Jeff

I disagree with virtually every point you make here. Pretty much everyone in Sartar would agree that Elmal and Yelmalio are the same deity or aspects of the same deity. The revelation that Elmal is Yelmalio ended the in-fighting among the Elmali, which killed one Prince of Sartar, and badly weakened the kingdom of Sartar. The establishment of the Sun Dome strengthened Sartar, and Yelmalio pikemen died for King Tarkalor at the Battle of Grizzly Peak. The Elmal Defends the Stead myth IS the Hill of Gold myth. Same story, just the emphasis is on a sub-section of the event. Monrogh revealed the "full myth" and could prove it in magical contests and heroquests.

They are Sartarites, and remember, they got the Sun Dome Temple and recognition from none other than High King Tarkalor himself. Orlanth is Neutral towards Yelmalio. Now the Locaem tribe are hostile, and the Colymar, Kultain, and Lismelder not much better. Then again, the Colymar are hostile towards the Locaem and Malani tribes (and to some extent towards the Kheldon), so that is pretty normal tribal attitudes.

If a worshiper from a Sun Dome Temple went to a rural shrine to the Cold Sun, he's have no trouble contacting his god. Maybe the crotchety old priest of the shrine might grumble about Sun Domers, but that's about it.

Yelmalio gets Shield from Yelm.

Let's make it easy: Yelmalio and Foundchild, as per RQG. Balazar is a subcult of Yelmalio. Hearthmother is a woman's shamanic society with Mahome as a spirit cult (if I recall correctly). Votank is a Daka Fal ancestor. Rigtaina is a spirit cult. Horned Man is extremely important for the Balazarings.

David - there is not a split canon. There is a Chaosium canon moving forward. As an aside the Sourcebook is written as a collection of in-Gloranthan documents, and WILL be contradicted from time to time cheerfully. I just need to know where I have done so inadvertently. And the answer appears to be less frequently than assumed.

If people are going to suggest that specific elements are (Kultain, Jar-eel elevating Pharandros, etc.), please cite from the Guide, Sourcebook, or RQ book that you think we are contradicting. Please do NOT cite from HQ materials, HW materials, or forum posts.

Agree fully. Also keep in mind that we don't speak Heortling. I don't know if it has grammatical gender (I presume it does, but don't know), whether it is grammatical genders are male, female, neuter - or something else like male, female, neuter, both, etc. I don't know enough about the Bugis language to be able to draw on that as a source of ideas. It could well be that the Heortlings use "Child of" or "scion of" rather than son or daughter of. But that's how I have chosen to translate it in English.

Fire.

Our new group has one character who just needs to get his CHA up by one and then qualifies for Wind Lord. Another is already a shaman. And another is following closely behind to becoming a Sword Lord, but he needs a few more points of CHA.

Simple - because a lot, arguably most, of the cool bits of the game start taking place once the characters are Rune Lords, priests, and shamans. That's when you get to see large spells in action, allied spirits and fetches, and when the adventurers are likely cult and community leaders. In RQ2 that point was so far off that in the Chaosium house campaign, they had two groups of characters - those made normally, and those made to start as Rune masters. And all the big stories came from the latter group. After all RQG is set in the Hero Wars, and the players should be allowed to interact with the unfolding story as more than canon-fodder. It is possible to start with less robust characters, but my preferred default is for characters that are on the cusp of doing memorable things.

Here's the map from circa 400.

Well actually it was easy enough to create RQ3 characters with similar skills levels - just give them ten years of experience!

Yelm has Fire Death and Life. Bijif is Death, the Young God Life. But they don't really have separate cults.

Fire and Death.

But the Icelandic longhouse is built to reflect the resources and conditions of Iceland, and a tradition of housebuilding style from Scandinavia and Northern Europe. It really doesn't make any sense for Dragon Pass, with its traditions coming from the Holy Country and Peloria.

A local Sartarite crafting god is Wilms, who is the patron of sculpting, painting, and other physical arts. His cult is a Spirit Cult, and freely associates with Orlanth, Issaries, and Ernalda. He provides the spirit magic spell Glue spell at 1/2 price and training in Craft (Sculpture), Craft (Painting) at 1/2 price. Wilms is associated with the Illusion Rune and provides members of his cult with the special Rune of Breathe Life into Stone. BREATHE LIFE INTO STONE Illusion 1 Point Ritual, Stackable, One-use This spell is cast as the sculptor creates a sculpture out of stone, metal, or other appropriate materials. The sculptor must succeed in a special or better with a Craft (sculpture) skill roll (or its equivalent) to be able to cast the spell. For each Rune point stacked with the spell, a spirit is awakened within the statue with a CHA and POW of 1D6 each. Both characteristics become available to the subject of the sculpture (normally a cult), similar to an allied spirit or wyter.

Just bumping this one back up!

Lots of wild land is still "owned by the goddess" and can be used by whoever can defend themselves and their use.

Livestock is chattel or private property. He owns it to do with it as he wants.

As I commented to part of the house "kitchen cabinet" working with me on this, it is clear from this is how prestigious Ernalda is, but also makes it clear that one can "purchase" land. You just can't do it in fee simple - it's going to have to be something like life estate or leasehold. Ernalda owns the land in fee simple absolute; but has transferred to the tribe or clan ownership in fee simple determinable (the clan loses the right if they offend the gods, or whatever). The land is held in common by the group, but assigns parts of the land in life estates or leaseholds to households, temples, whatever. So I can imagine that Prince Tarkalor persuaded the Colymar tribe to assign some land in the upper Swan vale to the Uleria temple he built to honor the Feathered Horse Queen or something like that. Maybe that was done just by the tribal assembly, maybe it was the tribal assembly, and the Varmandi and Hiording clans, all working in concert. Gringle, the Prince's merchant friend, bought a leasehold from that temple, assigned part of that to Bolthor Brewer to build the Tinn Inn, and pretty soon you have Apple Lane. Later on the Colymar assigned some lands to support a Thane to protect the locals. But at the end of the day, this still is theoretically owned by the Earth Priestesses at Clearwine. And maybe periodically there must be a symbolic gift to the Clearwine Earth Temple to maintain this. And you can imagine farmers, thanes, clans, and temples arguing about who owns what all day long.

Here's a little snippet from a forthcoming players-oriented book I am working on (cross-posted by me from Facebook): PROPERTY The Orlanthi divide ownership into two types of property, called earth and chattel. The Orlanthi view the Earth as belonging to (or even part of) Ernalda or the local Grain Goddess. It is part of the goddess. Very little land is “owned” by individuals. Instead, land is owned by the Earth temples and assigned to tribes, clans, temples, and other groups to use, develop, or protect, or to delegate to others to do such things with. In Earth-dominated lands such as Esrolia, Ernalda's representatives directly administer the land. In Orlanthi societies such as Sartar, Ernalda has entrusted care of the land to her husband Orlanth, but still retains residual (if rarely exercised) authority. In most of Dragon Pass, Ernalda has given authority over the land to tribal or clan leaders, who in turn delegate responsibility for parcels or fields to smaller groups such as clans, temples, or households. This land is collectively owned by the group, though it is typically administered by a title-holder, such as a chieftain or chief priestess. Land cannot be permanently alienated without the approval of the appropriate tribal or clan leaders, and the Earth temple. However, authority over specific pieces of land can be delegated to others. These assignments often include payment of silver, service, rent, or livestock from the assignee to the assignor. As long as the terms of the agreement are met and the assignee's use of the property does not offend the gods, the property remains under the care of the assignee. This can result in very complex land arrangements. For example, the ultimate authority for the land around Clearwine Fort is the Clearwine Earth Temple. However, the tribal ring exercises authority over most of the land, distributing land to the clans, temples, and even individuals, The Sacred Fields near the Earth temple is land that Ernalda has reserved to herself. Clearwine Fort itself has land under the title of the tribal king, the tribal council, temples, and the clans (principally to the Ernaldoring clan). These groups in turn may delegate land to households, individuals, - even to strangers and foreigners - although “title” to the land remains with the Earth temple or the tribe. Much of the legal disputes the tribal king hears involves disputes over land. Earth properties may also include herds, a type of seed or plant, a breed or color of animal, or other such public gift as may have been granted by or to the Earth. Clans traditionally mark the boundaries of their land with marker stones blessed by the local Earth priestess. Moving or otherwise damaging these stones without the approval of the Earth temple can result in retribution from members of the Babeester Gor cult. Private or “chattel” property is different. This property may be freely inherited, given away, invested, traded, loaned, squandered, or lost. The existence of chattel property is what makes a difference in the wealth of different families (hearths) even within a single household. The word chattel is the old word for cattle. This is a throwback to the ancient practice when the Orlanthi measured wealth, rank, and privilege in the number of cows and bulls which they owned, and reflects the turbulent mythology of the storm gods. Transfer of chattel property is easy, and at whatever terms the owner desires. There are many overlapping boundaries between earth and chattel property. For example, a household’s lands are earth, but the plows and teams, arms and armor are chattel property. Then they may be farming some lands of the clan temporarily granted by the chieftain, while tending a herd of sheep and plot of farmland for an absentee landlord.

It is both a feature of Glorantha (the end of each age has been a terrible cataclysm - Dragonkill War, the Closing, the Shattering of Seshnela, - not to mention the horrible 75 year bloodbath that was the Gbaji Wars) and of many real world religions. For example, "It is said that towards the end of the Kali yuga, Kalki will return riding on a white horse to battle with Kali and his dark forces. The world will suffer a fiery cataclysm that will destroy all evil, and Shiva will destroy the universe. Brahma will create the universe anew, and then a new age (the next Satya Yuga of the following Mahayuga), will begin."

It was a learning curve issue. Giving players access to all special Rune spells can easily be overwhelming - particularly with cults like Orlanth Thunderous, Orlanth Adventurous, or Ernalda. So we decided to limit that initial number to three and then let players earn or buy new spells. That way they know their character's "spell inventory" better and have a better feel for their character. Three is, of course, a magical number and in many traditions, we are hard-wired to remember and present things in three. So seemed good to me.

I'm going to be brutal on these ask Jeff threads about hiding answers from other folk. And there will be questions I don't answer. You can always create new threads if you want.