simonh

I did have to do a bit of resizing to get them to scale right. Many of them are all to the same scale I think but the scanning process introduced some variation.

Just put them through militia training in the Appendix. That should get them going. In practice many GMs house ruled additional experience and training, and there’s no reason you shouldn’t either.

I came across the below post in a thread on the RQ forum, thanks @David Scott. https://wellofdaliath.chaosium.com/home/catalogue/websites/facebook/2019-11-jeff-on-facebook/#ib-toc-anchor-7 I've been playing around in a drawing program for other reasons recently and I wondered what would happen if I put some of them together into a composite. Well, here's the result. Of course having to decide how the maps interleave forces some compromises. UPDATED - I found a map of Heortland to extend it south. I'd love to have access to decent scans of the maps Jeff showed off here but I suppose we'll have to wait for the official versions.

That's a fun one. If the shape change magic is temporary I'd say no, because the essence of the Troll is still present to reassert itself once the spell expires. If it's a permanent change then yes, it's fine. That's an idealised take, but how a particular temple might rule on a specific case may vary on the safe side.

Chalana Arroy is literally healing, in the same way that storms are parts of Orlanth's body. If a beijng is capable of healing and has life, that's Chalana Arroy right there. The act of casting healing magic, on anyone or anything, is an act of worship. So the question is to what extent are devotees of the goddess required to worship her. Not necessarily all the time in every act, but if an injured being is capable of healing then clearly it's worthy of the blessing of the goddess. But of course actual mortals have to make practical compromises. Sweeping and keeping are both flawed approaches in different ways. It's not brilliant that CA worshipers have to get involved to the extent of placing people under their protection, and sanctioning those that violate that protection. They do it because they have to do something. The important thing is not to act on self serving impulses, but who gets to decide what is the greater good? I think the context of the specific situation makes a big difference so it's not always possible to make hard and fast rules.

I suppose this is covered by number 3 on the list, but gaining power and changing the world are very much part of real world religion. Coming of age ceremonies turn children into adults, marriage ceremonies turn single people into married couples, funerals bring closure to bereaved families, investitures turn lay people into clergy or priests. Now of course these aren't quite the same as blasting someone with a lightning bolt or flying through the air, but the above is a meta analysis. Religious believers do think that their prayers, worship and rituals make changes in the real world, some of them actually tangible, and they certainly make recognised social changes. They affect lived reality. So ok, maybe that's under item 3, but I think it's worth pointing out that these are routes to power and change.

The technique of writing texts as though they were written by characters in the fiction is very effective. It makes the imagined reality seem so much more convincing and immersive.

I've got no problem with that at all. A lot of the suggestions of ways a CA might bend the rules just seem unnecessary. Why would they even want to? Someone else can do all that stuff if it really needs doing. One thing Glorantha doesn't have a shortage of is violent minded hotheads.

I’ve not been following this thread for a while, but I just came across this fantastic quote and this seemed the most appropriate place to share it. A Spartan boy complained to his mother that the sword he’d been given was too short. She replied “Add a step to it.”

I think there’s an unfortunate blanket association of Chalana Arroy with healing generally. That is, that healer necessarily means Chalana Arroy initiate at least and I think that’s mistaken. Many people in Glorantha that are chirurgeons, tooth pullers, that look after the sick or care for the injured in battle are probably lay members of the cult at most. A lot may primarily worship Ernalda, or maybe Lankor Mhy or some other cult. Many of these get powerful healing rune magic from CA anyway as associate cults. I think devoting to CA is a pretty extreme commitment that’s unlikely for someone not ideologically committed to that very idealised view of the world, at least that’s how I think about it.

Effective use of a shield in actual combat does include offensive use, and defensive fighting without maintaining a credible threat is badly hobbled. Bashes, strikes against incoming blows, jabs with the edge of the shield. If you forego such moves you’re crippling your ability to fight effectively, even in a defensive mode, and are better off simply using the shield as cover while rapidly retreating. In particular, holding ground without offensive action is simply not possible. Fighting defensively is still fighting, except in the most limited and contrived circumstances.

I think that’s too close to participating in, and aiding and abetting the injury of others. I don’t have a problem with a CA defending themselves or a non-combatant in an emergency situation, but defending a combatant like and in particular training in techniques to do that is fighting IMHO. Also see below.

Maybe also spirits that will cast or teach various spirit spells taught by the cult. Sword spirits for bladesharp, shield or helm spirits for Protection.

People in Esrolia as an example rarely or never encounter such things so I don’t think it’s really an issue.

There's definitely a level at which either your approach to the myths works and your ritual or heroquest succeeds, or it doesn't. There are grey areas though. There are some cases where it's all bad options and it's more about choosing the least worst than the one right path.

The thing is the world is badly broken. Mortal life is a damaged, compromised grubbing through the wreckage of the world. Chalana Arroy remembers the world as it used to be in the Green Age, ordered and bountiful and absent of suffering. Whatever mortals do is going to cause harm, the best we can do is simply minimise it. The cult strictures aren't going to be perfect, they're just the best people can do under the circumstances with what they know and understand. There is going to be reasonable cause for differences of opinion. Nobody is saying that the strictures as practiced in Esrolia are the most perfect ideal rules there can possibly be, it's just these are what they are at this place and time in Glorantha according to this organisation. You may be right and your preferred rules might be better, maybe people elsewhere in Glorantha practice that way, maybe some devotees in Esrolia do. Maybe your player character does.

Storm Bull Guide: "Behold the Block, hurled at the Devil by our god the Storm Bull" Pelorian Tourist: "Ah, I don't believe your superstitions, it probably just fell on him by accident" Storm Bull Guide: "Follow." Takes the tourist on a walk round to another side of the block and points up at a massive 300m long hand print.

I don't think it's reasonable to take a single statement, responding to a specific point, as being a complete exposition of Challana Arroy philosophy and theology on the general topic. You suggested Chalana Arroy worshipers hunted, Jeff clarified that they don't. Of course there's more to it than that.

Apparently not.

She is the devourer. She consumes all that is ensnared in her web, and her web ensnares the cosmos.

No, that's not what he said.

For context, Startar isn't actually a backwater although we joke about them being a bunch of hicks up in the hills. There are hicks up in the hills, but an awful lot of Sartarites live in towns and cities, see foreigners on the streets almost every day, can talk to people who speak the same language from Esrolia, Heortland, Tarsh and Saird pretty much whenever they want if so inclined. Many of those people are co-religionists and will come to worship in the same local temples. Fighting in wars can also involve travelling quite a bit. I'm guessing it's not unusual in particular for Ernalda worshipers to go on pilgrimages to Esrolia. There's plenty of news and opinion available for those so inclined, so it's more about time and interest than access. If you want to play a character that's very well informed just throw some points into the relevant skill.

RQ is a game and we play it to have fun, so there’s no point party pooping with CA healer characters that get preachy and condemn everyone all the time. They’ll give their opinion and that’s that. Ethically there is an issue concerning enabling conflict and slaughter. A war band with a capable healer is a more effective fighting force and can keep fighting for longer. They might refuse to compromise of make peace with an enemy because they think they can win a fight due to the advantage a healer gives them. That’s not good. On the other hand the goddess did accompany the other Lightbringers. She was an adventuring goddess who went out into dangerous places. Of course the aim of that quest was to right a wrong, to heal a would and restore a broken world. It is reasonable for a Chalanan character to care what it’s all about and if they’re just being used, or if they could do more good elsewhere.

Chalana Arroy isn’t the goddess of necessary compromises or moral trade offs. I just don’t see it that way at all. She’s a fertility goddess. There are going to be things many people in society think are the right thing to do, for the greater good, that she’d have no truck with. In Roman times there was disagreement on whether abortion was medically ethical, and I would expect most if not all Chalanans to be on the strict side of that debate. I don’t think what general society or Heortling culture think has much bearing on this, Chalanans will make their own determination based on myth, divine inspiration and personal feelings. In history there have been those that opposed such interventions, that stance was not unknown, and it would be surprising to not see that stance in Glorantha. If Chalanans aren’t going to represent that view, who is?

If your their captive, unless rescue seems imminent that’s not really a consideration, and even then it seems more an excuse than a reason. Maybe there will be people in more need later and maybe this person here doesn’t need healing as badly, but that could always be true in any situation. What if you’re wrong? You just committed a deep sin. These people in front of you need healing.