metcalph

The main difference between the Bronze Age China and Kralorela is that the Bronze Age had a lot more noble families. The statewide. examination system didn't come into being until the Sung. So I really operate on the following scheme. Daruda et al: Shang Dynasty Yanoor - Zhou Dynasty Shang-Hsa (may his name be cursed) - Qin Dynasty Godunya - Tang with some elements of later dynasties. Sheng Seleris - Elements of Mongol, Khitian and Manchu. One way to turn make Kralorela more archaic would be to split up the mandarins into orders based on the Emperors. The followers of Daruda would be outright shamans, the followers of Mikaday are yer classic mandarins/Judge Dee types with other chinese tropes - eunuchs, warlords etc - corresponding to different emperors.

You at should give the names and page numbers of the mountains. The first glyph is that of Stormwalk Mountain (Map 29) and the curved lines represent the horns of Storm Bull. The second Rune is Quivin Mountain and probably shows the rune of Quivin. Since he is a Lodril-analog, a possible guess is a the lower half of the sky rune without the central dot to denote his conquered status at Maran Gor's hands. The third is KeroFin and the rune is the Storm Rune denoting her association with Orlanth. The fourth rune is Arrowmound. They represent the Arrows of Justice that Orlanth hurls into the world (Sartar Companion p208). That the arrows are also the staffs of justice is an association that was hitherto unclear to me.

Dragonewts hope to turn into True Dragons. Ancestral Dragons (also known as Elder Dragons) are the next level beyond. There's considerably more dream dragons then there are true dragons. IMO Dragons are so smart that can multiple dreams at the same time.

The Brithini and Vadeli do not deny that the Gods are Gods - they do not see them as worthy of worship. The Third Eye Blue's philosophy that they shouldn't be worshipped because they are doomed is similar. As for the origin of the 3EB, I've heard it said by the writers of the Broken Council Freeform (so well should of canonical authority) that they are descended from the Blue People/Waertagi, i.e. their blue eye is all that remains of their ancestral blue skin. Greg when I spoke to him about it sometime later seemed not to know what I was talking about.

Sartar Companion p32 gives a breakdown of the composition of the Clearwine Fyrd which is the Colymar tribe's "ready reaction force"

The Field School of Magic units are said to number 200 magicians each (Sartar Companion p84). There are two regiments of the University Guard that protect them (infantry bowmen) which implies 300 bowmen as defenders.

Eleven Lights p168-169 has a paper strength of the various forces that will fight at the Battle of Dangerford. It describes a strength of 1000 for foot regiments and 500 for cavalry regiments. (There's also 250 for the ducks who which probably means that three quarters deserted before battle)

On the subject of Enhance INT, I don't think arguments that the Malkioni don't have a strong association of fire magics to be compelling. For starters, the spells in the rulebook are spells known in Dragon Pass and most of the sorcerors etc there are Lhankorings (whose God loved the Light of Knowledge) and Pelorians (with strong fire associations) with the God Forgottens being a distant third. So Enhance INT could be a spell common in Dragon Pass and neighbouring lands but not in more sophisticated sorcerorous countries. I'm also of the opinion that there should be more than one way for a sorcerer to be powerful (i.e. Enhance INT should not be an essential part of a gloranthan sorceror's repertoire). So I think it would be more productive to speculate on how the Rokari, Safelstrans, Zzaburi and Hrestoli might enhance their sorcery without resorting to Enhance INT. A good starting point for the Rokari and the Zzaburi would be the Law Rune. They might use that knowledge to inscribe points in their other rune knowledges so they have a permanent bonus on their chosen magics without having to waste fancy magic points on Enhance INT everytime they want to cast a big spell. For the Hrestoli, I imagine the Magic Rune is used instead (to reflect their focus on Hensosis with the Invisible God) which behaves similarly. I think the God Forgottens use the Eye that Pierces the Veil although I see in the RQG rules there's already a spell called Pierce Veil which might be confusing (and also it's not psychedelic enough). Because the Safelstrans are so big on darkness associated Arkat, I doubt they would use Enhance INT. They would use a spell based on the Darkness Rune which being associated with SIZ increases the size of their spells.

So Cwm is the demon described by the Composite History of Dragon Pass as having "two arms, and an extra one"? That is almost Nysaloran...

P390 "This section lists and describes a sample of spells that might be known by sorcerers in the Dragon Pass area." Steal Breath is one such spell and it is not described as chaotic. So there is no problem as far as I'm concerned.

Tapping is inferred, not mentioned in the description of Arolanit and that was published a few years after RQ3 described tapping as basically evil. Even Gods of Glorantha foucssed only on the question of whether humans should be tapped and gave no idea of whether inanimate matter could be tapped. Hence applying RQ3 ideas about tapping to RQG is unwise. One could still argue that the Malkioni have a dispute about whether people could be tapped but this has lost its importance given that inanimate substances can be easily tapped. If Steal Breath is known by sorcerers in Dragon Pass with nary a hint of moral opprobrium then I don't think the west is going to be up in arms about the issue. There may be an artcile or two about the long-term effects of particular types of tapping in the west (ie Arolanit's light without radiance) but I doubt that notions of widespread environmental degradation are warranted - it's not Chaos.

The inspiration that Greg had for the Vadeli are the Cainists, a apocryphal Gnostic Sect that reasoned that the God of the Old Testament was the Demiurge who was distinct from the the Readl God and was also evil to boot. Thereby anything that he condemned (throughout much of the Old Testament) was actually good in the eyes of God. Which caused some small problems given the Old Testament's prohibitions of murder, robbery, rape, adultery, and incest. They are bad sorcerors who mysteriously have not been exterminated. Whatever other gloranthans think about the sorcery-using Malkioni, the Malkioni think of these guys in the same way.

On the subject of tapping, we should remember that the RQ3 material viewed tapping as evil because only people could be tapped - something which isn't the case in RQG. So tapping air, darkness or light could be seen as a sorcerous inspiration rather than an act of evil (although others may not necessarily agree).

My impression is that hero-points (kinda like rune points) are used to power ordinary magics but the ability to power a given magic must be quested for. The mechanical impact of such magics is beyond my keen.

I assume it's one of not one of the Homagan Islands because Homago gives that Isle Chain a bad reputation yet Motumobabi are less friendly and raid other islands. It's unlikely to be in places with a strong government as they would prevent pirate raiders. Hence it is not Hanfarador or the Haragalan Isles. The Andin islands can also be ruled out because who cares about cannibals when you have actual Andins. Possible locations: Keydaladi, Pearl Islands, Desheetan Islands. the Five Chains, the Chir Islands and the Batol Islands.

Continued from a question on the RQ forum. The Vadeli in Umathela and Afadjann number between 1 and 3% of the total population. So I think that Genertela would have on average 2% of Vadeli by total population (I could refine it by reference to coastal cities which makes some Umathelan cities quarter Vadeli but this is getting too complicated for now. FRONELA: Loskalm: Total population 3.2 million. Vadeli population: 64,000. Most would probably be concentrated in Tarins as a result of the Old Vadel ruins. Akem: Total population 600,000. Vadeli population 12,000. SESHNELA: Arolanit: Total population: 190,000. Vadeli population 3,800. Probably concentrated in Laufol. Castle Coast: Total population: 50,000. Vadeli population: 1000. Quinpolic Cities: Total population: 970,000. Vadeli population: 19,400 Seshnela: Total population 1,870,000. Vadeli population: 8,000. I've assessed the total population on the three coastal provinces rather than the country as a whole. MANIRIA: New Coast: Total population: 50,000. Vadeli population: 1000. Probably in Fay Jee. New Fens: Total population 20,000: Vadeli population: 400. Khorst: Total population 15,000. Vadeli population: 300. CONCLUSION: This gives a total Vadeli population of ~110,000. I'm less than convinced that the New Coast would have more Vadeli than Handra and Khorst.

The Vadeli are immortal. However their age distribution is unknown. Considering they were previously bunched up into two small island groups, I expect the number of immortals to be no larger than 45,000 worldwide. The remainder would be Vadeli born since the Opening. There are 9000 in Jrustela, 50,000 in Fonrit and 45,000 in Umathela. I don't have any idea on the population figures for Fronela or Seshnela. Assuming an equal spread of immortals to newborns, about three in every ten Vadeli would be an immortal. Additionally one in every nine Vadeli is a Red. The newborn Vadeli would be forty at the most so they would have roughly normal stats. They would have a mixture of spirit magic and divine magic (they don't have rune cults so they would get their rune magic through some sinister occult means). They would know one or two sorcery spells which they would practice - probably an immortality spell. For the most part newborn Vadeli would have regular jobs: fishing, seafaring, crafting and trading or fighting if they are reds. In addition to whatever taxes they local humans impose on them, they would also kick up a large fraction of their surplus income to the immortals as their immortality spells aren't cheap. So the newborn are constantly on the lookout for more income. I seen Sandy suggest one time tat the Vadeli supplement their ranks through conversion, not through ordinary missionary activities but through occult damnation (ie selling a willing mark a scrap of of a grimoire that has the ancient secret of the God-Learners but if studied, the material waprs his worldview and eventually his body into that of a Vadeli). How many newborns are actually converts is unclear and is probably not helped by teh Vadeli habit of lying about such matters. The Immortals have most of the wealth and power in Vadeli society. Each one of them is a master sorceror. However they have also been burned quite badly with the collapse of their empire and are now quite cautious, even going so far as to refrain from engaging in battle. Most of their time is spent performing magics and rituals for some nefarious purpose.

In eastern Umathela, there are the Fonritans who are as chaotic as the Lunars. There would be roving bands of bandits and escaped slaves. To the north there are the Merfolk. Their greed and relative strength has led many of the coastal cities on the verge of plundering each other to pay tribute. In the wilds, there are God Learner ruins. Every now and then bad magic emanate from the ruins to plague human civilization. Somebody needs to go to the ruins to seal them up. But the elves have forbidden them to humans as the bad magics are not their problem. In Gargulla (Guide p633), the cult of the Son of Chaos are another source of chaos (I've taken to calling the Son of Chaos Demogorgon as that was originally a mispelling of Demiurge. The Vadeli may be defeated by they are still plotting. They are intent on corrupting the human rulers and encouraging the the construction of massive magical projects for defence against the Fonritans. In the West, the dwarves might have been building a fortress beneath the Stone Plains p640. The Iron Statue is actually a colossus that will fight in some future battle. They are busy selling weapons to humans and encouraging them to defy the Woodlands Judgements.

I did refer to the post in question. As for your confusion about what i was referring to, now you understand how I felt when I received your supposedly rhetorical question.

Please do not resurrect age-old posts to fire snarky questions.

The Siwafu (Guide p544) who can transform themselves into Army Ants.

I don't think there are any. Bruvala's predecessors were merely Queens of Nochet. How Bruvala transformed her position into a title for the whole country is unknown but probably required the consent of the Grandmothers Council and the backing of Belintar. That said, there may have been Queens of the whole country before Belintar's time but that the title fell into disuse.

I don't think that's what happened. The relevant text is that "none of his heirs could take the title, nor could any other" Pavis: Gateway to Adventure p44. I originally thought it meant that his heirs were judged to be mentally incompetent so that the council quietly took over power. But I now think that the title is a heroic title and that nobody is able to complete its requirements (until Argrath) Most cities are effectively city-states (n Sartar, they are run by City-Rings). They undoubtedly had contact with Zebra Fort and the Real City.

The Lunar Pyschopomp is Danfive Xaron (I think) There's two theories about what happens to the Pelorians after they die. The older version (found in the Glorious ReAscent) is that the deceased splits into his consituent souls (Shadow goes to the Underworld, the Intellect to the Sky etc). Look at the death of Murharzarm for an explanation of what happens. A more modern version (found in the RuneQuest Companion) is that good Pelorians are reincarnated into more exalted social statues after they die (Lodril->Yelm->Dayzatar->retirement beyond the Sky). The Lunars seek to short-circuit this cycle of reincarnation by becoming Sevened. From there, most go beyond this world. A lunar that is unsevened goes through the normal motions (courts of silence, breif stay in underworld before being reincarnated). Yelm is the Judge of the Dead.

Actually it's Quicksilver most strongly associated with alchemy. RQ3's Gods of Glorantha did hint at human worshippers of Quicksilver but no writeup eventuated.