Jump to content

Jeff

Moderators
  • Posts

    3,563
  • Joined

  • Last visited

  • Days Won

    388

Everything posted by Jeff

  1. None of that is correct. The Theyalans have a base 14 alphanumeric system, the Pelorians use a base 10, which I suspect those Lhankor Mhy sages have adapted for their use. New Pelorian did not impose a base 7 system - think of it more like Simplified Chinese.
  2. The motivation is simple. It is pro-Pamalt when it is describing the gods and myths of the Doraddi, and pro-Garangordos when describing the myths and gods of Fonrit. Just as it is pro-Orlanth when describing the Orlanthi, pro-Lunar when describing the Lunars, etc.
  3. The Larnstings aren't really a thing, it is a title used something but it is not a real group or organisation. Snodal didn't make it but his son Siglat did - he's much more significant to the Loskalmi. The Luathans didn't make it but Rausa did. Srvulai are there, correctly spelled. And poor old Varzor Kitor just wasn't important enough.
  4. Jeff

    Horses and Sartar

    I am going to be blunt. Finovan and Helemakt are not RQ cults. The names don't appear in the Prosopaedia, the Cults books, or even the Sartar book. Finovan might once have been the name of a wind or an ancestor in the Hendrikilands, but now just the name of some hills east of Whitewall. Maybe a shaman can find him and you can set up a little spirit cult for him.
  5. Nope. Storm Bull and Humakt are among the very few with specialised sense abilities.
  6. Rigsdal is there on page 100. He's known as Polaris.
  7. Incorrect David. Doburdan is simply a local name for Orlanth Thunderous, associated with the Entekos cult. Derdromus is an old Darsenite name for Deshkorgos, who shows up on page 29. And for sanity sake I did not include the name of every river god, or every alternate name of a god known in one language or another.
  8. Tenants work land assigned to someone else.
  9. Beyond this, there is tremendous variety. A household might have worked a stretch of land for two centuries (which is time immemorial), clearing woods, building improvements, and have been successful enough that adults have armor, good weapons, and mounts, and their voice is greatly heeded in the assemblies - and are still considered the same social rank as most everyone else. Another household might have been assigned land a generation or so ago, lost members in the wars, has great trouble making ends meet and are considering just becoming the dependents of someone else (or flat out leave the land and move to the city). One thing in general - become a Rune master and not only does your social class go up, but typically your resources go up. Temples own a lot of land, herds, get stuff from sacrifices, etc., and the Rune masters of the temple treat that as their own. So impress those Examiners!
  10. As for social mobility, the Orlanthi have a few well-recognised social classes. The default is Free. That means you are a full member of your clan and tribe, control your own livelihood, and are recognised as such by your community. You have the full right to participate in assemblies of the clan and tribe. Let's say that is about two-thirds of the community. Within this group, you can be Wealthy or Common. Above the Free are the Nobles. These are people who belong to families that hold some sacred leadership position - the chiefs, the priests, tribal leaders, etc. Less than one in ten people fall into this category. You achieve this status by some member of your immediate family becoming a Rune master, a chief, an initiate of Orlanth Rex, etc. Below the Free are the Semifree. These are people who are not full members of the community and do not have the right to participate in assemblies of the clan and tribe (but may get asked to by the leaders). They have no land or herd assigned to them or their families but must work for some other household, or are itinerate labourers (stickpickers). Maybe one in six people fall into this community. Finally you have the Unfree. Captives, slaves, prisoners, etc. You aren't considered a member of the clan at all. Maybe one in ten people fall into this category - many only temporarily (until they are ransomed by their kin).
  11. Let's start with a clarification. Around half of the rural Sartarites live in villages not isolated steads. Let's take the Hiording Clan, a pretty average clan. Their main settlement is the village of Swan with about 100 adult residents divided into 5 households, including the households of the chief and chief priestess. Apple Lane is a market hamlet shared with the Varmandi clan. It has a Uleria Temple (actually a shrine), an inn, a scribe, a horsemaster, and a weaponsmaster guild hall. Apple Lane has about 20 adult inhabitants and is surrounded by apple orchards. About 5 households live in and around Apple Lane. Asborn’s Stead is fortified farmstead at the base of the Big Starfire Ridge. Another 3 households live in or around Asborn's Stead. Seven more households are scattered around the Swanvale. The ultimate "owner" of the land is the Earth Goddess, and the clan is a "tenant" with most of the bundle of rights. Individual families, members, temples, etc., are given rights by the clan - but they cannot alienate the land without the approval of the clan. The system seems complicated, but it becomes simpler if you remember that for the individual clan members we are looking at a relatively small network of tenants, while for outsiders the clan is the tenant.
  12. When we talk about cultures in Glorantha, we are always really talking about cults. All of the Elder Races (lets ignore the Triolini for a moment) have maintained a direct lineal connection to their ancestral founding deity who defines what it means to be a person - Kyger Litor, Aldrya, Mostal. All dark trolls are initiates of Kyger Litor as that is part of what it means to be a dark troll, but some are initiates of another deity as well. Same deal with with Aldrya and the elves. We get differences between troll and elf groups from these secondary cults (so for example the Shadow Plateau trolls love Argan Argar, which has an impact on their society), but all Elder Race societies have those core cults driving things. Humans don't have that connection. We could all worship Daka Fal - we all have ancestors after all - but we have no single ancestral founding deity (most of our stories say we were created by a bunch of deities - who might not even include our main deities!). Orlanth is not the ancestral founding deity of the Orlanthi - the Vingkotling are long dead and even among the Orlanthi, only about a third are initiates of Orlanth. Same thing with Yelm or Yelmalio. The human cults of Dragon Pass allied with the Elder Races at the Dawn, only to discover other humans that were unaware of their cults. Some Malkioni view this is a sign of human superiority; others view this as a sign that humans are the most broken of the sentients.
  13. There is no Detect Evil spell, as "evil" is a mighty hard thing to define. Detect Enemies detects hostile intent or a specific individual. Detect Honor (a Rune spell) detects whether an individual possesses the Honor passion at 60%, has broken an oath, etc. The only Detect (Rune) rune or spirit magic spell is Detect Truth, which really detects whether someone is lying. Given that Storm Bull does not have a Detect Chaos spell, only a magical skill, I certainly don't think anyone else would provide that. Now it might be possible to deduce a Detect Chaos sorcery spell as a variant of Identify Rune, but that might be a Boristi cult secret.
  14. Of course this has cultural influences. Dagori Inkarth is ruled by a council of Mistress Race Trolls born before the Dawn. There are Great Trees in Arstola as long lived as any redwood or sequoia. Their followers come to them and they are unchanged from the time of their great-great-great-great-great-great-great grandparents.
  15. From the perspective of humans, all of the Elder Races are mysterious. They are all older than any extant human culture, and all have individual members that remember the Dawn. There are obvious differences between green, brown, and yellow elves, and the Lhankor Mhy cult records ancient conflicts between these groups. Two main troll queendoms are active in Dragon Pass - that of the Shadow Plateau has a long tradition of interaction with humans. However, the queendom of Dagori Inkarth is feared by all, and the trolls claim that the Great Troll Mother herself resides beneath the Castle of Lead. Meanwhile Cragspider the Firewitch has her own domain, and the terrible Zorak Zoran is mighty there. All of the Elder Races have much longer memories than us humans. The green and brown elves live 200 to 300 years, and dryads even longer. There are plenty of elderly elves who remember the Inhuman Occupation and when the Orlanthi settlers first returned to Dragon Pass. The political squabbles of human groups means little to them. Who can really distinguish between those humans that follow the Red Moon and those of Sartar Dwarffriend? Although dark trolls only live a little longer than humans, Mistress Race Trolls are immortal. Most Mistress Race Trolls were born in Wonderhome, before the Dawn. The race was already diminishing in the First Age before the Curse of Kin. Arkat and his companions were the last MIstress Race Trolls born in Time, until recently. That means the Mistress Race make the Antediluvians from Vampire games look like spring chickens. Some are many thousands of years old. They barely recognize the dark trolls as their descendants - the trollkin are hated mockeries. The Mistress Race remember Osentalka! They remember the Broken Council! They remember the betrayal of the dwarves and elves, the fickleness of the dragonewts. But the prize goes to the dwarfs. They are all immortal, unless they deviate from their function. But most dwarfs have no interest at all in human society and cannot tell one human from another. If the price is right, they will work for whoever, but that price is always very high. And all of the remaining True Mostali (like The Dwarf) are from the Godtime and predate the dwarves. And the Mistress Race.
  16. She did it (emphasise the past tense) and that is part of the fabric of Glorantha. But the Bat is not the Red Goddess. The Crimson Bat is no more accepted as a deity than Thed, Vivamort, or Krarsht.
  17. The Red Goddess is a part of the cosmos thanks to the Battle of Castle Blue, but her rise to the Middle Air as the Red Moon is not part of that. Her intrusion into Orlanth's domain was after Castle Blue, and was her last deed while she still had mortal free will.
  18. Orlanth's breadth of power is beyond the scope of any mortal - that's why four or five arms are usually given to him.
  19. Let's make this simple and start here: "Every Chaotic creature, every worshiper of Chaos, and every doer of Chaotic deeds (such as rape or cannibalism) is a parasitic wound in Glorantha. As long as the number of parasites is kept to a manageable level, Glorantha can bear Her wounds. The Sacred Time rituals and natural cycles of the cosmos renew Her. But when there is too much Chaos, as in the Great Darkness or the Gbaji Wars, then existence itself is in danger of ending. Those who have wounded Glorantha are also wounded in turn. Their souls are tainted by Chaos, by that wound in existence, and their immortal existence forever in danger of annihilation. And yet, that taint warps reality, and can give power and vitality to the Chaotic. This Chaos taint is not a tangible, physical thing. It is a spiritual blemish, known only to the individual and the gods. It cannot be sensed by normal mortals, except by the cultists of the Storm Bull, who can sense the presence of the taint." Now like everything there are ways to hedge this. The Hungry Eaters perform cannibalism (normally a Chaotic act) within the confines of placating the demands of the Spirit World and so when they eat sentients in this manner it is not Chaotic. If a Hungry Eater decides to start hunting down eating people on the side to sate their own hunger, it likely is Chaotic. Interesting the patron god of the ogres does not care one way or another about cannibalism - Cacodemon is all about personal power at the expense of everyone else. This is a real thing in the setting. Here's another snippet that might be useful: "Glorantha is a fragile bubble of existence in an infinite abyss of Chaos. With Creation, order was imposed on formless Chaos. The Gods War weakened that order and admitted Chaos back into the world, where it still exists, but few Chaos gods strong enough to be worshiped as deities survived. The mortal races of Chaos are more now prevalent, hiding in the forgotten places of the world or consolidating in strongholds. One of the clear distinctions made in the Cosmic Compromise is that Chaos is not of this world. The deities and powers of the world had touched it, and were still afraid of it, and their continued existence required that they remain apart from Chaos. Chaos became the one enemy that must be fought and suppressed by all. With one enemy recognized by everyone, the squabbling deities found a common source of unity. Chaos always seeks to reestablish itself, which threatens the existence of Glorantha. Though Chaos is in itself formless, mutual corruption of Chaos and the cosmic order occurs at the weakened seams of the cosmos where Chaos leaks in. This corruption is personified and manifested by foul, cruel, and maleficent deities. Chaos enters Glorantha in several ways. Spontaneous manifestations are rare but do happen—the world arose from Chaos, so Chaos may reassert itself. Once in the world, Chaos will spread. This process is present when a Chaos manifestation duplicates itself, whether by the replication process of the walktapus, the foul breeding of broos, or various Chaotic rituals. Chaos can also enter the world through the actions of people. For example, in Orlanthi rituals, participants regularly summon and face their foes, overcoming them to recreate the world. If they fail in their trials, Chaos may enter the world. Chaos can also be deliberately summoned, as when the Unholy Trio brought Wakboth into the world. Chaos may enter through violation of divine laws, such as when Orlanthi commit kinslaughter or Dara Happans rebel against an emperor who has passed the Ten Tests. Tragically, even the best of people, desperate to save themselves and the things they love, can unwisely invite evil into the world. The divine manifestations of Chaos usually parody the gods or forces of Glorantha as they represent corruptions or perversions of the same. Thus, Mallia is the Mother of Disease, yet once she had properties to aid life and growth. However, many Chaotic deities represent concepts incomprehensible to sane and normal Gloranthan life, since these entities originate in the Void, where nothing is sane or normal."
  20. There is a spell called Ban. It can only be cast by Chief and High Priests of a cult. Not all outlawry results in the Ban spell, and no doubt it is carefully cast.
  21. Since over 60% of the human population of the Holy Country are Esrolian, I think that is a reasonable default. Especially since the next biggest group is basically identical to the Sartarites.
  22. Correct. Pharandros hires some exotic assassins to take Kallyr out of play during the battle. His plan nearly succeeds - Kallyr dies, and the Sartarite army is leaderless. Then the Colymar drive hard into Pharandros' side and that inspires the other Sartarites. The Tarshite retreat becomes a rout and the army is pursued almost to Alda-Chur. Then the Sartarites disperse. Both sides to recover. After that Pharandros needs to scurry back to Furthest to look after his own kingdom. Furthest doesn't have the resources to launch another campaign.
  23. You pay wergild because the consequences are well-known if you do not - the aggrieved kin will attack your kin. Paying wergild protects the farmers, women, and others. It protects your livestock. Other clans and groups may decide you all are more trouble than you are worth. Your actions put your kin at risk, so pay the life price or accept the consequences.
  24. In general, most clans within a given tribe are going to pay wergild unless they think the demands are unreasonable or the situation is unjust. Between tribes it can be more difficult, especially if the tribes have old rivalries or other conflicts. Here's where the Sartar Prince or the city rings become very handle - they provide a way forward from that. Now during the two decades of the Lunar Occupation this system often broke down, and now we are trying to restart it. But the framework is there and everyone is familiar with it. If a BG or Humakt cultist killed someone, compensation gets harder, and that is where the tribe, the city, or even the Prince needs to get involved. But BG has more hooks on her - if her local Earth Temple disagrees with her acts, she might find herself kicked out, exiled, etc.
×
×
  • Create New...