effects, when the Chaos energies are strongest..

If there was such a device in all Arkati strongholds, the God Learners would have taken over at least a few of these when they conquered the Stygian Autarchy, and then copied and ruthlessly applied them. It doesn't look to me like anything like that happened. The Big Rubble survivors were in a similar situation, with swarming trolls having overcome the city's defenses, and then sealing off the world outside for anybody but trolls. They managed to survive for centuries in a postapocalyptic permanent state of siege. I can see an argument for some Dorastan Feldichi technology having been used to create the portal. Middle Sea Empire talks about a book that showed images of otherworlds, with some potential to reach across, as one of the ways the Jrusteli learned to copy Arkati heroquesting, and to expand on that. I suppose it might be possible to have similar magic in a wall painting. But on the whole I am very sceptical of making such a device a fairly standard Arkati magic.

I wonder whether Pure and Cursed Telmori can coexist, and whether they interbreed. The wolf companions of cursed Telmori survive the Wildday rages just fine, and it doesn't look like the four-legged Telmori gained any powers from Nysalor, which means the curse would not affect them.

That's an Arkati secret. If you find out without being a member of their secret cult, they regrettably will have to kill you. If your status in the cult isn't sufficient, they might have to kill you - but being pragmatic, that might mean they'll let you volunteer for jobs with high probabilities of lethal consequences. If you survive anyway, you may have proven your worth sufficiently that you might be cleared for that level of secret. Rereading the description of Urvantan's Tower, what makes you think there is a gate like this in Arkat's Hold? There is one other such gate that comes to mind - Kyrmon's Gate, in distant Fronela. The source or prison for a couple of unpleasant and potentially chaotic entities banished from the Surface World. The tower itself is said to date back to the Golden Age, when there wasn't really any Hero Plane to connect to (although there were other Cycles that may have been adjacent to this station). There were the God World and the Spirit World, and a fairly abstract Essence world, if you haven't cancelled the Three Different Otherworlds subscription completely, so maybe this is a short cut into something resembling the Essence World, a place where sorcery may manifest. Another possibility would be a tie-in to the non-space used by the Dragonewt Roads. The Smoking Ruins are pretty far away from the road connecting Ghosts Around to Dragon's Eye and Contemplative Rest, but the entire pass region is full of draconic energies, and the Green Dragon resting place in the Skyreach Mountains lies further that way. But then, that dragon took to that place only around the time Sartar entered Dragon Pass. But then, a dragon would know where to look for draconic energy. The description suggests that the gate was added by the Bright Empire or the Arkati. Illumination appears to play a role in this tinkering with the Other Side. If you want a Stargate system or an equivalent of the Ways in Wheel of Time for your Glorantha, you may need to lift quite heavily to make it fit. There are magical roads - the dragonewt plinths for instance. There are heroquest roads or vehicles, like Ronance's chariot (for a practical application, read Nick Brooke's Black Spear) or the Skybull Quest used by Redbird and his companions, starting at Cliffhome and emerging at Stormwalk Mountain. These are rare, and not commonly used. The Underworld has chaos-infested regions. The Chaosium is located deep down in the Underworld, in a timeless place or state, a source of Raw Creation, and even though much of that gets turned into tangible reality, there is always some element defying the rules imposed by Creation. IMG this is the source for the PreDark mentioned in the Umath myth, the source of Jokbazi, the Chaos antagonist overcome by Yelm Brightface on his ascension as Emperor of the World, and of Krarsht in the role of the squirming thing stamped on by Larnste or wrestled by Lodril. The rift in the center of the world reached down all the way into the Underworld, too. The "basement" of the Cosmic Mountain was extensive, and while the Waters of the World now swirl around that rift, keeping it contained in perpetual movement. As a rule, water is an environment hostile to Chaos. The hellspawn of Varchulanga and Drospoli might be the frontline fighters against Chaos deep down in the Underworld. But a single body of water may not be strong enough to sear away all the Chaos it has to deal with. Sounder's River, redirected by the Good Canal to the Block, does a hell of a job, but Chaos still seeps through, and Gorp and Dragonsnails and Bullsitch inhabit the Devil's Marsh. Stagnant water as in marshes has lost a lot of its chaos-fighting abilities. That explains other chaos-ridden wetlands, such as the Dilis Swamp or the Krjalki Bog. For running water to carry a chaotic pollution downstream we have the Erinflarth in Dorastor, which does get a near miraculous decontamination before entering Talastar, and the River of the Damned. The Fish Road continues there from the Backford temple, and probably goes all the way into the Underworld. Probably a less secure road than the one continuing from Deeper down Magasta's Pool.