M Helsdon

12 hours ago, Richard S. said:

So does this mean Rokari-dominated areas actively suppress cults?

As I understand it, the talari have their ancestor cults, and the dronari and holari have their own cults, all tolerated so long as they do not threaten the order and stability of the caste system. 

6 hours ago, Darius West said:

Yes, you're right in the detail, but the original point stands.

Given that we don't know the details of Iron Dwarf alchemy, using elf to improve ur-metal seems entirely possible.

43 minutes ago, skulldixon said:

This is just an update for those of you who have Jonstown Compendium products up on DTRPG and particularly for POD fulfilment. I don't know if you have seen this the price change announcement? Lightning Source, the print supplier has, increased costs for POD by up to 45%. So adjust your prices accordingly.

At this stage it appears that the price of premium colour books will increase dramatically. Black-and-white and standard colour books will not be affected.

1 hour ago, Darius West said:

 When we say iron, we really mean hu-metal, and hu metal derives from Humakt. 

Hu-metal is bronze, Umath’s metal. (The name is Ralian in origin - see https://wellofdaliath.chaosium.com/home/catalogue/websites/moondesign-com/jeffs-old-blogs/xeotam-dialogues/)

Iron is ur-metal, created through alchemy by the dwarves.

1 hour ago, Darius West said:

What breaks iron?

Many things. Iron is tough but can bend and break, and depending on its manufacture can be brittle. Ironbreaker suggests a superior steel sword, perhaps forged by Mostali.

1 hour ago, scott-martin said:

It does look like Greg's long cursive "m" there, although Dumb Theoreticians can productively leap to a suppressed connection between imperial Arkat's family cults and the garbled tale of the zaranistangi. I think David is interpreting from the pages you have. I like it because to me the important thing here is the answer to the riddle of the rock and what that means for Law as a rune.

I believe my source was typed - will have to try to find it - but from the limited number of ancient texts I have access to, Greg's spellings were fairly variable, some doubtless intentionally. This sort of thing happens in real ancient texts all the time...

Some still exist, as regional variants: Seshnegi Aerlit, Ralian Erulat, Dragon Pass Orlanth, all phonetically similar.

ADDITIONAL: There are several versions of Arkat's upbringing in the RQ Kickstarter 'Dragon Pass and the Wilds'. There's a little more in the Sorcery and the West book. The former names his mother as Amilla (did I read this as Anila or was this another text or did I mistype?). On the previous page his unbreakable sword is called Deathson. There's also a fragment where Arkat and his two sons Talor and Gerlant, are crossing over the mountains after the final victory.

20 hours ago, David Scott said:

In this case the woman was (IIRC Amilla), daughter of a Duke of Lokawal and a barbarian hero (likely Humakt or his avatar), called Truesword. His father leaves him behind some cool treasure that he can recover when he's the right age (ten) - from under a rock by passing some tests (very sword in the stone), one of the many items is the Unbreakable Sword. It's a standard tale of destiny, and accepting who your father is, and why he abandoned you.

There are details there I didn't know.

In one version I have seen (don't ask me where - I can't remember - one of the RQ2 Kickstarter books?), his mother was named Anila (typo for Amilla?) who was one of the chaste Brithini warrior maidens named the Silver Shields, captured and seduced by a rough barbarian Orlanthi warlord who attacked Brithos, and for the shame of this, he and his mother lived in seclusion in the forests sheltered by the Aldryami until he came of age. 

These stories are, I believe, from very early treatments, and now serve to provide mythic doubt and uncertainty. 

I have seen one version of Arkat's Saga, and read in detail one segment that was published in a fanzine some years ago, starting "I hate trolls." I recognised another segment which is republished in the original TrollPak when Arkat becomes a troll. From skimming through that version, those are the main parts featuring Arkat. Most featured his friend, or dealt with other matters. Instead, other than those two pieces, you'll find more about Arkat scattered here:

https://wellofdaliath.chaosium.com/home/gloranthan-documents/greg-sez/the-kings-of-seshnela-part-one/

But the most coherent source is The Guide to Glorantha.

For some time I believed there was a Talor's Saga, and (happy to be wrong!) now believe it is barely a page, reproduced in one of the four Kickstarter reward books for the RuneQuest Kickstarter. It is basically Arkat and Talor riding up the Rockwoods to see the extent of Dorastor over the mountains, and is obviously no longer consistent with the chronology. Talor laughs when he sees the scale of the campaign before them...

I believe there was other material in the Guide Kickstarter Origins of Glorantha volumes, but all I've seen of those is the Contents list.

To turn a version of Arkat's Saga into a coherent book would be, I believe, a very great deal of work, because much of what you'd expect isn't there (perhaps it is in a document I haven't seen). My take, derived from these sources, and a few other things, appears in the JC non-canonical Men of the West, and I recount Arkat's story only as far as Slontos and then his retirement to Ralios.

https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/325525/Men-of-the-West?src=hottest_filtered

But for canon, the Guide...

Non-canonical of course, 'written' thousands of years later...

Some Orlanthi say Arkat's father was Humakt, the God of War, or a barbarian Humakti hero. This seems unlikely, for a half breed would not have been accepted as a horali cadet. The zzaburi tested all suspected of mixed parentage, destroying or expelling those adjudged impure. Despite being assessed several times, Arkat passed all the examinations posed.

These legends also claim that Arkat possessed a powerful weapon belonging to his father which he freed from under a boulder before he left the island. It is called God-Cleaver in the legends, reputed to be the Unbreakable Sword of Humakt, fashioned of Adamantine, which is said to be formed of raw incarnate Law.

It is improbable that a cadet would own or be permitted by the zzaburi to retain such a powerful weapon, and the Hero probably obtained it during the wars on the mainland. Instead, it may have been gained on one of the Hero’s many heroquests during the wars in Ralios.

It is said that in his lifetime Arkat proved he was the son of Humakt, a pure horali, and all the other things legend claimed for his origins, impossible as that may seem, unless there was more than one Arkat... It is possible that some of the deeds ascribed to Arkat were performed by one or more of his Companions instead.

https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/325525/Men-of-the-West?src=hottest_filtered

And many many other things...

Obviously not canonical, but may be of interest:

https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/325525/Men-of-the-West

Jeff recently posted about the Sun Dome of Sartar:

‘With a dome approximately 30 meters in diameter, the Sun Dome Temple stands some 45 meters high, making it larger than the Dome of the Rock in Jerusalem. It is comparable in size to the ziggurat of Ur or Pantheon of Rome.’

Now I’m not an architect or archaeologist, but I like to find how things work, and a dome of that size can only be built in a number of ways. The Dome of the Rock has a wooden frame and roof, covered in gilt, so the Sun Dome of Sartar could be constructed from wood.

In Prax there’s limited access to timber, so what is the Sun Dome there made of?

The Pantheon in Rome is made of Roman concrete, but has a fair bit of bracing, and wouldn’t be the right shape, a possibility, but would probably need dwarven sorcery.

There is a very long tradition of domes in Mesopotamia, dating all the way back to Sumer. The Sumerians could construct arches of fired or dried mud brick and a dome is basically an arch rotated around its central vertical axis. Some reconstructions of ziggurats have a dome atop the shrine at the peak of the ziggurat, but none have survived, and so far as I know, the only pictorial evidence of early domes are in Assyrian reliefs showing small houses.

However, the tradition of domes was carried to Iran and beyond, and there’s evidence of wooden and brick domes. At the Parthian capital at Nyssa (Turkmenistan) there was a hall with thick walls surrounding four columns in the centre probably topped with a wooden dome. During the Sassanid Empire (yes, I know, not Bronze Age), domes were erected on reception halls of palaces such as Sarvestan palace and Ardeshir palace (in Firuzabad). The domes of Sarvestan palace (also known as the Temple of Anahita) date to around 350AD and are the oldest brick domes in the world, the largest having a span of 12.80m, and height of 20m. The dome at the Ardeshir palace is larger with a span of 13.3m.

A 'span' is the length of a structural component that 'spans' between two supports, so the Sun Dome dome in Sartar spans an impressive 30m.

The double layered main dome over the Friday mosque of Qazvin is the biggest Seljuk dome with a span of 15.20m and height of 22m. Built around 807AD it’s well outside any thought of a Bronze Age dome (but Bronze Age in Glorantha doesn’t limit things like architecture or technology), but we don’t know how large the Sumerian domes could be. A surviving arch at the much later Assur has a span of several metres. Could they build larger arches? We don’t know. Where the enormous ziggurats have been rendered into ruined mounds of brick, ancient arches and domes would be long collapsed.

It seems possible that a dome of fired brick would be feasible. Add in some Stasis magic and a dome with a span of 30 metres is possible.

Small Lunar Provincial villa added to Temples & Towers.

https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/297497/Temples--Towers?affiliate_id=2310005

33 minutes ago, Jeff said:

These would have had a little villa made of adobe or stone

Probably a mixture of stone (for the foundations and the lower level of the ground level walls), and cob, rammed earth, or wattle and daub in wooden frames and then plastered with lime to improve waterproofing.

Adobe is a term that can cover all these soil/clayed based mixtures, but also more precisely sun dried bricks of sandy earth mixed with water and straw or dung, which are fine in fairly arid regions but unsuitable anywhere with significant rainfall (you'd find buildings of adobe construction in Bronze and Iron Age southern Spain and Portugal, but not much further north in Europe, but you would find cob, rammed earth and wattle and daub buildings all the way to Scotland). 

This is perhaps a decent model, at least in construction, if not floor plan, for a Lunar villa in Sartar or Tarsh:

http://www.butser.org.uk/villa.html

On 11/28/2020 at 1:33 PM, jajagappa said:

 

Hey! That building (or its components) looks oddly familiar! 8-)

I am considering adding a Lunar villa to Temples and Towers.

7 minutes ago, 7Tigers said:

Just in case for buyers: if you see several files for download, latest file is
Armies_and_Enemies_of_Dragon_Pass.pdf
not old
Armies_and_Enemies_of_Dragon_Pass_plus_covers.pdf
(DTRPG glitch)

The 'plus covers' was an early test file I didn't realise was visible; it has been deleted and should no longer appear.

• Lunar Army Strength
• Righteous War
• Jar-eel Marches Forth from Mirin’s Cross

7 minutes ago, Runeblogger said:

Awesome! I love how Yara Aranis or Perhaps Sedenya gets her small corner on the front cover.

Both appear on the front cover.

The layout is based on Harald's map of Mirin's Cross.

Preview of the front cover.

In a day or two I will be updating the file on DriveThruRPG.

1 hour ago, Mankcam said:

So yeah, although its not canon, I think Men of the West will fill the gap nicely, and its something I can sink my teeth into before my hair gets too grey.

I hope it doesn't disappoint.

I now have the first 'wash' colored draft, have made some (small) comments. Won't share it here until it is done.

17 hours ago, Mankcam said:

I am more interested in how these fantasy cultures are presented, and what historical civilisations can be considered analogies to be blended together, to give us a sense of how to portray these unique cultures in Glorantha.

I'm seeing some Vedic influences at times, primarily with the emphasis of Caste etc which is almost a different sub-culture within each regional culture of Malkioni. I really like the notion that Caste isn't just another version of 'social class', but it encompasses role, magic, destiny, etc. Will be very interested in how far this idea goes with RQG.

The 'take' in Men of the West uses a variety of inspirations, ranging from Indo-Bactrian-Greek, Sassanian, other Persians, Byzantine, to northern India, and a small dash of Kievan Rus.

By necessity, in addition to the military, Men of the West has to delve some way into the cultures and religions.

4 hours ago, JanPospisil said:

Ooooo, nice! Is it Mark Smylie again?

Yes.

To celebrate a year since publication, I have commissioned a new cover for Armies & Enemies. I have seen the outline, and it is... impressive. The artist is now working on inking and coloring the painting.

For a (non-canonical) assessment of the West and Malkionism, see https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/325525/Men-of-the-West?src=hottest_filtered?affiliate_id=2310005

Cover depicts Meime the Tournament King and Ingye, the Queen of Galin.