Darius West

That seems perfectly reasonable to me Ian. Think how big the statue was... Now it collapses in a heap. Parts could go anywhere. Imagine the racket it caused! I'm surprised there isn't a Maran Gor Holy Site on the spot given how much the earth must have shaken. Now as a resident Pavis Expert, when are we gonna have a long talk about Iffinbix? 😉

Okay, to say it in other words. Without the primary deity, the subcults couldn't exist. Lightning boy is on the cusp of this, being an entity in his own right, but the sandals of darkness are just objects, for example. As to the second question, the current interpretation is that Vinga is just Orlanth as a female. Thus it is assumed that all Orlanth Adventurous initiates get subcult initiation too. On the other hand, given that Ernalda doesn't let men join her cult in any officiating role, why does Vinga get such royal treatment by Orlanth? While Barntar is a Thunder Brother, he is also a deity in his own right. If you are a Barntar initiate, you are not automatically an Orlanth initiate, but that being said, if you are a Barntar initiate, you effectively get a "90% off deal" on your Orlanth initiation imo. We know that many Orlanthi hide their colors from the Lunars by "becoming Barntar worshipers", as Barntar is perceived as a peaceful cult, but they can re-initiate as Orlanthi without any difficulty, possibly as part of a midnight ceremony where the whole clan flips its colors prior to an uprising. These are good questions Shiningbrow. The fact is, the Thunder Brothers and their cults are pretty equivocal. Are they post-time hero cults that have been retro-engineered into pre-time subcults, possibly via God Learner interference? I seriously hope that the forthcoming Gods of Glorantha supplement explains these issues to everyone's satisfaction.

I offer this definitional clarification, but it is only my opinion on this sticky problem Agentorange... Hero cults relate to powerful exponents of a given cult who have achieved a unique power AFTER TIME BEGAN. They aren't gods, but they are important within the cult. DDB, given his name doesn't sound like one of these, even if he was once a human hero. His non-personal name suggests that he is a Pre-time hero to me. Sub-Cults are totally subordinate to the primary deity. Their worship rituals are not performed outside the primary deity's temple and form a kind of secret initiation. While the sub-cult is demonstrably not the same as the cult of the primary deity, it doesn't really exist except in reference to the primary deity any longer. A classic example is Orlanth's 4 magic weapons. While Lightning Boy is a separate god to Orlanth and the source of his lightning, he is now just a power within Orlanth's worship system, and nobody else has access. Back to the DDB example, because of his independent Esrolian temple, DDB is not an Ernaldan subcult, not least of which being because DDB is a boy, and Ernalda is a female cult. Associated Cults are cults where separate deities share their power within their pantheon, based on the relationships the deities formed Before Time (or post God Learners, but having mentioned it, let's not open that can of worms). For our purposes Mastakos is a good example. Mastakos was captured and subjugated from the Water Pantheon by Orlanth. Mastakos is not a subcult like Lightning Boy however, for despite having to provide not 1 but 2 high powered Rune Spells to Orlanth, and serving as his chariot driver, Mastakos is still independently worshiped, has his own separate temples (water folk, and perhaps Larnstings), and even reserves powers which Orlanthi cannot get via the association (shapechanging). Following these rules, DDB is therefore an associated cult imo.

It only invalidates it insofar as if you want to pass as a non-chaotic, you can't do so. You're chaos tainted. Stormbulls might sense you. Detect Chaos spells will find you out. You will have big problems with the "any chaos= all chaos" lobby.

My approach as a GM to such things is that when they stop overnight at an inn or travel with a caravan, they trade stories about such things, much as sailors discussed far ports and strange encounters back in the "golden age of sail". Everyone (except the most bigoted enemy culture perhaps) is curious about such things. Similaryly, every time the characters encounter an Elder Race they can have a tick in their appropriate lore. The racist stereotypes: Mostali: Boring little detail obsessed beardies who have neat toys. Aldryami: Physically weak, stealthy, poo obsessed vegetable based weirdos. Look but don't touch. Dragonewts: Cloud cuckoo land lizard folk. They make no sense whatsoever. Uz: Brutal cannibalistic monsters whose only redeeming feature is that they aren't chaos.

I really like Vishi. Take it from a player, Vishi needs to buy some armor and some actual fighting spells. He runs around in a blue tunic and apart from the fact that he's got a dagger-axe that hits like a train, he's potentially one missed parry from death. Very glass cannon. If you want to improve his mood, a week after the death of his llama make him dream that he's following the tracks of his llama that has wandered off. In his dream he sees a truly huge high llama max SIZ and STR), and wakes up. The following day, cousin monkey or someone sent out hunting finds the tracks of a heavily laden high llama. If he tracks the animal, he finds it is a large and heavily pregnant high llama cow. A night or two later, she gives birth to a high llama that has the same markings as the beast from his dream. Is this his old mount reborn? Yeah, probably, and potentially with better stats than before because Eiritha knows it was a good llama and Vishi will need one for the Hero Wars.

Being reborn is faster and safer and an awful lot less effort. 😆

I am concerned that there isn't any part of the statue over North Quarry, and only a leg over Main Quarry. Wasn't the whole point of the quarries that they were mining out the statue according to lore?

Heh, if you think the Cradle Scenario is long, you're gonna LOOOOVE the Hero Wars. That being said, French Desperate WindChild's suggestion of using Battle Rolls is a good one.

You raise an interesting point Agentorange. In Greek mythology, the male counterpoint to female nature spirits were generally Satyrs, the randy sons of the god Pan. Nymphae and Satyrs were considered to be Genii Loci (Spirits of place) within the Greco-Roman myth system. Genius Loci however is etymologically the origin of the Arabic term Jinn, and Jinn are described as spirits of heat and fire that live in the wilds of the deserts. There are distinct similarities between Jinn, ghosts and faeries in Earth mythologies. In Glorantha however, the Continent of Genertela had a catastrophe during the Greater Darkness, in that Wakboth killed the Giant God Genert, and thus removed the male principle from connection to the Earth. This is not the same in Pamaltela, where their male Land God Pamalt is still very much alive. On this basis however, one might say that some Giants of the mountainous variety are children of Genert and therefore male Earth spirits, were it not for the fact that there are also female giants.

The answer is yes. For a human to get the dragonewt rune requires them to get the potentially lethal "Split brain/split tongue" surgery that allows a human to progress beyond 25% in Auld Wyrmish. The human must also have the permission of the dragonewts and be able to initiate into their Path. Obviously this happened a lot during the EWF and represented humans becoming Draconic mystics. Sorry to go all Godlearner on you, but all creatures in Glorantha have a little bit of all the runes. Runes are like atoms in Glorantha. Now for a dragonewt who is sick of the Draconic Path, they may potentially slip off it. If they go and join another "human" cult, they will get the runes of that cult like anyone else. It would be hard for the dragonewt apostate to join a man rune cult, but Aldrya accepts other races and she has a man rune, so a dragonewt who initiated with Aldrya could get a man rune concentration that way, and gradually become more human imo. It is odd, but not impossible.

IDK if you play Rune Quest, but in the RQG main rules pages 57-59 there are rules for how different stats affect skills in RQ/ They are called Skill Category modifiers. This means that in RQ base skills are higher. It might be worth a look. I have considered including this in my CoC games. I also have a couple of house rules you might enjoy... (1) If players have forgotten something their character would probably remember, they get to roll Idea to recall it. This is handy for people with busy lives. (2) A common knowledge fact that characters would know about a period like the 1920s that players might not know can default to an EDU roll.

When I played Battle of Badon in Pendragon, Merlin showed up on the last day and issued people with 1 healing potion each. It was enough for us to rampage through day 4.

I beg to disagree. A person who rules by fear is very authoritarian, perhaps the definition of authoritarianism. The term "authoritarian" is defined as demanding obedience rather than individual freedom. I think regardless of who you are, if you don't obey Harrek when he tells you to do something, you'd better get ready to D.I. True, wolf pirates flock to him because he wins, and he may grant you a share of the plunder when he does. This sounds like literally every authoritarian strongman who ever declared a war of aggression in history. The fact that Harrek thrives on a disordered (not chaotic) environment speaks to his personal preference for such things, but if his underlings don't jump to and obey him... SLASHSLASHSHASH at SR1.

I don't see Argrath that way at all, and authoritarianism isn't the way Orlanthi govern. In a land where one of the laws is "nobody can make you do anything", that sort of thing "won't scow". Chiefs and Kings have a certain amount of authority, but they more than most understand that they rule only with the consent and trust of the governed, which they have to constantly earn by choosing the right thing to do and being better at the job than other candidates. While the Monarchy of Sartar might be determined by blood, the chiefs of clans and the kings of tribes are substantially meritocratic, because the ring will listen to the people, and if they fail the people, they will vote with their feet. I see Argrath quite differently. His early life is one broken by war. Then he is driven from his home and forced into Praxian slavery. Eventually he wins freedom and respect from his captors. Then he becomes a Big Rubble adventurer, sword trainer, and wind lord. We don't quite know when he becomes an illuminate. He Hero Quests with Gonn Orta, and is pivotal in the White Bull society of the Praxians before he gets caught up in the Cradle and meets the Wolf Pirates. Now Harrek the Berserk is an authoritarian, and when Argrath stands up to him, and argues for why the Cradle needs to be left to go on its way. Harrek petulantly kills Argrath for his temerity, but accepts his argument. Argrath gets resurrected, but takes months to recover. I see Argrath as mercurial, highly intelligent of the lateral thinker variety, and a seeker after the magical secrets of the world. I see him less as a warrior and more of a "wizard" for this reason. Argrath is powerful because of what he knows, probably more than he is for how he fights. I do think Argrath is manipulative, and an intriguer, certainly a great negotiator, but he grew up being hunted for his few drops of Royal blood, so he needed those skills to survive the assassinations (we all know how he hates assassins). I think Argrath is a military genius, and I think he is a reincarnation of Arkat who was born to be the shadow nemesis of the Red Moon Goddess. Given his multiple failures, we cannot call him a Mary Sue like Jar Eel, or a brute like Harrek. He's an interesting character.

The currency at least seems to be a variant of decimal. So do keymiles for that matter.

Now THIS sounds like a game I want to play. 👍

We don't know what informs those decisions. They could easily be allegorical slang for something else entirely. For all we know, hiding is actually part of a stealth mission, for example. Sometimes hiding is how you defeat sorcerers. It's scissors paper stone, rogue wizard warrior. Rogue beats wizard by striking from surprise.

The point about 2 and 3 is that they are important if you want to rule in ST 1625 Sartar. You need to do more than politic and give speeches, you need to lead from the front and win battles. Personally I don't think much of any of the leaders you mentioned btw. Try using more bronze agey or at least ancient examples perhaps?

Yeah, but you kind of have to squeeze them into doing that, and we already know what Argrath's trajectory is, so we know what theirs is likely to be. It is far more interesting to play the characters who aren't the King imo. And that being the case, why not have the "real thing" ? That is entirely a matter of opinion. Frankly we don't have a lot of words out of Argrath's own mouth to explain his choices, but saving his people from an Chaos worshipping empire hell bent on destroying his people's way of life seems like adequate justification for his actions to me.

RQG without Argrath normally isn't great. It is a bit like playing Pendragon in Arthurian Britain without King Arthur, or X Men without Dr X. Argrath is a useful patron and mentor character who can keep the party on track; abandon him at your peril. Frankly most RQ characters are junkies (read "shamanism", which often involves hazia), drunks (hard drinking is a normal form of Gloranthan entertainment). Now as for sex maniacs, so long as the Barbeester Gors aren't called in, there is no problem. He sounds like a normal hard drinking adventurer with a high libido (and lack of stamina to match) and an interest in shamanism to me. He's still a better leader than Temertain, and likely Kallyr too (how many people did she lead to their deaths in 1612?). Also, remember King Bolthor from Cults of Terror? You can't get less charismatic than that. The only things that matter are (1) Does he have Sartar's bloodline? (2) How well does he fight ? (3) How are his tactical skills ? (4) Is his cult status acceptable to lead? Ultimately it is his tactical skills that will make him a leader or not, and frankly, flawed heroes are cooler anyhow. Remember, it only took one mentor committing seppuku to turn a fellow much like you are describing from the "Fool of Owari" into the legendary Daimyo Oda Nobunaga.

Within Clan law/Lore clans periodically split off from a parent clan. Sometimes it is amicable and sometimes it isn't (Normally it isn't). Then there is the issue of leaving the clan through marriage, or outlawry, or choice. You can't be a member of more than one clan at a time. I would argue that if your characters have accepted that they are now Chiefs of their new Clan, they are no longer Ernladori, even if their kin are Ernaldori. They have chosen to leave to lead these Dundealos folk as their Chiefs, and are now no longer Ernaldori, however this will not anger the Ernaldori ancestors. It may anger the Dundealos ancestors however, and it is likely that the Dundealos ancestors will need to be summoned and have the situation explained to them, so they may adopt the new chiefs and form a new tribe combining the two sets of ancestors. This may be a good opportunity to jettison thrall taking if either group practice it, as technically either the Ernaldori characters or the Dundealos might be classed as late arrivals like the "Nalda Bin etc", so no more thralls thanks. In terms of their tattoos, there will likely have to be an accommodation met. I suspect that first generation tattoos are cursory for a new clan, and only second generation tattoos are taken seriously. There is likely some rich tradition that governs what happens in terms of tattoos changing, but it isn't covered anywhere. I would imagine that youngsters getting tattoos for the first time will have a combination of the Dundealos tattoos and the Ernaldori tattoos best known to the tattooists. Issues to do with the strength of loyalty passions are likely to be telling in the next few years.

If there is religious significance to Trollball I wish there weren't. Why does everything have to have religious significance? Why can't anyone do something simply for the sake of entertainment in Glorantha? Even the Gods know that religious fanaticism eventually hits a point of diminishing returns.

TBH you might actually need ditches to de-irrigate fields in Britain, channels to draw the water away without washing the crops away too.😆 More seriously, if your character was going to increase their land holding by cutting down wilderness, they would likely need to de-stump the new pastures, fence them in, and irrigate them. Established land likely has most of that already. One thing that might not be as common as irrigation ditches is good strong stone fences. There are likely to be a good few rotting wooden ones that need replacing, and the same goes for cottages. It's hard to hate someone who pays for a better place for you to live in if Hate Landlord is the main motivation here.

Fair enough, but why take on a human-like form if that is the case? Isn't a moving body of water infinitely more versatile? It is so protean it can literally break into peices and reform, or create multiple appendages. Most of the water spirits are serpents, not naiads, and I don't think that is an accident. I don't think naiads predate the man rune. How could they, except in a non-man-rune form?