Darius West

On 7/2/2022 at 10:27 AM, werecorpse said:

Got it. Only read the preview but so far it provides a really interesting answer to most of the threads left unanswered in the haunting. Most significantly what was Corbitt doing? Nicely done.

IDK but nobody fancied his mummy.

On 2/16/2021 at 11:07 PM, MOB said:

'30 Coins' creator and director, the Spanish filmmaker Álex de la Iglesia, is a long-time fan of the Call of Cthulhu tabletop RPG.

I saw this back in 2020 soon after its first release.   As to CoC influence, it literally has 

in it.  Kinda pulp, but fun.  I'm pleased another series is on its way, and live in hope it will be as good as the first.

22 minutes ago, Godlearner said:

Does Buserian have  a Freudian subcult to analyse that?

Roll insight...

12 minutes ago, Kloster said:

The problem is more for Yelmalio that Ernalda also has Argan Argar as Husband Protector, not that she also dated Yelm.

The dirt is a fickle mistress.

12 minutes ago, David Scott said:

It references the Ernalda cult in Book 5 of RQ3, where it says:

While this could be interpreted as the Goddess Switch, it's doesn't actually say that.

I am getting my info from this link: Goddess Switch

I don't think this source is correct, but it is out there.

3 hours ago, David Scott said:

Where did you find that?

The Goddess Switch was with two Earth Goddesses (GtG 352) and happened in Slontos, causing famine in Esrolia.

We don't actually have any more details than that, likely because it all disappeared under the waves.

Yes, that is what I thought, but there is another version kicking around on Glorantha Wiki

1 hour ago, jajagappa said:

Yelmalio is one of Ernalda's husband-protectors.  It's Yelm, not Yelmalio, that has issues with Ernalda.

It seems pretty odd that Yelmalio is dating his Dad's ex-wife, just saying.

4 hours ago, Joerg said:

Barntar is by his myths a cattle man, the tamer of the bull, and thus a freeman/carl rather than a semifree cottar.

This is unequivocally correct, and thx, I forgot.

On 7/4/2022 at 5:01 AM, Godlearner said:

I am setting up a village, in my campaign, with primary worship bring those of Orlanth, Ernalda, Barntar, Grain Godess.

To me it seems that there is a lot of overlap between these four cults, so please help me strainten things out. Who would worship each deity? 

Okay, so Barntar is a cottar deity, and is a Thunder Brother, and so can be seen as a sub-cult of Orlanth.  Barntar is followed by men who are dedicating their lives to the cultivation of cereals, rather than war or leadership roles.

The local grain goddess is a sub-cult of Ernalda, unless for some reason Ernalda isn't locally venerated, such as in a place where Yelmalio holds sway and considers Ernalda a slattern.

Otherwise Orlanth and Ernalda are the primary male and female deities in most Orlanthi villages.

You should also consider deities like Heler, Voriof, and Uralda if we are getting agricultural.  Not every clan can manage a shrine to them, but herds are super-important.

On 7/2/2022 at 6:16 AM, Erol of Backford said:

So the PC's come across an abandoned temple. It happens to be of one of their gods. It has bound spirits. Its a shame to leave said spirit where it is all lonesome and sad. They are Rune Lords or Rune Priests (as required to enter) how would one go about either moving/relocating a temple? In lieu of leaving any bound spirits how would they be moved? Would Command Cult Spirit allow a PC to transfer a bound spirit to another object?

Just wanting to sort out the mechanics of it all. Thanks in advance!

I think the most likely scenario for a spirit to remain in an abandoned temple is if the structure was sacked during a military take-over and the local population were "moved on", either as slaves, or simply driven off their land.  Of course there would be abandoned temples in Dragon Pass that would date back to the EWF period because of the True Golden Horde and the Dragonkill.  As to moving spirits on, it might be more interesting if they became a source of an Allied Spirit for a newly minted Rune Priest or Rune Lord.  Otherwise, I would assume that a ritual de-consecration would serve to free the spirits, but might not help them find their way back to their deity without a bit more help potentially.  Command Cult Spirit would also definitely work imo.

15 hours ago, Jeff said:

Squaa is a pseudo cereal grain like amaranth, buckwheat, or quinoa.

So Squaa is capable of being baked into a bread, and likely looks like a fluffy mini-popcorn like perhaps a bit like cous cous?

8 hours ago, soltakss said:

Because life is too short.

Your life may vary, of course.

I plan to live a good long while.  I also like to add regional details into my Glorantha, rather than homogenizing everything down to a lowest common denominator like a God Learner.

On 7/4/2022 at 3:03 PM, FlamingCatOfDeath said:

But there is a more fundamental test which is going into the godsworld and trying to identify the two gods together. That is how they made grandfather mortal and the rest of their composite deities: identification. The issue is that when their models were incorrect in regards to the two earth goddesses they refused to revise their models. The great sin of the godlearners was not the act of making models, it was refusing to revise their models when confronted with conflicting evidence.

We don't know exactly what the error was.  Apparently what I had read earlier about the switch involving grain goddesses has been retconned and now involves the interchangeability of Dendara and Ernalda.  I don't buy it, and that won't be in my Glorantha.

6 hours ago, Exubae said:

I remember a fanzine article that named Surio as the aspect of Yelmalio worshipped by the Ostrich folk, not sure if this was an 'official' article or just fan written though. Memory is not what it was but the title 'Many Suns comes to mind'.

 

3 hours ago, David Scott said:

That was in Codex #3 (1995) Lies With Truth, or more ruminations on the nature of the Sun God and Truth after reading the glorious ReAscent of Yelm, by Martin Crim. It had other names for Yelmalio too, all by the author.

 

Thanks for the info gentlefolk.  I have access to both Codex#3 and the Glorious Reascent.  Having reviewed the article in Codex #3 Martin Crim identifies the Ratite/Riskest Empire aviary rider god Veng by name and suggests the name "Khim" for their Yelmalio, not Surio, as suggested. I am inclined to think that if that is the precedent, and the only reference in any literature alluding to the name of the Ostrich Yelmalio, why not call him Khim?

21 hours ago, jajagappa said:

Yes, I think you could align the part (spirit) of the Earth that did not die, or was attuned to or part of the Spirit World, as a shamanic fetch that inhabited the Earth while the goddesses slept.  But would that change anything about Serdrodosa's nemesis?

It might be that the challenge for Serdrodosa was to escape her Nemesis rather than destroy it, given that Karjakan is eventually killed by Kolat.  Swapping places might play a role in that?

2 hours ago, JRE said:

"A Tale to Tell" continues Muriah's history beyond Borderlands. It was first published (for RQ3) in White Dwarf 85 in 1987, and then included, with some changes, in Shadows in the Borderlands.

Much obliged for not making me chase this up. 👍😅

On 7/4/2022 at 3:45 PM, French Desperate WindChild said:

big issue if he is a star bear, sandals should not be enough

To fill his belly?  Likely not, I agree.

1 hour ago, Jeff said:

The Ostrich People number about 1,000 individuals, so let's assume about 650 are initiates of a cult. They revere Ostrich Mother, Waha, Foundchild, and Yelmalio. But these cults are tiny:

Ostrich Mother - 250 members. That's a minor temple.

Waha -160 members. That's a minor temple if they really try. Otherwise it is a shrine.

Foundchild - 80 members. A shrine.

Yelmalio - 70 members. Probably not even a shrine. They end up going somewhere else for their main ceremonies. 

Remember that the Ostrich leadership can pay for lay memberships to make up the numbers for small cults that are important to the clan or tribe.  It's a very useful work-around.

As to the Ostrich tribe members having to traverse Prax on a seasonal basis to get to Sun County for worship, I think that is less likely than them recruiting "Yelmalio" cultists from other "friendly" clans of other tribes to make up their numbers.

I always imagined the Ostrich version of "Yelmalio" to be more of an eccentric semi-shamanic plains warrior society with weird ancient roots to the Ratite Empire rather than anything approaching a typical Sun Dome hoplite shrine anyhow.

On 6/30/2022 at 8:47 AM, Akhôrahil said:

I don’t think it’s wrong for any elemental diety to have an Elemental spell for that element.

Dark Walk should work balance-wise - it’s a great spell, but Odayla isn’t exactly overpowered - but doesn’t have an obvious myth to explain it.

Because Ernalda was off visiting Asrelia, Orlanth went out carousing with Yinkin and Mastakos .  As he wanted to do as he pleased and didn't want to get in trouble, he took the sandals of darkness.  After a night on the tiles at Minlister's, Orlanth crawled home drunk and went to bed, but his sandals were muddy so he left them on the back doorstep vowing to clean them the following morning.  Odayla however had been out hunting that night unsuccessfully and he found Ernalda wasn't home and there was nothing to eat, so he set about rooting through the rubbish for scraps because he was ravenous.  Then he saw the sandals.  Odayla was so  hungry he ate them because they were leather and smelled gamey, like the feet of a troll witch.  Orlanth awoke with a terrible headache and went outside and found his muddy sandals missing and his son Odalya comatose, with mud on his mouth, lying more or less where the sandals had been.  Taking his lariat and stick, Orlanth bound Odayla in his sleep and then whalloped him repeatedly for his theft.  The sandals didn't agree with Odayla's digestion, and the rude awakening brought on a round of terrible nausea, and he puked up the sandals, but thereafter found that if he took the form of a black bear, that he was far better at sneaking about in the shadows than before. 🤮😝👍

On 6/30/2022 at 5:25 PM, Jeff said:

Odayla doesn't have Darkwalk. He's a bear, not a troll. 

But is he a black bear?  

On 12/20/2019 at 8:30 AM, jajagappa said:

And no.

Hmm...  There are 3 cults that offer gifts and geases.  They are Humakt, Yelmalio, and Thanatar, and they all have Truth Runes.

I would suggest that other cults may have gifts and geases but that they only apply to Rune Levels, but these Truth Rune cults offer some limited form of G/G to their initiates due to their truth rune affiliations, which likely have some sort of oath based power.  Honestly, who knows.

15 hours ago, radmonger said:

Just as Orlanthi use the word 'all' to mean 85%, they use the word 'same' to mean 'mostly the same'. Anything connected and deeply similar will do.

As I understand it, two gods being the 'same' at the RQ rules level means only:

- if  you can participate in worship ceremonies of the second god, then you can regain RP you learnt in the first. This can come be being a lay member, guest, or even ritual enemy/sacrifice. The latter tends to led to particularly dramatic outcomes. 

- if you are accepted as an initiate in both cults (which almost certainly requires passing the initiation test twice, unless the cults have a formal arrangement), then spells learnt at one can be cast using RP gained at another. Second Sight reveals that you have a single RP pool for the both masks of the god, not two pools. 

For two gods that are not the same, neither is true. But those are individual-level effects. The results of whole societies converting, or otherwise changing the masks they worship,  are different.

In broad strokes I agree with what you are saying.  There are problems though.  Specifically there is the issue of politics, because in Far Point the Elmal/Yelmalio fight has become a rallying point for the resistance to support their Elmal cult and their culture against Lunar Yelmalio imperialism.  Also, if you worship Yelmalio even once your fire powers "drop off" according to Far Pointers, which is why the Elmali call him Yu-Nuk the None-sun. 

Again politically there is the issue of seniority.  Will Sun Domers be prepared to bend the knee in an Ostrich Little Sun ceremony?  Will Teshnan Somash followers be happy to let Sun Domers tell them that their Teshnan robes are effeminate and break the Tharkantus teaching against dressing as a woman?  There is no Pope of Yelmalio; no central authority to establish a pecking order, and this leads to slights, real and imagined, which evolve into disputes and become the focus for the human (sentient?) propensity to indulge in the narcissism of small differences.  This is what made Monrogh so important; he was a unifying factor amongst the disparate "Little Sun" cults that otherwise would never have recognized that they followed the same deity.  This is why Monrogh was a hero.  Only a hero could manage something like that.

Of course the other issue is that of subcults and associated cults.  Regional deities will have attachments that other "Little Suns" do not.  For example, Elmali hold that Elmal gets the spell Cats Eye from his association with Yinkin who taught him how to hunt in the dark, and that Yelmalio only has the spell because of the prior association with Elmal.  Similarly, you could hardly argue that Elmali have any association with the Praxian Unicorn rider star goddess Yelorna, but the Tharkantus followers of Mo Baustra most certainly will.  Then there is the issue that Elmal never fought on the Hill of Gold and thus never lost his fire, while Yelmalio certainly did. 

Regions matter in Glorantha, and there is a reason why.  Glorantha has an interesting issue with time, because Glorantha was once not subject to time.  Now we know that Time and Space are inextricably linked, and if you remove Time you only have Space.  This means that the maximum extent of a deity's mythic reach has a geographic boundary, wherein all their myths happened effectively simultaneously and without a system of temporal causality being imposed on them.  Now, the God Learners likely understood this and were thus able to manipulate myths, likely using a system of matrix equations that allowed them to map the God Plane's acausal nature.  Now the God Learners did a lot of unifying of disparate deities into single myth systems and thus single deities, but local variations still exist.  This may lead to situations where a particular clan gains access to a hero quest for a deity that other clans don't possess because of their location.  This also means that their version of the deity is slightly different to that of other peoples'.  What isn't clear is at what point your local deity is sufficiently different that it is no longer the same deity.  

I hope you covered logistics.  Logistics puts the practical in Practical Ancient Warfare.

On 7/1/2022 at 11:28 AM, jajagappa said:

2) Serdrodosa/Earth Witch is the Earth spirit which did not sleep/go to the Underworld

But fetches are often called upon to occupy the bodies of their shaman. Perhaps the meaning is allegorical and is actually a reference to this shamanic feat?

On 7/2/2022 at 5:19 AM, Erol of Backford said:

Plot twists anyone?

 

You are seriously hoping to rehabilitate Muriah?  Arroin's blood costs 250,000L.  Nobody is going to spend anything close to that to "save" Muriah.  She's a murderous criminal, and staking her our over an ants nets while covered in honey is too good for her and too mean to the ants.  Everyone in the region knows she's a Malia worshipper too.  I can't even see Halcyon Var Enkorth while Governor of Prax issuing a pardon for her if he were paid fat stacks of cash by way of a bribe, as even the eternally grasping Halcyon would know that it would cause outrage and the Chalana Arroys would leave New Pavis again in protest if he did.  If your players try this nonsense, send in the Stormbulls to apply severe discipline upon them for supporting chaos.  Muriah has no desire to rehabilitate, and actually wants to kill many more people.  White Dwarf Magazine actually wrote a follow on adventure called "The Trail of Muriah" about hunting her into the uplands of Vulture Country imsmc.

42 minutes ago, Manunancy said:

In my opinion, some mythical oddities comes from Arachne Solara's nets - as she pulled the bits and parts of the world together, some anihilated mytholgocial bits were replaced with similar bits surviving from mostly destroyed myths. So even after the Compromise and with time going, there's still some frankenstein-style stitching to be found if you look closely enough.

I think if we are talking about Frankenstein and stitching of mythology we need look no further than the God Learners and their vandalism of the mythic landscape in the 2nd Age. YGMV.