Jeff

And just to remind folk, here's what we currently have for RQG: Core Rulebook Bestiary GM Pack and Screen Red Book of Magic Weapons and Equipment The Smoking Ruins Pegasus Plateau The RQ Starter Set RQ Quickstart Plus: The Glorantha Sourcebook Guide to Glorantha RQ Wiki Additionally, all the RQ 2 material is backwards compatible and available as POD from the website. The Cults material is in layout and there is a lot there - it opens up the setting tremendously. And it is a lot of stuff - some 570k words. For purpose of comparison, that is nearly 100k more words than the Guide to Glorantha. As the Creative Director, I think this material is absolutely a top priority to expanding the setting, giving players far more options, and is needed before we release the heroquesting rules in the GM Book. And I am pretty sure most folk will agree once it is released.

Remember that until the Liberation, there was very much a divide between the Lunar Occupied cities and the rural tribes. Also, in many cases, one's loyalty to the local city might be rolled into one's loyalty to the Kingdom of Sartar.

Humakt and Yanafal Tarnils are Neutral towards each other. Humakt is the eternal god of Death and War. Yanafal Tarnils is a mortal who became a god by confronting Humakt and defeating him. Sure he was trained by Humakt - but having a hero that was taught by his opponent is pretty common (see the Mahabharata for plenty of examples). The Twin Death Gods cult in Fonrit comes out of something entirely else than what is going on in the Lunar Empire.

If you want to get luxury goods from the Holy Country (and overseas) into Dragon Pass and Peloria, you need to use the Sartarite road system. Political instability, war, chaos, and the rest become risks you need to price into things.

There is a reason after all that the Humakt cult has remained strong in the West Reaches and the Lunar Provinces. The cult is a useful source of soldiers, and since you can't just hop from Humakt to the 7 Mothers or Yanafal Tarnils, the Lunar Empire tolerates it (like it does with so many other cults).

To join the Yanafal Tarnils cult, a Humakt initiate MUST LEAVE the Humakt cult (you cannot become the initiate of a Neutral cult - only Friendly and Associated). That triggers the Spirit of Reprisal. Their geases remain, and they cannot use a straight bladed sword (broadsword, etc.). Of course if one is Illuminated, then the Spirit of Reprisal cannot act..... Regardless, the new initiate must create a new Rune Pool - Yanafal Tarnils is not Humakt but a different god. Same thing with worship skills.

At least until 1624, when the City of Wonders was sacked and ruined.....

Dorastor is where all the broken dreams of the Broken Council remain, turned into nightmares. All the hope and possibilities are now trapped in a prison of despair.

Best source on the Broken Council/Golden Empire is the Guide to Glorantha. Particularly the appendixes. Beyond that, Greg and I played around with that era a LOT. It was a time of limitless opportunities, and Illumination opened wildly fantastic new vistas. New revelations and insights nearly overwhelmed the old, and seemingly impossible contradictions were laughed at. At least that is how those around Nysalor saw it. Further afield, the ambitious saw Nysalor as a vehicle to power and personal gratification. And beyond that, were those who "never got any spells, magic, insight, or especially good wages." At the beginning, it was filled with optimistic possibility; but as time, resentful cynicism became increasingly common.

Remember the scale of things in Sartar. A city is rarely going to be more than a long day's trek away from any associated tribal settlement (and often just a few hours away). These are not Medieval English peasants, tied to the land, but free people used to moving around and traveling. The Lunar Occupation interfered with this, but it was the aberration, and besides it is over now.

Let's think about it this way. There are about 9600 people in the Cinsina tribe. 600 of them live in Jonstown, where they make up more than a quarter of the city's population. Another 500 live in Boldhome. The rest are rural. Those who live in the cities are just as much members of their kinship groups as their rural cousins, but they also have ties to their guilds, their cults, and their cities that are often just as important or even more. People like Orngerin Holdfast and Bardrinor Red Cow are leaders of the Cinsina Tribe, and Jonstown's geographical proximity means that it is easy for people to get from their farms to the city for big religious festivals. None of the Cinsina settlements within tribal lands are more than 25 km from Jonstown (and most of the tribe is much closer), so it is pretty easy for the rural folk to come to Jonstown to trade, worship, and meet. Now that Sartar is free, the Orlanth cult is able to return to its place of prominence in Sartar's cities. Jonstown is increasingly going to be where people go for major religious festivals - Jonstown has major temples to Orlanth Rex and Orlanth Thunderous, and minor temples to Orlanth Adventurous, Ernalda, Humakt, Chalana Arroy, Issaries, Lhankor Mhy, and the Seven Mothers. The Seven Mothers temple was destroyed when the city was liberated after the Dragonrise, although many cult members remain in the city. Jonstown has shrines to Argan Argar, Eiritha, Eurmal the Thief, Sartar the Builder, Uleria, and Yelmalio. Red Cow remains the center of the tribal Orlanth Rex cult and has a minor temple to Eiritha. That's where we celebrate our Cinsina tribal identity. But for most cults it cannot compete with Jonstown.

The description of Gold-Gotti from Barbarian Adventures is wildly non-canonical for RQ. Here's his short description: Gold Gotti was born in the Ygg’s Islands around 1575 and has sailed with the Wolf Pirates his entire life. He is an avaricious but very competent leader, pragmatic and amoral. He's gone from being a poverty-stricken villager to a rich and powerful pirate warlord. He is among the most important captains in the Wolf Pirate fleet, and stands second only to Gunda in Harrek’s estimation.

Rune magic is described in great detail on pages 313-315 of the core rules. When an adventurer casts a spell, they act as the deity.

But going back to the original post, Polestar just Is not that important a cult in Sartar. Its main significance is that Kallyr Starbrow gained her heroic abilities from her contact with Polestar.

But Polestar isn't much of an option. His Runes don't overlap with Orlanth's at all.

Darius I feel like you are very deliberately trying to misinterpret my texts. All of this is in RQG (pages 39 to 43) and the Glorantha Sourcebook. Orlanth was defeated when Whitewall fell in 1621 and the Great Winter started. In 1622, Orlanth was "partially" freed at the Battle of Auroch Hills, and his magic returned for cult members, however, his constellation remained in the Underworld. In 1624, Orlanth emerged from the Underworld and new heroquest paths have been revealed by the cult. The revival in 1622 in game rules is enough to cast your spells and get Rune points back at temples. After 1624, cult members are exploring the hero plane with the support of the cult (such as Kallyr's attempted LBQ). Orlanth ALWAYS remained the main holder of the Air Rune. During the year when it was nearly impossible to cast Orlanth's magic, some Orlanthi in Dragon Pass joined Storm Bull so that they could use Air magic. But not many.

Nobody "replaces Orlanth". Nearly a year goes by, where the Orlanth cult in Dragon Pass and the Holy Country doesn't have its Air magic. Which sucks. But nothing replaces Orlanth. After the Battle of the Auroch Hills, that magic returns (and about half the player characters in existence breathe a sigh of relief). And I have said many many times that the old HW material is not canonical.

That's not canon.

Malkioni worship goes something like this: the priests (wizards) perform rites such as the chanting the creation of the world, the Law, recite texts, etc. Guardians are summoned, and schematics or patterns that reveal the structure and order of the cosmos are made. The worshipers chant, prostrate themselves, and give offerings. In many sects, a representation of Malkion or some other Ascended Master is the focus of much of this activity. These acts open the mind and spirit to the wholeness of the cosmos. For most, this is felt as the solace that comes from knowing the existence of the Invisible God. For a few, this opens the mind and spirit to the possibilities of being a co-creator, a mortal demiurge.

Um, since when has Rigsdal been Orlanth? Polestar is not even an associated cult of Orlanth.

Polestar is Polestar, and all magic drawn from there comes from the same source. Kallyr Starbrow manages to bring that magic down (and it is no doubt part of her hero cult), and there is no doubt a shaman or two that knows how to do that among the Sartarites. But in the Lunar Heartlands, Polestar has a major cult with some 45,000 initiates. They know more about Polestar and his magic than any Sartarite ever will (Kallyr might still enjoy Polestar's favor more than even the High Priest, but that is different).

It is not possible for those not already Brithini to become Brithini.

The Brithini have immortality because they haven't changed since Death appeared. Why we live forever? When Zzabur asked his father, "How do we stay immortal?"the Prophet answered simply. He said, "Do not change. Do what you have done. Act within the Laws and Ways you have been given, for they are immortal. Your actions embody the One, your bodies enact the One. Anything new from this moment forward is Death." Thus we were never severed from Life, like the rest; from Magic, like the rest; from Divinity, like the rest; from Good, like the rest; from ourselves, like the rest. We are not mortal people, or gods, or good people, or our own people -- we simply are. All else is a wane shadow of us. When we die, the world dies. We are the last holders of the One. When we are gone, all else will go to. When we are gone, everything left is corruption and death.

The White Bull had been part of Greg's Gloranthan materials since at least 1981. Argrath founded it while he was among the nomads in the Praxians. As an aside, that's the reason that Garrath Sharpsword (jostle the letters around to learn who that is) is described in Pavis as: "Garrath Sharpsword is a famous instructor who lives in Oldtown. He is known to worship Orlanth Adventurous, and has spent time among both the nomads of Prax and the wolf pirates of the Rozgali Ocean." He founds the White Bull society in 1616. Among its early members are Yazurkial Blue Llama (at the time a fellow slave of the Bison Tribe), the Skull Bat Bison Khan Narmeed Whirlvishbane (who owned Argrath and Yazurkial, and later appears in the Biturian Vorash stories), and the Sable Khan Roneer the Hue. These three Waha khans form the core of the society and are among Argrath's most loyal and devoted companions.

When was Nysalor Illuminated and when did he realise it?