Darius West

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?

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.

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.

You can bet that the Yinkini are breaking them in, but not many are cool enough to make it as a permanent fixture with the Yinkini crowd. Most are ultimately of a more conventional moral fiber.

The "solitary cabin" thing is just because the neighbors always complain about the continuous and raucous sex noises at all hours of the day and night. It's difficult to venerate Lhankor Mhy when the neighbors are having howling orgasms in the next temple over. Point: You completely ignore the whole Yinkini promiscuity and heroic disregard for marriage. They are out there banging away like ZZ Deathlords in a cave full of uppity trollkin. They are at it like alley cats, because that is their god's teaching. Nobody joins Yinkin because of the hunting bonuses. There is only one reason you join Yinkin... SEX! SEX! SEX! I think Yinkin worshipped Uleria... Prove me wrong. 😝

It is certain that Glorantha needs more taxonomic mythology to account for some of the odd creatures out there. The way in which Maran Gor, Hykim and Mikyh and the Dragonewts tie together to produce Gloranthan dinosaurs is far from explained. We know that de-pathed dragonewts become dinosaurs (allegedly), somehow losing connection to their eggs, but it is not explained how this causes them to fall into the orbit of Maran Gor, and what her connection to dinosaurs really is. We probably need a specific topic to cover this too, assuming one doesn't already exist.

Now go and read about the Great Goddess Switch where the God Learners took 2 maize goddesses and interchanged their worship, believing them to be the same deity, but it turns out that while that was sort of true, it was also very false. You can call experimentation arrogance, but how can you know if a principle is true unless you test it? As to exploiting the world to one's own benefit, that includes literally every culture ever in Glorantha and Earth. For example, would we even consider conservation or ecology as ideas if we weren't aware that these models of sustainability weren't to our long term benefit? Would other cultures who try to maintain some notion of not over-using their resources do so if they didn't understand these acts were not to their benefit? I strongly doubt it. Cultures inevitably exploit the cosmos they find themselves in, and they have no choice but to do so. This is however a long way off the point of the topic of what Ostrich Riders call their mask of Yelmalio.

Not quite. They worship Tharkantus as Yelmalio, in the same way that the cult of Balazar is the worship of Balazar as Yelmalio. Yelmalio seems to have as many masks as Nyarlathotep, so many in fact that I am beginning to wonder if those chaos rumors aren't true.

I have since done some more looking into the origins of the Ostrich Riders and the info comes up with the Ratite Empire and the Riskesting Empire (we don't quite know if they were the same thing, or perhaps dynasties of the same Rinliddi affiliated avilry empire), and the god Veng, aka Ghevengus who is Row 1 Image 10 (Star 15) on the God's Wall near Raibanth. Given that the Riskesting Empire is pre-Time (existing in the Storm Age), and the fact we know the Ostrich Tribe have lived in Prax as Praxians since the beginning of Time, they are likely to have arrived as refugees like so many others and been rolled into the Praxian culture. I don't debate that Yamsur may well have been the original Ostrich war deity, but we just don't know. Another point that interests me is that the Pure Horse Tribe likely had dealings with the Ostriches, and we know the Pure Horse "Yelmalio" is called Jardan and like all the other Yelmalios is god of the Yellow Planet. I find the idea that we had the Mo Baustrans worshipping Tharkantus, the Pure Horse worshiping Jardan, and the Ostriches worshiping "someone" to be amusing, while the Praxians call the Yellow Planet "Sun Daughter". The same deity, likely known by 4 different names in 2nd Age Prax not to mention that Pavis had dealings with the Teshnans who may well call Yelmalio "Somash" at the same time.

That's how the God Learners get you. Theirs is the reductionist and lazy way. Maize Goddess A=Maize Goddess B, except it just ain't quite so.

Dig a bit deeper. Tharkantus is the name the people of Mo Baustra give their deity, not Yelmalio. Tharkantus is a Second Age subcult of Yelmalio, much like Balazar.

This was an especially in depth and interesting post Joerg, thanks. Obviously on Earth we know that saurians and avians are pretty close, so the moa-like demibirds could effectively be saurians and never avians. They have solid bones, not hollow avian after all, and that indicates to me that they were never fliers and were likely never meant to be. Too true. Fair enough. Can we say with certainty that demibirds existed prior to the EWF as dragonewt mounts? I mean, what if they are recent? Yes. This is where things get interesting. I had bumped into this in the Fortunate Succession, but it all gets very interesting when you chase down this rabbit hole. You meet the augner clan of Esrolia, the god Veng aka Ghevengus who created avilry (avian cavalry), the Ostriches and of course the Riskesting Empire. The info you have provided is all solid. Of course how you wind up with Dragonewt Avilry based on thick boned moas (demibirds)? As an aside, moas incidentally have bones like demibirds, but obviously evolved from avians. Did the Dragonewts learn avilry from the Ratite/Riskesting Empire? Presently we don't know. It seems fair to suppose that this is likely the best fit of when the Dragonewts might have learned avilry though.

So, we know that Demibirds are not found in the wilds. They have solid bones and only exist the property of the Dragonewts, and are thus unlike any other bird in Glorantha. Are they related to the Bird Goddess known as Verk (p8 Fortunate Succession)? Are Demibirds somehow tied into the Dragonewt path? When you think about it, they're pretty mysterious. Does anyone have a clue as to how demibirds emerged in Glorantha? If the answer is that we know nothing solid, let's propose some answers in case someone else starts asking this question.

Coming from anyone else I'd say no, TGL. You, however, are the right person to ask that question. 😄

I must disagree. Not about Belvani being a weasel, but about Argrath's attitude to New Pavis and Prax. Argrath is many things but he isn't lazy or disinterested. New Pavis is Argrath's first stronghold and primary support base in what may (in 1625-6) turn out to be an unsuccessful sally into Dragon Pass. It is from new Pavis that Argrath gathers the forces of Prax and the region to his White Bull cause. As his starting stronghold, Argrath will go to great lengths to build a lean mean fighting machine out of New Pavis, much like every successful faction does with its first base. Yes, there are greater prizes to be won, but without a strong military and economic foundation Argrath will have nowhere to turn in case of an emergency. When Argrath's forces are routed by Cwim, he is able to rapidly replenish the losses and try again. You can't do this without a solid organizational foundation. Much later in his career Argrath is driven back to New Pavis, and is able to win back everything he lost. You can't do that without having laid down a strong administrative base, a good economy, and a funnel for those resources into your war effort. I think New Pavis is going to become the "Arsenal of Prax" under Argrath.

But the Ostrich riders have been in Prax since before "Yelmalio" historically came into the region. What do they call this deity? Remember that Yelmalio is only called Yelmalio after Monrogh forms the cult from Elmal worshippers in 1565 after the recovery of the Antesmia statue imsmc. It is thus extremely unlikely that the Ostrich riders call their light deity Yelmalio.

So who converted the Ostriches to Yelmalio ? Remember that Yelmalio is a relatively recent advent in Dragon Pass, brought in by Monrogh to supplant Elmal, and thus break the subservience of Dragon Pass solar worshipers to the Orlanth Pantheon. The so-called Yelmalios of Mo Baustra (Sun County) actually follow Tharkantus, and likely only started calling their deity Yelmalio due to the need to legitimize themselves with the Lunars. The Aldryami by comparison worship the Light in the Hills, not Yelmalio, and the Balazarings follow Balazar. Yes, these deities may be Sons of the Sun, and they may have the similar mechanics to Yelmalio, but to say they are the same deity is God Learnerism. Just because two deities seem to have similar powers and a similar mythology doesn't mean they are the same deity. If you go down that line of reasoning you will wind up with the Goddess-Swap experiment, and subsequent catastrophes.

You mis-understand... Ship Handling isn't a skill so much as a perversion... 😝

Argrath literally killed all the Gods, on purpose, to usher in an age of humans. He is also the actual reincarnation of Arkat. He's unequivocally a superhero by the end imo.

£10 is a small price to pay to secure one's immortal soul. Perhaps I could interest you in a certain bridge project in the village of Lynbrook while you are here? 😉

One of the biggest hassles at Sacred Time is travelling during Storm Season to get home for the ceremonies. The roads are packed, and often troubled by weather related problems. Inns will be full up, and even floor space will be at a premium. Think Xmas or Chinese New Year. Then you finally arrive and have to contend with the family dinner table "God's War"...

So here's a question that has been much on my mind of late. What version of Yelmalio do the Ostrich tribe of Prax worship? There are obviously umpteen versions of Yelmalio, each with a different name and regional history, but what version do the Ostrich people follow? What do they call their Yelmalio? Obviously their version is nothing like the version followed in Sun County, as the pygmies haven't chosen to mass ranks of hoplites, but will more likely follow an Ostrich-Kuschile version of the god, more in keeping with their needs and traditions. Thoughts?

My party calls that a "power spanking".

Still... Careless... 🙂

*Snortlaugh* Now this is a story that should be epic in the retelling. How did someone get their Allied Spirit captured?