Darius West

AFAIK during this period, automobiles are generally more expensive than houses.

In a generational game, Bloodline is a good enchantment condition.  Keep the magic items in the family.

1 hour ago, mfbrandi said:

So an animal is malfunctioning — because if you don’t shovel food into its mouth, it will eventually stop moving — but if we sew up its mouth to prevent refueling (and maybe stamp it “amended design approved” in green ink), we will have upgraded it to working? I don’t know whether I am failing to think like a Mostali or thinking all-too-like a Mostali.

But Beast rune units require fuel to operate...  Unless this alteration has been Death Rune approved by the Council of Stasis, we need to rescind this amendment and re-designate the design for Plant Rune removal and concentration as before.  Its purpose is Plant rune removal; that it it's work.  It is important work too, as Plant Runes proliferate out of control in the World Machine.  When it cannot perform its work, (due to having its design altered by someone sealing shut its fuel intake in this case), it will obtain the Death rune and the raw materials of the Beast unit can be repurposed as fuel for other units or as components for use in manufacture.  We require the appropriate clearances before we employ this Beast rune Unit's raw resources in that fashion.

On 2/14/2023 at 10:12 PM, mfbrandi said:

 His illumination pre-dated his anti-Nysalor fanaticism rather than being a tool sought to aid the fight, right? Perhaps the illumination even caused the fanaticism. I imagine his illumination was incomplete (or at any rate unsatisfactory) and that the fight against Nysalor was his inner struggle to eliminate the bright side of his illumination — leaving only the Stygian purity of black light — splurged bloodily across everyone else’s reality. The turn to ZZ wasn’t a pragmatic resort, it was just who he was — with Nysalor as his Yelmalio.

I think that Nysalor as a "created god" developed an energy debt that had to be paid, and that every light creates a shadow.  Arkat was Nysalor's destined nemesis, and if you look at how Arkat behaves, he is also the personification of the perfect argument against what Nysalor taught; an argument against Nysalor's concept of illumination so powerful and conclusive that even Nysalor has to admit that his philosophy is flawed and too open to abuse, and as such his entire incarnation has been wasted.  In a sense Arkat's life refutes Nysalor's philosophy, using what we know of Gloranthan mysticism.  Needless to say, that Nysalor as a deity (with a chaos rune) created after time was dangerous to the Compromise. 

It is also important to note that Arkat invents or discovers Hero Questing in this time, which is something that nobody foresaw.  In many ways, Hero Questing is more important, long term, to the history of Glorantha than illumination.  I think this is what makes Arkat more than Nysalor's mere nemesis, and turns him into the "main character" and the greater mystic of the two, despite his penchant for abandoning spent allies...

"The sage is impartial.  He treats people as straw dogs." - Lao Tze

(the straw dogs are venerated for a day and then cast aside as waste btw).

While presently I think the rules disallow characters to get magic later, it is an obvious progression in a longer campaign.  We are all going to house rule this I'm sure, and I suspect that when the first companion to RoL comes out, there will be rules for this in it.  That's my 2 cents.

1 hour ago, davecake said:

The difference between heretic and apostate is the more important question, I think (and it may be so for Brithini too). Heresy is disagreement with the Orthodox Decamony, but disagreement that is known to be valid as far as maintaining dwarf agelessness goes - it is a disagreement of philosophy and policy, but not of the fundamental nature of Mostali life. Apostasy, however, is departure from the Mostali way in practice, and results in aging. There may be degrees of apostasy - some apostates may still be very long live by human standards - but it's not clear into which category the Flintnail dwarves fall (they are certainly at least OpenHandist heretics, and seem to have some Individualist leanings too, at least in their beliefs about the afterlife). They seem to maintain caste restrictions, which is one big issue. And another issue is use of non-Mostali magic - I think general sorcery is fine, though frowned on by conservatives (and Silver dwarves do use a wider variety of sorcery than most dwarves), but spirit magic and Rune magic supposedly are not - whether using Pavis Rune magic is enough to make Flintnail dwarves apostate and aging is another open question.

Of course Ginkizzie seems to be unaging and a Priest of Pavis, but Ginkizzie is, once again, an exception. 

Maybe he's born with it (caste) maybe it's Maybeline (gained from Hero Questing). (sorry)😬 

On 2/12/2023 at 7:26 AM, mfbrandi said:

Putting aside the question of game mechanics, is Gloranthan alchemy not itself magic?

The answer to this question is as likely to be no as yes.  It might appear as magic to some, but it is the product of a lore skill, ingredients, and manual preparation, and so while the effect of alchemy might seem magical, there is no reason to presume that it is (or isn't).  In the present RQG manifestation where alchemy relates to poisons, cures, and healing, it seems more medical than anything else, but alchemy potentially is not necessarily so limited in its scope.  If we look at RQ2 Battle Magic potions, they would seem to be actually magical imo, but are they even in the game anymore?  Let's quote Arthur C. Clarke and say alchemy looks like magic, but probably isn't most of the time.

On 2/8/2023 at 9:16 AM, Ali the Helering said:

Does Storm Bull see the moral difference between rape of the individual and the rape of a society?

I'm not sure how many Uroxi really even understand the niceties of consent half the time.

4 hours ago, Erol of Backford said:

But don't forget dwarves will try to kill those who steal their secrets and sorcerers do worse?

I don't think Iffinbix is a Mostali deity, but never say never; it is a remote possibility.  He's some sort of Earth sorcery "deity" associated with the City Sorcerers of Old Pavis.  I have been collecting snippets of lost and hidden Iffinbix lore for a while now.

Alchemy and Herbalism within Glorantha have long been more-or-less untouched.  Greg was never particularly happy with the Alchemy rules in RQ1 and 2, and didn't see them as being particularly Gloranthan, but grudgingly conceded that Alchemy probably had a place.  I don't think Greg was as negative about herbalism.

Some cults have a lot to do with alchemy.  Chalana Arroy and Lhankor Mhy are good examples of cults that teach Alchemy as a cult secret, but Lanbril the thief god also makes use of alchemy for sneeze powder and other concoctions useful in larceny.  We may ask whether Mostal is really a cult, but certainly the Quicksilver Dwarves have potion enhancing magic, and are often regarded as the greatest alchemists.  The Malkioni have the Ezokites, primarily in Leplain, Seshnela.  The Kralori have the Thalurzni and the Goldern Elixir Monks.  The folk of Fonrit also have alchemists who specialize in perfumes apparently. 

There are lots of write-ups relating to herbs and plant life found in Prax and other regions.  For this reason I wouldn't be surprised if the Pavic Rubble cult of Iffinbix once had alchemists, given their reliance on a poison with the agipith root as an antidote to protect their temples in the Rubble.  Iffinbix smacks of alchemy, likely based on herbalism to me, but was mainly sorcerous.  Using sorcery to amp up the effects of herbal concentrates and poisons could be very powerful.

Personally I have no problem with Alchemy, and see it as a logical outgrowth of the World Machine and God Learnerism.  I am surprised that Zzaburi aren't all running about with INT and MP enhancing potions and the entire engagement with the study of Alchemy seems to be localized in Leplain.  To my mind, it surprises me that alchemical studies aren't more widespread in the Genertelan West.

Historically on Earth, Alchemy was intimately involved in medicines, poisons, metallurgy, recreational and religious drugs, the creation of dyes and mordants, perfumes, Greek fire, corrosives (acids and bases), phosphorus matches, gunpowder, surfactants like caustic soda that make soap, concrete, and likely a few other things I haven't listed.  RQ2 used to allow for potions that could hold Battle Magic (aka Spirit Magic) spells, but that is apparently no longer the case.  I would imagine if alchemy can hold spirit magic, it can hold sorcery.

I seriously think that these systems need more attention, and have taken a few tentative steps in that direction myself, having put together collections of herbs and some notes on potential alchemical rules for "matters alchemical" not included in RQG.

17 hours ago, EricW said:

Arkat was famous for his shifting cult allegiances and his ruthlessness in pursuing his single minded goal of destroying Gbaji. Were there any limits on his willingness to use whatever tools were available to advance towards his goal? 

I seem to recall reading about Arkat essentially turning into a chaos monster while fighting in Dorastor.  In typical fashion, Arkat likely betrayed the Trolls to gain new allies among the chaos folk to complete his quest to destroy Nysalor.  I would put this down to Arkat having joined a cult like Krjalk which I believe allows monstrous transformation.  The point is, it would be a temporary effect a bit like the Lunar Chaos Gift spell.  Akrat would have carried a chaos taint were it not for his illumination.  We know that after the duel in the Tower of Wonders, Arkat departs for Ralios as a normal looking man, you see.

On 2/8/2023 at 8:20 PM, Tizun Thane said:

The Revelation could be for pagan knights that Paganism will no die, but survive into the Catholicism. The Virgin Mary is "clearly" the "Great Goddess" of the Pagans, both Virgin and Mother. Different names, but the same Universal Truth underneath.

I found this explanation a bit crappy and new Age, but hey, it's in the Books.

It's a good thing most Catholics have thick skins on these issues huh?

Hmm... I wonder... Tetrahedral temples...? 

19 hours ago, French Desperate WindChild said:

in the same way that bronze age people explained it 🙂

There are relatively few Bronze Age medical texts.  One of the few sources is Ancient Egypt, and they don't describe the digestive system despite their work on anatomy afaik.  The Yellow Emperor's Classic of Medicine (which is iron age but a very early surviving medical treatise) describes the Digestive system as working like a fuel burning stove.  This clearly can't work with Glorantha, as Fire is associated with Intellect, not Constitution which is Earth or devouring which is Darkness.

3 hours ago, Akhôrahil said:

You mean Urgrain, right?

Nope, Brangbane.  Urgrain is the Heortling bad king (who frankly wasn't as bad a king as Brangbane).  Brangbane is the Sartarite Dinacoli Bad King who became king of the ghouls because Sartar transformed him.

13 hours ago, French Desperate WindChild said:

to say that, you based your demonstration  on some assumptions : a) there are stomach flora in glorantha like IRL

If there is not, how do you account for the ability to digest food in Glorantha?

The fact is, Glorantha is based on Earth.  I like realism.  I like my players to get the sense that there are substantial similarities between Earth and Glorantha.  While there is a lot of "a wizard did it" in Glorantha, there are loads of physical systems that no deity is monitoring and without physical systems underpinning its reality Glorantha would be Chaos, and chaos.  The fact is, the God Learners were correct about far more than they were wrong about.

13 hours ago, French Desperate WindChild said:

to say that, you based your demonstration  on some assumptions :

b) runes are physical elements, like atoms / molecules / what you want IRL

On the contrary.  We don't have a periodic table of runes.  We do know however that various elements affect the man rune, such as if you have strong Fire Rune associations, you will get +2 Int etc.  Next, it is an obvious truth that living creatures in Glorantha eat plant runes and beast runes, and sometimes if they are bad they eat man runes and dragonewt runes etc.  Any description of the physical systems involved will need to account for these facts.

13 hours ago, French Desperate WindChild said:

but is there any proof of that ?

and what if :

a) first being bodies are made of clay

The first being bodies are clearly animated from multiple elemental runes.  That is implicit in the RQG runes.  Yes there is Earth in people, but that only governs Constitution.  Living things are complicated.

13 hours ago, French Desperate WindChild said:

b) life is the result of the transformation of this clay by the use of the power of runes

So... Life and Death Runes, Spirit Runes, are all in a Man Rune being's make-up.  Why not plant runes for stomach flora then?  It seems increasingly likely that living things are a microcosm of the Runes in Glorantha.  The runes are all there to some degree, and can go out of balance or have their arrangement disrupted by death runes "crossing" them out (pardon the pun).

13 hours ago, French Desperate WindChild said:

c) sentience, communication, etc... is the result of another use of the power of runes

Obviously this is references Harmony and Disorder, Truth and Illusion, etc.  Sentience seems to be tied primarily to the Fire Rune, hence its rules association with Intelligence.

13 hours ago, French Desperate WindChild said:

d) pregnency is the result of a "sexual ceremony" magic, where two bodies share some intimity

They obviously bump Life Runes until they tap into the Infinity Rune and capture a Spirit Rune.  Mostali explain it in terms of a mortar grinding away in a pestle.

13 hours ago, French Desperate WindChild said:

e) everything which is not described in the gloranthan background is the result of use of the power of runes.

But these runes consistently produce outcomes that create physical systems which are very similar to Earth.  Even Gloranthan magic, which is mainly very "Buff" oriented magic could be explained to psychological effects like the placebo effect or confirmation bias, with the release of some colored light runes granting the individual the psychological permission they need to perform better.

13 hours ago, French Desperate WindChild said:

do my assumption propose a more bronze age flavor ?

 Not really FDWC.  The fact is the World Machine has always been part of Glorantha, by which I mean the mechanical physical systems that we associate and describe with disciplines like Physics and Chemistry on Earth, but unequivocally have their Gloranthan equivalencies such as Alchemy and the Lores.

The fact is, unless someone is casting a spell, Glorantha behaves much like Earth.  Also, many spells behave much like Earth were it not for the colored lights and spell effects.  This is hardly surprising, given that we want a world that is like Earth but with fantasy elements.  It takes many types of subatomic particles to create 102 types of atoms to build an Earth and its universe.  We don't have that many runes to play with, but we know that the outcome is very similar.

I for one am fascinated about how to run missile combat in HQ.

6 minutes ago, davecake said:

My point is that, regardless of the abstract ultimate truth of such a statement (which like most such assertions, comes down to nitpicking definitions), by saying so you have:

1. rendered your use of the term essentially useless for facilitating any form of discussion

How?  The fact is our world is a complex place and so is Glorantha.  The Runes are never going to be able to explain it in their present form without some added complexity in the descriptive process, and yet we know that the Mostali, Feldichi and the God Learners did exactly that.

9 minutes ago, davecake said:

2. and you have rendered your use of the term clearly different to the way in which essentially everyone else uses.

Well, my glorantha will vary.  More importantly, allows ordinary phenomena to be explained by the runes in an objective fashion, which is lore friendly, because the Mostalie, Feldichi and the God Learners were able to do so.

12 minutes ago, davecake said:

You’ve also used forms of argument to arrive there that are essentially counter to Gloranthan cosmology in its entirety (mitochondria? 

That is your perspective davecake.  The fact is that the World Machine is every bit as much a part of Gloranthan cosmology as any other, and it is a neglected part too.  Glorantha has its own Science, and it is not contrary to the cosmology in any way.  It has always been there and I like to tease it out.  Glorantha is clearly quite similar to Earth in terms of human experience, but that would be impossible if Glorantha has no physics and chemistry, even if those disciplines rely on radically different runic processes rather than atomic ones.

18 minutes ago, davecake said:

Are you next going to explain how Darkness is just an absence of fire, how life requires oxygen, how metals are different elements? ) to essentially produce a private use of the terms. 

Why not?  I'm sure these are all things a Lhankor Mhy sage with a background in the Torvald Fragments would find fascinating.

Remember that while Glorantha has magic, it is a Low Fantasy world most of the time.  All science did was render many physical processes explicable, allowing for accurate predictions of how these processes would behave.  And for the most part, the physical processes of Glorantha are reliable and predictable, and the physical processes of the world behave much as they do in our own world.  Why would that be, unless processes that mimic our world were in play at some sort of default level?  Sure, magic can change things, but most Gloranthan magic is "Buff" magic, wherein someone's ability to do something improves.  Not much Gloranthan magic transforms materials or brings objects into existence.  As such we could choose to talk about all Gloranthan magic in terms of the Sorcery Technique runes without encountering many outliers.  I may even do something on Jonstown Compendium about this one day.

On 12/21/2017 at 1:43 AM, Xorgrim said:

As the title suggests, I would like to run a Thirty Years War campaign. No magick, or very subtle low magick. I have a history degree in Early Modern History and actually specialized in the Thirty Years War.

This is a great idea Xorgrim and a fascinatingly awful period of European history.  I am a great fan of the Thirty Years War as it is one of those "grimdark" eras that lend themselves to RPGs, like the Late Roman Empire and present day West Virginia (I'm not even joking).

On 12/21/2017 at 1:43 AM, Xorgrim said:

However, while having been playing RPGs since 1991, I have hardly ever been a GM. And never in my own scenario. I have played CoC over the years, so the Renaissance rules don't bother me, but I have not seen them in practice yet. I was looking for some game on youtube and in other places on the internet, mainly for inspiration but I have not been successful. Even on this forum, all I can find, are magick infused settings.

My advice then is to brush up on doing a few different accents to lend your NPCs a measure of authenticity.  It is a really good idea to have a stable of persistent NPCs with whom the players interact and build relationships.  Friendly NPCs are very important, even if it is just a camp follower cobbler who has an ear for gossip.  Also, make sure you have some sort of realistic price lists from the period, because you will need them.

On 12/21/2017 at 1:43 AM, Xorgrim said:

Player Characters should be part of or affiliated to an infantry regiment in the Catholic League Army. They could be soldiers, they could even have a small commanding role or they are part of the baggage train. I have a strong set of NPCs and a lot of plot points already from my studies. (based on a real diary of a soldier from the Thirty Years War). I know that diary very well.

That is great.  I personally enjoyed Bertold Brecht's play "Mother Courage", more for the evocation of the free wheeling and somewhat desperate camp follower market economy of the war that the moralistic Marxism implicit in the narrative.  Knowing your source material well is crucial, so take some confidence from that. 

Remember also that Europe is ablaze before and after the Thirty Years War (lol did the Thirty Years War really end?).  The Swedish invasion of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth really serves as a continuation of the Thirty Years war, coming only 7 years after the end of hostilities.  Spain is fighting the Ottomans and the Dutch before and after the Thirty Years War.  The Three Musketeers is set prior to the Thirty Years war.  Also French Philosopher Renee Descartes served in the Battle of White Mountain and is at large in Europe at the time, as are his contemporaries.

On 12/21/2017 at 1:43 AM, Xorgrim said:

I am a bit concerned about railroading my players too much, but I do want them to experience some of the more gripping parts of the diary as companions of the author. I would be very happy to receive some advice from people about potential pitfalls, especially if they have GMed in the Thirty Years War.

Okay.  Your players CANNOT, WILL NOT, AND CAN NEVER be controlled.  They are there to tell their own stories, not your NPC diarist's.  You would do well to even allow your players to alter history.  The first thing to remember is that RPGs are about allowing the players to tell their own stories.  You are not there to retell history, you are there to entertain the players, just as they are going to entertain you with their antics and poor life choices.

Players WILL be agreeable about being somewhat railroaded during a massed battle as they need to follow orders.  You will need to have a really clear idea of how you want to stage this sort of event to maximize the impact and immersion on players.  Handled well, massed battles are gripping RPG experiences.  Handled badly, they become a boring combat chore of dice roll+ consulting sheets ad nauseum.  Building the threat and tension of a massed battle, the insecurity of not knowing what is happening vs the horror of witnessing too much, the press, the sweat, the blood and entrails.  It is often more stressful before the fighting than during the actual combat if you run it well.

On 12/21/2017 at 1:43 AM, Xorgrim said:

For instance, how to apply the faction system, will be interesting. It does not have to be religion, in my view, because lots of Protestants were part of the Catholic League Army. There are strong indications that the author of the diary also was Protestant, although he never states this out-right.

One of the great ironies of the Thirty Years War is that most mercenaries didn't care about what they were fighting for.  They were fighting for a wage and personal advancement and had no religious ideological "dog in the fight".

On 12/21/2017 at 1:43 AM, Xorgrim said:

Of course, there are many superstitions in that world, so some Wise Women/Alchemy/Subtle Witchcraft would probably be ok. But I don't want a strong deviation from historical realism.

Don't neglect the possibilities of Rosicrucianism and Hermeticism which were the New Age movement of the day amongst the Intellectuals (including Descartes).

We're gettin' old.  Personally I'm so short sighted I can see atoms.

On 2/5/2023 at 1:42 PM, Erol of Backford said:

Are there other famous Sartarites who were married to Lunars and when did any of these couples get together?

Is there a worse curse to be visited on a clan than a chief with a lunar wife?  I foresee that in far future retellings of the Bad King Brangbane story, he too will develop such an affliction.

1 hour ago, davecake said:

Though the above assertion makes about as much sense to me as ‘all animals are a little bit Plant, and all Plants a bit animal’. 

But all animals ARE ACTUALLY a little bit plant.  Animals, like humans, have stomach flora that is responsible for digestion. Plus many creatures digest plants and thus have plant runes being reintegrated within them as fuel for their bodies.

1 hour ago, davecake said:

t (though I assume the God Learners would mostly be arguing about such things from a theoretical perspective, and their only answers to questions about Draconic magic would be wildly disputed).

I am of the opinion that the Godlearners were never able to properly understand draconic mysteries as they had great trouble with Draconic mysticism and the application of the Dragonewt rune.  The best they ever managed on that score was the Path of Immanent Mastery.  This is a large part of why the EWF was able to stave off the Jrusteli Empire.

1 hour ago, davecake said:

Though the above assertion makes about as much sense to me as ‘all animals are a little bit Plant, and all Plants a bit animal’, which is just the same logic applied to different Form Runes and would seem to be the sort of statement that simply generalises to the point of practical meaninglessness. 

Remember also that all humans have integrated elemental runes that in RQG govern and modify their stats. Fire for Int, Air for Str, Earth for Con etc.   It's in the rules.  I like the idea that while certain runes predominate, that as with plenty of non-carbon atoms in our bodies, that humans have aggregations of specific runes in Glorantha, even if the man rune forms the shape of the human body and likely predominates as the main rune.  This is a great way of reconciling a bit of science into the system imo, if only on a basis that it is lost God Learner knowledge known only to a few specialized sages.

11 hours ago, SirUkpyr said:

Greetings and Salutations!

I come seeking aid. I have been Pendragon for over 10 years, but this is the first time my players have reached the Grail Quest.

HELP!

In answer to your cries Sir Ukpyr, it is very important to realize that most Player Knights will never be able to complete the Grail Quest.  It is almost certainly beyond them to heal the Fisher King.

I would suggest therefore that you explain the symbolism of the mysteries in terms of the religions of each of the players.

For the Christians, the Grail is the Cup of Christ.

For the Pagans it is the Cauldron of Bran.

For the Norse, it is the Mortar of Eir, or perhaps the Sampo of Ilmarinen of Finland.

Others less righteous might even see the Green Gem struck from the brow of Satan by the Archangel Michael that holds the mysteries of magic.

The Grail Quest Wasteland may well have real world analogues, and be a reference to 536 AD The Worst Year to be Alive.  The order of the world was destroyed, and this catastrophe could only be understood in terms of the mythological world view of the time.  The Fisher King was struck in the "leg", which is a Bowdlerized way of saying, his 3rd Leg, rendering him infertile, and his sacred connection to the land was therefore severed, bringing about the wasteland, plague and famine.  One would think it was wise to replace the King, but the King was holy and extremely wise and just and nobody in their right mind would consider that any more than they would murder loving parents.  Instead they sought to restore the King's fertility and connection to the land by healing him.  The king is the keeper of the Grail and need only sip from it to be cured, but he doesn't think about himself and his own needs, and needs to be reminded to do so by a similarly pure soul.  Instead he languishes in his sickbed, while doing his best to save the people from the catastrophes of the Age that is come upon them.  Of course there is also the Satanic Knight who sees the Green Gem, not the Grail, and seeks to claim it from the weakened king by force.  This, the players can deal with...

On 1/26/2023 at 9:12 AM, Joerg said:

According to the Starter box, citizens of the Sartarite cities don't seem to buy their basic food piecemeal. They pay their real estate tax (which gives them citizen status) and receive their dividend from the city granaries, butcheries etc. according to their tax status. This will allow additional food for a certain amount of dependents and/or guests, the latter probably for a limited time.

This is a great topic Joerg, and well worth the time to discuss.

We are used to a game wherein society for our adventurers is very currency or livestock driven, as these are measures of wealth we have become familiar with.  Originally in RQ1 and RQ2 everything was currency driven.  At some stage in RQ3-Pendragon Pass-Hero Quest days, and when the KoDP computer game came out we became more familiar with running a cattle based economy for clans.

You are challenging us to remember that during the Bronze Age, if you lived in a city, you were likely an artisan paid for by a Ruler and a beneficiary of the tax and tribute a Ruler received.  We forget that the alleged "culture hero" responsible for the invention of currency was King Gyges of Lydia who died in 644BC, well after the Bronze Age, and that the great Kingdoms and City States of the Bronze Age had no coins.  Instead they traded bulk commodities like 60 amphorae of lamp oil for 20 measures of scented timber from Lebanon, not less than 1 Stadia in width and 3 Stadia long (etc.).

This idea of a top-down economy based on food allocation was normal for city dwellers and actually persisted in the world for a very long time.  For example, even today the Emir of Dubai pays for everyone's cooking gas.  This system of patronage was also prevalent in Europe but was slowly dismantled in favor of coin and the belief in the Market Mechanism. 

The top down system is heavily centralized; a command economy model.  The King takes tax and redistributes it to his artisans who make weapons for his army and wealth for him to distribute and maintain his prestige.  Of course it is not "communist" as it incorporates an implicit class system in the distribution model.  It is a very different way of thinking about Gloranthan economics however.

17 hours ago, Agentorange said:

We have one  boosting spirit magic spell for bladed weapons - bladesharp
One  for impact weapons - Bludgeon.

But only one reduction spell dullblade which affects both bladed and impact weapons.

Surely for the sake of cosmic symmetry and to avoid winding me up we should have dullblade AND dullclub  😁

 😆

9 hours ago, g33k said:

Dullblade & Softclub.  "Boffer" is the Godlearner spell.

😂 Boffer?  I love it!  "Come at me with your pool noodle you damn dirty troll!"

More seriously, I think Dullblade needs to be viewed from the perspective that afaik only Chalana Arroy teaches the spell (apart from shamans).