Darius West

I find hiding in an alley with a sock full of lead sinker, then ambushing and coshing passers by works well. They are really in the C'thulhu mindset when they come to, ducktaped to a chair in a darkened room. (jk)😎

Thanks for neatly summarizing what I was trying and failing to say davecake. Obviously Arkati would be in an invidious position, given their illumination, if they thought illumination was intrinsically a chaotic abuse of the natural order.

It utterly depends on the creature and its physiology. There are distinct advantages plot-wise for a GM to having the creatures leave little to no evidence, as you can't take the remains to a lab or a newspaper or the police. We know specifically that the Mi-go dissolve, and I would imagine that other creatures likely would as well, such as Hunting Horrors, but Deep Ones leave bodies. Leaving a body to autopsy can destroy the mystery of many of the creatures, but it can also be an opportunity for fresh horror and appalling revelations. Autopsies reveal weaknesses too. It is important to keep the body count skewed in the favor of plenty of dead humans.

And here I was thinking they were kinda canon...

I'd settle for an Elf Bow that didn't die when a non-Aldryami touched it.

Where does the Atroxic Church fit in all of this? In HQ Ethilrist is a leader of the Atroxic Church. I was under the impression that HQ lore was still Glorantha?

Everyone who follows Malkion is a Malkioni. Brithini are Malkioni. Hrestoli are Malkioni. Arkat begins his life as a Malkioni, going from Brithini to betraying them and becoming a Hrestoli before betraying them to become a Pagan. As a pagan he chooses to worship Humakt, and is sometimes called Humaktson, because of his unbreakable sword. Clearly joining a pagan cult was seen as opportunism and betrayal by Malkioni. I like this idea, but there are problems. The first one is that Humakt isn't an emanation of the Death Rune, or he would be named in the sorcery spells that use the Death Rune. Instead, we have the Celestial Court member Kargan Tor named. Humakt doesn't emanate from the Death Rune, but is an emanation of Umath, that comes to reinforce the Death Rune, (possibly because Umath is a Primordial Breath, and the dead don't breathe, but that's stretching it). The fact is, every ascended master is seen as a person within Malkionism, and Humakt and other gods will be seen as ascended masters, not runic emanations. You can only become a Man-of-All if you are a Hrestoli. When Arkat left the Brithini and joined the Hrestoli it was a betrayal of the Brithini. When Arkat left the Hrestoli to join the orlanthi it was a betrayal of the Hrestoli because he joined a pagan cult and joined the traditional enemies of the Hrestoli. Foundational historical episodes are not forgotten, and serve as a basis for all future events. Perhaps that is true of village idiots, but you are lightly dismissing historical events which occurred to a Grimoire culture where books are all-important and everything important is recorded. The Hrestoli bemoan Arkat's treachery from when he joined the Orlanthi, just as the Orlanti remember how Arkat betrayed them and became a troll. You misunderstood my question, so let me rephrase it... If the God Learners had always followed the Orlanth Pantheon, but used a practice of Malkioni Rightness on top of it, why did then need to steal myths from the Orlanthi to hero quest with? There would be no need to do so. They would know all the myths already, and had a head start on the Orlanthi because the God Learners knew about hero questing, and few Orlanthi in that period would know about hq-ing at all.

No, this makes no sense to me. If this was true, then Arkat wouldn't be considered a Traitor by the Malkioni for joining Humakt. In fact Arkay would likely have worshipped Humakt for most of his life since becoming a Hrestoli. Similarly why would there be Orlanthi resistance to missionizing as it says on The Middle Sea Empire pp34-35. And why would the Malkioni have needed to infiltrate other societies to "God Learn" their hero quests if they already practiced them? Then on page 38 of The Middle Sea Empire we see that the Emanationists take a very dim view of the "pagans and their spirits", and are encouraged to completely destroy them and their belief systems. This is an odd comment, considering that the Malkioni have always worshipped the same gods according to some people. Then on page 41 we see that the God Learners were apparently quite happy about destroying the Pagan Worldview. How can this be, if they are partaking of it, and allegedly always have? There are too many things that don't fit the facts. This looks like a great big retrofit to me, and a clumsy one at best. This is not to say that I dislike the idea of Rightness or Caste Magic, but the notion that Pagan gods are routinely worshipped in Malkioni areas seems extremely far fetched when Pagan is unquestionably a pejorative term and the whole idea flies in the face of the existing literature and established lore. For a start, why would the Westerners essentially piggyback onto the Orlanth pantheon, and not have their own specific deities that they control the institutional structures of? It makes no sense, given they could literally have built them during the God Learner period, and yet we know that the Orlanth Pantheon existed before time, and the Malkioni don't control it, despite the God Learner period. Why didn't they follow the Solar Pantheon and its extremely orderly and hierarchical social system, which already mirrors Malkionism in many ways (certainly a lot more than Orlanth and his pantheon does)? Why not the Earth Pantheon? I could understand that, for the Dronar class at least. Or why not a completely different Pantheon based on the abstract concepts of Sorcery?

The inference of what has been written above is that yes, you can be a Rune Lord or Rune Priest of a deity, who is considered an Awakened Master, and still get Rightness, assuming you adhere to Caste. When 90% of a population is involved in farming, pastoral, primary industry and artisan activities, and a further 8% is involved in the military, then the 1% Wizards a 1% Nobles are a veneer. The 2% are also likely the only pure Malkioni in the society that they lead. This means they need to lead EXTREMELY WELL not to be deposed. They are a pygmy child riding a Rhino. Control is an illusion. Well, for starters, Illuminates cannot be punished by breaking with Rightness, because "who is to say what is right or wrong?". Illuminates wriggle out of everything. The alternative, and more important issue is that you may well lose your rightness from breaking caste and rebelling, but once your bad leaders are gone, you re-establish your caste behavior, and start rebuilding your rightness. After all, when the peasants revolt, it is actually the Talar who has misruled them who is most likely the one to blame, and who will lose their Rightness. Most likely when the Castes break down, everyone will start losing their Rightness, whether they follow it or not. After all, is a Zzaburi who obeys a Talar who is not Right going to be doing the Right thing by following the orders? Of course not. Is a warrior who slaughters rebellious peasants following Rightness? Maybe... Maybe not... The way Rightness is described, is takes the form of a social contract that pays magical dividends. If the contract is broken in small and then larger ways, and then a Caste or a substantial portions thereof breaks away, then the entire system begins to break down, due to the system being intrinsically social and therefore relational, regardless of its logical or legal portions. Breaches of those relationships create contradictions which destroy Rightness throughout the system. Every system can be hacked, and a clever rebel can use that to cause the powers that be to make invidious decisions that destroy their Rightness in order to save their power.

Arkat's Rest is where Mularik Ironeye comes from. He identified Argrath Whitebull as the true incarnation of Arkat in the 3rd Age, now come as the shadow of the Red Goddess to shut down the catastrophe of another illuminism outbreak. Mularik becomes a long term supporter of Argrath, but ultimately over-reaches himself and grossly abuses Argrath's trust, causing a rebellion due to his misrule in Dragon Pass while Argrath is campaigning in the Lunar Empire proper. After the God Learner purges of the Dark Empire of Arkat, one of the few places where any Arkati could be found was in the Hero Plane, where they had gone to stop the abuses of the God Learners upon the Mythic landscape of Glorantha. They are likely still there, and any God Learnerist abuses of the myths are likely to awaken their interest, as they now police the myths. Sadly, as the Red Moon Goddess was not alive during time, the Arkati didn't know of her existence in order to police her myths and avoid abuses. The major tenet of the Arkati is that Illuminism is an abuse of the natural order, in much the same way that the Rune Quest Sight (Godlearner special power) is an abuse of the natural order. You must be an illuminate to become a full Arkati, and all other illuminates are deeply suspect and likely need to be killed, but once you are illuminated you must adhere to strict rules of conduct or your fellow Arkati will understand that you are a Gbaji and will need to destroy you.

So what about the ones who worship Saint Humath, or Saint Urox, or Saint Worlath? The fact is, they are part of a large and separate Theistic system which only has a veneer of Malkionism separating it from the Orlanth Pantheon. They may support wizards and gain rightness, but look again, and I see a group of people who could overthrow their Malkioni masters and still practice their caste and gain rightness, post revolution.

They are secret hidden Mostali air pumps that feed air into underground areas of Boldhome. They likely take the form of female idols, because why not? That's a cool design.

Okay, that makes things super risky, as you cannot guarantee everything horses need under such circumstances, try as you might. It also means trouble, as untrained horses don't deal well with imagined threats, let alone real ones. Horses have been known to become spooked over a mouse and bolt for miles, even throwing and killing their rider, and those are the supposedly trained ones. There is a lovely game called Harn with a very useful supplement called Harn Manor that covers such things. that can be retrofit into most games without any problems. You say this youngling, but you are not yet a grognard. You have not had your players decide to occupy and rent out a dungeon, or decide that they all want to play Lunar bureaucrats... This too will come in time... Agreed. The RQ:Gcore rules plus RQ:Weapons and Equipment goes a long way towards this without getting too fiddly about the details. I like the Manage Household skill, as it tells players that while THEY (the player) may have a great idea, their characters may not have the skill to pull it off, management-wise. To answer other questions, Book of the Manor is a good source, and so is Harn Manor, as it goes into more detail about agronomy.

No, the tougher, meatier version with all the trimmings, whistles and bells is what I mean. I have a feeling that not all Orlanthi are created equal. Well, given that we don't presently have info about what the Pamaltelan Orlanth cult (of God Learner origin) actually has access to, in terms of subcults, associated cults, etc. We don't know how different it is from more typical (setting-wise) Sartar/Heortland Orlanth worship. That means potentially you can tweak things a bit to fit imo.

I think you are making problems for yourself by overthinking things. Any claims Ompalam makes against Orlanth are likely very geographically limited, and not true in the longer term. Admittedly they are almost certainly dealing with a watered down and inferior Malkioni version of Orlanth that lacks all the associated cults, subcults and thunder brothers.

There are many reasons you might buy locally rather than go to the Grazelands or the Pol Joni. Firstly, travel is dangerous. You can run into a lot of trouble on your way to Richpost. Second is price. Sure, Goldeneyes are the best breed, but they also have an eyewatering price tag. Now the Elmali or Yelmalio horse breeders are going to form your primary local competition, but really you and they will often be in the same boat politically, and will likely wind up buying stock from each other repeatedly. As for the Pol Joni, well, that's a long walk into hostile territory to meet up with semi-bandits who might sell you some horses, or they might just rob you and sell you into slavery at Pimper's Block. Up to a point. The Narri and Enhyli clan might become very friendly when they need to replenish their stock after too many raids or some disaster. Horse breeders understand this issue.

The simple fact of the matter is that being a horse breeder has always been an extremely lucrative profession, and still is today (racehorses are worth millions). In fact, when the Roman Empire suffered hyperinflation, it was the Equites, who owned country estates where they raised horses, who were best able to weather he financial crisis as they were able to trade their animals to the Army, and provide cavalry service in lieu of tax, creating the basis of the future Feudal system where the Equites became Knights and Lords. Horse raising is a great way to become rich, but horse trading is synonymous with used car dealerships for trustworthiness. Big money attracts scammers. There are issues with the horse market however. 1) Upkeep. Something my Praxian characters really hate about living and doing business in New Pavis is the cost of agistment for their animals. They need pasture, regular feeding, exercise, water, combing, veterinary services etc. Anyone who has ever owned a horse irl knows they are a major financial burden, crudely equivalent to keeping a child in private education. Of course that is for someone who doesn't own land, a water supply, stables, etc. The fact is, a horse is only an asset when it is sold; normally it is a substantial liability. Remember that you will likely need to have paid staff to look after your business while you are away adventuring. Staff are another running expense. Worse still, can you trust them? 2) Demand. In a bad economy people cannot afford the upkeep on a horse, much less to buy a new one. Even food like hay and oats will become unavailable during a famine period like the Great Winter. Worse still, during times of war, when trade is limited, you may find your own rulers requisitioning your horse stock (this actually happened to my Great Grandpa during WW2, twice no less on the Eastern Front. Eventually Partisans killed him over his last horse.). This makes horse raising intensely political. The fact is, a horse trader wants to get a regular contract with the military, because they have a steady demand for horseflesh, whether warhorses or even just pack animals. The problem is, unless you have cultivated reliable relationships with the people in power, you won't get their protection, but in wartime, if you've chosen the wrong side you'll get looted and go broke. 3) Bad Stock. The classic problem with horse trading is that you need to be able to tell a good horse from a bad or mediocre one. You need to be a good judge of an animal's health, their age, their physical characteristics, and their temperament (not something the RQ rules cover). Most of this will be covered by a Herd skill check. You also need to make damn sure that the animals aren't stolen property (unless you want the associated complications). Bad bloodlines can ruin your stock, and wind up cutting your profits immensely. 4) Other Stuff. Tricksters are a running issue. They will often find ways to steal livestock and on-sell them illegally. It's a classic grift. Obviously broos are a huge issue, as are the diseases they bring. While crop failure doesn't sound like a problem for a herder, if your feed crop dies, so do your animals unless you take them on the road to greener pastures. Put simply, agriculture and pastoralism are fraught, and there are dozens of small things that can go wrong between when a foal is born and when you finally get cold silver in your hand for the beast. Mostly however, raising horses is a great money making venture.

One of the main things you will need to do to fight off Ompalam is to destroy his Slave Bracelets. That requires a strength of 45 according to the old rules. As Orlanth has Odayla as an associate, Bear's Strength is available to him which double's base Strength. Orlanth also has all those Mastakos teleport spells for conducting guerilla warfare. Not to mention that control over weather is a huge advantage in a battle, and thieving is very useful in asymetric warfare. I think you are too quick to dismiss Orlanth. By comparison, the Lunars mainly have spells for addling your mind, and madness isn't liberty, but a grim and endless prison.

That is interesting and useful. Thanks Jajagappa. The notion of the Invisible God/Malkion providing the magic points for certain spells is a very interesting idea. I suspect the caste Rightness rules are going to need considerable fleshing out. Will it be handled like Honor is in Land of Ninja I wonder?

Hang on, what is Caste Magic? Where would I find a reference to it? This is the first time I've heard anyone mention it.

But doesn't this make the Malkioni a minority religion in their own heartlands? I mean, this portrays a society with a thin upper crust of genuine Malkioni sitting above the 'roiling mass' of a pagan underclass that could overthrow them at a moment's notice. I mean, I'm not suggesting this is wrong in any way, and it certainly goes a long way towards explaining how the God Learners were so effective at infiltrating cults, but how on the Lozenge is social order maintained when people have these varied allegiances? It sounds like a disaster waiting to happen, sorcery or no sorcery. I mean, it is a lot easier to get quite a lot of power from a group of initiates in a god that it is from zzaburi who have to train for decades. Consider, if you have 10 initiates, you will statistically have 1 successful Divine Intervention that can potentially dispel any sorcery. At some point the ruling class seem very much like hostages.

When I turn into a bat there's no real skill to it at all, I just shout "BAT!"

You raise a really good point here. I think that it is a lot more likely for the Dronar to worship an unthreatening deity like Saint Barntar, rather than Saint Worlath or Saint Humath.

I see the point and, to be fair, we do have the heresy of Invisible Orlanth, and the likes of St. Humath and St. Urox as potential patron saints/ascended masters, but we must also face the fact that this is a long way from pure Malkionism. It's very questionable, and given that the Malkioni still fight wars over paganism, it is a long way from being acceptable. It should be obvious to everyone that these are pagan deities merely being dressed up in Malkionism. It's like Malkionism has really admitted defeat on the issue of pagan deities, and somehow that doesn't sit right with me. Malkionism doesn't seem to have enough of a 'purist core' territorially to maintain itself as a distinct religious ideology. There must be areas where these pseudo ascended masters that are really pagan deities are never worshipped within Malkioni lands.

Their own intensely loved and respected tribe.😆