metcalph

The Serpent Crown is received from Three Kingdoms according to the description. And the disparate headgear of the offerers supports this. The extremely tall hat suggests a Brithini so Arolanit was probably one of the three. Seshnela undoubtedly was another due to the serpent crown. Since the third is wearing a helmet, suggesting a knight rather than a wizard which indicates Loskalm (I don't think Castle Coast or Wagapi qualify to be recognised as kingdoms by Cragspider). The presence of the Stone Men suggests the backing of Nida. In addition if the Hrestoli King did not rule over Loskalm we would have a curiousity in that the Black Dragon Mountain pictographs went so far as to describe what was happening in Jrustela but not what was happening in Fronela.

Below are some of the more interesting things I noticed in the Runequest Glorantha Bestiary (which I loved). There's brown elves in the Colymar Wilds according to the distribution map? I see there's about 50 according to the Sartar Companion. A bit of a hiccup in the distribution map with the Imther Mountains being omitted. Morokanth are pretty much all over the place in Dragon Pass! The Trolls of Halikiv apparently can cross over the Rockwoods way into Dorastor in the region of Benksland and the Seven Hills. There's a population of wolfbrothers in Aggar! Looking elsewhere, I see that a tribe is mentioned in the Guide. Dragon Magic is the same as it was for RQ3. I think the spiritual cost of Dragon Magic could have been simulated by using runic affinities and runepower (successful use of an affinity incurs 1 point of dishonor, uncessful use incurs many points etc). I appreciate that space and the Dragonewts own quirky personalities means this wasn't explored. Bowling Balls are back! I loved the Mostali sorcery techniques being recycled from the Different Worlds issue. A problem is that Dwarves can have an INT of 12 or less meaning they aren't able to use sorcery. So what happens? My guess is that Maker Magic is hard-backed into the Dwarvern Mind (as ROM) Finally a picture of the Huan To. However it brings to mind an issue I have with the monster. With a mouth that big, why the need for a poisonous bite? I get the impression that there must be an awful lot of 1-handed (and 1-legged) ghouls in Kralorela. Although the cult of Vivamort is not described in the Bestairy, the apparent lack of mention that Vampires can steal other people's rune magic is a good sign. Pteranodons! Titanotheres in Heortland and Aggar?!?

Ikadz has the runes of Chaos and Truth according to the Guide p153.

However the King of the West is also shown in the Black Dragon Mountain Pictographs (Glyph 15 - Guide p748)) as carrying a sword, a woodsmans axe, casting a spell and copulating with the snake goddess which suggests a Hrestoli rather than a King of War.

The Guide is not inaccurate and was not designed to be played with RuneQuest. The date of the setting of RuneQuest: Glorantha was set some years after the Guide was published.

The material I quoted from the Glorantha Sourcebook is pretty much all that has been written about him. There's one or two sentences elsewhere but he's really the Guy in charge of Dark Spirits and not a guy known for doing anything major.

I've never heard of Ikadz being described as a Dehori before nor have I heard of the 22 Dehori. Himile is Dehore's brother and a god in his own right and with his own servants. Any darkness spirit is a dehori, even a shade. As for the parentage of the Dehori

Kahar's not the sort of person who can withstand the Closing and describing it as "refuting" is bizarro-gamespeak that should be avoided. More serious to the idea that the Closing does not extend to the Sea of Fog. The New Dragons Ring concealed the Closing for a generation (Guide p264). This may be related to the Battle of Diao Yu Cheng (Guide p272) in which the New Dragons Ring failed to take the city despite the possibility of doing a naval landing further up the coast. Likewise the Kralorelan Fleet is described as being confined to the Suam Chow during the Closing (Guide p264 and p467).

The Kingdom of War is not mentioned in either the TakenEgi Stelae or the Black Dragon Mountain Pictographs. This suggests the Kingdom of War is defeated by 1640.

Hyraos the Harper (Gods Wall II-18 shown on Guide p674 and description p675) is probably the best for Donandar. Issaries would be best represented by Lokarnos who is one of the Ten Planets on the wall but known by a different name then.

What was the Chaos at the Battle of Night and Day?

We know of one, Sethtalar and possibly two others. It's quite possible that some sort of taboo avoidance could have developed (Brruvala's Son, Imarjira's Brother) over the identity of the winners. To name them would be to deny that they are Belintar which would be a slight on his majesty.

Generally one has to be a retired queen. There was a lack of a Revered Grandmother between 1565 (after Brengala's murder by Sartarites) and 1585 when Valinyr became Revered Grandmother. Imarjira who had stepped down in 1564 and had a brother as an incarnation of Belintar did not become Revered Grandmother. Since Imarjira's brother had also forced her to retire as queen, I assume that he forbade her to become Revered Grandmother. So in 1610, there are no suitable candidates as Revered Grandmother. Valinyr died in that year and logically the ruling Queen Valinalda would ritre to become the new Revered Grandmother (because all the other past Queens of Esrolia were dead). However Valinalda was killed by an evil spirit and so Hendira rules without a Revered Grandmother.

Hmm. The Glorantha Sourcebook p28 says she died in 1610. She does have a unnamed sister (who is the mother of Valinalda and we don't know who became Revered Grandmother after 1610. Prince of Sartar has Jolera as the Revered Grandmother but that's in 1621 ST.

The Goldedge Sun Domers serve the King of Tarsh. They send him a regiment to serve in his army as part of their obligations to him. The King in return puts many of his forces at the disposal of the Provincial Government. Within the county of Goldedge, the Sun Dome Temple acts as the government similar to how they operates in Vanntar and Sun County. But the temple acknowledges the political supremacy of the King (who in return keeps out of their way) and Lunar agents have a much freer hand here than in the Vaantar and Prax Sun Domes..

The first Tournament was held in 1336 ST (Guide p239). The new body formerly belonged to Sethtalar (History of the Heortling Peoples p93) Another may have been Andrin the Lucky (HotHP p94) in 1390 but the language is ambiguous (HotHP p94) One was held before 1510 ST by a son of Queen Bruvala (Glorantha Sourcebook p28) One was held on or after 1532 ST in which Doragrestol tried to usurp Belintar (HotHP p94) One was held in 1550 ST and won by the brother of Imarjira, who became Queen of Esrolia in the next year (Glorantha Sourebook p28) One was held in 1614 ST (Guide p240) The last was held after Belintar's Disappearance in 1617 ST (Guide p240) Pretty much any nationality of the Holy Country (Esrolians, God Forgotten etc) has been an incarnation of Belintar, from what I've heard. There's even been an elf.

It's yet to be shown that Delecti arrived from elsewhere. There''s no evidence that he didn't arrive from elsewhere (which is why I'm not disputing large parts of your theory) but we should be aware of the possibility that Delecti was working with native sorcery traditions. Dragon Pass was sophisticated enough and Pavis learned his lore from there rather than the God Learners. Which presumes that the Rascullu were stitched together. But the Centaurs also appeared in Seshnela without Delecti and the Stitched Zoo. So an alternate hypothesis for the Rascullu's appearance might be - the Six-Legged Empire investigated the green age of Pamaltela. In doing so, they inadvertently restored extinct species. Check the source. Delecti was already allied with the Elves, the Dragonewts and the Beast Valley when they were fighting the trolls. The collapse of elvish power occurred during the Troll War after Delecti had joined.

The sole date we have is that he became a magus about 800 years ago or circa 820 (Guide p190). Since that dates fairly well-known, it seems to me that it took place in Dragon Pass. Probably after the Battle of Cloaks and Fireclouds (circa 1200 Glorantha Sourcebook p11) in which the elves were defeated by the trolls. The elves then fled allowing Delecti a free hand in preying on dryads and the like. Interestingly enough Delecti is helping the Dragonewts in their war against the Trolls.

Hard Copies of the Sourcebook have been printed and are being sent to the warehouses for distribution to the Kickstarter Backers.

I really don't like this synthetic mythology. It isn't how a Troll would see things and the idea that Donandar would have a superior insight into Uz mythology doesn't sound right to me. This is a cult of entertainers, not a cult of super wisdom.

Bullpen is mentioned in History of the Heortling Peoples p87 It does not appear on the map of Sen Senrenen on p60.

We are not discussing pike fighting. We are discussing fighting with a pike and shield, a very specific method of fighting. The rules for fighting with a 2 handed pike alone in RuneQuest is all fine and dandy and I see no reason for additional penalties. The rules for fighting with a 2 handed pike and shield in a phalanx formation can easily be emulated with the fighting in a phalanx formation rules in RQG. I don't see any reason for rules for fighting with a 2-handed pike and shield alone because this was never done and a trained warrior in such a circumstance is likely to 1) drop the pike and fight with a smaller weapon, 2) drop the shield and fight with the poke alone or 3) drop the pike and shield and run away. Now I have immense difficulty in understanding your position because it seems to change around because it seems to change every post or so. Since I see no scope for understanding, I shall only repeat my position that I believe rules for fighting with an INT of 3 to be totally unnecessary but you are welcome to do whatever you want in your game.

I'm having difficulty understanding your position. You want (to me unnecessary) rules to spell out the pitfalls of unwise combat tactics. I would have thought a simpler tactic was to advise him how to improve his fighting chances when he's in a difficult position (after all in the character is a trained warrior, he or she would know what would work in most situations) rather than working out the the penalties that accrue from doing very stupid things.

It is not possible for the fighter to drop the shield? Because that is one of the tactics that I did suggest.

Fighting with a 2H pike and shield was never used by oneself. There are ways in which the player can switch to more advantageous methods of fighting and I have already listed two above. Even if the GM were to be an arse about shifting weapons, survivability would still be higher. I have already listed the reference in the RuneQuest Glorantha rules on how to treat fighting 2H with a pike. What the RQG rules say about the tactic is that it involves fighting in a formation (six or more people) rather than fighting by oneself. The Sun Dome templars do not fight by themselves (and historically phalanx was an offensive rather than a defensive formation). The Cults of Prax rules are a flawed means of dealing with the tactic simply because they imply that it is useful to fight by themselves when in fact the poke and shield wielder can be easily outflanked and dispatched.