metcalph

My favourite detail from the recently re-released Wyrms Footnotes. It shows the Agimori living in Maslo, Laskalia, Teshnos, Teleos (mislabelled) as well as Prax in the Dawn Age. It's the Agimori rather than the Doraddi (who are south of the Pamaltelan mountains). The Agimori of Pamaltela still survive along the Zuama Valley of Laskal (according to the Guide Fonrit chapter). I guess the Green Elves must have driven them out off the Maslo region. The Agimori of Teleos live where the Orange People are now. They are not mentioned but then the Teleono don't even remember the foreigners who lived among them when the Closing struck so that's not really a problem.

The EWF did not act like a ponzi scheme. A ponzi scheme collpases of its own accord. The EWF took several knocks and still kept on fighting until internal enemies destroyed it from within. The EWF was massively unequal (moreso than many bronze age civilizations) but that is not the definition of a ponzi or pyramid scheme.

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My own opinion is that they were Pure Horse People who ended up among the Hendriki in the Imperial Age. Seeking ancestors to make themselves acceptable to their new neighbours, they took up the worship of Beren and al. Thus at the start of the human resettlement, they were thoroughly accultured Orlanthi with a funny history. Other interpretations are possible and routes are possible, mind you.

Draconic Sorcery - First off learn the Dragonewt (or Dragonpower) Rune as per other runic knowledges. For the unilluminated, this can't be used for direct magic in the manner of other runes. What the sroceror does instead is to cast several rituals that resmble meditations on specific hexagrams of the I Ching. Successful completion of these rituals increases the chance of illumination. Now I don't think Draconic Sorcery can be used to cast big spells as standard sorcery already does this and there's little point in drawing up special spells that only have the same effect as standard spells. So I feel they must be manipulations of the True Dragons for some effect.

For Draconic Magic with humans, I'd say first become Draconic Illuminated. Then sacrifice for Draconic Powers using Rune Points. If draconists are shamanically inclined then they could have draconic powers has shamanic gifts. I'm still wondering how it would work with sorcery. Dragonewts don't obey these rules because they are intrinsically weird.

He was rude and I fail to see how my first response was "not helpful" even going so far as to quote the relevant section of the RQ Companion that you suggested he look at. But when someone asks to explain the Ignorants after previously talking about Herespur, one gets the feeling of being jerked around for amusement.

What references have you read? Where are you getting the Blood Sun name from? What I said was fairly basic information in the Guide but you haven't read that.

I give up,

I'm not sure I see what your problem is. I get an Aztec vibe. Greg intended an Aztec vibe (ToTRM #7 letters). As for the Cryptic Verses of the Yellow Calender, I assume the mention of the Blood Sun therein are actually references of the Red Moon and the Lunar Empire. Shargash is related to the Solar Storm IMO (or to be more technical, both are seen as Gods of the same planet).

Yelmalio is not an associate of the cult of Yelm in the core rules.

Yelmalions think the Hill of Gold was a good thing for the same reason that Christians think the Crucifixion was a good thing. Yelmalio isn't going to change to please the likes of people who think he should have good magic.

That's what the gifts and geases for. Edit: Yelmalio's magics sucks compared to others because he lost the good magics when he lost his heat.

Even since Cults of Prax the Cults have been unequal for PCs. Waha is only allowed one point of healing which hampers his worshippers in a fight (which was worse in RQ2 since they didn't have easy access to Heal Wound). Cults are intentionally unequal and that they are unsuitable for PCs is not a problem..

He is however an excellent soldier cult (and has been described as such since Cults of Prax) that does wicked phalanxes. That a hoplite does not do well fighting by himself makes Yelmalio an inferior cult for PCs but it does not make him a useless cult for gloranthans. After all a hoplite fighting in a phalanx will have a longer life expectancy than most PCs.

You want a competitive Elmali? Go to the Penyans and ask to worship Jolaty. It will hurt but then you can kick arse from Pelorian to Vormain.

The Hyalorings of Nivorah are horse-riders (cf Fortunate Succession p85 where Vuranostum is listed as a Horse Emperor). The Chariot Emperors come from what is now the Elf Sea, up the Arcos River and into Dara Happa from the north (Jenarong and his offspring are depicted as chariot riders).

There's nothing to stop ex-PHP from worshipping Beren as an Ancestor *after* they have settled among the Hendriki.

Pure Horse Tribe in the Wastelands. All that's needed is three clans moving from Prax to Kethaela sometime in the Imperial Age (before the tribe itself was destroyed). Edit: Or Part of Pure Horse Army invading Dragon Pass as part of the True Golden Horde makes a hard turn left in order to survive and ends up among the Hendriki.

Vile slander. They are initiates.

The main quest is the Seven Steps of the Goddess (HeroQuest Glorantha p182).in which the Lunar seeks to emulate the stages of the goddess through life in order to become illuminated.

They use elephants according to the Guide. They were conquered by Sheng and so would know of mounted warriors. However elephants are clearly better.

You can have austerities with practically any magic cf Yelmalio's geases. That it gives of a mystical vibe doesn't mean we have to crate a magic system out of whole cloth for it as I explained in the post you are responding to. I made the Venform school animism because that is what Greg wrote about them in myth of Venform in Revealed Mythologies.

Pretty much all gloranthans use spirit magic. The main exceptions are wierdo wizards wanting a clear head. As for the rest, well it's complicated. What follows is my opinion only. Dream Magic exists but we don't have rules for it. One possibility is that people use dream magic as a mini-HeroQuest, Success means they gain rune magic that is associated with their dreams (use runic affinities as a proxy) and suffer curses from the Nightmares that they have (based on whatever their weakest runic affinity is). They cannot do this alone but rely on the intercession of the Dream Seers for which there is a school in Ferendalo, one of the Haragalan Isles. There is a schism of Dream Magicians called the Waking Magicians who seek to use dreams as a source of magic in the waking world. They can make dreams a reality, either by calling summoning dreamwraiths or creating objects made of dreamstuff. They are sorcerers concerned with the study of the Magic Rune. They have several issues with the ordinary practice of dream magic but the text in Revealed Mythologies is rather opaque and saddled with Greg's misthinking about mysticism at the time. The Waking Magicians seek to overthrow the Eastern Isles and widely seen as evil. Sorcery exists in the Eastern Isles. Sorcery has been around since the Golden Age and is widely associated with the God Martalak, the patron of sorcerers, alchemists, enchanters and charm-makers, In the Imperial Age, they were transformed by the arrival of renegade wizards from the God Learners and are now an Earthseasque school based at the Isle of Ambovombe to the north. Another branch of Eastern Isles sorcery is the already mentioned Waking Magicians. Finally there are the Sages who use sorcery, not for the purposes of doing magic on the world, but for preparing the mind and soul for the various states of consciousness to reach Durapdur etc. Even though their magic is sorcery, they would be pretty startled to be described as such. Myticism exists in the Eastern Isles. There is no mystical magic and all existing forms of magic can be identified as spells, feats and charms. What mysticism is used for is preparing the soul for higher states of existence. Some powerful rule-bending magics may be available at certain states but they are almost accidental by-products of enlightened awareness. The main forms of mysticism are the worship of the High Gods such as Atrilith or Vith. and the meditative approach of the Sages. Martial Arts exists in the Eastern Isles. There's been a lot of sound and fury abotu Martial Artists being a form of mystical magic but I no longer believe that to be tenable. Instead I think their magics would be best constructed within RQ:G as being a combination of spirit magics, sorcery or rune magic. The Martial Artists of the Eastern Isles are two or three forms.. The first is the Venform school which involves spirits. There are two branches the Kamboli school (which is present in Janeta) whereby one indulges in various practices (sex, alcohol abuse etc) to strengthen the spirit and do potent magic. The other is the Sivoli school in which one refrains from various practices (sex, alcohol etc) to be strengthen the spirit even more and do even more potent magic. Because of what Greg wrote about them, I feel their magics should be the equivalent of Shamanic Abilities - not that such martial artists are shamans but they obtain geases and gifts in a similar fashion. The second or third (depending on whether you count the Sivoli/Kamboli as one school or two involves the worship of Kabalt. I personally think it's a rune cult dedicated to the manifestation of the God Kabalt within the Cosmos. But Kabalt is normally capable of existence within the world as akin to a flash of lightening or Satori. The worshippers of Kabalt seek to experience Kabalt and once that is done, they may use their fists or weapons to make others experience Kabalt. For the uninitiated, it is a devastating experience more hurtful than its method of delivery. Eastern Isles martial arts, IMO, is more focussed on achieving contact than damage (although there's a valid reason for them to be skilled in dodges and parries).

Orlanth has many incarnations or associated mountains - Kero Fin, Quivin, Top of the World etc. It is possible that what may be lawful and proper in one place (oe the Land around Kero Fin) may be considered evil in another (ie in Fronela). These are clashes of the Incarnations rather than clashes of the supreme God. Divination will not help because it only goes to the local manifestation. To get the true answer, one must go deeper which probably means illumination and Ugly still ends up killed. As for the excommunication, Ugly loses the magic that he acquired from his birth community. He does not lose the strange magic that he has acquired. If there was a magic that was known by both the community and the strange place, he keeps it.