Joerg

Modern Germanic customs differ strongly by larger geographic region e.g. when it comes to consumption of alcohol. Central Europe differs from Northern Europe as well as from the British Isles. And the various German-speaking parts differ between themselves in that regard, too. The Suebes apparently had their very own, quite variant customs compared to other Germanic-speaking tribes in their neighborhood, at least according to Gaius Julius. OTOH the Suebe Ariovist was able to insert himself as a king of kings in Gaul, which means that some of his customs were sufficiently congruent with those of the Gauls to be accepted. But then he had a native wife and a powerful military. The typical suebic hairdo was found in non-suebic burials on mare suebicum (aka the Baltic Sea), too. Possibly with local variations? To recognize such variations takes quite an immersion in the specific customs. Other Germanic groups had different coiffure, e.g. the Langobards (long-beards) who would wear their long hair open, in the same Woden-style that Rimbert ridicules the Meroving royals for. For central and most of western Genertela, there seems to be a lowest common denomination - Theyalan customs - which would be shared west of Genert's Wastes, and various specializations - e.g. Heortling from non-Heortling, southern Heortling from northern Heortling/Sairdite, Sartarite from Vendref, Sun Domer, or Esrolian (all of these southern), etc. Theyalan customs would be or entail a bare minimum of behavioral rules for all species on and under the Unity Council to initiate and maintain peaceful encounters with one another, although the Bright Empire which inherited from the World Council of Friends and the Second Council introduced Pelorian lowlander components which grated upon many of the earlier adopters. Issaries and Argan Argar both rely on these basic Theyalan customs to go after their trade, and Etyries quite likely inherited from Issaries. To handle related customs in a way similar to how related languages are handled sounds like a good idea to me. The practical problem there is to define the similarities and difficulties between customs, though. One way to approach this might be neighborhood - even if you don't like them, you will probably know a few basics about your neighbors, if only to be able to insult them. Shared religions, similar languages or shared overlords will increase the similarities, different ancestors and hostile historial interaction may decrease them somewhat (but even hostile interaction is better than none). Add a big dose of handwavium.

IMG practically everybody is a lay worshipper of Daka Fal. People have and revere ancestors, whether they have a cultic initiation or not. Initiating to Daka Fal is a much rarer beast among the Orlanthi. Going this way excludes a person from initiating into one of the major cults, although (probably temporary) membership in spirit cults and possibly city cults or regimental cults may be tolerated. In RQG Daka Fal is the easy access to the common divine rune spells of the Celestial Court (or of Hantrafal's devising?) for animist characters. Away from those rules, an Orlanthi (culture member) receiving their main personal spiritual guidance from the ancestors rather than from any specific deity still is pretty mainstream. Such a person will attend and participate in the public sacrifices - who is going to miss a feast, after all? Becoming a shaman is the rune level option for an initiate of Daka Fal. It is not required, however. Being a shaman doesn't necessarily prevent a person from achieving greatness as warrior or ruler - King Heort managed to do both while being a shaman. Something like that would have been hard or impossible under RQ3 rules (which imposed hard limits on non-shamanic abilities) but has eased up with RQG (which instead has taboos inflicted on the shaman). Shamans are rare among the Orlanhti, but so are rune level theists. Holy people of Daka Fal are probably comparatively well integrated into Orlanthi village life, unlike Kolati or Earth Witches, and may have enough status to have a freeman's weregild. Rich people need to consult or mollify their ancestors, too.

Funny, that's how I would have described the Yelmic attitude to just about everybody and everything. "Moonson commands, and we obey!" Whereas Orlanth's initiation has him pushed into the pit of Strangers, which he escapes by communicating and bargaining with the other inmates.

I wonder how much such upgrades to VTT would be applicable for a computer-aided pen-and-paper face-to-face game. Drivethrough (and thereby Jonstown Compendium) uses pdf as the primary format, but does supplying bonus material in addition to the main pdf have to follow that format?

Well, Nick, I owe you a review on Drivethru. Just haven't found the right soundtrack yet. "Take me back to my boat on the river" might be apropos. If only for the performers. I do feel taken back to your performance in the Rise of Ralios freeform in 1996.

He is going to be Arkat, and Arkat is coming back as the Destroyer... Belintar didn't get the identification right the firstt time, when he thought it was Harrek who came as Arkat. Harrek only came as the Destroyer, but that only in combination with the Red Woman. As for identity challenges, all will come up with the message "Deceiver", I fear.

One trick about playing Ernaldans is to give them sidekicks, like e.g. husbands or newly adult sons, to do the attack rolls for them. Love family goes a long way to manage these. It is weird. People are more than happy to walk around with an entire zoo of bound spirits while swinging their swords themselves, sending in the occasional elemental to do stuff, but draw a line when what is sent in instead is another embodied person.

And Orlanth or Storm Bull happen to run into people who need fighting. Keep in mind that by the time she marries Orlanth, Ernalda has seen all of the Golden Age and a good part of the Green Age. All the wandering about has been done long ago, when she was the maiden or the young healer, and Asrelia was the Mother. She probably has a number of youthful tales of adventurous dates, and maybe some kinky ones where she grabs a partner and pulls him through a series of adventures he is not suited for. It probably takes a mischievous Asrelia priestess to teach these to the age group of freshly initiated Ernaldans to go off on scandalizing adventures. She shouldn't take all the Yinkin girl fun, though. Maybe some misapplied curative approaches? Ernalda Does Dope might be another cycle where a younger goddess expands her perception while doing stuff. How Going Goth Didn't Work Out might be about Ernalda dabbling in Darkness, and getting chewed up badly.

Black Moonglow (or Black Sun emanations). Targets CON, using disease rules for affliction, but you have to remove exposition rather than a spirit. May cause chaotic growth (roll hit location) - high likelihood of cancerous deformations, some likelihood of gaining chaotic features. Can be amputated at Dezarpovo. May be soothed by red or blue moonglow, except that such exposure increases risk of chaotic features manifesting.

Not rolling DI for a Rune Lord from a cult with a D10 divine intervention would be selling that cult's rune lords short, IMO.

So, what is a chaotic creature going to do? Grow a new set of tentacular legs? Attach itself to some other creature, creating a centaur-like monstrosity (possibly as a parasite)?

We tried, but they fought us off...

The God Learners equated Vith with Aether and Govmeranen possibly with Yelm, although I would argue that Govmeranen is more like the Solar Emperor (Murharzarm) than he is the sun god. To start with, he seems to reside somewhere near Vormain and not in the sky. Vith's wives are all bright or all dark, Vith himself is both. That does resemble the sky (within Time) more than it does the sun. Revealed Mythology has the Viceroy of day Maluraya (the sun) and the Viceroy of Night Farsanrana (Orlanth's Ring) as parloth created by Korudel, who then together would create the other celestial entities (planets, prominent stars). Neither of the viceroys is especially powerful or active other than arranging the sky. Do you mean their rather strict understanding of the north west as theist, the south west as animist, and the far west as sorcerous? Or their disconnect from the God-Learner understood pantheons with their (is)land deities?

The God Learners Podcast Episode 4: Writing Adventures in Glorantha is out, with three guests from the Beer With Teeth collective: Erin/Varanis, Dom/Rajar @Thaz and Diana/Berra @Diana Probst. We learn a bit more about their campaign(s), their characters and how their gaming has spawned an impressive catalogue of scenarios, not just on the Jonstown Compendium but even contributing the Crimson Petals scenario to Pegasus Plateau. We discuss a lot of the steps and methods that go into writing a scenario, including personal approaches to GMing, research, and the process of turning an idea into a product. If you're already subscribed to the God Learners in your podcast app of choice, you will most probably already have the episode on there by the time you see this. If not, how about subscribing today? 🙂

Ernalda gets to play around in the Green Age. There are unicorns, lots of flowers, song, secret and not so secret kisses and trysts, suitors to toy with, mighty deities to confront and partner with. Until Yelm stops these things being fun. She gets to explore and heal the half-formed world. Men don't know even a fraction of these events. Lay worshipper probably neither.

As much as I think that Fazzur was the right man as general of the Provincial Army, the conquest of Sartar saw him in a subordinate role. Moirades was the Dragon Pass leader who understood the Sartarites, and who wanted their money and trade, but even though he got filthy rich from taking Boldhome, the Assiday family managed to place Euglyptus in place to bleed Sartar dry, and ruin it too. Deliberately so, IMO - Euglyptus was the perfect nincompoop to ruin the richest kingdom in Genertela. His military acumen was abysmal (as was that of his cousin and grey eminence), and it is hard to say which of the two was responsible for greater Lunar losses - Euglyptus at the Building Wall and in the early battles of the Starbrow Rebellion, or Tatius sending company after company into ritual death at Whitewall, and then getting thousands of Lunars eaten in the Dragonrise. Fazzur's first claim to prominence was as commander of the 1605 assault on Heortland, and his (well-deserved) bad-mouthing of Euglyptus may have been more deliberate than his rivals in the Lunar military gave him credit for. Fazzur knew that Euglyptus would cause another disaster, and stood by to undo that. His path to power came in 1613, after the serendipitous sugared eel incident that helped Euglyptus to ascend, or more likely descend. In 1613, you mean? Yes, by blaming the ducks he found a way to make the Sartarites go against their vows to the Founding dynasty, and reducing the Colymar and Kheldon by three clans each following the Rebellion was good attack on those influential tribes.

That wreck would have to be either rather ancient, discovered during the first expeditions of the Opening (possibly as a ghost ship), or (in case of the Waertagi) from after their return from the Underworld. A stranded city ship would have made a big splash in the history of Kethaela, so it would have to be one of the smaller (though probably still quite impressive) Waertagi ships. There have been vague descriptions of a Waertagi Fastship, a lesser vessel designed to move underwater to deliver marines to unsuspecting ships or ports - something like an assault shuttle, probably with a ram. Built from Sea Dragon parts (skin, ribs), I think it is a mix of a coracle and Davy Jones' galley. Propulsion would be a giant water elemental, or decently sized sea creatures (e.g. orcas) pulling it from harnesses that can be dropped to scavenge the waters around the target. One God Learner ship type used against Durengard were fire-spitting turtle galleys, probably similar to the Korean iron-clad galleys. The original God Learner ships used by the Free Men of the Seas appear to be armed merchantmen sailing ships rather than galleys, used for early clandestine crossings between Jrustela and Umathela as soon as the Abiding Book had been analyzed by sorcerers to incinerate most of Vralos. After the Battle of Tanian's Victory, the Jrusteli started to build bigger ships and dedicated warships. IMO the Waertagi city-ships share a lot with the original assault-carrier dragons Tolkien had in the pre-SIlmarillion Fall of Gondolin, with significant hollow portions inside that could be used for crew quarters or storage. The city-ships are weird semi-alive constructs, not alive in the sense of having a metabolism, but powered by magic - either residual magic of the original dragon, or by Waertagi sorceries drawing energies from somewhere. While the city-ships probably account for more than half the total Waertagi population, the rest live on smaller vessels. The sea-going Waertagi have access to Sea Dragons for material, and not every sea-dragon becomes a city ship after being processed - th Aftal story mentions use of new captures for repairs of existing cities. I have the impression that the Waertagi use of Sea Dragons has a lot in common with the making of dagonewt armor. The (offensive) technique may have come into Dragon Pass and the Elder Wilds from the Waertagi. (There is something about magical taxidermy in the West - Waertagi city shios, Wolf Pirate wolf skins, Harrek's pelt... and also flensing enemies to make books.) The Waertagi also have lesser ships that serve as housing, cargo transport and limited warships, and dedicated vessels for war escorting the habitat ones. Preferred mode of propulsion is sea creatures or water elementals (waves, currents) rather than paddles, although those are in the Aftal story, too. It is possible that the sea-dragon city-ships that still resemble the former creature can use something similar to muscle power, but that might need magical sacrifice as fuel. The riverine Waertagi of the Janube, Oronin and Poralistor rivers probably have switched to wooden boats or coracle-style craft using e,g, oxhides, unless the Sweet Sea and Lake Oronin offer bigger aquatious organisms to create their ships from. An Iowa Class Battleship drifting ashore would be big news - compare the Edrenlin Archipelago off Maslo which is famous for a stranded Waertagi ship-wreck. The Jrusteli equivalent to the Roman pleasure barges would be as bg news, ibut slightly smaller vessels could have escaped notice of everybody but the local beach-combers. Or a smaller vessel could be a starting point to a bigger one wrecked at Sog's Ruin. (Possibly starting the Beysib presence in Sanctuary version of Waertagi who had not been to Hell taking refuge in Refuge...)

If that on top is a future map of the US, you need a Snodal or you get the Middle Sea Empire... Or are you telling us that the post-Argrath Glorantha is a reflection of our world in the invisible moon? A cosmic glamour? That explains how it becomes spherical.

That's "continuing apocalyptic" chic rather than "post-apocalyptic". For an example of the latter, look at Dawn Age to modern Glorantha. Although it would be fairer to say "post-cataclysmic" than "post-apocalyptic", I suppose. The Apocalypse is the confrontation with the Ultimate, and beyond that lies a form of transcendence. Glorantha had its Ragnarök, but not quite its Apocalypse.

Know the story - you can roll lores for that, you can consult people in the know, your players can make up the story they know (and the GM will run with a lot of those ideas, and contradict them in significant places). Have the ritual held for you by the community that boosts you across the barrier. Can be done with hired helpers (priests etc.). For the ritual, a worship roll would be a good approximation, and to determine support, another such roll for each instance of support. If you don't have the ritual held for you, find an auspicious transition location and time and do the ritual preparation and attempt the crossing. You might end up slightly or strongly dislocated, but once you have crossed, you'll be able to make out landmarks and go on your way.

Support and magical favors, as augments and bargaining chips for obstacles on your quest. The supporters weigh in with their magic, in extreme cases sending a wyter along. They may be rewarded by the outcome of the quest, and by how their support affects and altered the course on the hero plane, or they may get punished in case of a failure, or loss. Sometimes such a thing is quantifiable or the questers may go prepared for a certain stage, but heroquest surprise may turn such an encounter topsy turvey.

Why would it be a singular society? I you have a federation that includes corporate states, functional democracies/constitutional monarchies/plutocracies, religious states and autocracies, and federal controlled areas or barely controlled development areas where people from all of these disparate backgrounds interact, you can have that infighting. There have been long-lived, dysfunctional empires, like e.g. the Holy Roman Empire of German Nation. There are tendencies to privatize security or police work. In such a model, a district receives the security it pays for. Alternatively, once you have state-hood of corporations, these corporations may have diplomatic immunity or similar overrides for local law enforcement. If the players work for an agency, they could be the corrupt law enforcers, or straight law enforcers for an agency subect to corruption. If they are an underground civil rights organization, they might have been pushed into a terrorist role, with staged evidence accusing them of such deeds. Different treatment by law enforcement depending on ethnicity or money is a sad reality even under somewhat working democratic control.

Near Brithos we also find one of the new lands - the Red Vadeli Isles, previously unknown, and roughly in the waters where you would expect western Brithos. I often state that Glorantha is a patchwork, held together by the Web of Arachne Solara, with missing bits in between pasted over by the substance the Spider extruded after devouring the Devil. But there is a good chance that pieces that used to be far apart got pulled together, and that fragments in between got folded out of the surface of the weave - Hidden Castles, lands that appear and disappear again. In Fronela and around Brithos, many of these may have unfolded as consequence of the Ban and its Thaw. Dormal was unable to find Brithos when he left Loskalm. I wonder whether multiple releases of the Ban were required to make Brithos accessible again. Finding Brithos involved many participants, apparently including Prince Aamor, but many were betrayed and supposedly killed in the process.

If men can be initiated to Ernalda, I don't see why a warrioress cannot. The religious identity doesn't have to be congruent to the professional identity - enough people have undergone a career change due to external influences. Initiation is not a requirement for most careers. Lay membership will carry you far enough for most occupations to be competent, though not outstanding. But that's where characters who aren't single trick ponies come in. A warrioress with extra qualifications may make her way beyond rank and file due to these extra qualiications, or she may be uniquely prepared to bring her profession into an unusual task by her cult.

They are the source for the God of Silver Feet - the Speaking Tour was how they entered the lands of the Hykimi. They brought Tradetalk, they walked the paths that connect the populations. And Zzabur knew how to use those for his magics.