jajagappa

The artwork really is spectacular! The depictions of the pantheons of deities are wonderful, but a lot of other cool pictures and maps.

Bas-relief on p.27 is a duplicate of the bas-relief on p.31. p.45 - last entry in text for picture reads "Oralont Dragonfriend" should be "Orlaront Dragonfriend" RICK SEZ: both fixed

I'm hoping so! Maybe once RQG is out the door so that it can serve as the foundation just as CoC 7th ed. is for the Miskatonic Repository.

The old Dragon Pass Gazeteer noted: "The physical manifestations of the Dragonewt Roads are the Dragonewt Plinths, large, square, rune-carved stones placed about 20 miles apart in straight lines between the cities." This illustration from SKoH (p.243) has a piece of one. Sartar Companion notes the one atop the Upper Starfire Ridge (one of the four on Colymar land): The plinth is a tall and peculiar standing stone made of an unknown type of rock. Crudely carved with draconic images and symbols, it is often visited by dragonewts and avoided by the locals. These suggest tall and an irregular forms, perhaps rising from a square base. Also that they have the Dragonewt rune plus other arcane symbols.

Very much so! And with a lot of stuff that you can mine for any Gloranthan game whether magical abilities, heroquest ideas, or scenarios.

For the Lodrili, yes. For men, I think start with the Overseer and the 10 Workers from the Gods Wall with their roles, tools and trades. And then common nicknames about physical features, Fire, and Earth/Mud. But never a nickname with the terms "Gold", "Sky", "celestial", or anything else affiliated with Yelm or the Sky World! That would be considered not only offensive to the DH overlords, but likely rebellious. 6. Mohenjar God of Overseers. Mohenjar carries a ceremonial mattock and a small legged bucket. He knows how, and is not afraid to dirty himself. 7. Morkartos The Foreman. He carries a long crossed staff, or “chief foreman’s” staff. 8. Perandos The Digger (with Mattock.) He carries a mattock and brick. 9. Pererlotil The Digger (with shovel.) He carries a shovel and bucket, and brick mold. 10. Navestos The Harvester. He carries a sickle and basket. 11. Urder The Worker. He carries a thresher (whip) and basket. 12. Morurder The Boss. He carries a small baton of authority. 13. Alfostios The Cooper. He carries a saw, with a barrel beside him. 14. Ostevius. The Carpenter. He carries a hammer, with a box beside him. 15. Venurtera The Potter. She carries a wheel, with a pot beside her. 16. Urdera The Carrier. She carries two baskets. I'm sure these prefixes are equally applied to imperial names, cities, houses, etc. And I wouldn't worry about ILH2 presentation since it's non-canonical.

When my heroes visited Geo's Inn in Jonstown, they were stopped at the door by a large, burly man who served as the "bouncer". "Beside the man is an odd black statue. The statue is of a large man carrying an immense double-bitted axe and riding upon a two-wheeled oxcart drawn by a huge black ox. Upon the cart is a hanging gallows with several nooses, a beheading block and basket, and a box. The figure is bare-armed, but otherwise covered with garb like a redsmith. His unblinking eyes seem to stare right out of an executioner’s hood at Aren's face." When Aren asked whether the statue was the bouncer, Antonor the proprietor replied, "Some might say that Kulbrast there," pointing to the man by the door, "is Geo's Bouncer. Some think it is the statue. Some think it is but a rumor. Those who've violated Geo's Hospitality have learned the Truth." Whether truth or "urban legend" in my games remains to be seen in some future time.

It doesn't have to mean the Bouncer is an Earth spirit/deity, though. Geo is the one doing the cooking, so he could acquire such ability in any number of ways. Similarly, while the Bouncer might have Earth origins, it could have acquired the axe as a gift, as a quest object, as a found object, etc. Could also come from some God-time Moon deity associated with the powers of the crescent or of blood or of balance. And maybe that's why the Lunars fear him because he holds a power of the Moon?

There's a number of prefixes that can work for nobles of the greater houses (e.g. Ez-zaya works out to "Divine Exalted", "Zayen" to merely "Exalted"; others might include: Agga- (Glory of), Dava- (Victory to), Suren- (Light of), Ven- (Dedicated to)). Those can generally be extrapolated from names/words in GRoY. For family/house names, I don't think there's any established pattern. I think a suffix of -a or -en to a house name will give you "of" that family. You could probably derive a whole array of Lodrili families/clans from their association to a "parent" noble house. E.g. Assiday-arth might be "overseers [belonging to] the Assiday. Other Lodrili family names might be derived from names in Entekosiad. And there are probably various minor Yelmic or Lunar families/houses that could be found (despite the reign of Sheng, it's aftermath, and subsequent Dart Wars). The Patromas of Pavis note may be one. The Endelkars might be another. But some you might just have to create (if you venture into the non-canonical sources you could derive more). Whether you can build out a reasonable set of Personal Names and Family Names may be the biggest challenge.

As with Ez-zaya Hon-eel Yu-Takenegi or Zayen Tatius Assiday-en. :-) [Something Jeff and I played around with some time ago when working out the Lunar great houses.]

Add in what @jeffjerwin noted, particularly stewardship of the vendref and managing trade, as well as running the Earth temples (and leading their worship services, collecting the tribute, etc.) and you've probably marked out what the Grazelander women manage.

Glad those helped. Btw, on your G+ post you noted "had avoided some of that stuff due to anything harvest/earth based is done by the Vendref not the womenfolk of Grazelander culture." Bear in mind that the Feathered Horse Queen is "is a powerful Earth priestess who incarnates imposing powers for her worshipers and is the embodiment of sovereignty for all Dragon Pass." She leads the Earth cults for both the Grazelanders and the vendref, and you'll likely find plenty of Grazelanders connected with the Earth Goddess, as well as the Horse Goddess. Think of them as drawing on the powers of Ernalda in both her fertility/earth aspects (childbirth, fertility of the soil) and her harmony/earth aspects in managing the 'households' of the vendref. The Grazelanders will be the priestesses, I think, not the vendref.

Anything Mother related: Twice-mother, Thrice-mother, Mother-of-Many, Mother-of-Suns, Strong Mother, Mother of Pain, Mother of All Anything related to Childbearing/raising/teaching: Minder of Many, Bearer of Pain, Allwatcher, Earthteacher, Lifegiver, Woundbinder Anything related to Corpse Preparation or Sorrow: Keeper of Sorrows, Deathmask, Urnmaker, Walker with Spirits, Tender of the Empty Fields, Sad Mother Anything Earth, Life, Pasture, or Hill related: the Grounded, Earthdancer, Flowing Grass, Valewalker, Fineblossom, Meadowrider, Smiling Hill

My guess is that men will favor runes of Air and Water, women of Earth and Water. Moon, Darkness, and Fire in lesser proportions.

Agree, I think of them as Thinobutans - distinct from the Agimori. I'd put them in a lot of coastal villages. Spread out to gain the resources/harvest of the sea and the tidewaters, but protected from attacks. True, but may be harder to transport distances than herbs, spices, or rare flowers like unusual orchids.

They have their own magical allies, the Sendereven. They also were able to maintain a fleet during the Closing which kept up naval traditions, unlike in other areas, and have a long-standing friendship with the ludoch. I agree that wealth <> population. Their exports are noted as: Herbs, Cloth, Ivory, Shells, Spices, Wine. Their imports as: Bronze, Gems, Metalworking, Wine, Silk. The herbs and spices, likely drawn from nearby jungles, can certainly bring wealth in - the noted bronze, gems, metalworking, and silk. Is that bringing in foreign fashions? I'm not convinced, but perhaps that's a YGWV decision.

Looking at Jeff Okamota's chronicle of Sandy's Pamaltela campaign, they are referenced there: "In Tarien can be found the slarges of old". But they are not described in that work, and that material was not commonly available. Griffin Island was their first appearance in print.

Thinking further on this, the Dynast circumnavigated the oceans three times. If he was opposed to the new, likely he would have been content with one such voyage. So, if we think of him as an explorer seeking out the new, then he probably brought back interesting thoughts and ideas with each voyage, which he would then have attempted to implement in Westel. This would give Westel a cosmopolitan 'appearance'. But whether he brought back any folk from the places he visited is another question. Cosmopolitan implies multi-cultural. Nochet certainly has that with many foreign enclaves present. Does Westel? It may be more interesting to see Westel as an attempt to create a 'cosmopolitan' city based on foreign ideas and architecture transplanted home, yet without the 'life' that actually makes it cosmopolitan.

Slarges didn't exist until Griffin Island in the mid-1980's. The beast is a rock lizard.

And the Quickstart guide along with the supplemental adventurer which provides some of the spirit magic/combat rules.

Wealthy compared to ??? It is 1/10th the population of Fonrit, 1/2 that of Umathela, both of which have either multiple metropolis or large cities. Charth is not a regional trade center. As the guide notes: "Charth is isolated from other civilized lands by 375 miles of jungled coastline. It is rarely visited by outsiders." I agree with you that Westel at 18k people has some reasonable cultural development given that "The city consists of hundreds of artificial islands linked by a network of canals. Most islands are covered with trade warehouses or the houses of commoners; at the center of the city is the Grand Harbor and the opulent temple-palace of the Dynast." Their ports are certainly active since the Opening and they are likely to have unusual goods for trade (and have maintained their sea-going position since their victory at Oenriko Rocks). But there are dangers sailing/trading with Fonrit (malasp, pirates, and Kareeshtans happy to turn them into slaves) and the East Isles (doom currents, hurricane winds), so trade routes may be iffy, at best. Yes, cosmopolitan ways from Fonrit or Umathela are likely to be seeping in over the past generation, but most of the Elamle cities have specific traditions in place to keep the elves happy and cooperative and are likely reluctant to deviate if it means loss of that trade. The Dynast of Flanch may encourage such change (particularly if seen as aiding them against the Onlaks elves), or may see it as a threat. As the Guide notes "He is getting old, and seems to have given up his dream of an Empire of Flanch. His many sons and daughters compete to prove their worth as his heir." So perhaps it is a period of competing interests, both traditional/conservation and cosmopolitan, at present?

As noted in an earlier post in this thread, I'd be disinclined to go with the European physical features. I might blend Mayan dress into the picture, though maybe moreso in Flanch than Elamle. Those travelling the seas and coasts for fish and trade will probably wear little more than loin cloths or short skirts.

Given their largely coastal dwellings, jewelry will likely be of shells or coral, perhaps traded with the local ludoch. There's no wool, so expect that most clothes will be made of fibrous plants (e.g. palm leaves) woven and braided together. And, of course, there will be woven necklaces of flowers (at least in Elamle where they trade with the elves)!

I don't tend to see the Maslo as wealthy and cosmopolitan - there's only one city (Westel) larger than a small city in either peninsula, and it's only a large city. Where many of the cities are also overrun regularly by chaotic monsters (in Elamle) or elves (in Onlaks/Flanch), there's little opportunity to develop that level of culture.

I'd likely look at a cross or blend between Polynesian, Filipino, and perhaps Indonesian styles. They are coastal and sea-faring, so that will impact costume. The use of color may depend on whether it attracts the spawn of the Mother of Monsters (or not). Bird feathers are likely common, though, at least in ritual headdresses.