metcalph

You could have a moon-boat or two in the caravan (usually tethered to the pack beasts) but from time to time made to scout the surrounding lands.

There is a reference in the Fortunate Succession to Kastok's Lance protecting the caravans. Unfortunately that's about it.

Pas de probleme. Claim he's from Boshan and most Kralori in Shiyang province will believe him.

Doesn't need to be as high as that. I've read of a European explorer of pre-isolation Japan who travelled for several weeks disguised as a Samurai with a Japanese Christian to act as a guide and servant. Another was a European priest who pretended to be an Imperial Official so he could enter a prison to give the last rites to an imprisoned Christian. Both these subterfuges worked despite both Europeans being unable to speak much Japanese.

There's a map of the Lunar Empire-Kralorela trade route on p469 of the Guide. Hence Jangi-Shar is the endpoint of the caravans. IMO a Lunar could travel from there to the breadth of Ignorance (join the Black Sect, Hobnob with the Yellow Masked Priests etc) but faces legal problems if he crosses the border into Kralorela.

I doubt that Sheng shares your views on what is strategically or logistically sensible. He conquered the Wastelands which are far more barren than the Elder Wilds. What Sheng wants is not some penny-pinching accountant telling him what would be a wise use of his resources - he has a mountain of accountant skulls for that - but secrets that he could use against the Kralori. Remote wastelands would be scouted because they are remote and likely to hold secrets. The map that you refer to is dated 1450 ST, some 75 years after the Opili Tribe were badly mangled at the Battle of Quintus Vale. The then Opili Khan may have simply decided that occupying the Citadels and other places then was not worthy of his time. Sheng had Lionbirds and used them to devour the Red Emperor. according to Tales #8 (a post-canonical gregly article). I'm hence skeptical that he would be exterminating Griffins

The Opili Tribe settles in Garsting but fought at the battle of Quintus Vale (on the borders of Tarsh). There's only two routes they could have gone and one of them has been blocked of by Jannisor over a century before. And if Sheng can't send a horde because of poor grazing then he would send one of his demigods to see what secrets the land was hiding.

It's my understanding that the caravans end up in Ignorance. The caravans end up in Jang-Shar (Guide p288). "In the last century, many strange foreign cults have taken root in Ignorance as a result of the biennial caravan from the Lunar Empire" (Guide p287). Alanthore, a prophet of the Blood Sun from Ignorance, is active in the Redlands while Livia Tarinda, a Lunar Native, is preaching the Bloodheart/Blood Sun/Red Moon in the Eastern Isles.

Given that Lhankor Mhy's father happens to be a certain, Mostal (Cult Compendium p159 repeating information already published in Cults of Prax), it would be more of a surprise if Lhankor didn't have anything to do with sorcery.

Umm, where is Greydust? I see it in the text but can't see it on the map. More importantly, there's a bit of a problem in the material in that being killed by chaos, his supporters manage to inter him in the elaborate (for the period) Tada's High Tumulus.

They study the transformation of one substance to another through alchemical processes. A big issue is that what people know about alchemy is rather medieval in scope which strikes at odds with the bronze-age feel that the guide strives for. The little notes that Jeff put up at glorantha.com show an inorganic focus (ie metals and minerals). I think the basic magic of the school is preparing acids and alkalis (by getting a sample of suitable fluid and casting a spell upon it with the strength of the acid or base equal to the effort of their spell). They also know how to ferment organic material to produce liquors of various strengths. I think the school knows how to make black powder (but never so controlled as the Mostali) and rather than turning base metal into Gold, they are seeking the making of Iron.

In any case, I would prefer the company's magics to be something other than buff arms and armour.

They are described as specific institutions in the Guide. For example, the Zendamalthan School maintains the Temple of the Invisible God in Seliset (p211) whereas the Ekozite School is spoken of as having a centre of learning in Leplain (p417). Given that both Loskalm and Seshnela both have state-mandated philosophical schools, other permitted schools would be ordered as formal organisations in an effort to control them. I'm not sure I can see the worth of a Loskalm without politics or internal tension. If it's good for the Orlanthi (who have struggles between Kings and Priests in their history) or the Lhankorings (who feud mildly over whether God Learner texts should be studied) then it should be good for other places in Glorantha.

My opinion on the Against the Demons Originally the grimoire of the Furlandan School, it was developed to combat evil spirits in the Great Darkness. The school had its greatest success in fighting the Enjorelli and after they were vanquished, the school had no external enemies to fight. As a result, the school's magicians turned their attention within themselves, using their magics to purge themselves so they could attain Joy. King Siglat revived the Grimoire. He wanted to cleanse the land of evil influences so the country would become more receptive to Joy. He reinterpreted the teachings of the school from purging the body of evil spirits to one of purging the country of evil spirits. He had the Grimoire taught to his Men-of-All so they could see the signs of wickedness, summon the responsible spirits and remove them. The Men-of-All who carried out the cleansings were part of the First Brothers rather than the Furlandan School so Siglat did not trust wizards no matter how much they sang Hrestol's praises. Cleansing a land usually involves summoning the local populace (a village or a town), questioning them on anything bad that has happened to them over the past year. Armed with such a knowledge, the Men-of-All leads the population in summoning the spirit whereupon they struggle to imprison it within an energy prison to be disposed of later. In cases of magical calamities, the Men-of-All are often more coercive in their questioning if they suspect someone within the community is actively aiding the spirit. Captured spirits are usually contained within a nearby fort dedicated to holding energy prisons. The Men-of-All often have carry imprisoned spirits working their misdeeds through penal servitude. The Men-of-All usually demonize these spirits so they will confer spell knowledge rather than function as a charm.,

I disagree strongly.

Well IMO the Bardan School is has many of the problems that plagued Issaries cult writeups at the time - it isn't very good to such an extent that it's no longer canonical and unlikely to have anything written about it in the future.,

Soothe the Dyspeptic Stomach would be Dismiss and Darkness. Harmony of the Parts would be Summon and Harmony (any effect which is called into being is best treated as a summons) Enter the Room without Doors would be Separate and Earth. That is if the Room exists on the mortal plane. If it doesn't, then I would use Summon and Magic (in effect you are summoning yourself into the Room without Doors and Magic is used for communication between the worlds).

As an example of what I spoke about the focus of the schools changing over time, here's a little thought I had about the Zendalmathan School to resolve the inherent contradiction about an Archimedian Engineering School that rejects Empircism (deriving knowledge from sense-experience). The School once had an argument with a God Learner about the path of a thrown stone. The school argued that the path should resemble a circle while the God Learner proved arc of the stone was not that of a circle. True to their philosophy, the school denounced the arc as a corrupt sign of Makan and set about making up a stone-thrower that would fling its payload in the circle's arc. The magics required to produce such an effect would counter Makan's evil influence and thus be used to free humanity from its grasp. That work is ongoing and the school Still has not built its desired circle thrower. They laboriously build enchanted catapults, carefully calculating the effect of the spells and fire the payload only to end in failure. After it was reasoned correctly that the size of the catapult was a crucial factor (Makan would have trouble corrupting a larger catapult than he would a small one), the School has been building bigger and bigger catapults. Their best effort can hurl a stone weighing a ton a full mile ("doing the ton" so the school labels the milestone). Their failed designs are not thrown on the scrapheap but bought by the Kingdom of Loskalm for their defences. An unusual feature of these catapults is that the School quickly worked out the way to increase the effect of Makan upon a projectile. All the school's catapults can be used in such a matter. The stone travels in a straight line with no visible curvature in flight. The stone gradually slows down until it reaches stillness whereupon it falls to the earth straight down.

You speak of the Furlandan School as it still exists, which is not a given. It existed in the Dawn Age and who knows what has happened since. You also speak of the spells in the Furlandan School as if it were being set in stone unchanging in time whereas the needs it fulfils for the Loskalmi today are surely different from the needs of the early Hrestoli in the Dawn Age. I don't care for a bland list of spells if it has practical uses. That's not what Glorantha should be about. The spells are what they had at the start of the Dawn Age. What happened to the School in the Imperial Age and what happened when the Men-of-All took over? Are the wizards going to be satisfied learning the same lists of spells? Thank you. That was actually the type of interesting insight that I was looking for. There's nothing intrinsically wrong with commanding spirits (although the old Hero Wars/HeroQuest mindset did give that impression). The first sorceror of Wizpotket actually commands a Vadeli Ice Demon (Guide p211) The rest of your post was and interesting and useful read.

Given that Harrek wasn't in Sog City for very long and we are also ignorant of any military conflicts leading up to the Sack of Sog City, it's a weak argument from silence to say that Loskalm didn't do anything when Harrek attacked. Loskalm is currently not an imperialistic country but they can get involved in foreign wars for reasons other than conquest.

Not sure that Akem has a history of being conquered by outside countries and I doubt that Loskalm is willing to let a huge army wash its feet in Ozur sound without a fight.

The Furlandan And Zendamlathan Schools have been around since the Dawn Age! Surely the Loskalmi might have discovered something else since then? Secondly it's not good pointing to the Zendamalthan School unless you can actually describe how you think Zendamalthan Spells would actually work. Otherwise we are back to a school of philosophy with no magic, or even worse, another Bardan School. We do? The Furlandan School is not mentioned in the Guide. You might be able to say that the Wizards of Ienswal are frtom the Furlandan Schoo given their role in Logic Beats Spirit (Guide p208) but that's one city. What do the Men-of-All and the Wizards of the other fifty cities learn? The engineers are the Zendamalthan (Guide p208). The Telendarians do not appear in the Guide. I wasn't asking for a literature survey or even an agreement. I was asking for *Ideas* on how Loskalmi spells might look and how they would work. It's not good saying we need more information given we're quite free to speculate on other matters.

The Rokari wouldn't cast such a magic. What I was getting at was: The Loskalmi consider they are spirits trapped in a corrupt cosmos. They are philosophical idealists (Guide p203) which means they consider the world of thoughts to be superior to the material world. Some of them (the Zendamalthan School) reject Empiricism (the acquisition of knowledge through sense experience). Through their rejection of Makan and the Abiding Book, they may reject the standardised forms of the Runes (as perfected by the God Learners) in favour of more archaic formulations of these runes (The Debaldan School was extant in Hrestol's time so is permissible - the Tanian school was invented by God Learners so isn't). The Carmanians are Materialists (Guide p725), they use Logic to study the laws of the Cosmos (associated with Idovanus) that govern the material world (associated with Ganesatarus). The Rokari are conservatives, rejecting Joy and other errors of the God Learners. They may be philosophical realists, with the runes standing in for the world of forms (the text is vague) The Brithini are arch-conservatives. They could create new spells through Henosis but of off the opinion that the existing spells are good enough. The Safelstrans and the Aeolians are Neo-Platonists who worship the Gods to obtain Henosis. Now we have the magic. There's been the tendency to give Malkioni Magicians invisible magics (cf the Bardan School in HQ 1.0 which gave bless weapons and arrows), which, to be frank, is boring. The more important spells should be visible remanifestations of the original mythic event that repeat. A death spell based on Humakt's murder of grandfather mortal should have the appearance of a ghostly sword running through the victim. Now I'm interested in seeing from the philosophy what type of spells the various schools might favour and which spells the various schools might shun. I'm also seeing what the effects of the philosophy will have on how a school uses a grimoire (say there are two chapters of the Debaldan School of Magic - one in Loskalm and the other in Seshnela - how would the magicians differ in practice). I sometimes feel that the RQ2 spell of Fireblade is Gerlant's flamesword magic, which was stolen after the fall of the God Learners, used and abused by barbarians. That theory about Loskalm has been mooted in the past but Loskalm's fate according to the TakenEgi Stelae is to fall to the Red Moon under Phargentes the Younger.

That isn't what I was talking about. Look at the Orlanthi. What magics do they use? Storm magics, lightning bolts etc. Likewise looking at the Lunars we see they use Glamours and Mindblasts. Now what magics do the Loskalmi use? What spells does Meriatan use in battle? What spells does Gaiseron use? We know some fields of what they study but not the types of actual magics they cast. I don't find statements that their spells are all about abstraction, purity and rejection of gross matter to be very helpful. And no modern Malkioni magic is not Hrestoli as Henosis is not invented by Hrestol. I wasn't asking about their philosophy but the visible magic they derive from their philosophy. What would be the features of a spell that would be recognized as Loskalmi? What type of spell would a Loskalmi not cast (or that a Zzaburi or Rokari would?) The sources are silent on this (well there was HQ 1.0 which didn't handle the Malkioni very well) This would be the same Plato who wrote about dialectic method, no? And how the dialectic method goes from Thesis and Antithesis to Synthesis?

I really have to revise that article at some stage. It relies on post-canonical material (Anaxial's Roster has a person from the Logic Tribe stand up in his stirrups) as well as Greg's horse article (the status of which is unknown).