Darius West

Nochet is a hotbed of Lanbril activity according to what I have read, with multiple competing Lanbril families controlling different districts, and the cult grows as the city grows. They operate very much like the armed night gangs of ancient Rome. No doubt there are other criminal organizations in such a large population, but Nochet is not well organized, and such law as there is will be mercenary warriors paid for by the matriarchs of the noble families, who are unlikely to be impartial arbiters of the law.

I hate to say it, but the Man Rune conspiracy may well mean that Pavis was closer to the latter than the former. It suggests that he was part of an experiment to recreate a person of the primal man-rune incorporating all the Elder man-rune races into one person. The man-rune conspiracy involves the shadowy parents of Pavis, who were allegedly of Godlearner stock hiding out in Adari during the Second Age after the fall of Robcradle. They were hooked into the lost lore of Prax, and were interested in Genert's Garden, and worked to "build-a-brat" Pavis into a Green Age expression of the man rune, from before there were properly defined races. This in turn would open certain ritual opportunities to recreate the Green Age, which sort-of happened when Pavis built his city.

Actually, not really. Why would they need to cure their mother twice? These aren't teenagers with social prospects, they're likely 10 y/o or thereabouts. They need to pool their resources to achieve anything much.

There are places where people never see the Sun such as Far Point where it rains continuously due to the Skyfall Lake weather system (?). There it is Elmal who is the Sun, who is witnessed as the Light in the Hills.

This is a great example of how to teach mythology to kids. A really well produced website. I am also a fan of the sheer ghastliness of the Aztec pantheon regardless. One of the few true horror religions.

It is a staple from my Prax notes. In other words, I made it up. You're right, of course, but that does make Pavis' half-elven status even odder. I mean we all know about the Green Age Man Rune conspiracy of the Godlearners in Prax which produced him, but...

It is fought outside Bagnot, and Harrek manages to kill Jar-Eel, but not permanently.

So... These elves... Do they eat poop? 🤔 I only ask because of their strange behavior after we ate near their camp. They kept following us around with "the shovel" and handfuls of pre-picked leaves of Old Friend (the wiping leaf). Is this the origin of the old Gloranthan saying "never kiss an elf?", and why half-elves are so rare? For the record: Old Friend This is a perennial and fast growing weed of Glorantha, having travelled the world, likely with the God Learners on their ships, if not traded far and wide by Issaries merchants in the First Age. Old Friend has a soft, broad downy leaf that is fibrous and doesn’t tear easily. The down of the leaf is actually its seeds. Old Friend is used for wiping bottoms, and in the process of doing so, its seeds get the nutrients it needs to grow more Old Friend. Old Friend does need more water than is commonly available in Prax, and hence it is mainly found growing at Oases, or the banks of rivers, and seasonal rivers. As a water-rich plant, grazing animals like to eat Old Friend’s succulent leaves, and propagate it in their dung. If picked and allowed to dry, Old Friend can be burned to produce a very smoky fire, which sometimes has signaling value. The down of Old Friend can be scraped and collected in a laborious process that produces a pinch of material per leaf, and can be used to season with a mild taste which has a gentle nutty bittersweet flavor, with hints of pepper, citrus and anise. The leaf itself is safe for humans to consume but has little to no taste, and has very little nutritional value, but has plenty of water content. Praxians are not at all squeamish about eating a plant normally reserved for wiping bottoms, especially if they are thirsty.

I believe there are chaotic Yuan To snake-men native to Kralorela.

I have done this at least 3 times in my life. Step 1. You need to establish trust and understanding with your players and their expectations. You think you need to explain Glorantha to them, but that is impossible, so don't do that. Instead explain that you are going to teach them the game by letting them grow up in Glorantha and learn the game by interacting with the world. Don't be afraid to let them read some source material. Step 2. Raise your players as good Orlanthi. That is... Run some scenarios set in a standard Orlanthi setting, with them as kids initially. Make these adventures easy and childish, but memorable. Then run their initiation into adulthood as a scenario. Then have them run into Lunar trouble in some form. If they are clever they don't get exiled as outlaws. Don't push them into combat stories, or encourage combat. Combat is a product of role-playing context. If there is no good political and contextual reason to get into a fight, then players need to understand that fighting for its own sake isn't desirable. Step 3. There are plenty or resources regarding the views of the various cults, so have them roleplay encounters with the priests of the deities they are interested in. As GM you play the priest and answer the questions they have a la "Staves of the Storm Priest" etc. Step 4. Build a consistent reality with re-occurring NPCs whom the characters can have meaningful interactions with on a regular basis. Players turn into murder hoboes when they don't value NPCs lives. Give them friends and family who are useful and care about them and matter. This will potentially raise the emotional stakes of the game and help the players invest in the story and the causes become motivations in the story. Let the players choose their path, but remind them that they have friends and family who will judge those choices. Yes they can join the Seven Mothers, but their parents may well disown them, for example. Step 5. Set the characters up with the training they need to become decent examples of their cult and society, give them the grounding in the world they need by teaching thru play, and then "chuck them out of the nest". The simplest example of this is having them need to seek safety in New Pavis and begin the adventurer lifestyle there, but as rounded characters with a lived/played back story.

I would not be so absolute on this matter. There is nothing in the Yelm cult that suggests that an initiate of Yelm may have no other cult.

Heh. Nice thought. You raise a separate point entirely imo. The nexus between Alchemy and Sorcery, as well as how they relate to Divine magic. Is there a sorcery spell that aids and protects crops? I would be surprised if there wasn't. Can it be supplemented by alchemy? We just don't know, but it probably should be possible. Nitrogen fixing is a long term issue for agriculture. I understand that the Mesoamericans used to save and plant fish heads and fish bones with their maize to act as nitrogen fixers due to the chemical composition of the bones. Medievals used legume crops to fix nitrogen. Observations were made and methods employed even without a scientific basis.

Honestly, Sartarites have a huge impetus to repopulate after 1602, and every subsequent year. They had a huge reason to populate prior too, given the threat on the horizon. Ignoring that, they have a huge impetus to populate given the "axles over the next hill" want to take their land in stock standard Orlanthi territorial feuding. In a society where motherhood is revered, and social survival of the in-group depends on motherhood, please don't assume that women don't want to make that choice. That's a modern post-industrial thing and both anachronistic an inappropriate for Glorantha imo. Motherhood is not a boring or inferior life choice for women in Glorantha, and it carries social and religious power and importance. The bronze age is a "populate or perish" environment where motherhood is very important. Sure, in Orlanthi society there is the law "nobody can make you do anything", which means that human females in Orlanthi societies need not choose motherhood and can opt into pretty much any cult, and some do, but 85% (the orlanthi definition of All) women will likely join earth related cults like Ernalda to help them with farming and maternity, just like 85% (again All) of males will join Orlanth or the Thunder Brothers such as Barntar. At least that is my take on matters, but I think it is born out by the material.

Based on those population densities we must assume that the rural population is very high. Yes, magic can mitigate these requirements a little in terms of keeping urban populations supplied, but not unreasonably as the magic only protects the crop; it doesn't multiply it. You are denigrating motherhood, whether you accept the fact or not. Do you seriously think that a society like Esrolia gets as large as it is because women would rather be filling other roles? Motherhood is the social glue of Orlanthi society, and Ernaldan society too. Raising a large family is useful for many reasons, and the legal institutions relating to marriage exist to protect mothers and children and their inheritance rights, as males are warriors and thus disposable. This is not a society where most women want to travel or fight or spend their lives cooped up in a library or a workshop. Motherhood has immense dignity, and each live birth is a personal hero quest that adds to the viability of her family, her clan, her tribe, and her state. Ernalda is the epitome of this role, and you don't see the goddess eagerly running off to try her hand at killing broos, or learning calligraphy etc. We MUST count the border alterations caused by the Lunar occupation. The entire focus of Orlanthi identity has been dedicated to fighting the Lunars and losing. How can we not count that? Also we cannot be entirely certain about when Moonson gave Ethilrist his land, and we know that the Amber fields and Forthanland only become recognized as Yelmalio territory in 1579. The fall of Tarsh also saw the territory of that state subtract the land of the Exiles, the Bush range and Far Point from its previous holdings imsmc. I strongly disagree with this assessment. The pursuit of large families is a constant for every clan at all times, as children become the wealth and power of a family. Furthermore, danger is a proven aphrodisiac and war and hardship drives population booms when you look at demographic evidence irl. Personally I base my Argrath on Greg Stafford himself, and have always imagined him as Greg's character and reflecting Greg's personality if playing this very focused Orlanthi leader. I see Argrath as highly intelligent and innovative, mercurial, and highly political. Of course Argrath is also an illuminate, and so there is the temptation of power-hungry over-reach. All of this would no-doubt permeate his use of sex (I employ the term "use of sex" very deliberately as I am sure he would see it as another tool). That being said I think that your approach to Argrath works well JRE and I think agree with it.

I must disagree. Every bronze age society has a huge impetus to populate. Every child represents an extra pair of hands to bring in the harvest and engage in unpaid farm work until they achieve their majority, and possibly long after that if they want to inherit. This was one of the main population drivers of all agricultural societies and it is only in the post WW2 era that this has begun to change in the developed world, but it hasn't changed in the undeveloped world. High populations and high pop growth rate are also extremely necessary for any group that engage in regular warfare. Small groups get trampled by large groups. This "trampling" is how those who lack land are accommodated, they fight and win or lose and die. This is extremely relevant to Orlanthi tribes too, as their regular feuds are symptomatic of this process.

I disagree. Seriously look at how Esrolia functions. They are not strictly Orlanthi, but they are Orlanthi enough. The driving factor in population growth in the Bronze Age and in most agrarian ages subsequent was that having children was a source of free labor. Children equal wealth, assuming you have excess land to work. Motherhood is a means to power, because every child you bring into the world is another human being who is completely loyal to you, and whom you can barter into a politically advantageous marriage or work in the fields. You seem to think that small families are a virtue, but in this context they are not. There is no impetus for small families at all. Unmarried widows will barter for husbands, or will become matriarchs who hold the land they have gained in several marriages in trust for some of their children. The notion of an excess of single women ignores the fact that there are Hero Wars going on, and there are plenty of war cults that are eager to take female recruits, or will only take female recruits like BBG and Vinga. Mothers ARE the means of production and they own themselves.

But drugs wear off... we need to face the fact that Scrappy-Doo was the shark that Scooby jumped.

Correct... Let's just say there are options available and that is certainly one of them. On the other hand, Teelo Nori is all about running food relief and shelter for the poor. Medical aid is potentially available from them.

No Arthur, no Enchantment of Britain, no golden age, no Pendragon Game imo. You would be stuck in a nasty, ugly, brutal and short dark ages campaign. Do you fancy retooling Harnmaster for Britain?

Gondo's Herd Man Treats **. Standard Stall in the New Pavis Main Market. Gondo the Fearless (Male 39y/o from the Village of Maughry) is a tall, dark haired man with rather large eyes and a dark sense of humor, who enjoys selling his quasi-cannibalistic wares. He insists on offering any newcomer to Pavis a serve of his fried ladyfingers. He is good friends with the local Morokanths and certain Zorak Zoran trolls. For many people, mock pork is an odd and taboo food, and there are those who suspect that Gondo is an ogre, but in fact he an honest and philanthropic fellow who remains an initiate of Stormbull who is a very proficient brawler, though no longer an adventurer, due to old wounds and a young family. He lives in the village of Maughry, east south east of Pavis and is a reliable friend to those he gets to know, having stepped in to save people from being injured in riots and so forth.

Hmm... IDK. Frankly I don't think Uther is the problem here. Not entirely at least. After all, Merlin is the enabler for the whole sordid episode, and what happens is not so far removed from Merlin's own allegedly demonic conception. And yet, out the other end we get Arthur. Apparently sometimes two wrongs can make a right... Those pagan deities have a sick sense of humor imo.

I have a scenario which I have been writing where you play New Pavic kids in 1612. They are siblings and their daddy was melted defending the walls from the Lunars, while their mother has been struggling to make ends meet by taking in laundry and occasionally becoming a "proto-ulerian encounter" at night. The kids have jobs they need to do to help out, but they are low paying and exploitative. Then their mother takes ill and is bed-bound. The problem is that the Chalana Arroys have all fled to Horn Gate, so there is no easy solution. The kids have a series of difficult choices to make about how to save their mum.

Heh, I often play a Stormbull.

I am dobbing you in to the Stormbulls! That is straight up illuminism 🙂

Thanks for this rather expert clarification David. Half the reason I have raised this topic is because I am ill informed about it. Obviously you have put serious thought and research into the Twin Stars. I hope other interested parties read it and find it useful.