metcalph

1 hour ago, g33k said:

Yes indeed!  But the spirit in question is Oakfed, not Grassfed.  
 

Oakfed is so-called because he was fed the oaks of Prax in the Great Darkness.  He does not feed exclusively on oaks or even woody plants in general as he appeared at the Battle of Moonbroth where there are no large trees.

The scenarios include the Howling Tower (reused in Sartar: Kingdom of Heroes), Miskander's Tower (See Pegasus Plateau and other Tales) among others.  Hence it's probably not worth your weight in gold trying to get a copy.    

9 minutes ago, DrGoth said:

In Storm Tribe (yes, I know, not canon anymore) she is referred to as the "Goddess of Revenge and Terror". Not just Revenge. Her depiction there is far darker than the RQ3 Gods of Glorantha, where she is simply the "Holy Avenger". In Storm Tribe there are ritual markings described for everything up to annihilation of an entire clan. So, depending on when that Healing Valley reference was first conceived, it could fit.

The slaughter of the Healing Valley is first mentioned in the prosopedia of RQ3's Gods of Glorantha.  As for trying to find a reason for the slaughter, that's kinda like trying to find one for Apollo's skinning of Marsyas.  It was long ago, it happened and nobody knows why.  

1 minute ago, Agentorange said:

Yeah, but how and why does slaughtering a valley full of healers fit in with all that ?

Perhaps the healers broke a taboo.  If they were operating within an earth temple and had to spill some blood for medical purposes then that could be sufficient to st Babeester Gor off.  After all, Taboos are absolute and claiming lack of intent is generally insufficient as an excuse.

37 minutes ago, svensson said:

IIRC, magical and skill training are the preserves of initiates unless the lay worshiper is willing to pay retail rates.

Nope.  RQG p274 sez otherwise and that's been the case as far back as Cults of Prax.

37 minutes ago, svensson said:

In the Empire there are numerous ways to end up a slave, initiate or not, Lunar citizen or not. And given the percentage of Illuminates among Lunar Sorcerers, there isn't a whole lot in the way of moral qualms about using a slave, ANY slave, as a Tap puppet.

Your original comment was to the effect that this happened to a "lot of converts" . Merely because it could happen does not make it a common occurrence.  

1 hour ago, hipsterinspace said:

In the case of “Elmal Guards the Stead”, perhaps the encounter with the Selfish God is overcome not by fighting and losing but by teaching him how to share, and doing so is how Elmal gains the Shield spell from Orlanth as an associate. Either way, in both quests the core lesson is that the questers must sacrifice more and more of themselves to endure despite knowing that they will fail again and again, that they will be broken by the ordeal but nonetheless refuse to give up.

I don't think Elmal Guards the Stead is the myth where Elmal receives Shield from Orlanth.  At the time, Orlanth is gone, missing, dead, eaten by chaos.  There is no hope of a reward, no possible Kumbaya moment to avoid the pain.   All encounters, no matter who they are with, end in the hero's complete defeat.  

48 minutes ago, svensson said:

@Joerg

But lay worshipers do not devote POW or gain benefits. Lay Worshipers are a zero-sum participant, really

They can obtain spirit magics and training.

48 minutes ago, svensson said:

A lot of converts find their way into become Tap monkeys for Lunar Sorcery, get fed to the Crimson Bat, find themselves enslaved, or fed into the arenas to die for the entertainment of their 'betters'.

I very much doubt this.  Lunar converts are privileged, not cattle.

My current thinking on Yelmalio in Teshnos: female.  She along with her female relations became alienated from the other Fire Gods there as a result of the Goddess Switch and is now a fringe religion there.  Elements of her worship has found its way elsewhere (points to Vega)

1 hour ago, Jeff said:

Now that is an interesting one - and ties in with the general downgrading of Lightfore in favor of Ehilm by the God Learners. Ehilm-Somash, Lodril-Solf,  and Aether-Zitro Argon are all easy to see, but Lightfore is hard to find there!

Huh.  Guess I didn't understand Ehilm as well as I had thought.

The only unanswered question left about Yelmalio IMO is what's he like in Teshnos? 

<twiddle thumbs waiting for the Sky Gods book>

6 minutes ago, mfbrandi said:

And arguably the Bat cult is the enemy of the Bat, anyway. Surely, it exists to control it and deploy it as a weapon, not to be its BFF. “I am going to take a neutral attitude toward your abuser today, because in the future you may be healed.”

If the ultimate fate of those eaten by the Bat is the highest form of enlightenment then surely the Bat has no need of healing?

2 hours ago, Brian Duguid said:

Storm Tribe.

Also Sartar: Kingdom of Heroes. 

7 hours ago, Qizilbashwoman said:

if he is Kargzant, who is his Darkness and who is the second actor?

(The dangers of being a god is that there are very specific ways of fighting them)

Darkness:  Zorak Zoran/Yara Aranis

Storm:  Orlanth/Red Emperor

Cold:  Inora/??

2 hours ago, Jeff said:

Interestingly, the Red Goddess is on the short list of hostiles. A quick review suggests that of the Lunar cults, she is friendly only with Etyries (she's Neutral with the rest). Perhaps the Merciful Goddess is on to something?

They did steal her Resurrection spell so her hostility is not that unsurprising. 

1 hour ago, Erol of Backford said:

Cannibals with skin armor taken from foes or even their faces (armoring enchantment on a head) spread on a shield would be quite horrific. Again this was coming from an illustration I saw with a cloak made from human faces, I think it was. I assume if a PC is killed and skinned they could be raised but they'd look like the clip below!? Who is this, from Wyrm's Footprints' cover?

I suppose any enchantment would need to be repaired and POW sacrificed to reactivate? 

In Tales 8 (p14), the Red Emperor's "particular chaos touch is that of demon summoning from the Four-horned Family, and he is also capable of instantly dismissing them as well, which is unique for that class of demon."

17 minutes ago, brionl said:

Is there a list of which cults are in which book? The list linked in the other thread seems to have gone missing.

https://wellofdaliath.chaosium.com/home/catalogue/publishers/chaosium/runequest-gods-of-glorantha-previews-2019/

30 minutes ago, PhilHibbs said:

Which book is Humakt in?

Lightbringers. 

They're going to be announcing an Elden Ring mod in which you're one of the Masters of Luck and Death trapped in the Tournament since the death of Belintar.  The only real worry that Fromsoft has is that the average Gloranthan fan would have some clue about what is going on which they feel will detract from the game.

Just now, Squaredeal Sten said:

In a related question, whar happens to Tarsh king Pharandros?  Please Jeff we is in command of tbe advanced guard at the Balttle of Heroes and Argrath's Prax hordeeats his lunch.  I don't find anything saying he is killed.

After the fall of Furthest (1630 ST or therabouts), the King (implied as Moirades in the text but probably Pharandros) is described as being killed (KoS p20).  There's a bit of obscurity about the details, one tradition saying that he was captured and killed while the other has him being captured but nobody knew what to do with him, before Mularik leaps up and kills him.  p106 has him being sent to the City of Wonders in exile, which smells like face-saving BS since the city had been destroyed long before.  

5 hours ago, Squaredeal Sten said:

After the Battle of Heroes (dark season 1628ST) what is the condition of Tarsh?  Presumably Argrath's army walks into Bagnot. As Bagnot is a day's March away.  I don't see a suggestion of a siege and it would make no sense for Argrath to retreat.

What's the state of the Phargentes vs. Fazzur Wideread civil war?  I never did understand Fazzur's geographic base.  The canon relations in their triangle with Argrath?  

What's the economic state of Tarsh?

 

There have been plenty of cases in which the defending army has been destroyed but the attacker is unable to take the city (the Assyrian Siege of Jerusalem is a good example where we have both sides of the story).  Argrath's retreat from Bagnot is precisely the type of detail that gets left out of any heroic retelling.

Fazzur's power base is the city of Dunstop and Kodros Island.  They do deals with Argrath because their real enemy is the King or Moirades and Ethilrist's sack is still a vivid memory.

Tarsh is rich.  With the Revolt in the Redlands and the White Moon Rebellion, the opportunity not to pay taxes is quite good especially since the Provincial Overseer got eaten by a Dragon.

6 hours ago, Puckohue said:

Is there a City Rex in Boldhome under Argrath? If so, do they have a name in the upcoming material on Boldhome?

Yes.  There's a Leika "the mayor" mentioned under Argrath's Companions in King of Sartar p146.  Or the City King could be the Homeguard Companions (Jenesta the Grim, etc).

27 minutes ago, PhilHibbs said:

I should have said "Lightbringers", I guess that's where Orlanth will be. I guess most Sartar players will want Lightbringers and Earth.

Storm Pantheon works better.  Several gods (like Waha) would be hard pressed to be described as lightbringers.

27 minutes ago, PhilHibbs said:

Is there a detailed list anywhere?

https://wellofdaliath.chaosium.com/home/catalogue/publishers/chaosium/cults-of-glorantha-previews-2019/

9 hours ago, mfbrandi said:

Fair enough, and not from “epitome” alone; we also have “exemplars” and “taking great pains to perform good deeds in the world and protect the good name of their hero” [emphases mine]. It all seems to me to tend in the direction of showing virtue and setting an example — public things.

The comments I made for epitome also apply to exemplars - they do not mandate the cult to be a public one.  One can make good deeds in the world and protect the good name without being public.

9 hours ago, mfbrandi said:

But the Arkati see themselves as examples, as models to be emulated. What is it all the cool kids say these days, “you can’t be what you can’t see”?

Let's take a non-gloranthan example - Batman...

42 minutes ago, mfbrandi said:

It does have an unfortunate whiff of Star Wars about it, but the Jedi Arkati would have a hard time setting an example (etc.) if they were completely hidden. (I mean, I guess you could, but it seems an against the grain reading, motivated retrospectively.)

I don't see the text as requiring that the Arkati set a public example, and to infer that from epitome seems to me a stretch.  Consider the epitome of a secret agent or a humble person; are they well-known or not?  

IMO the Arkati do battles via HeroQuests.  The Arkati of one city gather together and perform a heroquest which strengthens their magical defences and sends magical calamities (e.g. the ten plagues of Egypt) upon their enemies (the Arkati of the neighbouring cities).  They also carry out magical assassinations but it costs resources that could be used against the city next door (to wit; curse the evil Archon with worms or make his city's crops fail?) and they have to know the target's name to have any great chance of success.