metcalph

My thinking is that in Seshnela, this is the cult of Daka Fal/Malkion the Old which is largely staffed by minor nobles well down in any line of succession. They mostly tend to the lesser ancestors of the Nobility and perform pastoral care for the lower castes (ie they are recycled Liturgists of HeroQuest). They have no sorcery preferring instead the Spirit World which they claim Malkion created to save the faithful from Death. Unsurprisingly the Wizards hate them.

Just a minor niggle. The Dragonewt Rune includes more than the Dragonewt. IMO It also includes the Wyrms and the Frogosaurus/Ken Majee/Hurler (Guide p76). It probably includes Hadrosaus, Magisaurs and other Dinosaurs. If it has to be contrasted with other runes in the way that humans have the man/beast duality or the power duality, the Dragonewt Rune would be opposed by all the other runes together. But I don't think it should be developed in detail to describe their mystical evolution because Dragonewts are so inscrutable such that such a system would detract from their mystery while Wyrms and and other non-Dragonewts have always been pretty shit at Dragon Magic. For wyrms, barbarian Dragonewts, etc, I would just have the form, element and the power affinities being in three separate pools each with a total of 100%. That puts some exotic constraints on their runic affinities. If you want a metaphysical explanation, they are three of the limbs of Orxili.

I note with some amusement that in the Stafford House Campaign Book (p49 - originally Dragons Past #9) there is mention of a proposed rule to allow initiates with 18 POW to have reusable divine magic. I think it didn't get adopted into RQ3 because the RQ2 rule that Priests must have 18 POW was abolished and they couldn't think of a replacement rule.

I always interpreted the following passage: as suggesting Ernalda was already dead before the Lightbringers Quest started. Gods of Glorantha (AH) had her and other Earth Gods going to sleep in protest at the murder of Flamal.

In a later part of the post, you are responding to:

The simplest answer surely is that Gustbran has no mother and his mother is Mahome. I don't see what the problem is. Many other gods have conflicting parentages.

Flamal was brought back to life by the Lightbringers Quest.

A Yelmite would respond: What's this Predark that you speak of? Secondly there's a difference between Orlanth and Trolls. That doesn't mean much to the Yelmites as their crime (Rebellion) is the same. So why should Chaos be viewed any differently?

The only myth that says he was there when Chaos came to Hell is an Orlanthi one. In the Yelmic myths, he is accepting the submission of the Rebels who sacrificed themselves to fuel his rebirth. So I don't think he will necessarily see a distinction between Orlanth and Wakboth (submits, sacrifices himself to become time etc).

He was dead when Chaos went rampant and his Big Experience of Bad Things during the Gofs War happens to be being assassinated by rebels. So he's not likely to see Chaos as Cosmic Enemy Number One, is he?

Look at Ironhoof's magics (Smoking Runes p32) for what might be possible. I really think that that this type of magic is only possible if you have undergone something like the Web Ritual (Fortunate Succession p62) and that for most Centaurs, they are lay members at best.

Orlaront Dragonfriend has a Dragonewt Rune according to the Sartar Companion p72.

At the very least, I would expect a qualifying Lunar cult to have a Moon Rune. That rules out Yelm for the most part. That said, a Yelmite could worship Verithurusa as a subcult and qualify.

Except for their smiths. There's mention of Lodril worshippers in Trollpak and he would be like Humakt in their religion - a frightening but necessary deity.

They have the same type of skin, no?

Pavis: Gateway to Adventure p162 is the most recent source. Created by Hwarin to fight against the Kynnelfing Alliance. The regimental deity is Ipharia Elnestratos. No info about where they were in the Invasion of Sartar.

A small complication in who can join Aldrya. I understand Elves can only join High King Elf or Elder Sister on sexual maturity. Which means that starting Aldryami adventurers for the most part are ineligible to become initiates of Aldrya. There's some ambiguity over whether Children of the Forest can become Shamans of Aldrya - Elder Secrets explicitly said they could but such language is absent in the RQGB and the usage of lay member for Children of the Forest suggests they can't. So RAW starting humans can become Aldryami initiates and the Aldryami cannot (they can always join Yelmalio).

I really handwave that of as being an Agatha Harkness "atrocity" rather than a massacre of innocents or other unpleasantness.

The trouble with the "official publication" line is that it's Lords of Terror and like Sidana and others therein, the mythlet isn't really all that compelling - it's just a name with vague waffle attached. "Little is known", "thought to have originated", "some right-thinking hero".

Home to the Third Eye Blue No indication on when it gets freed from the Ban.

Neither do Orlanthi (c.f. Lhankor Mhy). The problem with learning sorcery for a kewl effect is that it's the equivalent of getting a university degree to do anything useful. Most gloranthans simply don't have the time or effort.

I really don't like the term Irensavelist and put it in a drawer of hideous categories to be quietly forgotten along with Makanist, Makaneranism etc. It doesn't have that snappy feel as a label and every time, I see it used I wince as I feel a tiny portion of my soul just being sucked out of existence with a tiny straw. Even the Guide uses the kinder, gentler New Idealism. I do believe that the Hidden Mover is not an invention of the New Idealists but has been reached by the Hrestoli throughout history, starting with Hrestol himself. Hrestol and his followers saw it as Malkion. In the wake of the Abiding Book, the Hrestoli saw it as Makan. As a result of modern Loskalmi research, the Hrestoli of Fronela see it as the Hidden Mover. But the God behind the name is the same. I disagree that to be a Rokari requires the acknowledgement (and refutation) of Hrestoli ideas. Their philosophy is that of the Wizards, a proud philosophical tradition that proceeds from Zzabur. They distinguish themselves from the Brithini in that they have not rejected Malkion. Hrestol to them is some hack philosopher who did many bizarre things in his time before finally being executed for his more abominable crimes. Hrestol's ideas do have an big influence in Seshnela because he blunts the more severe demands that the Rokari philosophy places upon the lower orders of Seshnelan Society. But that's not due to any design or acknowledgement of Hrestol by the Wizards.

Taken from a thread on the RQ forums to avoid a threadjack. The Men-of-All do not worship Gods as emanations of the Invisible God. They seek henosis (mental unity) with the Invisible God and view worshipping other gods as being impediments to that goal. The Loskalmi even go so far as to shun the worship of all Gods within their kingdom, according to Jeff. How sustainable this is is another question entirely (my own opinion is, not very). There is a strand of Hrestoli that does worship Gods, the Arkati, but the Hrestoli would consider classifying the Arkati as one of them to be an insult. What the Arkati think about worship of the Gods ranges from simple pragmaticism to illumination aids. The God Learners did do a lot of that but they a) weren't Hrestoli (even going so far as to persecute the Hrestoli of Loskalm) and b) didn't consider the Gods to be emanations of the Invisible God. The Aeolians do, but they're not Hrestoli either. I wouldn't call the Jonatelan faith syncretic. The Jonatelans can be understood as a Malkioni kingdom with a large part of the population not practicing Rightness. In this, they are not very different from past Malkioni kingdoms such as Seshneg and Slontos. Talor was a Hrestoli but I think Malkioni view his worship as a cult in its own right rather than a Hrestoli cult. The trouble with suggesting followers of Talor and Hrestol as pirates is that they are meant to be valiant heroes defending their lands against evil. Sailing around, sacking cities and taking stuff that does not belong to them is hard to reconcile with this. I don't think the Navigators are Hrestoli. They come from Rokari-adjacent Pasos and were part of the Kingdom of Seshnela not so long ago. Their opposition to the kingdom seems to be rooted more in political differences (we are servants of the Hadestolids and nobody else) rather than doctrinal ones.

I'll be brief to avoid thread drift: Hrestoli: Follower of Hrestol who seeks unity with the Hidden Mover. Avoids worshipping other Gods. Found mainly in Fronela. Arkati: Follower of Arkat whose spiritual goal is unknown. Actively worships other Gods. Found mainly in Ralios. Calling an Arkati a Hrestoli is true in one way but false in many others. More importantly, it's easy to imagine an Arkati being a Wolf Pirate because they have a long history of violent resistance to tyrannical authorities. For the Hrestoli of Loskalm, not so much.

I doubt the Wolf Pirates recruit from the Amazons in any significant numbers as the latter are quite content with plundering their own neighbourhood. More likely Teshnan recruits would be from Melib in general. Kinda dubious about the wolf pirates from Malkioni lands are Hrestoli. Gunda and Mularik the best known two, aren't Hrestoli (Humakti from Jonatela and Arkati from Tanisor). I think it more likely the prospective wolf pirates from Malkioni lands wouldn't be representative of their societies but of their criminal subclass.