Jeff

Yeah, but with Nochet they kind of invented oversea trade in the 1580s and I suspect you are far more likely to see the opposite - Nochet merchants given the monopoly over overseas trade. In fact we know that is how it works in Melib, and maybe even Kralorela.

Writing this today, I doubt we'd say that the founder of sea-trade at its height and center of the sailor cult would give monopoly over sea-going trade to foreign barbarians. Nochet is more Genoa or Venice than it is Constantinople.

So it is probably worth starting from what is actually published about Rikard the Tiger-Hearted in the Guide to Glorantha: King Rikard the Tiger-Hearted: This redoubtable adventurer, freebooter, and heretical Hrestoli exile from Tanisor briefly became King of Malkonwal by conquering the various Orlanthi tribes of southern Heortland, taking advantage of their terrible disorder after the loss of both Belintar and the governor of Heortland. Few of the Orlanthi favored the foreign conqueror, and he was recently defeated and captured in battle by the Lunar Provincial Army. Fazzur Wideread offered Rikard the kingship, but rather than accept Rikard destroyed his crown and went into hiding. His current whereabouts are unknown. And elsewhere in that chapter: That same year (1617), the foreign mercenary captain Rikard the Tiger-Hearted proclaimed himself “King of Malkonwal” with the aid of the Esvularings. Once king, Rikard defeated a rebellion by the Uroxi Bullmen of the Footprint and he and Broyan fought a series of indecisive skirmishes. So what we know is that he was a Hrestoli, not a Rokari - a heretic that was exiled from Tanisor and became an adventurer and freebooter, and then exploited the disorder of 1616 to carve out a new (and very short-lived) kingdom with the support of the Esvularings. The Aeolians, despite being no more than about 10% of the population, had prospered under Belintar's rule and feared the instability of Orlanthi tribalism and Lunar conquest - and so they were amendable to having Rikard and his followers as a strong-man protector. But without the Esvularing support, Rikard would have gotten nowhere. The Storm Bull cultists of the Footprint quarrelled with Rikard (less a theological quarrel and more the fact that the Storm Bull cult are violent fanatics who care only about fighting whatever is in the Footprint - making them an obvious threat to the nascent kingdom), and Rikard dispersed their camps (which of course meant that the Print was no longer sufficiently guarded). He quarrelled with the chief of Whitewall who was making his own bid for tribal leadership. And most importantly, he was defeated in battle in 1620 by the Lunar Army and captured. And that was the end of his kingdom. He failed the Esvularings and actually brought about exactly what they feared - I don't expect there is any nostalgia for his return. If we now look at Heortland in the post-Dragonrise era, there is a political vacuum after the death of King Broyan (who was the leading figure 1621-1625). Scorpionmen bands ravage the villages and towns around the Print. Whitewall looks to the Sartarites for leadership. The Wolf Pirates are able to raid and plunder at will.

I hate to disappoint folk but Rikard falls into the Roussel de Bailleul category. Rikard was a mercenary and adventurer who took advantage of the collapse the Holy Country to carve out his own little principality, which he enthusiastically called the Kingdom of Malkonwal (after the legendary city founded by Malkion after his expulsion from Brithos). His rule lasted from 1617-1620 and I strongly doubt it established deep roots. I seriously doubt that there are folk just waiting for his return five years later. Rikard can be an inspiration for players who want to carve out their own kingdoms, like some sort of Proto-Conan. An inspiration and a cautionary tale. Things in the Holy Country are pretty unstable for years, and there will be principalities to carve out of Tarsh and the Lunar Provinces.

Funny that. I find it far easier to search our FB Group than BRP Central.

It is pretty common for Storm Bull cultists to marry Eiritha, Ernalda or Grain Goddess cultists.

Option 1 is the canonical answer.

Nah, it is more those notes from WF 14 reflected how Greg and I were thinking about it some dozen years ago or so. Needless to say, I have done an awful lot more work understanding Dragon Pass and the formation of the Yelmalio cult there since then.

Certainly in Pavis County he is. I suspect he has been dropped in Sun County.

As pointed out by others, all sentient beings have an innate fear/hatred of Chaos (and that includes Chaotic entities). It is natural as Chaos is inherently "wrong". Now Illumination removes that inherent fear/hatred and the Illuminate KNOWS that Chaos is not inherently good or evil, it just is. That is unsettling at the very least. Arkat understood that but concluded that Gbaji/Nysalor was evil (and would agree that entities like Thed, Cacodemon, etc. are evil as well). Nysalor needed to be destroyed, lest the evils he unleash grow and get worse. The temptation to use Chaos as an instrument/weapon was recognized as a moral evil, much like the temptation to use nuclear weapons is recognized as a moral evil.

Barntar is widely known and invoked as the Plow Man. In every agricultural community, the plow is key to making seeds grow in the field. He's a phallic god, who enables Air to enter Earth. Where Orlanth Thunderous is present, Barntar is rarely the subject of an independent cult, but everyone knows him. Does he have sons and daughters? No doubt he does, but again those offspring rarely get their own cult.

And here's that biome in late summer.

Mesquite, creosote (which is commonly called "chaparral" in many areas), and the like.

Prax once was very comfortable and agriculturally productive. But because its soil has lost its fertility (the soils tend to be sandy or gravelly, layers of sticky clay, or even hard rock), it is not suitable for agriculture. And when it gets water, the water just flows away.

OK, the most common dog god is some variation of Brother Dog. He lets you Understand Dog and Conquer Beast. There's a few other dog-headed gods, like Jajagappa, but they are not really a God of Dogs. Telmor is not a dog god - he's a wolf god. And although they are clearly related animals, they are not the same and the cults dislike each other.

Also it is worth keeping in mind that Sonora and even Chihuahua are not that far from sea, and if it is easier, imagine Prax as encompassing Arizona, Sonora, and Chihuahua. They even have bison!

Remember that much of Prax IS coastal. It borders the Rozgali Sea. Even the Rockwood Mountains are only about 450 km from the ocean.

On cultural skills, the Praxians and the Grazelanders win the contest. Frex, we get: Sartarites 75 Lunar Tarsh 85 Old Tarsh 75 Esrolians 90 Grazelands 95 Praxians 120 (!) Now the Grazelanders and Praxians get a BIG bonus to their Ride and Herd to make sure that they are able to do that (Ride is +35 and Herd is +30). The Esrolians get are better at farming and trade talk than anyone else, plus get a few points in skills that reflect their urban culture. The Sartarites get a LOT of points in weapon skills, but that is largely because they get a broader range of cultural weapons. None get more than a +15%. The Praxians have a narrower band of cultural weapons, and again none are more than +15%. So if we look at a Bison Rider, they get a total of 175 points. A Sartarite gets only 165. But whatever, you are welcome to complain all you wish.

You all can wait for the Solar book on that one. But this is about the Lightbringers and Earth Goddesses book.

Individuals have lots of lee-way. This represents the ceremonial attitudes of the cults towards each other.

I think there is an element of this, but again it is probably largely due to lack of contact and activity. So for example, we could imagine some Seven Mothers missionaries making it to Umathela and initially getting a Neutral response from the local Orlanth cult. That might be able to be sustained for some time assuming: 1. the Red Goddess cult studiously avoids displaying Chaos, and 2. the Seven Mothers don't try to displace the Orlanth cult socially or magically. Sooner or later some jerk would screw it up, but might be able to last for quite a while (especially if there are not many Illuminates). But rarely will we have a cult that is generally hostile or an enemy to another cult be any better than Neutral thanks to lack of contact.

The cult compatibility charts are a snapshot in Time. Some cults do change their compatibility within Time, others do not. But I also think there is less of this than people might think. For example, in the First Wane I think the Yelm cult was Associated with the Red Goddess cult (thanks to Yelmgatha and the Red Goddess) and the Red Emperor was the high priest of Yelm. But for largely political reasons, the Tripolis rebelled against the Red Emperor. This to me is no different than two Orlanthi tribes fighting with each other or two Waha worshiping tribes fighting with each other. Where I think it happens a lot is when cults are Neutral towards each other because they have not really interacted with each other. Pamalt is neutral towards the Red Goddess. But I suspect that is just that he doesn't know her yet.

I don't think that is the case. Again the cults are Neutral. So probably much more like: 60% are completely pragmatic towards it. That's the Waha and Eiritha factions. 10% are hostile towards it. This tends to be the Storm Bull faction. 20% are friendly towards it. This tends to be Lightbringers and Solar factions. 10% don't have any opinion. This tends to be the Daka Fal faction.

Argrath's contribution to this is that he finds a way to get the members of these cults to work together towards a goal their gods are all copacetic with.

Well let's be fair - he attacks Pavis because it is the Lunar command center in Prax. And it is very easy to get Orlanth, Waha, and Storm Bull on board to do that.