jajagappa

I thought that was the Hell Wind...

I was feeling there was something stating that but couldn't locate it yesterday!

Yes. I don't recall anything that forbids it.

Yes, very likely. There are still a few odd cultures at the Dawn (GtG p.708-712) in the region. The Tunoralings have a habit of "borrowing" or "adopting" things from others, so small family groups may have been adopted or gathered up by them. 13th Age Glorantha has a lot of good ideas on these types of broken/lost/forgotten myths, and I'd certainly take advantage of them if I was playing in the Lunar Provinces.

The Tunoraling followers of the Raccoon God certainly do survive to the Dawn, and beyond. I doubt there's any other raccoon folk lurking around in this region. As my players know all too well. 😈 Or have your players stumble into mythic places and quests that intrude or intersect with the ones they expect! There are a lot of broken and lost myths about to take advantage of.

I think it's really about what he's drawn to. Keep in mind that initiation into a cult does not happen at the same time as initiation as an adult. During the rites of adulthood, the tests and challenges will likely incline him towards a particular path (which may just be their innate Runes and Passions manifesting or becoming clearer). The lazy boy is thrown into the Deep Well. He's loyal, though, not angry. He doesn't rage and whirl and fight like Vadrus (or Orlanth). Nor is he afraid of the water. He finds the water soothing, calming and lets himself float up to the top. There he finds a gentle rain falling upon him and looks into the face of Heler as the god passes with his flock of sheep. Heler extends a rainy arm to the boy, and the boy takes it, and is lifted into the clouds from which he can look down upon the land. He eventually sees the stead of the Uncles below, and steps down with the rain to the feast. This is his first sense that the god of Rain calls to him. Later, during the seasonal rites of the clan, he finds himself taking the role of Heler regularly, so much so that he realizes that the god is calling him and that he will initiate to Heler. Either, both, and possibly it's something else altogether. The boy who finds spirits regularly appearing to him in the fields and meadows, even the spirits of wind and rain, and listens to their whispers, might find himself inexorably pulled towards the world of the Horned God, Kolat, Oakfed, and the many other spirits. I don't think you are consciously aware of your Runes per se. But your personality and inclinations may well give the clan Elders some sense of your future relationship with gods or spirits. I see it as very intertwined. As above, I don't think they expressly and explicitly get/manifest a Spirit Rune. They might have always been different - always had some perception of spirits that marks them as different, strange, or unusual. They might see them, talk to them, hear them, or simply have some awareness of them. Maybe it's an encounter with Wandle and she marks them in some unusual way. Or they encounter a ghost and are briefly possessed - though the priests or a shaman drives out the evil spirit, the child has had a glimpse of the world of spirits. Or maybe a spirit of disease has attacked them, and in their fever dream they've travelled some distance into the Spirit World - an event etched into their mind. Maybe they have no such experience, but it's during initiation, rather surprisingly, that they depart from the Strange Gods or the Animal Corral and wander into an even stranger landscape, the landscape of Spirits and encounter the Horned God or Kolat or some other great spirit who sets them on a new footpath. When they return to the mortal world as a man, they find a lingering desire or an awakened view of the world that puts them on the path of the shaman. Hopefully those thoughts help give you some idea how it might play out.

Check out Argrath's initiation in the Prince of Sartar comic. He is initiated with the Strange Gods. http://www.princeofsartar.com/comic/1-the-flame-of-sartar/ If you have King of Sartar, it's also described mythically there (p.52) including the other paths. The short version is this: the men of the clan come to the boys at night dressed as the "Uncles" and they lead the boys to the place where they cross over into the Otherworld. This is the common Orlanthi ritual of manhood - doesn't matter whether they may eventually follow gods, spirits, or Orlanth-forbid, the Trickster! They are confronted with tests or challenges there and must survive. If they do, they join the "Uncles" (now really gods and spirits since they are in the Otherworld) at their feast where they are welcomed. Gradually the gods disappear until each boy is alone, travelling through the Broken World. At the edge of the world they meet the Second Son who reveals the secret of the Star Heart. Beyond the Second Son, they confront the Face of the Devil. Most retreat, but that is enough to allow them to return to the world of the Living, now as men. The general idea though is that in their testing, their Runes are revealed. As they tell the Elders after their return, the Elders tattoo/mark the new men with some of their Runes, as well as the marks and symbols of the clan. It's not necessary to play out any of this (though you could). But it might provide some ideas in what direction you may want to take this figure.

"The Duck? He went that way!"

Not that I've heard, but sounds like something to go with! Good background idea. Definitely could see as a PC coming-of-age. Just look at Argrath's Warlocks in HQG for how this could be approached. Such a shaman would approach like starting a new Spirit Cult. That also works. All potentially branch from the same point: the "lazy" dreaming shepherd boy. But what happens during his initiation? That's probably the key question. Which test does he face? If he faces the Strange Gods, then he likely is seduced by the Moon as those gods are present among them. If he's dropped into the Deep Well like Vadrus was, he encounters Heler and the Waters. Not sure which test would lead to the shaman's path - might also be the Strange Gods but resists the lure of the Moon, etc.

Agreed! And he/she's ready for a duel!

Lovely artwork by Ossi Hiekkala. It was posted over on the RQ Facebook page but deserves to be seen here as well! https://www.archipictor.com/blog/2019/6/27/the-vingan

The assassin god would be Krarsht. From Cults of Terror p.76: "Cultists fear the Humakti, who have proven adept at spoiling many of the cult contracts with their Sense Assassin ability." However, the permanently killing/destroying gods sounds more like Vivamort, for whom Humakt also has particular antagonism. The Death Rune/sword remains particularly powerful against the Undead god.

Ah, poor Zzabur! What is to become of him when even his nose grows a rose?!

As others have noted, Battle is an abstraction of a large scale event. It might abstract anything from a series of melees to one or two days of fighting between large armies. Within a battle scene, there is a lot more going on than just the single individual fighting a few foes. There are skirmishers that you don't see raining arrows or other missiles down upon you. There's your battle formation staying intact or breaking. There are bands of warriors striking at your flanks or rear while you are focused on other fighters. There are cavalry charges bearing down upon you, or chariot drivers running through your unit. Somewhere in all that, your armor failed or did not protect you. Maybe you were encased enough that you didn't see and couldn't get out of the way of the bison riders charging in. Exactly.

Besides Snakepipe Hollow, the Wooden Sword was carried into the depths of the Sazdorf caves. There was a humiliating defeat at the hands of Zorak Zoran at first for which Humakt "chastised" the temple members. They returned to greater success and established a Humakt temple for awhile in the heart of the troll stronghold. As was noted above, the temple disbanded, and the Wooden Sword was returned to Arstola, presumably to await some other events within the Hero Wars.

Brithos is Pepperland? Now if only the dwarves of Slon would lend us their Yellow Submarine...

Because they are the People that Time Forgot living in the Land that Time Forgot! A little dose of Edgar Rice Burroughs will help you piece it together. 😉 Or blame Zzabur. When Slon gets fractured off the great Earth cube, it gets partially fragmented into the Green Age. Earthshakers still roam, humans are born, the Earth goddess is broken and not there to push them in other directions, so only the spirit of Hykim and Mikyh speaks to them (aside from the dwarfs frantically trying to keep Slon from being pulled completely away by Sramak's River).

To The Torkani It is with glad tidings that we hear that you have survived enslavement by the Lunars of Stonegate, and hopefully have overthrown them in the Wake of the Dragon. We eagerly march east towards your lost lands and look forward to a long-awaited reunion! Your Colymar Friends

This is my most recent in-game map. Probably a bit too accurate in location placement, but still rough enough for characters who've traveled this landscape to consider "familiar". Also, my very first in-game map as I began my Imther Campaign oh-so-many years ago - that one was more to give my players a sense of where they were in the world, though.

The return from Jonstown included an encounter with an odd dwarf caravan with their jolanti bearing great cauldrons upon their heads or backs.

A venture to Jonstown to gain clues on how to free Orane led them past Hell Hounds during heavy rains in the Thunder Hills, and to escape the Lunars at Redbird Village they crossed into the Other Side (through a Trickster's gut) at the Boneyard. They got separated on the Other Side: some found their way to the Crossroads and the Riddling Raven, one found himself at the Giant's Stead.

Back in Orlmarth lands, they still had to rescue the Ash Creek Lady, getting past the Cinder Pits (and the Venebain demons there) and then free the creek spirit from her crystal prison.

During their time in the Spirit World, they met the Assembly of Small Spirits and gained allies; they crossed the domain of Heavy Earth; and finally reached the vough's spirit swamp where they defeated the evil swamp hag.

After an attack by fire demons during the Marriage Rites (the event that drove Orane from the clan), the heroes joined the duck shaman, Joseph Greenbeak, in entering the Spirit Plane to stop the rising of a vough within the Orlmarth clan lands. They met the spirit TaWaKak, a giant rabbit spirit, who patrols the Silver Wood gathering lost and forgotten memories in his Rabbit's Den.

The Harvest Games were an early part of the campaign (somewhat borrowed and modified from the Harvest Bride from Sun County). The culmination of that was the gathering of the Barley Men and the Marriage of the Barley King to the Harvest Queen.