Jeff

And given that Balazar covers about 50,000 square km, that gives it a population density of a little more than 2.5 people per square kilometer. Or about a quarter of the density of eastern Dragon Pass. That puts it well in the range for complex hunter-gatherer societies (1 to 4 people per square km).

The Guide agrees with Griffin Mountain in most ways. But Greg corrected the population figures, so instead of about 14,000 people as Griffin Mountain would lead you to believe, Balazar has about 130,000. So we can assume that there is somewhere around 200 or so clans, and most maintaining very loose associations with a citadel. Balazar covers a lot of area - more than Sartar, with fewer people.

As we all know, magic is the result of drawing upon the timeless and eternal "God Time" to affect the material world of Time. And so sorcery as a magic system is a logical and materialist approach towards doing that. But the sorcerous mindset is of the mundane, measurable, material world - as Nick correctly observes, a "science". Not all "sorcery" is expressed as magic spells, of course. In the Second Age, the God Learners tried to understand the world through observation, analysis, and reason. One group of God Learners tried to duplicate the result of magic through material devices and machines. They settled in the area called God Forgot (which was part of the Middle Sea Empire) and founded the so called Machine City. They built war machines (including a giant harpoon firing crossbow now in Sun County), armoured self-propelled vehicles, and developed techniques of mass assembly of parts and even of magic weapons. This is all "sorcery" - or at least the product of the sorcerous "scientific" approach. Ultimately, they constructed their own "god machine". But the gods found this intolerable and the Empire of the Wyrms Friends and the Old Way Traditionalists worked together to destroy the Machine City. Leonardo is a local of God Forgot who has rediscovered some of this. Likely a genius in his own right, he's built an Ornithopter, and various other devices. He's likely already come up with the plans for countless others. If he could get enough financing and support, who knows what he could build - or even worse, what devices within the Machine Ruins he could restore to working order!

Elphinstone's retreat from Kabul is another source of possible ideas.

Well the distance is MUCH shorter - it's about 180 km from Pennel Ford to Sun County (where units might be able to expect safety). compared to the 1000 km retreat of the Grande Army. Also the weather was quite a bit better - the Battle of Pennel Ford was in Fire Season, and much of that retreat was through rich and densely populated Esrolia. But the retreating Lunars were no doubt harassed, just as the Ten Thousand were harassed on their retreat from Cunaxa.

Just to repeat what Nick already said - Resurrection is there to make it possible for players to revive their beloved characters after getting killed in combat, for the GM to revive favoured NPCs after something bad happened to them, and to be something the players need to work for to receive. Don't use it for investigations or "because the authorities might find it useful". Also keep in mind of the magical economics of the setting. Assume the average priest has 10 Rune Points - that's going to be spent quickly each season to cure diseases, regrow limbs, and so on. Is she really going to reserve 3 rune points in case someone should be Resurrected instead of spending those 3 to save three people from death?

A little more to add to this - The Lunar Empire is not all powerful or all knowing. So let's imagine things circa 1622-1625, back when there was a Lunar Occupation. We have a governor-general (really a satrap) in charge of things. That's Tatius the Bright. If you want to travel another two weeks, you can appeal to the Provincial Overseer in Mirin's Cross. Tatius is kind of focused on the war in the Holy Country and the consecration of the Temple of the Reaching Moon, and most Lunar resources have been committed to these two projects, as these will cement his legacy and that of the Assiday family. If he hears that some Provincial officer got killed along with his militia-followers, he's going to demand that his local allies deal with the situation rather than waste his time. Only if your actions threaten the war in the Holy Country or his temple-building project (or threaten key foundations of either - such as liberating one of the cities of Sartar) is he going to throw his own resources into the fray. After the Battle of Auroch Hills, many tribes are effectively autonomous, as Tatius needs to focus everything he can on the war in the Holy Country. But these tribal "rebellions" are little more than large-scale banditry. The next year, Tatius sends the Lunar Army to besiege Nochet, and if that falls, who cares about pin-pricks from the Culbrea tribe? 1624 is a nightmare year. The Lunar Army is routed in Esrolia and has to retreat a couple of hundred kilometres through Esrolia and Beast Valley to get back to Sartar. I wouldn't be surprised if detachments of the Lunar Army takes out their humiliations on any rebels it can, especially near the Royal Roads. But things are certainly getting tight from the Lunar perspective - and now Tatius is acting directly. King Broyan is killed near the Troll Woods in 1625, and a Praxian Army is defeated by the Lunar College of Magic (and its Chaotic allies) at Hender's Ruins shortly thereafter. But by Earth Season, Tatius is finally ready to deploy his masterstroke - the consecration of the Temple of the Reaching Moon, which will extend the Glowline over Dragon Pass and the Holy Country (and much of Prax). The massive magical energies of this location will be harnessed and Dragon Pass quickly pacified. Of course things don't quite go as expected.

This is not really the place to ask mechanical rules questions. I am going to move this to the Questworld thread.

Within most human societies, Chaos cults are viewed as an abomination. Theyalans, Praxians, Malkioni, trolls, elves, etc., aren't going to tolerate the worship of Chaotic entities in areas they control. When they learn of such activities, they are going to stop it with force if they can (the Storm Bull cult is kind of ideal for this). Of course, this assumes the authorities: 1. know that Chaotic worship is going on, and 2. can stop it at a reasonable cost. Most Chaos cults operate in secret or far away from their enemies. Many Chaos temples are hidden and well defended. For example in Dragon Pass, Snakepipe Hollow and the Upland Marsh have the most Chaotic activity- these are places that are dangerous to go to and it is easy to hide your activities there. There are likely other Chaos cult activities, but they need to stay hidden and secret, lest they are killed by trolls or local authorities. This helps explains the survival of Krarsht, for who is better at hiding than the Hungry Mother? The Lunars are different. Chaos cults are not viewed as abominations per se, but are judged on whether they serve the interests of the Red Goddess and her temporal viceroy, the Red Emperor. So maybe a Thanatar temple can operate under the supervision of the local satrap, IF it pays enough money, agrees to not commit crimes against Lunar cultists, and performs plenty of useful services to the local magistrate. Maybe the local magistrate will turn a blind eye to the activities of the local Krarsht ring for money and services. And as long as the satrap is fine with this (and remember they are pretty much all Red Goddess initiates), then no problem. But if the Chaos cults cause problems for the satraps (especially if they cause disturbances that make tax collection difficult), then hunt them down and kill.

So going back to this - Chaos Gift and Chaos Features usually have overt manifestations. But is that tusked monster a human with a Chaos Feature or just a dark troll? Is that a broo with a harmless appearing Chaos Feature or just a satyr?

Which were never even glanced at by either Greg or I.

Orlanth is acknowledged as Ernalda's favorite husband. He's not a foreigner. Inside of Nochet, Orlanth is second only to Ernalda. Now let's say almost half of the cult members are from Sartar or Heortland, even if we take those away Orlanth still has the second biggest cult in Nochet (although Issaries might contest that). As far as RuneQuest is concerned the Orlanth cult works the following way: Orlanth Thunderous Orlanth Adventurous Orlanth Rex Vinga Barntar (sometimes an independent cult) Orlanth Rex is not present in Esrolia, but all the others are.

Agree 100%. About 53% are initiates of either Ernalda (35%) or Orlanth (18%). Another 10% are other Earth goddessesand 11% are other Lightbringers.

Something a lot of people seem unclear about - there is no universally accepted way to know something is Chaotic. Some cults claim to have magic that identifies chaotic things but that magic curiously fails when confronted with some obviously Chaotic entities. The Storm Bull cult is sworn to destroy Chaos and claims to be able to "sniff" Chaos. But even their senses fail to register some obviously Chaotic things - so clearly there is secret Chaos everywhere. People with third arms, glowing eyes, weird misshapen bodies, goat heads, etc., are obviously Chaotic. In Theyalan or Malkionni lands such people are often accused of being Chaotic monsters and killed, or just lynched by angry mobs (assuming they can muster the courage to act). In the Lunar Empire such people are accepted as people and judged by their actions. That being said, iff there are unsolved crimes, such people are often accused of being active worshipers of evil Chaotic deities and blamed for the crimes. But they at least enjoy the official tolerance and protection of the Lunar rulers.

As do the Theyalans. Even if they really make no sense - but scholars gotta scholar.

The Yelmites and Malkioni agree that before the Dawn, Time as we understand it did not exist.

And of course more obvious manifestations of Chaos are going to get the ire of some power non-Red Goddess cults in the Lunar Heartlands. For example, Yelm is an enemy of Bagog, Cacodemon, Krarsht, Krjalk, Primal Chaos, Thanatar, Thed, etc. The Yelm cult is an enemy of the Crimson Bat, but the head of the Yelm cult, the Red Emperor, officially tolerates the Crimson Bat. So although Thanatar's existence is tolerated by the Red Emperor, the Thanatar cult needs to operate largely in the shadows. Broo are tolerated by the Red Emperor, but if they start acting broo-ish, they still get hunted down and killed (unless they can be made useful and sent against enemies of the Emperor). I imagine that religious riots and angry protests happen even in the Lunar Heartlands. In game what that means is that Thanatar cults exist in the Lunar Heartlands, but they are likely covertly coopted by the Red Emperor and other Lunar officials. They are tolerated, so long as their actions do not threaten the social order or the Lunar religion. Of course, such cults chafe at such restrictions, so from time to time the Red Emperor uproots them.

Problem? That’s maybe not the right term. Unlike most other organized states in Genertela, the Lunar Empire tolerates the worship of Chaotic entities. The Crimson Bat, Primal Chaos, Nysalor, and of course the Red Goddess are state sponsored Chaos cults. But ideologically it is difficult for Lunar officials to prohibit worship of Vivamort, Krarsht, Mallia, Thed, etc. Now many things these cults do - murder, rape, spread of disease, etc. is going to get repressed by Lunar officials. But even the Orlanthi have Black Fang and Lanbril. Even in the Lunar Empire these cults need to operate in the shadows away from Yelms light. But of course it is much easier for them to exist than in Theyalan lands where their very existence is taboo.

Yeah, Yelmalio can learn Bladesharp by being a lay member of Humakt. Which is easy to do and IMG most warriors are lay members of Humakt for exactly that reason. At least most warriors capable of following Humakt's Code of Honor (which is supported by the cults of Orlanth and Yelmalio anyways) do.

Um, the list of errata is pretty short: https://wellofdaliath.chaosium.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/CHA4028-second-printing-corrections-1.0.1.pdf For comparison - here's the DND 5e errata for the Players Handbook: https://media.wizards.com/2018/dnd/downloads/PH-Errata.pdf

Foundchild provides Sureshot, Speedart, and Multimissile - which is pretty much ALL the missile spells. Arrow Trance is elf magic - Mr. Archery himself doesn't have it. Is the questionreally why doesn't Odayla the Bear God or Yinkin the Cat God provide missile weapon spells?

Not only no longer canonical, but also not in print in any form except on the second hand market.

Voriof is normally worshiped as a subcult of Orlanth Adventurous. He does not have an independent cult in Dragon Pass. Voriof Voriof the Shepherd is a son of Orlanth and Ernalda, worshiped by herders and young men. He provides the spirit magic spell Detect Sheep and the special Rune spell Command Sheep to members of Orlanth Adventurous.

Steve's take on dwarfs was different from Greg's vision. Greg was perfectly happy with dwarfs of a tiny SIZ as that fit what he imagined them to be better.

Most every Gloranthan has some experience "on the Hero Plane." When you sacrifice POW/regain your Rune Points, you experience your deity and gain the connection that allows you to briefly incarnate that deity in the mundane world. Every time you cast a a Rune spell, we get a momentary manifestation of the deity. I think a lot of people understate this - it is not Vasana who casts Lightning, rather it Orlanth's Lightning Spear that appears in Vasana's hands. The god is present with every Rune spell. But that stuff is handled through the Rune spell mechanics, and not what we likely mean when we talk about "heroquesting". To gain new powers, new gifts (and new banes and geases), you need to go outside and explore the Hero Plane. You might be armed with your stories, but they are simply guides of how things might be done - and things might not go that way. You need to make your own stories, participate in your own experiences, and risk transformation. That's not easy - in real life or in gaming. That's why people keep retreating to the King of Dragon Pass version of heroquesting - it is safer, more predictable, easier to control, and less likely to radically transform your character (and even your cult). But that is not really heroquesting.