Charles

I recall that there is a deliberate change in spelling that matches their change in status.

BTW, research the history of Greg Stafford, starting from his website. If there were politics involved in pulling the pseudo Christian elements from Glorantha, it was likely less to do with his fears of zealots and more to do with his own attitudes and beliefs.

The West, as presented during the RuneQuest days, was itself a retcon. The very oldest Gloranthan writings of Greg Stafford were set in the West. And those writings were nothing like the pseudo Christian, pseudo Medieval of the RuneQuest era publications. If you are interested to dig deeper, get Revealed Mythologies, Arcane Lore and Middle Sea Empire, which contain some of these earlier writings. There is more that is extremely difficult to obtain that has even earlier versions of Greg's stories. However, apart from being difficult to obtain, they need to be read carefully to discriminate between what is still accepted and those ideas that Greg discarded long before the publication of RuneQuest.

As mentioned in Bull Gods of Fronela, I have some pet theories of the origins of the Orlanthi peoples and some of the Orlanthi cults. It starts with this: Guide to Glorantha page 689 - "Later Orlanth and his Storm gods freed many of the Kachisti survivors from bondage." My theory is that the Durevings were the Dronars of the Kachisti peoples (kinda, see end-note). As circumstantial support: The Book of Heortling Mythology page 148 - "Durev does not go in for fancy stuff, for violence or trade goods or fancy legal talk, or for anything that will send someone away. He works hard for his family, cares for his herd, repairs the houses and makes the household sacrifices." I've been plowing through the electronic copies of my sources looking for a half remembered source linking the peoples of Danmalastan with the wood people (other myths in BoHM link the Durevings with the wood people) - I suspect that what I'm looking for is in paper form only. Similarly, the Helerings originated as Waertagi. And, possibly, (some of) the Vingkotlings originated as Hsunchen (shapechanging was practiced by the Hidden Kings of the line of Vingkot during the Greater Darkness/Chaos Age). Back to my theories. Likely there were very few Talars or Zzaburi among the enslaved Kachisti, as they do not make good workers, and possibly no Horali as they are good only for fighting. The Zzaburi became part of the Lankhor Mhy cult (likely mixed with refugee Buseri from Dara Happa and possibly more). The Talars became part of the Issaries cult and maybe also influenced the Dar subcult of Orlanth. This infusion of some basic Malkioni culture and mythology was why the God Learners found it so easy to work with the cults of Lankhor Mhy and Issaries. This does not mean that I believe that the source of these two particular cults is only or purely Malkioni. End-note: I'm always very careful with origin myths, they tell very important deep truths about people, but they may not be as others around them observe their origins. Another way of saying this is that some older truths may be deliberately forgotten to help preserve the current truth and strengthen people. And, of course, the post-apocalyptic landscape of the Chaos Age meant that many people could not afford to remember much of their origins beyond that necessary for basic survival.

Guide page 689 "Suddenly the Mostali erupted out of Nida, destroying most of the Kachisti cities. The Vadeli and their Mostali allies enslaved all the rest. Later Orlanth and his Storm gods freed many of the Kachisti survivors from bondage." Which leads to one of my pet theories, but that's at a tangent to this topic.

Have you checked? I wouldn't dare... Charles

After I wrote this I thought about it some more. It seems to me that Yolanela's magic is linked to sex and death, so likely she is preventing her daughters access to sex magic so as to prevent them becoming her rivals. Therefore the lack of mention of her daughters matching their brothers' abilities may be the result of in-gameworld jealousies rather than the authors' acts of commission or omission. BTW, Yolanela's access to both sex magic and death magic likely indicates that she is Illuminated, which should not be a major problem as she is initiated to or at least affiliated with the Lunar cult of Teelo Nori. And Illuminates have few religiously or self imposed limits on the powers they can take, even extending to Primal Chaos. Charles

It seems to me that the core of Glorantha points to the point of view that men and women are equal in power but not identical in motivations. Furthermore, the gender of the gods is generally driven by mortal identification rather than being an intrinsic property of the deity. As to Ernalda, she is generally believed to be a stronger magician than Orlanth. In my opinion, the most dangerous mortal named in the Guide is Yolanela (as Jar-Eel, Harrek, Godunya and the like are not mortals). Yolanela, called the Taloned Countess: ... She openly murdered one rival satrap, and is suspected of secretly murdering her husband as well, and forbids any of her daughters to marry or engage in sex. ... She is forbidden to come within three days’ travel of the capital, Glamour, and is required to have knees, wrists, and nose on the ground whenever within range of the Emperor’s Voice. She also happens to be the mother of 3 Hero level men and seven other knights of renown. I've not yet found a mention of what her daughters are capable of Charles