M Helsdon

Am not sure if this was one of my posts. I do know that there were different Beast People, one group being the Face Guards who fought the Thunder Brothers when they recovered their herds in the Plundering of Aron during the Storm Age. The Face Guards had the bodies of domesticated animals and the heads of humans. I believe this is referred to in the Book of Heortling Mythology. Then there are the rare Sedrali Dog People of Ralios who are native to the northern Aldryami forests of Ralios. They display the intelligence of humans and the instincts of dogs; the males have human bodies but the heads of dogs, the females have canine bodies and human heads.

HISTORY OF GLORANTHAN ART, PART V The Lunar Empire But, in Peloria, things are different. The EWF style are gone. And we have a long dark age. The Carmanians embrace a formal brutalism style. Them and their gods triumphing atop piles of dead. Think Assyrian palace style. Scenes of war and scenes of authority. The Lunar-Dara Happan revolt comes out of that tradition but tries to turn it upside down. With a naked goddess being the equal of a stern but benevolent Yelm. Standing on top of a pile of dead Carmanians and Pentans. But also we start getting new esotericism. It could be that the Red Goddess was not even initially depicted as a deity. But just as a woman. Deliberately smaller than the gods and rulers. Naked and human, but superior to the immortal gods. And she is not depicted in a formal manner. Idealised yes, but relaxed and in dance. The Yelm cult takes its cues from here as well. Yelm gets less formalized, although continues to be idealized. Maybe even more idealized. As the Lunar Empire gets richer, the art gets better, and becomes what we now call the Old Lunar style. We get a century and a half of this Old Lunar style. And then in 1375 the Pentans come. And for nearly a century, the Pentans reduce Peloria to grasslands. People are eating mud and each other. The Lunar Empire consists of the besieged center of Glamour, some barbaric kingdoms in the south, and the Western Reaches aka Old Carmania. Lunar art becomes cruder, poorer, and more emphatic. There is now no difference between Lunar and Dara Happan. There is simply Lunar-Pentan-Slave. Empathic in subject and very removed from the concerns of the world. Because in the real world Sheng Seleris rules. Minor victories or stalemates against Sheng Seleris are monumental triumphs! In a surprise, the Red Emperor defeats Sheng Seleris and confines him to a Lunar (ie mystical) hell. The Pentans collapse. And now the Lunar Empire is able to resettle the New Grasslands of Peloria. This is where Lunar art comes from. Restore and Rebuild. New towns need to be built. Old cities need to be rebuilt. All quickly, all at the same time, and from the Oronin River to the Arcos. From the White Sea to the gates of Alkoth. Every town gets laid out more or less the same, with a temple complex to the Red Goddess, Yelm, Dendara, Lodril, and whoever else. All by the same architects and artists. And although directly supervised by the Red Emperor, Great Sister, or Hon-eel, it is initially done fast and on the cheap. And some a lot better than others. So we now have within the empire basically four styles. Three are old and can be found in: 1. Glamour and the Tripolis; 2. Western Reaches: 3. Jillaro. 4. Everywhere else. The New Lunar style or the Lunar Heartland style. Towns are built quick. And cheap. Art is initially easy to reproduce. Very stylized and formalized. But over the next century and a half, the empire gets richer and richer and richer. So this New Lunar style gets built upon, embellished, upgraded. More elaborate and more technically skilled. But it is still based off that original post-Sheng style. But now rich Lunar priests demand that the artist display technical virtuosity and work in all sorts of Lunar motifs and esoteric references. During Sheng's occupation, the shift towards more empathic and non-real world related themes in art also brings in another thing. The artwork starts to depict Yelm, Lodril, Dayzatar, and all the others as idealized and perfect. These almost calming presences in the world, a source of stability amongst the chaos and horror of Sheng’s rule. Yelm is no longer that stiff, formal, restricted thing on the Gods Wall. He is still that yes, but to the masses he is also the benevolent sun god. And the Red Goddess' divine father. As the occupation ends, as more art gets made and the more and more money gets pumped into it, this transforms. The Seven Mothers, Etyries , Hon-eel, etc. are depicted in a sensual, loose and free style. They are beautiful and relatable. The Celestial Gods meanwhile are beautiful, yet perfect. They are not sensual; they are not mere mortal things. They are the perfect geometry of the world, the cosmic order. A depiction of Hon-eel or Jar-eel or Etyries shows you an idealized reflection of you, the mortal viewer. They were born, they suffered, they transcended. Like the Goddess herself. The depiction of Yelm shows you something else though. something still beautiful, but in a different way. It is the beauty of perfect harmony. The beauty of the cosmic order of the Golden Age. So let's move this forward a tiny bit more. By the 7th Wane, the Lunar Empire is ruled by Yelm illuminates of the Red Goddess cult. For generations. They are self-referential by now in the sense that their art needs to communicate with them and not so much other audiences. So in our magnificent great temple in Glamour, with gold and gems and glass, abstract depictions of Yelm and statues of Apollo, we have this crude little gold sun disk on a horse from the Dawn.

HISTORY OF GLORANTHAN ART, PART IV Belintar tries to recreate that very spread out and universal First Age Style. And of course this just goes nuts with the Opening. Because the Holy Country is now stupid rich. Now when Sartar gets settled, they bring this artistic tradition with them. Sartar and his heirs hire artists from the Holy Country. But Orlanth is the focus. It is not as baroque. It is more martial, more masculine. And somewhat technically cruder, except for the dwarf or Wilms-made stuff from Sartar's time. Which is technically superb. More masculine, more martial, more violent. And even more individualistic. Artists are very much encouraged to put their own spin on things. The overall style is there, of course, you can't really escape it. Statue of a Sartarite Chieftain or King

HISTORY OF GLORANTHAN ART, PART III THIRD AGE - HOLY COUNTRY And then comes a long period of war that culminates in the Dragonkill War. Which divides the world into Kethaela and Peloria. Kethaela starts with that late Second Age Esrolian style. Sensuous and baroque. Though regressed a bit and gets worse and worse at it. Since you don't have the actual artisans present anymore. Until Belintar shows up. And Belintar oversees a rich artistic renaissance. And he's of course a thorough God Learner, with baroque references on top of baroque references. So the style remains mostly the same, but revitalized. Not "realistic" but symbolic and mythological. And he draws on the Esrolians, the Heortlings, the Caladralanders, the God Forgotites, the trolls, and the dwarfs to create a visual melting point. And the Kethaelans get their technical skills back. The way the ornamentation and detailing is made is changed as a result of communication from the dwarfs of Gemborg. Intricate decoration. At some point, the style is a reference to a reference to itself. So whereas the Second Age stuff was naturalistic verging on weird abstractions (like in the eyes and so on), under Belintar, temple architecture was naturalistic but not formalized.

A HISTORY OF GLORANTHAN ART, PART II SECOND AGE This unified culture collapses in the Gbaji Wars at the end of the First Age. War and poverty. A collapse, which in turn leads to reduction in complexity in artwork. A Dark Age from about 450 to 600 or so. In Dragon Pass, you end up with a vibrant civilization around 700. But they don't have the dwarfs around to help them. And a lot more trollish influences. Sculpture became less “realistic” and powerfully primitive. Basic shapes, essentially. But done with lots of wealth.

Originally posted on FaceBook by @Jeff A HISTORY OF GLORANTHAN ART, PART I DAWN AGE At the Dawn, there were basically two cultural centers - Dragon Pass (also known as the Theyalans or the Unity Council) and the Peloria lowlands ruled by the Horse Lords. The Theyalans had a tradition of “realistic” art thanks to the Silver Age heroes called the Architect and the Artist (both of whom were active in Kethaela). Moreover, they had access to dwarf crafters, dragonewts and elves. And to surviving pre-Time relics. It followed geometric patterns of proportion and composition, and mortals and gods alike were depicted nude. This “Theyalan style” got spread all over the place, but also was probably really diverse. Individual artists did things in individual ways. Example: Stravulstead, 1st Century, thought to be Heort

There's a chapter on fortifications and siege warfare in The Armies & Enemies of Dragon Pass. https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/296535/The-Armies-and-Enemies-of-Dragon-Pass?src=hottest_filtered

Blue with horns. The Vadeli in Nochet have a shrine or temple. I believe that's Serelaloon. All the deities in the picture have worshippers in Nochet. The depictions here are seen through an Esrolian lens, or at least that of the Esrolian artist. Some of the art direction: Now the complicated part – the marketplace is full of figures, a crowd not of mortals but gods and goddesses. I doubt you can show them all, but these will include some of Ernalda’s daughters and relatives, some of her husbands (not Orlanth), some of the Noble Brothers, and other deities, Veskarthan, Issaries, Lhankor Mhy, Chalana Arroy, Arkat, Calyz, Rich Twins, Okeria, Serelaloon, Argan Argar, Bendalazu, Seseine, Uleria, the Red Goddess…. Maybe some behind others… There were subsequent discussions about the gods to be shown, some added. some removed. The book now has over a dozen, approaching two dozen illustrations like this - though this is one of the most ornate. I have shared portions of others on FaceBook. There is a great deal in them.

The Red Goddess, standing by the Moon Cat and being tempted by Seseine. This is an in-world illustration, and the person in-world painting the wall mural knows very little of Lunar theology.

In terrestrial ancient Near Eastern art, red is often used to denote a skin tone, especially male, especially readily apparent in Egyptian tombs, and probably very widely spread. For example, the name Adam denotes 'red' and particularly red clay. In Esrolia, there's at least one red-skinned Earth Goddess, and probably many more. In Glorantha, as I understand it, red was a colour associated with Orlanth, and particularly with thanes? Its appropriation by the Lunars is perhaps another reason why Orlanthi detest the Lunars. I would expect many statues and figurines to have reddish faces. Here's a Romano-Egyptian mummy mask. I'm sure if we could wander the ancient world, especially Greece, we would be astonished by the use of colour. And a non-canonical image by Katrin Dirim for my current Jonstown Compendium project showing a number of deities at Nochet - only one is Lunar.

If there are Lunar merchants somewhere, there will be the worship of Etyries, though in a very restricted, minor way. There won't be any temples, or any shrines, save perhaps those carried by an Etyries merchant caravan.

Sorry, I can't, but would guess that it is perhaps related to Hiia's geases; perhaps he was forbidden metal armour, and turtle shell was a locally available alternative? I include the construction of, and illustrate turtle shell armour in The Armies and Enemies of Dragon Pass.

The Red Moon is a constant presence as it goes through its phases. The Blue Moon can only be seen now as that fragment called the Blue Streak, and then briefly, as it falls from the top of the Sky Dome down into Magasta's Pool and into the Underworld. It is called the Blue Streak because it falls very quickly.

Not outside the city where there is a besieging Lunar Army at that time. And there are two other opposing factions in Esrolia. They aren't friends.... Who will look pretty much like everyone else from Dragon Pass. There isn't a Tarshite ethnic identity. Tarshites look and sound like people from Old Tarsh, the Far Place, and are very closely related to the Sartarites, having only been divided from them during the Inhuman Occupation. Dragon Pass simply isn't that large and contains a significant variety of appearances. Your NPC will probably have a Northern Theyalan accent, but so do people from Old Tarsh and the Far Place. Yes: you seem unfamiliar with the setting. I refer you to the images of Sartarites shared earlier: Dragon Pass is a real mixing place of peoples and cultures. As I noted in my first response: As in our ancient world, culture, status, and at times, cult, would be more important than any construction such as race. So if your Tarshite is wearing Lunar Heartland costume they will be recognised as a Lunar, but most Tarshites wear clothes the same or similar to Sartarites. Are they wearing red? More of a flag, but red is also the color of Orlanthi thanes. Are they carrying a Lunar sword? A kopis is widely used by cavalry; a Moonsword is a flag, but may have been taken as booty. Are they displaying Moon Runes as tattoos or jewelery? More of an issue. Are they calling loudly upon the Red Goddess? A problem.

Not significantly, I suspect, if you mean appearance. There is no Lunar ethnicity, as 'We are all Us' and Lunars include people from all across the Pelorian basin and beyond. There may be more people who are blond or have light brown hair, and have light skin but such won't be unknown in Dragon Pass. People in Dragon Pass are descended from northerners and southerners and will display a wide variety of hair, skin, and eye colors. The Orlanthi, if you go back far enough, are descended from a mixture of peoples. Even pale blue or green skin might be seen. No. Praxians vary between tribes in appearance. As in our ancient world, culture, status, and at times, cult, would be more important than any construction such as race. Most people display their cultic affiliations by tattoos. I suspect the Lunars don't do this as much, but may be wrong, but whilst a Heortlander/Praxian/Esrolian without tattoos may be uncommon, they won't be rare. So your NPC is unlikely to gain much attention unless they are displaying obvious Lunar symbols as jewellery. Esrolia at this time is divided into three major factions, one Lunar friendly. Is she armed and armored as a Lunar soldier? If not, I doubt anyone will do anything. After all, she could be a trader, or have some other innocent occupation. Here are some pictures of Sartarites Jeff has shared. The green and blue skin here is probably dyed.

It is likely that the defences will be similar to the Steadfasts built by the tribes living near the Telmori, detailed in Ian Cooper's The Coming Storm? These are fortified villages with a circular wooden palisade with ramparts 3.6 meters high. A pair of strong doors bar access. The houses of the local farmers, byres and stables are crowded within the walls. There's a limit to how extensive the fortifications that villagers can afford to build and maintain can be. You might add sharp pointed stakes around the palisade, and some leaning outwards to make it more difficult to climb the wall.

As noted above, anyone riding and fighting from a chariot is going to be experienced in doing it - if a noble has a chariot then doing so will be an innate ability. I wasn't writing a rules system, which is a very different proposition. No, in part because I believe it isn't really necessary. Chariot fighting isn't really a focus of the game system, as they will often be used as battle taxis, and it's so minor an aspect, that if you detailed chariot fighting, then many other things would deserve more detail. For example, shiphandling. There comes a point where you'd end up with volumes of rules, and I believe there's a point where the GM has to moderate between the rules as written, and what they and their players want to do. At most, I would rule that if someone who had never trained and fought from a chariot stepped into one and attempted to do so, their skills might be unchanged, but they might need a DEX roll to do so successfully, the multiplier depending on conditions, and a fumble sees them tumbling out of the back of the chariot. Would I add that to the RQ rules? No. Keep things simple.

I'll also take this opportunity for blatant advertising - lots about chariots and using weapons mounted in Armies & Enemies of Dragon Pass.... https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/296535/The-Armies-and-Enemies-of-Dragon-Pass?src=hottest_filtered

Historically, there were two basic types of chariot: one carrying the driver and fighter, and a heavier version carrying a driver, fighter, and one, rarely two shield-bearers whose job would be to defend the driver and fighter. The fighter was often an archer, sometimes a javelineer, rarely equipped with a long spear. Whilst some chariots had basic suspension, in the form of a base of woven leather straps, they were very prone to the effects of terrain. Where a mounted archer or javelin-thrower is familiar with the pace of their mount, and times their shot accordingly, anyone using weapons from a chariot is very susceptible to the unpredictable ride of the chariot over the terrain - they are reliant upon the driver keeping the ride as smooth as possible and their skill in avoiding rough ground. This is why in some cases, whilst the missile user often shot from the vehicle, there were instances when they dismounted to most effectively use their bow or throw their javelin. There's also some evidence from India of the archer having two bows - a smaller one employed as a passenger, and a larger one when dismounted. So whilst the missile user would have trained to shoot from a chariot in motion, they were reliant upon the skill of the driver, and in a very different situation to a mounted fighter. In most armies, the driver and the missile user were a team who trained and fought together. The missile user may know how to drive a chariot but that only becomes relevant if the driver is dead or disabled, and they have to take the reins; it doesn't help them use their weapons. The missile user is familiar with shooting or throwing from the chariot. If a noble has a chariot, they will be used to being a fighting passenger. So historically, horse archers had numerous advantages to the chariot archer - for one potentially double the number of fighters, but most importantly, when the regular motion of the horse is taken into account, a much more stable and predictable 'fighting platform'. A further matter to bear in mind is that as missile platforms, chariots were used in two ways: as massed missile platforms where accuracy wasn't as important; as single vehicles used in hunting, often lions. Magic - well, casting magic is very different to using a bow or throwing a javelin, and the targeting would be very different. I've only ever ridden in a vehicle resembling a chariot once, and even over smooth ground it wasn't a smooth ride. My feeling is that the existing rules are a sufficient emulation... Adding two skill scores to reflect ordinary use of the weapon, and its use on a chariot seems overly complex as anyone fighting from one is used to doing so.

Jeff sez: One of the great benefits of heroquesting is the ability to gain magic outside of what can be gained from one's cult. These magic abilities often operate mechanically similarly to Rune spells. Sometimes these new spells can be incorporated within the cult structure, creating a new subcult. For example, Garundyer gained the spells of Hailstones from Siglolf Cloudcrusher - these spells form the basis of the Cloudcrusher subcult of Orlanth Thundrous. Alternatively, these new spells can form the basis of a new cult similar to a Spirit Cult. Hon-eel brought forth Bless Maize which became the basis of her cult. Argrath brought forth the White Bull which has become a popular Spirit Cult in Prax. Most often, these new abilities are personal to the quester. Sarostip has the ability to kill with his left eye. Hofstaring had his flying spear. Jaldon Goldentooth has his ability to bite through walls. Harrek has his God-Spirit White Bear Cloak. Many heroes possess the ability to return from the dead or to Discorporate their spirits. The distinctions between these approaches and why an ability gained on a heroquest might be personal or might be incorporated into a cult can get more than a little fuzzy or contradictory, but there are certain generalizations. Powers gained on quests where the hero travels in the footsteps of their god are easiest to incorporate into their cult. Powers gained on new quests that can be repeated but are outside of the mythos of the cult must become a new cult. And powers not shared with others remain personal. 2Ossi Hiekkala and 1 other

Jeff writes: Because of the magical energies released as part of the preparations for the Lightbringers Quest (and perhaps because of the awakening of a True Dragon with the Dragonrise), much of Sartar could be said to be on the Hero Plane during Sacred Time of 1625. While Kallyr and her companions traveled about Sartar performing the Westfaring and Descent, there were manifestations of the divine realm elsewhere. Many people reported seeing battles in the sky, burning footprints, marching trees, the Night Wolf, and the Black Eater. A few saw stranger things, like the Stream being filled with corpses or the Three Feathered Rivals. One even claimed to have found herself at the edge of the world. Such manifestations and events became increasingly common during the Hero Wars, as even greater releases of magical energy occurred.

Jeff writes: So often when we talk about heroquesting, it is in the context of gaining power, defeating a foe, exploring the mythic realms, learning magical secrets, and so on. Not surprising - that is the heroquests of the God Learners and of the post-Red Goddess Lunars. Such quests require knowledge, preparation, and magical power. They can achieve great things, but some theorize that the universe itself begins to react against them. Such heroquesters become trapped in Arachne Solara's web unless they are very careful and respectful of what they do and where they tread. Of course there are other more powerful contexts for heroquesting. One is desperate need. When one has lost everything and can lose nothing more, Arachne Solara herself shows a path through the wilderness. Such quests require true need and desperation - like that of the Red Goddess. But the most powerful context is that of cosmic necessity. When the cosmos itself needs the hero lest part or all be destroyed by Chaos. Such quests are aided by Glorantha herself - or at least or ghost. Some priests speculate that the full Lightbringers Quest requires both desperate need and cosmic necessity.

Jeff writes: So when we think about heroquesting, the Empire of the Wyrms Friends, and Belintar's Holy Country, one common thread is the idea of the "Proximate Holy Realm". The mundane world and the divine realm are distinct. Many philosophers and priests claim that the divine realm (which exists eternally in the God Time) underlies and defines our mundane world. We all know that they overlap during worship ceremonies and at some specific places where the divine realm erupts through the mundane world. Heroquesters interact with both realms. They are mortals, born in Time, but their heroquests have them interacting with archetypes and powers tied to the divine realm These interactions follow prehistoric patterns eternally present in the cosmos. Life is always producing Life, Death is always Separating the Living from the Dead, Air overcomes Fire/Sky, Fire/Sky overcomes Darkness, etc. This overlap of the divine realm and the mundane world that the heroquester interacts is usually called the Hero Plane. After the wild heroquests that ended the First Age - Arkat and Harmast are best known, but there were far more than those two - priests in Dragon Pass came up with the idea of the Proximate Holy Realm. Through widespread use of magic and adoption of the "holy customs", the divine realm could be brought closer to people. These holy customs encroached on clan and tribal organization by requiring that leaders meet certain magical criteria that were in the hands of the organized religion of Orlanth and Ernalda. Within a generation or two, the priests became a centralized heirarchy ruled by a Sacred Ring that in turned ruled all of Dragon Pass. The Proximate Holy Realm brought widespread prosperity and peace to Dragon Pass. But maintaining this required an increasing amount of magic energies and resources. As the Orlanthi learned to communicate with the dragons, eventually the Sacred Ring learned to do so around 725 and become the Empire of the Wyrms Friends, which gave far greater magical resources to the Sacred Ring which meant that the Sacred Ring - restyled the Third Council in 826 - had vast surpluses, at least at first. As the EWF expanded it gained more resources, and in 889 the Third Council accelerated the process, and demanded to be worshiped directly as gods. The costs of maintaining this grew, but the EWF no longer expanded. With rebellions, it began to contract and lost resources as the requirements to maintain the Proximate Holy Realm continued grew. The people were forced to offer more and more to the Third Council, and received less and less for it. The Third Council was visibly decadent and exploitive, and the tottering edifice collapsed in 1042. Belintar had a different solution. His deeds uniting the lands of Kethaela brought his Holy Country close to the Proximate Holy Realm. But he maintained this through his Tournament of the Masters of Luck and Death, which summoned heroquesters from far and wide. The Tournament resulted in a new Belintar and reunite the Holy Country, as described elsewhere. It was easy to cross over into the divine realm and vice versa, especially during the Tournament. The Holy Country enjoyed centuries of peace and prosperity, but Belintar was slain by Jar-eel in 1616 and the Tournament failed to produce a successor. But many philosophers believe that Dragon Pass remains close to a Proximate Holy Realm, especially during the Hero Wars. Some claim this is because of the Lunar efforts to change the divine realm itself, others think it is a result of the True Dragons that have been awakened in Dragon Pass, starting with the Dragonrise. Whatever the reason, wild heroquesting was increasingly common among all participants in the Hero Wars, arguably even more so than in the Gbaji Wars.

My birthday today as well...

That's my assumption. Yes, I have looked through it.