Jeff

Orlanth makes a terrible hunting god. Air elementals, lightning, thunderbolt, flying - these are lousy abilities for catching rabbits or deer.

Squaa is a pseudo cereal grain like amaranth, buckwheat, or quinoa.

War gods does not necessary equate to Rune Lords. Rather they are those cults who have found it necessary to have mortal manifestations of the god that interact with the physical world (as opposed to primarily with the magical world). Some of that is for historical reasons, some of that is for mythological reasons. The cults with Rune Lords are: Orlanth (Rune Lords and Rune Priests) Humakt (only Rune Lords) Storm Bull (only Rune Lords) Lanbril (Rune Lords and Rune Priests) Odayla (only Rune Lords) Waha (Rune Lords and Rune Priests-Shamans) Ygg (only Rune Lords) Foundchild (only Rune Lords) Kyger Litor (Rune Lords and Rune Priests) Zorak Zoran (only Rune Lords) Yelm (Rune Lords and Rune Priests) Yelmalio (Rune Lords and Rune Priests) Yelorna (Rune Lords and Rune Priests) Seven Mothers (Rune Lords and Rune Priests) Crimson Bat (Rune Lords and Rune Priests) Danfive Xaron (only Rune Lords) Hwarin Dalthippa (Rune Lords and Rune Priests) Yanafal Tarnils (only Rune Lords) Babeester Gor (only Rune Lords) Aldrya (Rune Lords and Rune Priests)

The Ostrich People number about 1,000 individuals, so let's assume about 650 are initiates of a cult. They revere Ostrich Mother, Waha, Foundchild, and Yelmalio. But these cults are tiny: Ostrich Mother - 250 members. That's a minor temple. Waha -160 members. That's a minor temple if they really try. Otherwise it is a shrine. Foundchild - 80 members. A shrine. Yelmalio - 70 members. Probably not even a shrine. They end up going somewhere else for their main ceremonies.

Not all cults are equal. Orlanth is the god of Storm, Adventurers, and Kings, who led the Lightbringers into Hell. He's a first tier cosmological entity worshiped by hundreds of thousands of initiates throughout the world. Yinkin is the god of shadowcats. Only reason he has much of a cult at all is he is Orlanth's loyal half-brother and sidekick who accompanied Orlanth on many adventures.

Most cults do not have Rune Lords. It is much easier to become a Rune Priest than a Rune Lord, and many cults have never developed the pathways - including some very powerful cults such as Ernalda, Magasta, Shargash, Polaris, and Valind.

I've seen almost everything suggested above, but I'd give a wildly different list of recommended films to get into that Glorantha vibe. Dead Man Jim Jarmusch does the Western. Shamanism, death, and Iggy Pop in a dress. A favourite of Greg and mine. HBO's Rome The ancient world as a lush soap opera. Epic scale, with great ideas on how to work player characters into that ongoing epic. Unforgiven The consequences of a life of violence, vengeance, and feud, and those touched by Death are forever changed. There are more than a few folk like William Munny in Glorantha, and this pops up in almost every RQ game I've run for the last quarter century.

Correct. Or as Greg used to tell me, if you want game balance play chess.

In many villages in Dragon Pass, you have two minor temples - one is to Orlanth Thunderous and his son Barntar, the other to Ernalda and the Grain Goddesses. Orlanth and Ernalda are the primary cults, with Barntar and the Grain Goddesses being subcults. Given the connections between Orlanth and Ernalda, this would effectively mean the men of the village do the Orlanth secret stuff, and the women of the village do the Ernalda secret stuff, and on major holy days they do their stuff together.

Yinkin's independent cult is very small, even in Sartar. Like Odalya it falls within the "Other" category, and is less than 1% of the population. There are minor temples to Yinkin at Wild Mountain, Wintertop, and Yinkin Hill, but otherwise the cult is just shrines inside Orlanth temples.

Between the Guide to Glorantha, Glorantha Sourcebook, RQG, Bestiary, GM Pack, and Weapons and Equipment, you have much of the contours of the setting. The only two big missing pieces are Cults (in layout right now) and the RQ Campaign (Boy King equivalent, in writing - it took Greg over ten years to do it for Pendragon after all!). The Dragon Pass guide and Sartar Players Guide are both in late art, and then I pivot to get Prax, Big Rubble, and Pavis done. These are all big projects and nearing completion (the Cults Book is easily the biggest amount of new Gloranthan material since the Guide). So there is an absolute ton of material. Meanwhile on FB I am regularly posting snippets of material.

Ty Kora Tek is propitiated each Wildday by Earth cults. Wildday of Death Week is her seasonal holy day. The entire Death Week of Darkness Season is dedicated to her; her High Holy Day is Wildday of that week. On that day, the dead visit the living and must be fed and offered gifts.

Odayla is worshiped by hunters because he is a Bear. He teaches Peaceful Cut and participates in the Great Hunt. And worshipers can potentially become bears.

Odayla is a bear cult that is worshiped as a son of Orlanth. He's usually found as a subcult of Orlanth in Dragon Pass but a few independent minor temples (I know of one on Jerra Hill) and shrines exist. But in Dragon Pass the independent cult is a rounding error. In Sylila and the nearby provinces, Odayla is a bigger deal, with some 10,000 followers. In Sylila, his cult is comparable in size to Orlanth's. He's also found in Talastar, Anadiki, and Brolia. At the end of the day his cult is that of a divine Bear God. His cult was more important in the First Age, when the King Bear cult was a big deal throughout the Pelorian Hill Country and even competed with the Heortling Orlanth cult for a while. But the Heortlings proved their Orlanth magic gave them mastery over the Bear God and now we have Orlanth Thunderous ruling the hill country instead of King Bear. Orlanth became a vehicle for magical exploration and quests, and his cult is broad and deep. Odayla in contrast is one of several Pelorian bear cults (although certainly the most numerous).

The Kitori are pretty easy to get a handle on once you realise that the term changed over time. At this time - the Third Age - the term Kitori refers to the tribe of humans and trolls that inhabit the Troll Woods. TROLL WOODS This forest in the foothills of the Storm Mountains has large stands of pines, firs, and other conifers, with a dark undergrowth of ferns. The Kitori Tribe in the Troll Woods is a peculiar one, for it includes a troll part and a human part, each equal to the other, though they do not interbreed. The tribe includes some 3,000 humans, 1,000 dark trolls, and 2,000 trollkin. Many, both trolls and human, think the Kitori take the Argan Argar ideals to excess, but outside opinions do not change the tribe’s ways. They eat insects, hunt and gather in the Troll Woods, raid the local humans, and trade with Dagori Inkarth and the Shadow Plateau. About a century ago, the Kitori dominated Volsaxiland and raided caravans going from Wilmskirk to Karse. Prince Tarkalor put an end to this in 1569 when he defeated the Kitori with the aid of the Yelmalio cult and re-established the Volsaxi confederation at Whitewall. The Kitori Tribe maintains a major temple to Argan Argar, and minor temples to Zorak Zoran, Xiola Umbar, and Gorakiki. The human part of the tribe maintains a minor temple to Orlanth Thunderous, while the trolls maintain a major temple to Kyger Litor.

Odayla doesn't have Darkwalk. He's a bear, not a troll.

Why would that be troubling to say that the God Learners included several heroes who explored the Hero Plane?

No, I don't think he is.

Most of those listed are not superheroes. I'd have a very short list - Arkat Errinoru Yanafal Tarnils Harrek Jar-eel Androgeus And that's probably about it. The Only Old One, Belintar, Godunya, etc. are not superheroes.

Again, very unlikely that in Nochet you are likely to have a "thieves cult" that specializes in using sorcery. You might have individual sorcerers that are willing to work with thieves - in fact I am pretty sure of that. Just like you have lawyers and accountants who work with criminals. But even Jimmy McGill learned his lawyering skills from outside of the crime organizations he worked with.

Yelmgatha was definitely not a superhero.

As Peter points out, there are some 2000 members of Lanbril cult criminal rings. That's burglary, fences, protection rackets, other rackets, smuggling, extortion, and general corruption. That's about one in 33 adults, so a pretty significant percentage of the population is directly involved in that activities.

The Only Old One had little direct role in the governing of Nochet in the Second Age. There were dark trolls with trollkin spearmen of the Argan Argar cult, but they were essentially mercenaries made available for the benefit of the ruling queen.

Crime rings and families are likely going worship glorified spirits like Lanbril or Black Fang, aspects of the Trickster like the Thief or Murderer, strange remnants of once broader cults (e.g., Worlath the Thief, Humct the Killer - which might just be Eurmal in disguise!) or even vile entities like Krarsht. Sorcery requires years of research and work, and I doubt is going to be particularly useful for any crime ring (although individual sorcerers might certainly useful!).

I figured you making a very reasonable observation that there are many people on this forum (and on other forums - let's face it that is just part of social media) that are fond of making unsupported speculation on whatever strikes their fancy!