Jeff

One might even suppose there is a problem with the very idea of mortal societies placing a greater emphasis upon abstract reason than lived experiences. That has led to the near extinction of the Malkioni on more than one occasion.

I think the Bailifids have a deep need to display their might and glory - Ulianus III conquered everything from the mouth of the Tanier to Lake Felster. For 65 years, his heirs ruled over Seshnela and Safelster, only for Vikard to throw it all away in a massive display of pomp and pageantry. His grandson, Lofting III, led his army against the trolls of Guhan only to be defeated and devoured. Now Guilmarn, ruling what Plato called a "fevered state", is about to restore the Balifids to the glory and might that Vikard threw away.

Oh, I agree that Seshnela is very much a society under significant stress.

Very possible that some zzaburi witnessed the Dragons. I am pretty sure there are spells that let them see far off things closer, kind of like a really long-range Farsee.

I don't find Seshnela unplayable or even particularly "evil." It is oppressive if you want to play free-wheeling sorcerers, running around summoning demons and messing with gods, and all that sort of power-gamer stuff. 🙂

As an aside, Seshnela is not really a Galactic Empire although Guilmarn has pretensions of being a "universal ruler". It is the Kingdom of Tanisor, pretending to be a Neo-Seshnelan Empire, a Gloranthan version of Voltaire's Holy Roman Empire. The Kingdom has a "feudal" system where great talars are given rulership by the Crown in exchange for service, and in return grant lesser domains to lesser talars. The whole thing resembles the Indian feudalism of the Kushans or Guptas, with a dizzying array of aristocratic networks, and closely allied with the zzaburi of the Rokari movement (think Brahmins of Smartism or other orthodox sects). The omens and disasters from Dragon Pass worry the Rokari greatly, and the rumours that Arkat has returned terrifies them. A quick impression of this Tanisor empire is that it is rich, ponderous, civilised, bureaucratic, and in existential fear of the return of Arkat and the God Learners.

If we think of the Dragon Pass campaign as being the equivalent of a game set during the transition from Philip to Alexander, then it makes sense to think about what happens when we get past the Hindu Kush and try to cross the Indus. But that's not our starting point. In the Third Age, our sorcerers have had their God Learning thunder stolen by such innovators as the Lunar Empire, Belintar, and later Argrath and his Sartar Magical Union. Some, particularly Hrestoli and Arkati, feel the tug towards the vortex in Dragon Pass. Others try to halt the slide into uncontrolled war and conflict, by striking now and imposing peace on the world. In Loskalm, the Malkioni now must wrestle with the consequences of their own God Learner experiment, as the Kingdom of War is now upon them, and their philosophical idea degenerates with contact with the greater world - once again, intellect and spirit is becoming trapped in a material prison. But the war in Dragon Pass touches all of this - the West is not hermetically sealed from this.

The maps are very helpful if you are moving around from place to place. They are intended to work like the DK Eyewitness Books which I have used extensively in real life and greatly prefer to top down maps of streets. If you are planning on skirmishing your way through Jonstown or set the city up as a battle map, well I can't really help you.

Our trained archaeologist says that "parade armor" or "ceremonial armor" is a phrase used by modern historians when an outfit doesn't fit their expectations.

Actually we don't know what the attire was. But given the dislike the Athenians had for the "half-barbarian"Olympias, it may well have been like:

Sven - I've talked to our resident archaeologist and she thinks that high status women are as likely to have accentuated their female form as high status men were to accentuate their male form. A big problem is how few cuirasses have survived - if we then assume that high status women were less than one in a thousand, we might only ever find one or two. That being said, this is thought to be the cuirass of a high status woman from the 11th to 8th century BC: There might have been some interesting high status women's cuirasses made (although they are unlikely to have survived). Alexander the Great's half-sister Cynane is said to have fought in the front lines and killed an enemy in combat. Her daughter Adea Eurydice was trained by her in martial and masculine activities. She married Philip III (Alexander's half brother) and was likely the ruling monarch of the pair. If I recall there is an account of Adea leading soldiers into battle as a general wearing armor, while Olympias (who opposed her), inspired her troops attired as a maenad. Adea's soldiers deserted her for Olympias.

And I RARELY disagree with Sven!

I actually disagree with you Sven. That armor reflects the fight assumptions and rules of HEMA and the SCA. I doubt you can legally have combats where people fought like in much of ancient history, with no protection for the vitals (which were often deliberately exposed), helmets with crests and other protrusions, and breastplates with pectorals. But it would be interesting to see what folk would say if that was more common.

Many Gloranthan cults see absolutely nothing wrong with male or female nudity (typically associating it with the gods) and the art reflects that. There are far more bare-chested men than women depicted in the art. Some artists are better at doing a broad range of body shapes than others. and the art reflects that. The Coming Storm and the forthcoming Cults and Sartar books have some great examples of different body shapes. ,

Ezel - or even more commonly just Ernalda - is the temple complex generally thought to be located at the Womb or Cleft of the Earth Mother. It is one of the most revered Earth Temple in Genertela. It attracts pilgrims from Dragon Pass, Maniria, and even Ralios.

It has been a long time since this thread had much at all to do with Esrolia. Please either return to the original topic or create a new thread.

I don't think the tribal chief hero forms him. His hero cult probably includes Command Horse, but through the Air Rune or Movement Rune.

Imarja is the feminine principle of the world. She was identified with Gata by the God Learners or with Glorantha herself. She does not have initiates but is offered worship by most Esrolians. Think of her like an analogue to Shakti.

Stagwood (hill fort): This hill fort is the main settlement of the Rostoak Clan of the Curtali Tribe. It is the political center of the Curtali Tribe, although Vorda Hill is the religious center. There is a minor temple to Orlanth Thunderous and Ernalda, with a shrine to the Barntar subcult.

Since many of the major gods are kin - especially the Air and Sky gods - the Gods War is going to also be a tale of kin strife. Yelm's father is Orlanth and Humakt's grandfather. Storm Bull fought against Ragnaglar, his brother. That's in the nature of the Gods War - the original Unity was shattered by the birth of Umath and the Young Gods expanded and grew, coming into conflict with the Old.

How I love that film!

For what it is worth - in some older stories and in places like Saird, Orlanth and Yelm are the Two Rival Brothers. And the Orlanthi readily acknowledge that killing Yelm had Bad Consequences. Just as the Greeks readily admit that Zeus was dick about that hold Prometheus thing.

Absolutely correct.

But getting to the original question, there isn't much of a Lodril cult among the Yelmalion farmers of Sartar or Prax. Yelmalio is a husband-deity of Ernalda, so that cult works perfectly well to get her blessings.

Actually the problem was simpler. In the 1990s and early 2000s, Greg wasn't writing any RuneQuest - he was working on First Age material for his Harmast novel. So he needed to answer questions like: what did the survivors of the Great Darkness in Dragon Pass call the Sun when it first rose? What did they call the Volcano Gods of what would later be Caladraland? And so forth. Same thing with Dara Happa - Greg's focus was on how the Dara Happans viewed the world before they really started interacting with the Theyalans in the Broken Council. This was all fascinating stuff - but also more than a thousand years before the setting of RQ. Its like setting our game in Halicarnassos during the Hellenistic Age but still insisting that we preserve the separate identities of "Teshub" and "di-we" instead of just calling the god "Zeus" and the local version "Zeus Labrandos" (because he's always depicted holding a double-sided axe here). Locals know that Zeus Labrandos is Zeus, scholars might know that once upon a time the inhabitants of this place called him Teshub. So now let's fast forward a thousand years. The Pelorians and the Theyalans and the God Learners have all had centuries of contact. The Monomyth is broadly accepted by most educated Gloranthans. Many people speak several languages, and have many local titles for a god that they accept has broad, even universal, existence. So we might have Orlanth Umatum in Saird, or Yelm Yu-Kargzant in the Grazelands. We have Yelmalio Elmal or Lodril Veskarthan. And so on. But for game purposes it is easier to just say Orlanth, Yelm, Yelmalio, and Lodril.