metcalph

The Red Emperor does have access to teleportation (Tales #8) and I've seen Jeff refer to He Who Moves (Annilla's Husband) being another name for Mastakos. As for why Pharandros suddenly abandons the campaign, Fazzur could always launch troops against Furthest while the main Tarshite army is stuck in Sartar (historical example: Marius seizes Rome while his enemy Sulla is leading an army against Mithradates). Or if he didn't want to be so overt, he could use his son Onjur to lead the Tarsh Exiles.

You can't attack the temple because that would be a desecration of a holy place. So the temple could simply refuse to admit error and refuse to pay a single bolg. What you could do is ambush the Babeester Gor worshipper responsible outside the temple and claim responsibility for it (to avoid secret murder). Since killing a Babeester Gor worshipper is not itself defiling the earth, you only have to live with the Temple refusing to bless your crops for the next decade or two.

Babeester serves the temple not the clan nor tribe. I've never heard of a temple being responsible for wergild before.

One way in which the Zenshin might work. The size of the temples is based on the number of worshippers (RQG p284). Now inferring heavily from what Jeff has said about the magic of a Humakti in in Seshnela, it is my belief that the Zzaburi skim a large part of the worship from the temples into their own magical coffers, effectively busting most temples (nobility exempt) down a size or two. How they do this is yet unknown. Perhaps an enchanted votive image? Perhaps the temple is ensorcelled? Now the Zenshin would take the opposite approach. They might enchant a suitable rock near an earth temple so that it sends magic points to the temple. Enough rocks and the temple is increased in size. The magic may simply be inscribed runes or awakening the spirit of the rock. The most common Zenshin is not a sorcerer seeking power but a magical landscaper. Vormain might also be closer to the gods through in a way similar to the Holy Country of the Proximate Holy Realm. Again this is something that the Zenshin would spend their lives labouring and improving.

The POW/RP economy was a big thing introduced in RQ3. It was so restrictive that many people and official publications just simply fudged the numbers. If anything, the RGG system is far more liberal with available magic.

Except that philosophers can and have been used to strengthen the Gods. A good example is Khormesha, the Philosopher of Light at Raibanth (Glorious ReAscent p40) who did much to recover the myths of the Anaxial Dynastry (Glorious ReAscent p39). Even the God Learners did this (The Glorantha Sourcebook p70 describes their "revival and unification of the Elder Cults" and I strongly believe that the Seshnegi embiggening of their ancestors in the Dawn Age (cults of Prax p14) was carried out by their wizards through similar methods. Now it's not standard behaviour for the Malkioni of today who prefer to tax the temple of their magics for their own purposes but merely being a sorceror or philosopher does not make you an enemy of the Gods.

This is like asking why do the Carmanians think of themselves as sorcerers of Idovanus? They explored the local mythology. Makan is just a name for which the God Learners coined for the Invisible God. By identifying their Invisible God with Martalak, the Valkarists become part of a new mythology and avoid the God Learner baggage (e.g. gift carriers and other dooms). I really don't know where many of your statements about Martalak come from ("manifestly inferior to the God Learners") and many of your inferences seem questionable. So what if Maratalak was the cult of two-bit hedge wizards in the Dawn Age? Obviously Valkaro made him something more. Concerns that Valkaro might be rejecting Hrestolism seem out of place considering the Valkarist society puts the Wizards in charge or everything! The Malkioni largely does not care about the names of their gods. They only care that their gods are bigger and better than everybody else's. Look at the ease which the Seshnegi cast aside their own storm god, Aerlit, and gave pride of place to Orlanth in their monomyth. The Valkarists would have no particular respect for Makan or the Abiding Book as they are both inventions of their corrupt Jrusteli tormenters. They wouldn't particularly care for the traditional castes as they practice a truncated version that serves their own ideology (ie Wizards Rulz). I'm not a great fan of thinking that internal doctrinal disputes of the God Learners would have any relevance to the Eastern Isles. They don't in Seshnela (where many of the verses of the Abiding Book got scrapped) or Fronela (who condemned the philosophy as evil but kept the heroquesting that supposedly was a bad thing). The Valkarists IMO are neither good or bad - they are strange wizards in a stranger land. There's nothing particularly objectionable about the wizards going on to the hero plane to do awesome magics as they wouldn't be impressive magicians if they didn't. The error of the God Learners was that they took all this onto the next level on steroids and that did them in. As for the external relations of the Valkarists, I don't see any evidence for frequent conflicts with the Coral Queendom and simply because the Vormaini regularly leave their lands does not mean all those migrations are violent invasions. I could easily see Ambovombe as having a large minority of Vormaini and the adoption of some of their magics by the Valkarists themselves.

Zenshin thoughts (aka making sense of Vormaini colour magic). While the western sorcerers split sorcery into six techniques, each based on the five actions, it seems to me that the Zenshin might base it on the colours instead. Their techniques are not concerned with the origin of the Cosmos but in describing current reality. Since several Vormaini Gods are denoted as being in charge of those magics, their worshippers might receive special sorceries depending on how close they are to their god (analogous to western caste magic but I'm probably reaching). The Imperial Caste have access to all colour blessings while the Zenshin have their own "curses" instead.

I'm currently thinking of the Valkarists as a traditional Malkioni school. Their God is Martalak rather Makan but that just makes them the same as the Carmanians who worship Idovanus but are still Malkioni. I don't think the distinction that the Middle Sea Empire made between Makan and Malkioneran is at all relevant these days. The Valkarists were opposed to the God Learners not over the nature of the Cosmos but about the teachings of Pilif (a wizard who attempted to seize power in Seshnela). They fled to the Eastern Isles to set up their perfect society and were tolerated by the Middle Sea Empire in that they had a common enemy in the Eastern Seas Empire. Therer would be a great deal of interchange in magics between the Valkarists and the Sages. For example my suggested Sagely magics of reducing runic affinities could be inverted by the Valkarists to make their Spearmen more potent with the magic of the Gods. The Sages will view this as an entanglement in the world but the Valkarists don't care - they are content with the Mind of Martalak. The Zenshin of Vormain are probably sorcerors. I'm enthusiastic as the next guy about introducing non-Japanese elements to Vormain in that I've pondered having the Githyo clan as having Githyanki hairstyles. Rather than collect magical energies from the land for use in their own magical projects with a fair bit going to strengthening the nobles and the army, the Zenshin spend their magics in great feats of magical engineering to make the Joserui more potent. The Vormaini landscape has a faintly contrived feel with magical dams and reservoirs dotting the countryside willy-nilly. They make little consideration for the ordinary people such that a haunt for demonic spirits might lie less than a stone's throw away from a mortal village.

The Telmori don't follow the Orlanthi definition of when the day starts because they have been tainted with chaos. 'nuff sid.

I think the "wot is the difference between a silence movement?" should have been "wot is the difference between silence and movement?". Chaosium's then editors led slip through done howlers such as the mysterious "Tehri" in AH's Gods of Glorantha (actually a double typo for "Their").

It'll be out on the 13th (the 14th for those among us in advanced time zones) with a US price of $37.99 https://www.chaosium.com/blogreleasing-july-cults-of-runequest-the-prosopaedia/?fbclid=IwAR3lSpfY_jfz2L9b7g9DPFWcjOy5uWfpuu47FDSXlkTO-cvgDFDzgEO9iZA

IMO Lhankor Mhy sorcery can't actively flourish because they are too obsessed with knowledge rather than magic. They will always be beaten into third place by the Zzaburi (regardless of which school they come from). Lhankor Mhy is important in Ralian lands but the further westward one goes, I think he will displaced by the rival cult of Enroval the Philosopher whose worship is more compatible with the Zzabuiri mindset.

Lath Eskan is specified as being in Tarien, not Kothar, but a quick squiz of the map failed to show a location.

Well, they are accepted in Sartar. Anywhere there is an Orlanthi city, Lhankoring sorcerors are there as part of society. The only places where they are not likely to be are places that don't have Orlanthi (eg Kralorela) or are hostile to Orlanthi (eg Heartlands).

I think that a large strand of sagely eastern isles sorcery would be more about suppressing runic affinities within oneself and others in order to achieve that state of detachment. Thus Suppress Fiery Tempers will reduce any fire affinity by 5% per point of spell (say) whereas lengthy meditation under the magical influence is needed to make the reduction enduring.

Could you at least write your own opinions to the original question rather than going line by line through other peoples? At the very least it's much more readable.

As far as I understand Glorantha, pretty much all civilized countries have had sorcerers since mythical times. Since the Vadeli reached Pamaltela and the Waertagi Prax and Peloria, it's no stretch to assume knowledge of sorcery would have reached Kralorela and the Eastern Isles if they had not already invented it then. My own beliefe is that they did invent it independently, but received great wisdom from the Malkioni in mythical times such that a) they can honestly claim to have invented it themselves and b) the Malkioni can honestly think they taught sorcery to the Eastern islanders. The dwarves aren't really sorcery users and I prefer to think that most civilized humans could come up with the principles of sorcery themselves rather than decipher dwarven magic.

It's not known that the Peloria gets thrashed in the end. All that has been described a battle in Holay and a battle in the upper Arcos Valley. The effect of those battles were leadership changes (Sheng Seleris kills the Red Emperor and founds the Shadow Moon Empire etc). Dragon Pass on the other hand has a Lunar Army marching through Boldhome and even when they have been made to leave, I doubt their damage will disappear quickly. We know the Monster Empire is bad. What we don't know is how the other lands around it fared.

The Ice Mines (based on Pompeii and Fringe) Within the Glaciers that surround the Monster Empire are several settlements that were unlucky enough to be caught. They have not been ground to rubble beneath the Ice but rather quick-frozen - a cold mist descended upon the settlement and in one terrible instant turned into Ice. The people inside are presumably still alive for nothing ever dies in the Monster Empire. But most Ice Miners care little for them. Instead they tunnel into frozen ruins seeking treasures and other artifacts that could be sold to realize a profit. Because it imperils the borders of the Empire that keeps out uncontrolled chaos, Ice mining is one of the few activities that Ralzakark has pronounced to be High Treason. Due to the nature of the Empire, the Ice Miners generally labour for an imperial dignitary and protector. The frequent appearances of chaotic hordes in their lands is apparently worth it.

Neverdead is known as a "Zombie Zoo" rather than home to undead of every kind.

Addressing the commonality of sorcery in the East Isles: Most of the Eastern Islanders worship their local Parondpara with a minority worshipping the Parloth and Avanparloth. That is, they are members of Rune and Spirit Cults. The worshippers of Korudel would know some sorcery (as, like Buserian and Lhankor Mhy, he is a face of the Knowing God there) but it's really only knowledge spells rather than full-blown manipulation of the Cosmos. Sorcerers proper (full-time casters of sorcery spells) would be rare outside the Jabbi Isles and Vormain. That said, the Middle Sea Empire controlled the western isles (up to the Boil and the Andin and Pearl Isles going by Jeff's map) so they people of those places would have more experience of sorcerers than those from the Five Chains, Hanfarador and Mokato.

Zaktirra of Vormain and Martalak are known practitioners of sorcery. I also believe that the Sages (Nenduren etc) use sorcery to transform their souls (rather than pointless external effects as the Westerners do).

We have a description of one of the cradle lootings in the 2nd age (Pavis: Threshold to Danger p116-117) which doesn't mention a Gold Wheel Dancer. Hence I don't believe they're necessary. The presence of a Gold Wheel Dancer probably increased the protection on the Cradles but the Giants could have sent the Cradles down without a Dancer simply because they had no choice.

Storm Bull worship in the Monster Empire. The worshippers of Storm Bull within the Empire believe, like their Praxian colleagues, that Chaos is evil. Where the Monstrous differ is that they believe that Chaos is everywhere and threatens their souls. Only through regular manifesting the Rage of the Bull can they keep their souls free. They fight for that glorious time where their rage will turn into the Eternal Battle and they would never fear Chaos every again. The Storm Bullmen of the Monster Empire do not attack chaotics on sight for they know everything they kill just comes back again. Instead they willingly submit themselves to the authority of Ralzakark and he is return offers them a place with the Empire where they can regularly bask in the Rage of the Bull. They know that Ralzakark is one of the worst but in the hell they dwell in, obedience to him is the best choice they have. They are his personal bodyguards, they fight against the chaotics that do not recognize Ralzakark and they act as agents of discipline for the chaotic armies that Ralzakark sends against the outside world. Asked why he employed the warriors of Storm Bull men, Ralzakark replied "They defeated my Humakti and *I* deserve the best."