jajagappa

Lots of good works there! 🙂

And on the topic of Simon's art, here's one of his pieces which helped illustrate a reworking of the old article "What My Mother Told Me: A Personal View of Esrolian Life" from HeroQuest Voices. (Thanks to Simon and Chaosium for permission to include the article!)

It was a pleasure working with both Lee and Simon on new pieces in the work. And hopefully my public domain selections work to give a feel for the city itself (or at least how I imagine it!).

Is it not Umath, his own father? After all (GS p.106, reprint of old WF article): “He was born,” says a prayer, “with great noise, deafening, disabling, like thunder in a cavern, like living in a horn.” His visage, according to legends among the Rathori, “Rolled over the earth with anger, rumbled across the sky with greed, filled the space with his grey brows and thunder.”

Remember that the lesser giants that hang out with Gonn Orta periodically travel to Imther (presumably to commune with the giants such as Giant Top, the great central mountain). So naturally Gonn Orta will be partial to Imtherian cheeses. Now, in Argrath's case, since he is coming from Prax, it would be best if he could bring Praxian Beast milk cheese (probably something aged in the Paps) along. Is Gonn Orta carnivorous? I suspect he's grown beyond the needs of mortal hungers (otherwise there'd be no meat to be found anywhere near him).

Here's a bit of Lee O'Connor's artwork from the book. I really like the down-to-earth figures, and he's worked in some great (and subtle) tattoos.

The city guide is large as-is (for what I wanted to deliver with that), and looking to shoehorn in cults, etc. would have been really too much (and push the price higher - and well beyond budgets). So it stayed out, but I got nudged to think about a player's reference, and they naturally fit with that, so here they are! I figured with some level of overlap of contents, I'd target the price in line with what was new. Makes it easier I think for new players to pick it up too and see if they like the setting.

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I think this post answers the question:

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Clearly a rumor. Only his servants appear there performing their tasks to prepare the dead for their journey onwards... 😉

Yes, that would be another reasonable model for Esrolia.

But bear in mind that there are two distinct deities who lead a Wild Hunt/Pack. Gagarth and his outlaw winds, which are particularly present in Prax and the Wastes; and Jajagappa, a Darkness demon, who commands the Hell Hounds (and is well known in Peloria). It's more likely the latter that you'll encounter entering the Underworld without proper protection.

From a climate perspective, Egypt would not mesh with Esrolia - single well-watered valley amidst a desert vs. dry, but well-watered, cropland.

If you think of Gagarth as the wild wind (including tornadoes, e.g. whirlvishes as a small version) that rips your goods out of your hands and away from you, then I think you can see Gagarth as the original bandit. Largely invisible gyres of wind (unless they've picked up leaves or other debris to make them rather obvious).

Fire tends to want to burn off everything else and leave itself pure, so no tendency to take up the mantle of others (except for the Solar Storm, which we know little about). Zorak Zoran, though, does take Fire from Yelmalio at the Hill of Gold, so he is another. You could look at Earth and Water and say that one or the other takes up the power of clay to mold or shape or give birth to something else. Or the fire within the earth giving rise to the volcano. Magasta takes a power from Storm to fashion the whirlpool. But there aren't many natural phenomena which you could point to where one element holds the power of another.

Heroes aren't particularly common anywhere - they require worship to fuel their powers. Beat-pot Aelwrin is the third from the original WBRM game. Great Sister probably counts as one. Also check out the Guide p.302: Alanthore, Bellex Maximus, Ivex Devouring Dog, and Send Valu might count as heroes, demigods, or similar. Some of the other earlier heroes are known to occasionally return to the mortal world including Aronius Jaranthir in Carmania, the Conquering Daughter, and Yara Aranis (the last is particularly noted in King of Sartar as the six-armed goddess of Saird). No, but if you learned about them, they'd have to kill you. See Fortunate Succession p.53-4 has most of the known information. Also Flower Poem, Guide p.307, is noted as being one of them (and also immortal, so might count as a hero).

Ouroboros, the infinite.

Yes, they are the same person - they remember each thing that they've done before as Red Emperor. Everyone in the Empire will tell you this. No, clearly they appear different, and have different policies, so they can't be the "same" Red Emperor. But we won't speak of such things as it might prompt the Red Emperor to send Tax Demons, assassins, or others after us. 👹

Yes, the Brown Dragon is 8 kilometers long and likely similar wingspan. I had it look like a vast storm arc laden with thunderous clouds and spewing lightning bolts randomly when it crossed over Imther.

Unclear, but Umath fell in the Gods War and as the story goes, his sons emerged from the pit where he fell carrying his weapons. There's also the tale that Umath is the storm chained at the center of the world around which the winds pivot, but he is bound there and cannot leave. The only tales regarding rain and lightning relate to Orlanth gaining them. Did Umath do so previously? If so, then Orlanth not only took the weapons but also the tales of gaining them from his father. Other storm gods gained powers over the seas (leading to various merfolk), and Valind gained the power of Snow, so clearly has some ability to control cold "rain". One that we don't know much of, but likely has rain powers is Keraun in Pamaltela.

Proof copy last seen in Tennessee. Making its way slowly. I'm hoping by end of the week to see it.

In my Imther game, when the Brown Dragon flies north against the Lunar Empire it is wrapped in clouds, exhales lightning, and generates so much thunder that it shatters buildings enroute.

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