Jeff

Glorantha has lots of examples of good Illumination. Daruda was a great teacher who achieved union with Nothing and then re-entered the world in order to share his bliss with those who needed it. He is the model for all subsequent Dragon Emperors. Nysalor was a great and good teacher according to the Lunar religion. He united all peoples - human and Elder Races alike - in enlightenment and spiritual development. He was opposed by monstrous dark trolls, inhuman dragonewts, and barbaric rebels who were shackled to the past, and ultimately murdered by a god-hating demon in the guise of a man.. For more than a thousand years, the gifts of Nysalor have been secretly passed on to those who needed them. But the rulers of the world sought to keep the people in mental slavery and suppressed him when they found him. But the Red Goddess was Illuminated by Nysalor and overthrew those who sought to keep your minds and souls in bondage. Now his gifts are freely available to those who wish to follow his path. But this has long since had anything to do with Argrath.

Easier said than done. If Faltikus the Good gets along with Lunars and cooperates with them, and suffers not from the spirits of retribution, does that mean: 1. He just hasn't crossed the line yet, but don't worry, he'll get his soon. 2. He's a Lunar illuminate and has pulled the wool over Orlanth's eyes. 3. Orlanth doesn't care about such things nearly as much as his mortal worshipers.

Most people do not know that Arkat was Illuminated. Most Lunars do not know that Arkat was Illuminated. The idea would be shocking to almost everyone. It is a closely guarded secret of the Arkat cult's leaders and a few others.

This is a classic case of people on the internet overthinking stuff and making assumptions that player characters somehow know the rules of cults they have no experience with. How many illuminated Lightbringers are there? How does a non-Illuminate have any idea that someone who is not a Lunar cultist is an Illuminate? Think about it this way - the majority of all Illuminates in the world are Lunar cultists. All Red Goddess initiates are Illuminated. Most members of the Lunar College of Magic are Illuminated. And so on. There are many Lunar schools of Illumination, gurus, etc. Want to know your default Illuminate? It is a Lunar priest. That's the only place where Illumination is reasonably common. There are occasional Illumination in Kralorela and Ralios. But their Illuminates aren't Lunars. And who knows how their schools work. So maybe your player characters know a lot about Lunar Illumination. The Lunars have schools and gurus - called Riddlers - to teach this stuff. People PAY to be taught, or dedicate themselves to a Riddler, etc. But in their experience, can a Lightbringer even become an Illuminate? Are there any paths to Illumination outside of the Lunar Way? Jeff

If you chose to set the game in a different setting from all the current published material (such as setting things in 1615 instead of ten years later), that obviously will take a lot of the resources we've presented off the table. My advise for starting Runequest is to start in 1625 Dragon Pass or Prax. That makes all the material I suggested instantly accessible. If you later want to game in a different part of the setting, go for it, but start there.

Storm Bull has Death, Beast, and Air. Incarnations of Lodril are likely magical patrons of several different cities.

I'm running a lot of RQG right now with people very new to Glorantha and RQ. Ignore Ian Abstentia and start right away with the Family Background. That is a 30+ minute crash course in the setting for that character. You learn the history that matters to that character, develop friends and enemies, and acquire all sorts of hooks for playing your character. Ground the group in clan and tribe. Then start with an easy scenario that lets you get the hang of the system. Broken Tower, Cattle Raid, the Pegasus Plateau - grab one, Let the scenario end with loose threads and consequences. And then throw something else at them. Repeat until there are enough loose threads that the players start weaving their own adventures. Then throw some big external event at them to screw up all their plans. Repeat! Pretty soon it will be like an improv jam session with players interacting with each other and with their familiar NPCs, friends and enemies alike.

That was a screwup on my part. Here's the correct details: BACHAD The leading tribe of the Alone city ring, the Bachad are one of the New Sartar tribes, having settled this area after being exiled from Tarsh following the Battle of Grizzly Peak in 1582. They originally came from what is now the Bush Range. They control much of the good agricultural land in the Hidden Valley, raising barley and cattle. Tribal Center: Alone City: Alone Population: 3000 Clans: Three Main Tribal Deities: Orlanth, Ernalda. Minor Cults: Humakt, Maran Gor. Language: Tarshite

And some of those cults were not actually part of Greg's Glorantha. ILH-1 and especially 2 are not particularly canonical. Of those that are, the Cults Book mentions that the Second Council recognised many bull cults, such as Bisos and Bemur, as local manifestations of the Storm Bull. 11 is just a Humakt with accents. 5 is a local Lodril cult, while Karmanos and Aronius Jaranthir are local West Reaches cults.

There is. But I am happy to keep it cryptic.

The Kitori are humans or trolls, and not hybrids of both. There is magic that lets a human be a troll or a troll be a human, but that is not the same has being half-troll and half-human. Who says the Kitori killed Broyan? The Kitori, like the trolls of the Shadow Plateau, worship the OOO as a demigod. They supported Arkat and were rewarded for it, but that was also over a thousand years ago. There are about 6000 Kitori, making them the size of a medium sized Sartarite tribe. Their most lucrative trade is between the Shadow Plateau and Dagori Inkarth.

Jar-eel's runes are not surprisingly Moon, Man, and Harmony. As a hero she is associated with Mastery. As one of the great heroes that are widely thought to be part of the cosmic duality itself, she is associated with the Infinity Rune.

I dislike the D&D alignment system intensely - like a lamer, dumber version of Myers-Briggs. Harrek's runes are Air, Beast, Man, and Death. As a hero he is associated with Mastery. As one of the great heroes that are widely thought to be part of the cosmic duality itself, he is associated with the Infinity Rune.

As an aside, a Gloranthan "hero" is not a moral status. A hero is someone who is partially in the divine world while also being in the mundane world. Such beings are almost always difficult to morally classify, as terrifying deeds commingle with the wondrous. Hon-eel brought forth corn, but sacrificed her son. Heort fought I Fought We Won but he killed one of his rivals. Romulus and Remus founded Rome but Romulus killed Remus. They are dangerous, like the Gods World itself.

I am pretty sure that for the White Moon devotees and the Pentans, Jar-eel is a monster.

My old Middle School is in Heortland. And Rick got a village near Sog City.

Of course!

The Hill of Gold is about 20 km NE of Jillaro and within 8 km of a village way station on the Hilltop Road. It is about 60 km SE of Alkoth and about 170 km SE of Glamour. I imagine now it receives a lot of pilgrims from throughout South Peloria, as it is very easy to get to. It is a prominent yellow-golden hill, and you can likely see it from Jillaro. The Hill of Gold is outside of the Dara Happan cultural zone, but not by a lot. It has been part of Vanch for centuries (and about 10% of Vanch's population belongs to the Yelmalio cult). It is also very sacred to the Yelm cult, particularly that of Darjinn, and pilgrims travel there to give thanks to Antirius Yelmalio for his sacrifices and suffering at the Hill of Gold.

Yeah, but that is silly. Any cult is going to be good at what it does best. And it is not surprising that the God of Swords is the best at sword-fighting.

Yes. The Alexander of Ferdowsi, the accursed Alexander of the Sassanians, Dhul-Qarnayn, Sikander, the Alexander of Josephus, the Alexander of the medieval Nine Worthies, etc. Sometimes a villain, sometimes a hero.

These are more interesting questions! There's about 6000 Kitori. Let's assume 3000 are humans, 1000 are dark trolls, and 2000 are trollkin. The Troll Woods are pretty big, covering over 400 square kilometres. They eat insects, hunt and gather in the Troll Woods, raid the local humans, and most of all trade. During their hey-day, they raided caravans going from Wilmskirk to Karse or demanded a high toll for protection (much more costly and much less secure than the toll Tarkalor imposed afterwards). The main god of the Kitori is Argan Argar. The trolls of course worship Kyger Litor as well, although the humans do not (beyond lay member/associated cult worshIp). Zoran Zoran is a main war god. Best known of the Kitori is Obash Broos-Smasher, a Runelord dark troll from the south, whose spirit ally was an intelligent sylph. He was also of the cult of Argan Argar, and was a troll who did not degrade humans who also worshipped the god. He and his family held the roads to the south, and often raided north into the clans of Sartar, and against Lunar convoys as well.

It is interesting how quickly people on these forums quickly descend into the worst excesses and mistakes of the God Learners in their assumptions about how mythology works.

Arkat has been dead and gone for 1200 years. He has no widespread cult, only a few shadowy groups of which wildly inaccurate tales are whispered. I've posted this before, but I'll do it again. Whenever I try to understand Glorantha's history - I position myself at the time of Alexander the Greek and look backwards. Present year 162710 years ago - Lunar Empire invades Hendrikiland25 years ago - Boldhome falls to the Lunar Empire50 years ago - Battle of Grizzly Peak100 years ago - Apotheosis of Sartar300 years ago - Belintar unites Holy Country500 years ago - the Dragonkill War (1120)1000 years ago- the Kingdom of Dragon Pass. After this came the EWF.1500 years ago - the Second Council. The Theyalans dominate Genertela and war with the Pelorian horse people.2000 years ago - I Fought, We Won, and the Unity Battle. After this, came the Heortling kingdom, which lasted about 800 years (until Gbaji destroyed it).2500 years ago - The Chaos Age, which lasted until the Unity Battle.3000 years ago - the Ice Age5000 years ago - the Vingkotlings10,000 years ago - Orlanth kills YelmCompare this to a Greek at the time of Alexander (330 BC)10 years ago - Philip founds Philippopolis 25 years ago - the Sacred War50 years ago - Battle of Leuctra (371 BC)100 years ago - start of the Peloponnesian War300 years ago - fall of the Neo-Assyrian Empire500 years ago - the neo-Assyrian Empire1000 years ago - the Trojan War1500 years ago - height of Babylon2000 years ago - Sargon and the Akkadian Empire2500 years ago - Gilgamesh is king of Uruk3000 years ago - Menes units Egypt (first dynasty)5000 years ago - Neolithic cities like Catal Huyuk and Jericho10,000 years ago - beginning of Neolithic age So Arkat's Wars are going to be viewed in 1625 something like how Alexander's Greeks viewed the time of Heracles. It will be filled with contradictions and inconsistencies. In some stories, Arkat is a mighty hero who defeats Gbaji atop the Tower of Justice or defeats the hated Palangio the Iron Vrok and his army of Dara Happens In other stories, Arkat is a troll monster who leads an army of man-eating demons and trolls to destroy everyone and everything in his path, and forces men to submit to the trolls. In others, he is a tragic atheist or humanist who refuses the Lightbringers and chooses to embrace hate and darkness. In others, he fights himself - each wound inflicted upon Gbaji causes him to bleed and suffer. These stories are not put into any sort of canonical order or cycle - there's lots of Arkat stories. Many scholars scoff at their diversity.

He was. A pretty tenuous connection that goes through Saronil's daughter. Kallyr's is closer to the House, going through a bastard of Jarolar.

If you aren't the Red Goddess's son, you aren't the Red Emperor. And only the Red Emperor can rule the Lunar Empire. You can become the Orlanth Rex of a tribe if all the priests agree, but the Orlanth Rex of Sartar is above all the tribes. Which is a tremendous source of authority and power.