Darius West

No, I haven't read that yet yet, I would be drawing on RQ3 Gods of Glorantha, Hero Wars and ToTRM for such definitions.

To quote from Pavis: Threshold to Danger Page 13 (The Zebra People)... Joraz was favored by Issaries as well, in any case he knew how to dicker. "Under what meagre conditions would one allow a horse to live in one's lands" he asked a priestess of the Paps one day. "In bondage," she replied "Broken from kin." She spoke with the words of the Goddess. "Need they be unhealthy?" He asked. "You aid herd men and giant lizards". "Their health I grant, within their confines". Now the point here is, if the Praxians were so pro-horse, why did Joraz Kyrem need to perform a Hero Quest to make rideable Zebras ? As for Jaldon Toothmaker, he is an immortal Khan summoned when Praxians want to raid into Dragon Pass. He rides a beast that nobody knows. On the other hand King of Sartar page 120 says that Derik Poljoni laid Jaldon Toothmaker to rest again. It also clearly says that Derik worships Orlanth. Now what happens in the Hero Wars to allow the Pol Joni to raid with Jaldon Toothmaker, I would suggest that would be explained by the White Bull Army. As to Cults of Prax appendix C... it also clearly mentions that 14% of Morokanth worship Zorak Zoran along with 7% of the Pol Joni. Now I bet that it isn't Eiritha they worship but Uralda, because back when Cults of Prax was produced there were a lot of deities we now know about that weren't around or even mentioned back then. There was no write-up of Hyalor Horsebreaker or Kargzant back then. Also, isn't it odd how the Pol Joni have no Elmal worshippers, only Yelmalios, and no Vingans ? I would have thought that Elmal the Horse Thane would have been well received amongst the Pol Joni, but apparently Cults of Prax doesn't think so. Or maybe, juuust maybe, it's a little out of date now? Add to this the fact that the Pure Horse People (now the Grazelanders) were driven out of Prax by the Waha cult, and there are mentions of Pentans and Praxians periodically raiding each other in the wastes mainly because of their hatred of each other's beasts. Now we know that the Praxians don't attack every Lunar cavalry patrol, so there is obviously some pragmatism at work, but I am sure that horse and cattle hating comes in and out of vogue depending on where the good grazing is. Now I will offer an odd compromise here. Prax is a big place and inter-tribal marriage is a way to make peace. While it hasn't expressedly been mentioned, it is possible that certain pragmatic parties have cross-married between tribes and that may include certain Pol Joni braves leaving their horses behind to follow Waha in their rich wife's tribe on the back of a different sort of beast.

You raise a good point and I am aware of fluorite Derbyshire Spar ( I think there is also some in China from memory), as I have looked up Blue John before. I suspect that rather like "the crow" or "duelech" or "the eagle", it is alchemical shorthand for something else. It is a pretty material though, and it might be the Mi-go have a sense of aesthetics...or it could be that you are working for them...

The list of skills in Call of C'thulhu is good, but there are a few extras that could be included imo. Please consider the following, and make your own suggestions for skills you would like to see. Police Procedure (05) Police procedure is a knowledge of what is expected of a police officer when investigating a crime or allegations thereof. Police procedure covers things such as how different types of crimes should be approached, taking statements from witnesses and obtaining their contact details and whereabouts at times relevant to the events being investigated. It also includes the expectations of policymakers as to standards of police behavior during an investigation. It is a skill that would be of benefit to Police Officers, Detectives, Federal Agents, Private Investigators (many of whom have formerly been police), Forensic Pathologists. It would be invoked to ensure that characters are following proper procedure, and are aware when they are breaking procedure. It would also provide some notion of what to do when an investigation hits a dead end, or when handling uncooperative witnesses. Domestics (25) Domestics is the science of house keeping. Had H.P. Lovecraft spent more points in it, he might have lived longer. It covers such things as cooking cheap nutritious meals, keeping one's home clean, cleaning windows and surfaces, repairs to clothing and basic tailoring, knowing how to do laundry and iron clothes, caring for infants, knowing how to store produce to improve shelf life, basic horticulture, and gardening, budgeting the groceries, rent and utilities as appropriate. Basically, how to live with a measure of dignity in a domestic urban setting. It also covers such things as when things are out of place or don't make sense in a house. It can be assumed that a character with 50% is able to live with a measure of dignity, and a character with 75% or more is an organized person with an organized household who is well able to cope with life's little emergencies. Domestics is essentially what was called "women's work" in times past, with all the sexism that implies, and was a staple of housewives, domestic staff, and bachelors who aspired to live better than swine. Streetwise (05) Streetwise is the skill of liaising with criminals. It is used to make contact with people engaged in criminal activities in such a way that they don't become overly suspicious. It includes using the right slang terms, looking the part, and conducting oneself with enough projection of threat that you are not seen as a victim, but enough savoire faire that you are not assumed to be a police officer or infiltrator. It is used to obtain information about illegal activities, local criminal personalities, and where illegal goods might be purchased and so forth. Handyman (10) This skill subsumes Mechanical and Electrical repair, and includes carpentry, painting, and gardening. This is the skill of repairing, maintaining, and making things for domestic consumption. It includes repairing household appliances and a familiarity with their use, up to and including spot repairs on broken down cars. it includes such things as repairing furniture, putting up shelves, hanging paintings, renovating a room, or even building a house (though that is probably better left to professionals), changing lights, knowing to turn the electricity off before re-wiring a room and actually remembering to do it, cleaning chimneys, etc. This is the masculine equivalent of domestics skill, with all the sexism that implies from times past, i.e. that only men could fix mechanical things. This is also the sort of skill that anyone might possess but would be of most value to drifters, agricultural workers, and handymen (i.e. untrained repair specialists).

In terms of what Mi-go mine, the two substances mentioned are Blue john (from The Fungi from Yuggoth Campaign), and Tokl (from Ramsey Campbell). They also conduct investigations into Ubbo Sathla sites on Earth (from Return to Dunwich). I am inclined to think that they taught human beings the resurrection spell and that it involves Blue John as the blue powder mentioned in the Disturbing Case of Charles Dexter Ward. That is a syncretic assumption though.

Interesting. I was referring to the initiations that outsiders must go through to enter the Pol Joni. As for the Pol Joni worshiping Waha, I thought that was impossible for the "Cattle Bastards" or "Horse Bastards" (season to taste) ? My understanding was that the Pol Joni were from Orlanthi stock who moved into the area during the migration back into Dragon Pass under the leadership of Derik Pol Joni, and they worship Orlanth, ride horses and herd cattle. The deal being that the Praxians hadn't ever quite managed to drive them from the area on the edge of Sartar and up between Dagori Inkarth and Tada's High Tumulus which is known as Pol Joni march. Now the Praxians have a long history of hating horse riders because the horse is not one of Eiritha's beasts but has Yelmic associations, hence the Pol Joni generally attach themselves to modified Hendriki/Sartarite traditions and are only grudgingly tolerated by Praxians because most tribes have other feuds and problems that take precedence.

Spoken like a true Lhankoring M Helsdon. I am sure your dissertation on Malkioni Theology was well received by your peers in Jonstown, however the ignorant masses are likely to find themselves at odds with hair-splitting differentiations and are far more interested in whether someone needs to be knocked on the head or not. I am sure that henotheism is a thing amongst the chicken hsunchen, in fact I heard that they worship the local rooster in the village of Weis, because he is a nasty bastard and must be placated or he will peck your damned eyes out.

Tie it onto a length of string and hammer throw it. Did I make it worse or better?

This is a perfect opportunity to introduce the Goddess Bast/Pasht. It was she who could see in the dark and destroyed Apophis. You can join her cult in the Dreamlands. if anyone will hunt Apophis properly it is the Bast cult.

I have always loved this part of the Mythos and it is a heavy part of my current campaign. I play that the Mi-go winged crustacean body is just one of many they use, but a versatile one good for space exploration. I also make the Mi-go infectious rather like John Carpenter's "The Thing", and able to mind control people via ear slugs a la "Invasion of the Body Snatchers". They are skilled doctors and happily transfer each other's nervous systems from body to body. The actual "fungi from Yuggoth" is their base form and is a sort of naturally occurring nanotech stem cell derived from the remains of Ubbo Sathla. I play the Brotherhood as morally degenerate individuals from the technologically advanced but deeply disgusting society of Kn'yan, who are like the Aztecs and the Romans combining their worst cultural traits with the added bonus of super science/magic/ Old ones. My Brotherhood have infiltrated the US government, and are the "men in black". Strangely, the Bavarian Illuminati barely know who they are and are very scared of them. They use a series of technologies in the field based on globes. They have an internet based on globe relays optimally spaced about 1 mile apart. If you kill them their bodies turn into blue-gray dust in a suit. They also have low powered sonic disintegrators, but they aren't great weapons and they are primarily used for disposing of bodies. Of course their best weapons vs the Mi-go are their gas globes, that disrupt Mi-go sufficiently to permanently kill them... not like Akeley's poor dogs... ever wonder why the Mi-go keep coming in that story?... ever wonder why they leave the bodies and they just decay into nothing? Fungal nanotech. And the Brotherhood has tried to create a human spin on these technologies. Most Brotherhood members spend their off-time observing gladiatorial dinosaur fights which they are totally addicted to. They also can't die because they are just in downloaded powder matrix bodies.

I actually understand the need for mechanics for such powerful NPCs. Obviously they are appallingly dangerous but you sort of need to put some statistical measure of how dangerous they are to keep them consistent.

I confess I totally hated the Achtung C'thulhu dogfight rules and came up with an alternative that works better imo. The rules are that both pilots roll under their flying skill. The one who rolls better gets to fire, but subtracts the other pilot's skill-roll from their Piloting skill. For a bit of extra detail if the result gives them a high chance, they are on the other pilot's tail. If the results are 20% or worse they have a side facing. Bad rolls on both sides may find them clashing head to head. It also helps to have a Pendragon style "who is in the dogfight" battle sheet, where a good Spot Hidden roll and a good Aerial Tactics roll will modify who you wind up engaging. The only thing I kept from Achung Cthulhu was the plane stats, damage and facings.

I think True Detective might be the first show that has really "got" how to handle the Mythos. I have always maintained that HPL movies will never be any good until they are treated as seriously as a BBC production of Henry James' "A Portrait of a Lady". HPL and James were men of similar class background and sensibilities. I loved True Detective and watched it avidly over 2 nights in back to back episodes, then re-watched it to look for all the clues I had missed.

Someone needs to join the HPLHS. That's fine work !

I am seeking the input of other Keepers, allow me to explain... In my C'thulhu Campaign it is now early October 1921 and one of my players' characters has purchased the islands of North Cat Cay, south of the Biminis, for the purposes of development and hired Frank Lloyd Wright to build him a resort down there. Frank was all too happy with the opportunity to work as (historically) he was down on his luck at the time (somewhat as a result of one of his staff becoming a berserk axe murderer... I KID YOU NOT!). The character has a cunning plan to do with supplying the Rum Runners of the Bahamas with cheap sloops produced in Boston, and a steady supply of cars to drive around Nassau which are sold at auction. Frank just mailed him to say that he has, unfortunately, "discovered" something while digging the foundations for the building that is supposed to house the utilities. The discovery is large blocks of stone much like the Bimini Road discovered historically in 1968. I am opting for the interpretation that the Bahamas are part of sunken Atlantis as per the Bermuda Triangle supplement. My current plan is that the building that has been discovered partially includes the sea wall of the island, and that North and South Cat Cay are both accumulated sand on top of these structures, but North Cat Cay also has the ruins of a Pharos style light-house that has collapsed, a la Ostia. I am interested in suggestions to spice things up and how other Keepers have interpreted Atlantis within the CoC setting. My preference is to keep the threat level low to mid range, and crucially to build a sense of wonder so players will WANT to investigate further afield in the region. The aim is to bait the hook and whet their appetites. I am the sort of Keeper who likes to give my players plenty of rope so they can hang themselves stylishly. So please, I would love to read any suggestions you care to make.

I loved the monster hunter version of Magasta in "Strangers in Prax". I also love the sheer weirdness of Gorakiki the giant Insect Goddess of the trolls. I also find it funny that those pathetic Orlanthi are just misinterpreting the worship of Shargash... typical.

Cult spirit spells are a LOT cheaper for initiates and there is a Spell dividend for long term membership (provided you stay up to date with your tithes and prayers). On the other hand you can sometimes find a Shaman who will teach you a few tricks in return for coin, or seek spells from other cults and pay the premium. Spirit magic is a market like any other in Glorantha, albeit a bit more exclusive and expensive and esoteric.

Second Age Glorantha has a LOT of info on Draconic cults, and by extension the Dragonewt way and Draconic cults. Also, crested dragonewts are NOT the trollkin of the Dragonewts, a great dragon rose and ATE Gbaji's curse on the Dragonewts. Crested dragonewts exist at the base of the spiritual tradition of the Dragons, and their souls are going to learn the importance of the lower eschelons of the "Pyramid of Maslow", finding food, hiding from threats etc.

While serpents are associated with rivers, it might also be mentioned that serpents also have Earth associations, and of course there are mutant chaos snakes too. Potentially Waha goes to the Paps and there makes claim on his kinship with the Earth to gain control of serpents. In their turn the Goddesses of the Paps in council underground speak about poor dead Genert and Tada his son. Now all that is left of Genert is hyenas, but one of those hyenas is unusually large and intelligent. Find a way to bring that beast alive to the secret place beneath Tada's High Tumulus and we will speak further of the mysteries and help you with this serpent that troubles you.

I have always imagined that Pol Joni initiations are akin to what happens in the movie "A Man Called Horse". Plenty of CON rolls involved to remain conscious.

With regards to Orlanth's evil Uncles... they weren't chaotic... you don't have to be chaotic to be an a-hole, but many a-holes are chaotic. The evil uncles myth is now part of the Orlanthi boys-to-men initiation ceremony, as is the I Fought We Won battle. These HeroQuests have been watered down, and now emphasise co-operating against greater threats. As to the beginning of the world, which version are we going to believe here? I mean let's consider the Chaos point of view for a moment. Arachne Solara didn't destroy the Devil, she merely rebirthed him as Time. Time is now an expression of entropy and things winding down. The older things get the more they decay, and that is the hand of the Devil. Gods live outside the effects of time, and so are immortal, but what happens when their cult atrophies away and is forgotten? Time corrupts everything, and every 600 years he comes, the Destroyer, to unmake the world. As to the Red Moon, they are just sweet natured, tolerant, cosmopolitan liberals. When it comes to Chaos, they don't see it as intrinsically evil, it has just been poorly raised and badly integrated into society. Yes chaotics have some very unwholesome appetites, but they have useful skills too. What we need to do is give them a social context where they can excel in their skills and gain a sense of their own worth and that they are appreciated for their contribution. Now I know that a broo that looks like an enormous bouncing penis with fangs, and has manners to match is hard to see as a sentient creature in its own right, but look at it from their perspective... unloved, un-nurtured, no opportunities, no education, no clean water, no hope, no future. Admittedly its prospects outside the army aren't great, but if you donate just 1L a week extra on your Seven Mothers tithe to the "Save the Chaos Children" Fund, you can help poor Thrudthed have a future, a Lunar future in the Lunar way, and not wind up in another senseless victim in a cycle of endless aggression best expressed by the Endless Battle in Prax. Don't play into the recalcitrant attitudes of the Stormbulls, there is always another way citizens.

I am very eager to see what is done with the new Rune based sorcery in RQ 6 ( I think I must have missed RQ 4 and 5 somehow, lol). I don't think there is such a thing as an "orthodox Orlanthi". I mean... my tribe are the Orthodoxy, surely... I mean we have those Dinacoli with their awful Brangbane ghoul lineage, then the weird Colymar and their bizarre mating with swans and foxes, and that's just our neighbours (is it any wonder we raid them?) About a third of Orlanthi love dragonewts and another third hate them etc. Now obviously there have been efforts to codify Orlanth worship into a more organised religion, with really large temples and high priests and increased centralization, but this is more to satisfy the appetites of priests and kings than anything else. Your classic example of this is Lokamayadon. Orlanthi DON'T respond well to being ordered about. Nobody can make you do anything... so the teaching goes. Now someday there may be Kings in Sartar and the Heortlands again, and Orlanth help us that he doesn't try to make us do things. I mean don't get me wrong, an Orlanthi tyrant's boot is better than a Lunar boot anyday, but I'd rather not have boot for dinner all the same... unless it has been a notably bad harvest, in which case... you make do. Now to the point of the Aeolian Church. The folk of Hendrikiland obviously have their reasons for wanting to emulate the Rokari who have shown up. Now obviously the Rokari have unusual magic, but they can't be sorcerors because they have this Invisible God they worship, and that they are always trying to get us to worship. But Saint Aeol had this bright idea, that Orlanth is Air, and you can't see air (even less when he has the sandals of darkness on), so Orlanth must be their Invisible God. So the benefits are that we get to copy their knights and their book learning, but we keep our Orlanth and our identity, and we make their ways our ways. It is a bit like how the Sikhs formed as a result of the conflict between Islam and Hinduism (though the Muslims did turn around and slaughter them subsequently because they still weren't sufficiently "of the book".) The thing is that an Aeolian is not a sorcerer... they are a weird sub-sect of Orlanth... and probably less galling than those tongue splitting dragonewt lovers, or those troll loving Kitori...(Bleaugh... body modifiers and racial out-breeders... this is what happens when you live so close to the Chaos on the Syphon River I tell you) And you must admit that the addition of elite heavy cavalry thane-knights has been good for Jansholm. The Storms know we need all the help we can get with the Lunars, so who cares if they think the Invisible God is actually Orlanth. Now everyone knows that Delecti is a sorceror... he lives in a swamp surrounded by the undead and does weird forgotten magic. And we all know that the folk of God forgot are pretty suspicious, but we all know they really worship Luck. So let them cast their oracle dice and go to their casino and pretend they are atheists. If you ask me, the real danger of sorcery comes from those Lhankorings and their book learning into things that goodly folk were never mean't to know, obscene mysteries, unspeakable revelations, knowledge about chaos... how many are secret Thanatari (spit!)... now THAT'S sorcery !

The fact is that a guilded labor system is pretty universal in human cultures across Eurasia. The Romans and Greeks had them, so did the Egyptians. The Indians had them. The Chinese had them and so did Japan. The notion of a guild is that it is as much a school of quality training as it is an industrial monopoly. The notion being that if you sign on for an apprentice and stick it out, you will become a journeyman and become a recognised practitioner in your own right. There are often strong familial ties within guilds, and often parents would sell their children to become apprentices with a fair hope that their kids would be better off as a result. The point of guilds were that they acted as monopolies on certain goods, and as a result they were responsible to the leadership in whatever form it took for filling contracts, so if the Emperor needed 80,000 spears asap, they could call on all their skilled workers and fill the contract and everyone in the guild shared the remuneration according to rank and effort. The other thing was that nearly all guilds had a patron saint or deity Of course Guilds were also often pretty corrupt. In Japan the guilds often tattooed members, and many of them became the foundation of organized criminal syndicates. In China the Tongs were "mutual prosperity societies" i.e. guilds. And notably in Byzantium the fist non-skilled guild was the Dock Worker's guild who paralyzed that city with a stand off against the legions until they got recognition. Obviously guild papers are only relevant within the jurisdiction where the guild operates, however situations create wiggle room. For example if you are a skilled smith and you set up in a city where your papers aren't recognised you will likely get in trouble with the local guild... on the other hand if the Emperor wants 80,000 spears and it is all hands on deck, perhaps you can pay a fine and guild dues and the guild will recognise your papers. Similarly some guilds may have international connections. The crucial thing is to remember that a Guild is more than a little like a cult and IS often attached to a cult, and similar in its dynamics to any other human tribe or society that operates in an urban setting.

I figure that all broos are random hybrids. When you say a goat broo, how many generations do we mean ? You can never be sure.

I have always thought that Aldryami were a quiet people. Their language like a susurrus of a breeze through leaves. Seldom more than a whisper. Which helps when you're ambushing trolls.