metcalph

Can you give details? The only reference to the Zarkosites not working out that I know of is the Battle of Night and Day where the Vanchites are equiped by the King as bronze clad peltasts. Currently the practice is to use Thunder Delta slingers who are not Zarkosites and they work fine.

The Burning Hoofprint (p214) and the Green Crown clans (p217) are mentioned in the Sartar Companion. There was a map listing all of the clans up on glorantha.com but it's now of uncertain status.

It's inferred from the following detail on the Gods Wall The Goat-woman is Uryarda and the Lion-man is Durbaddath. The little tyke then is obviously the child of the two, right? Here's where it get's complicated. In the Glorious ReAscent (p62), Plentonius identifies this as Ergesh but a footnote actually says that it is Votank. Now in the Guide to Glorantha, he's named Zarkos instead. There's still mention of Durbaddath cultists in Votankiland in the previous footnote which is either evidence that there's still some sort of relationship or that the Gregging Scribes slipped up. Is Votank Zarkos? I really don't know. Having two sets of parents isn't unknown in Glorantha. A stronger objection is that Votank appeared in the Great Darkness whereas the Gods Wall depicts the Gods worshipped in the Golden Age. . If I were to say that Votank is Zarkos then I would say that Votank is reborn in every age to lead his people from whatever calamity (Flood, Civilized People, Storm Gods etc) that has beset them.

The Middle Sea Empire p43 does mention some names like: Davaka the Dealer: organizer of the first raids on the rural holy places (c 800 ST) Alan of Nolos who calculated power places and weak spots from pagan manuscripts (also 800 ST) Venrestol Bookmmen who explored the holy places of the Malkioni (c 810 ST) This led to the Bookman School under Abbot Bookman which was an general exploration. In 845 ST, under Abbot Inkarion the Blockbuster, the God Learners began invade the pagan strongpoints. In 849 ST (part and parcel of the Goddess Switch), Iskandos of Reyerswal made copies of unique items for a time (he may have been a Zistorite as a similar complaint was made about the Machine City in Different Worlds #24). By 960 ST, they were regularly performing Power HeroQuests but no name is given.

Greg has said in the past that it's Gonn Orta's daughter (all known babies before this having been males). It survived an attempted plundering by Harrek according to the Ur-Argrath Saga in the Guide. I don't think the child makes a further appearance in the Hero Wars.

There were Hippos in the Golden Age that were foes of the Darjiinians (along with the Tapirs and the Crocodiles). They are not mentioned further and hence I assume the Genertelan species is extinct.

What's the source?

Lokarnos may be worshipped but only since the Celestial Empire and recognizably a foreign import. Furalor and Calyz don't resemble any better known cults. Furalor would teach Cremate Dead. I'm not sure if Create Wildfire is appropriate because he's the purifying goddess of flame rather than the out-of-control wildfire. She probably would teach a burning crown spell (Guide p428) which is either an arduous purification ritual or something you cast on enemies. The Guide p431 mentions her fires at Chatal can clean the merchants of the pollution of dealing with the hsunchen so it's clear her flames can be nonlethal etc. Calyz is a bit interesting in that he is not mentioned on the Zanozar bas-relief (Guide p428) - instead we get two incarnations of Somash. He may be a culture hero who brought fire and kept people alive during the Great Darkness. He could be a son of Solfindicating why people pay him attention whereas Solf is burned out and useless. As well as the traditional three fires (cooking, smelting and sex), he also has some affinity with draining marshes to make rice paddies and some snake magic (which may be another form of his sex magic).

Mine's still in the air (ie left Sydney on Monday and hasn't been recorded as landed over a day later). Probably will arrive on Thursday or Friday (since for some reason Auspost sends it to Dorkland). Who knew ordering the Cursed Maps of Berserking could cause so much trouble?

Personally I would have the Dragonewt PC either from Ormsland or Ryzel. That way they can be slightly more "human" in their thinking and still seeking to improve themselves by study at the Dragon's Eye. That way other dragonewts would still be incomprehensible to them. For Dragon Magic, I would basically use the Rune Points to model if and when they cast their magics. There's long been talk of tying their magics to what RQG now calls rune affinities.

I don't find this funny and it hasn't been funny for quite some time. I've largely giving up on reading through Joerg's lengthy prose and I avoid arguments with him and I've seen others do so as well.

The argument was not over the existence of barding but whether the artist got it wrong by depicting a small horse.

Given that the text mentions that the rider is large and the horse is small and that elsewhere Jan draws more conventional sized horses (the Fronelan Four), I daresay Jan was told to draw a small horse as I have seen Jeff in the past mention a spell based on a horse's specific size.

Source? I find the notion that the Brithini would have caste restrictions on riding horses to be about as credible as many of the other archaic details therein (such as the arm-wrestling match). In any case, you still shouldn't be using them as a authoritative support for whatever dull theory that you're are busy trotting out. Nope. Strike that. At least the horali hobbits was amusing,. Somewhere in there is supposed to be a reason why soliders should not ride horses. But it makes no sense and we are supposed to accept that the Kingdom of Logic imposed a baffling restriction Once again you are generalizing on irrelevant matters and getting details wrong. The Rokari did not reform the fivefold castes of the Hrestoli. The Rokari had no interest in reforming anything Hrestoli. The Rokari did not want anything Hrestoli within their castes. Any men-of-all unfortunate to end up in the clutches of the Rokari reformers would have been lucky if he was merely hanged from the nearest tree. The Rokari reformed the society prescribed by the Abiding Book. One of the reforms was the abolition of any tolerance of the Hrestoli. The Hrestoli are not an accepted part of orthodox Malkionism. They are a nonconformist tradition with their own precepts. They do not care for the Abiding Book or whatever the wizards are teaching for they are their own Laws. Interactions between them and the Malkioni establishments have been based on caution, fear and practicality. My point wasn't about celibacy. It was about that restrictions can be based on something other than doctrine. And there are no Hrestoli Makanists. Makan is a creation of the Abiding Book and the Hrestoli do not care for that.

Your interpretation is correct but that's a statement about Arolanit's soldiers rather than Brithini soldiers (which also includes Brithos, Akem and God Forgot). And even in a Brithini society there can be more than one source of prohibition. By way of example, catholic priests are forbidden to marry. This isn't a rule set down by Catholic interpretation of scripture for there is nothing scripturally wrong with priests marrying. It's just that in the early middle ages, sons of priests used to claim their daddy's churches as inherited property and it was quite a pain getting the churches back of them (I'm simplifying a lot here). So to combat this practice, the western church passed a disciplinary (as opposed to one from canon) rule that priests were forbidden to marry. And since from that time, catholic priests with a few exceptions are unmarried. Turning this to the good people of Arolanit. In the first few centuries after the Dawn, they are confronted with the spectacle of horse-riding maniacs spewing Hrestol's madness. To ensure the insanity did not corrupt their own troops, the Talars might have decided that from now on, no solider is permitted to ride a horse. As it's not a caste breaking taboo, the soldiers can still ride horses without aging. But because Arolanit is a deeply conservative society respectful of the will of the talars, their soldiers do not ride horses. Could a Talar permit a solider to ride a horse today? Yes. Will he do so? Never. That's why I find inferences about the Brithini in general from the specific example of Arolanit to see so unconvincing.

I'm not the one making categorical statements about what was forbidden to the Brithini. There are any number of reasons why the Hrestoli can be so strongly associated with rding other than they were breaking a Brithini caste taboo. So when generalizing about subjects in the future, could you at least ground it in published facts or indicate that it's your own theory?

The text for the picture says "Riding beside the palanquin is a sturdy man of the Soldier caste. He is about 6 foot, 6 inches tall with pale reddish skin and brown hair." Guide p408. Please could you cite a description of the Horali being small of statue? The only relevant text is "Though small, the Arolanit army is one of the best in the world" Guide p407 which is a statement about the size of the Arolanit army rather than their troops!

Not seeing any evidence for this.

Since the artists in the Guide were given the text of the illustration to work from rather than the text being a description, it seems a bit churlish to describe the small horse as one of Jan's misfires.

The write-up does state: So yes, Rune Magic is available to the Cult of Pavis (placing him in a similar situation to Lhankor Mhy) except that the magics can only be used within the borders of Pavis. I would as a result give common rune magics plus city harmony (and perhaps city fertility). The higher magics such as the summoning the Elementals, the Harmony of Parts, Door to the Room without Doors etc remain sorcery spells.

The smallness of the horse is intentional. As the legend states: "His horse, little more than a pony in height, is nonetheless strong enough to carry both the armored soldier and to wear scale barding." The cause as Jeff has indicated in the past is the use of ancient Brithini strengthening spells which can only be cast on a horse that size even though bigger ones can now be grown.

The Glorantha Bestiary p147 describes heavy cavalry as a rider wearing heavy armour but no mention of barding for the horse which would even a greater weight constraint. The Guide p204 has a picture of four prominent people on horseback in Fronela inm a military context but only one (Meriatan) is riding a horse with apparent barding. The Horse is clearly supernatural by the way it snorts cold fire. Lord Death on a Horse's horse may have barding but the image is too small to be sure. A Seshnelan warrior is shown on a horse with barding p406. Ethilrist, Jannisor, Hwarin Dalthippa etc are shown mounted without barding. So my guess is that it exists but only in some parts of the west (I'm not sure if it exists in Carmania for example). Most Gloranthans including those in the west find it easier to have magical or enchanted mounts instead

It's not just Orlanth. Carmania also has Idovanus: the Invisible God as the Sun and GanEsatarus: the Invisible God as Darkness. The Uz and Safelstrans probably have myths about sorcery being a secret of Subere. Kralorela may, through,Goduna's teachings have the Invisible God as the Cosmic Dragon. The Mostali have Earth as the Invisible God and call it the World Machine. The Invsible God as water is probably taught by the Waertagi.

I think (infer really) the aim is to have it a week after the 5% berserkers (self-identifying here) get their copy as the RQG rulebook is already in the warehouses but it won't be sold until next week to avoid clashing with sales of the GM Screen Pack. So my guess is the 28th.

On the wall or on the banner? The figure on the Wall is supposedly the Pillar Goddess upholding the Emperor although it looks more like KetEnari, the City Goddess instead. The trampled figure on the banner is the Devil as the scene is the Full Victory, the sixth step of the seven steps of the Red Goddess (cf Pavis: Gateway to Adventure p396-397)