M Helsdon

Probably, but am not sure I could pull that off in a sketch.

I haven't given any thought to stats, but like Brithini horali, Red Vadeli are broader and much stronger than ordinary humans. Add on top of that many are augmented by sorcery (though as there are as yet no Blue Vadeli to perform the most powerful augments, not so much as Brithini horali) and they are highly dangerous.

Elmal and Yelmalio are probably both worshiped (with no religious schism) in Ralios, and Elmal alone is probably worshipped in Maniria. Of course, is Elmal in Ralios confused with Ehilm (probably not) or Galanin?

Latest.

The nature, if not the name, of the Yelmalio cult has remained fairly constant through the Ages, albeit with periodic decline and resurgence. It is only in Sartar that it completely disappeared and then was recreated. For much of history, Yelmalio and Elmal cults have existed at the same time, in different places (much as Yelmalio shares things, but is distinct from the cults of Antirius, Manimat, and Kargzant). Neither the Praxian nor Sartar Yelmalions are entirely typical.

Wolf Pirates are covered in The Armies and Enemies of Dragon Pass. The Waertagi are mentioned briefly in this volume. I could give them their own section, but it would be very short.

I would very much like to rummage through Chaosium's files, but the page count is now fairly respectable, and will grow.

Lalian shield-wife. May do more work on the flesh-tones.

No dragon, but a snake. He's an Orlanthi of the East Wilds (lots of snake history in the East Wilds long predating the EWF). Klanths aren't only used by dragonewts...

Today I decided that instead of drawing a 'finished' sketch I would create roughs for the next batch. Instead of being drawn slowly over several hours and then digital enhancements made, these are quick sketches with no enhancements. This indicated problems, and decided me that the Lalian shield-wife wasn't sufficiently interesting/dynamic. At most these will become place holders in the draft document.

The rider in the latest sketch will probably have to be redone... At present instead of drawing finished sketches I am roughing out a couple, and adding bits and pieces to my YGWV West book. Today a book I'd ordered from Delhi about the Cholas arrived, ordered before the lockdown (it seems to have spent six weeks in storage). Had hoped it would provide some inspiration, but sadly not, as it seems we know very very little about the Chola Empire, whether its military or its organisation (the author spends more time disputing the theories of other experts than anything, and there's a distinct sense of padding out the page count). In fact, the sources on Indian warfare consist of a few epics (very unreliable) and pedantic texts about how wars should be fought (but almost certainly were not) - and of the four books I have on Indian warfare, one is very obviously copied from one of the others! Even most fortifications were reworked to such a degree, it isn't possible to reconstruct many ancient sites. And if you want details on more obscure periods such as the Greeks in Bactria and India, there's very very little (and the one book on the subject I have managed to find was put out by a very obscure publisher who obviously intended to rival Osprey, but disappeared after only a very few books, probably because they tended to cover obscure topics). So today I decided to just make stuff up, about the East Wilds charioteers, and about the religious rites of the goddess Safa... What does an obscure lake goddess have to do with a military sourcebook? Naval warfare... When I have four or five illustrations sketched out, I will start inking them.

An Elmal temple is very unlikely to have a dome, because that is a very specifically Yelmalion architectural attribute. Instead it will look very much like an Orlanthi temple to a male god, though probably square. A large one, and there are probably very few large Elmal temples in Dragon Pass, might have an open interior courtyard so that ceremonies can be performed under the Sun. (If it were in Ralios, I'd suggest something like the Konark Sun Temple.)

Latest. Am going to take a break from drawing riders with face-masks.

I would say: yes. The welcome is probably cool, modified by the individuals concerned. A Yelmalion who is polite and offers a sacrifice or other gift to the Elmal temple will get a much friendlier welcome than an aloof Yelmalion who obviously disapproves of Elmalions. One thing to bear in mind is that Sartarite Yelmalions have the fervor of new converts, whilst those of Prax are from a fairly xenophobic outlier. Those of Tarsh and Saird are potentially far more relaxed, and it is worth bearing in mind that the Elmalions of Alda-Chur went north to seek help against the trolls and returned with the Golden Spearman, probably from a northern Sun Dome temple - and they wouldn't have received it if they hadn't been welcomed as Solar brothers, albeit barbarians... So again it is going to depend on the demeanor of the individual Elmalions and the Yelmalion priests (who may, in Sartar, view them as potential converts, and be very welcoming). It is worth noting that in our ancient world, people who recognised a foreign god as related to their own had no difficulty in making offerings in those temples. Gods such as Jove/Zeus were represented under different names and attributes throughout the Mediterranean and Near East, and a demi-god like Hercules was very widespread, even if called Melqart or some other name.

The motif on the shield which merges horses' head with a Mobility Rune is intended to reflect the Enerali Horse People ancestry of the Orlanthi in northern Ralios. The armor and helmet illustrate a section about the heavier armor that was worn in the (failed) assaults on Kartolin. The helmet design is influenced by Anglo-Saxon/Viking 'spectacles' helmets as I wanted to find an element to distinguish between the other Orlanthi drawn for 'Armies and Enemies' and those of Ralios. This warrior is probably riding home from one of the assaults on his Galana pony. Instead of vambaces, he wears heavy bronze bracelets as forearm armor. So whilst it wasn't intentional, this sketch shares elements with the design of the Rohirrim; I knew someone who worked in the British Museum who told me that some of the artists working on LOTR spent some time sitting in the Anglo-Saxon galleries drawing the arms, armor and other items there to utilize in the films.

My understanding is that GRoY is an in-world document and prone to Dara Happan cultural bias, so its claims need to be treated very warily. It's a bit like taking, for example, Roman descriptions of Germanic cults as accurate - such as Tacitus declaring that they worshiped Mercury, which later commentators identified as Woden - and highly suspect. The Balazarings appear to have no knowledge of Durbaddath any more than the ancient Germans did of Mercury. So if you want a cult of the Lion God in Balazar, you can, YGWV, but it is otherwise propaganda. There are saber-toothed sakkar in Balazar, but it it very unlikely that anyone there venerates the god Sakkar.

Thank you for the array of interesting ideas. I was researching the Likitae to populate a couple of footnotes.

Still not happy with it, so reworked.

Yes, none of the variant higher pantheons map entirely onto the Theyalan Cosmic Court. In Seshnela and Ralios there are a number of 'Snake Goddesses', which seems to be in part a local perspective on Earth Goddesses, and these are represented elsewhere by the Snake Mother guardians of Earth Temples. It is curious that in the West, the Land Goddesses and their progeny often themselves retain an ophidian nature (Seshna), whilst in central Genertela, snakes are an attribute of the Earth Goddesses, their creatures, but they themselves are not serpents...

Yes, I know; it seems to be a Seshnelan, Ralian term. Am trying to find anything more about them. Have identified two definite, and two probable Likitae.

Obviously Seshna Likita and her daughter were Likitae, which seem to be a 'class' of Earth snake women, but does anyone know anything more about them?

No retrospective criticism intended.

A ship spirit need not be a wyter... It's a foolish sailor who doesn't make a small offering to their ship spirit... Defacing a ship's figurehead will have consequences.

Everything in Glorantha can have a spirit. It may be small and weak, but offending it still has consequences...

Reworked. Anatomy still a bit off.