Darius West

There is the issue that Orlanthi get cremated. Are their ashes kept? I can see other cults getting buried or even put in tombs. it is a bit hard to have a royal tomb when the the Kings can be stored in a large ash tray.

Is it cleared for release?

This was quite likely the best outcome for all concerned. The Carmanian doesn't want the opprobrium of a defeat, and the Humakti doesn't want to be crucified. A promise among honorable warriors is pretty binding, especially if everyone's face is saved.

I have things to contribute, but I think I should PM them for "clearance" first. 😬

Adelaide, Alberta, Alexandria, Annapolis (Maryland), Augusta, Athens, Aurora, Beatrice, British Virgin Islands, Cape Ann, Carolina, Catalina, Charlotte, the list goes on. There are loads of places named after women IRL, even Spanish names. Why is Ramona so funny?🤔

Wheat means bread. Jungles generally means high biodiversity, and that means spices, as well as plenty of fruit and mushrooms. You mention squash and beans, and I agree, but would add sweet potato, coconuts, and maybe ordinary potato too (likely introduced via Godlearners). There is the possibility of other grains too. Caladraland also has a long coast which means fish in abundance, traded from the merfolk in those regions, but that would not go inland. What I don't see much evidence of is lamb and cattle. I would imagine that Caladraland cuisine would be something like Mexican, Thai or Vietnamese cuisines, but where the rice or maize starch component is replaced with wheat, bread, and potentially potatoes. I would expect a lot of highly spiced dishes which are good for warding off internal parasites, and as medicines. Hot foods go with hot climates. I would expect potentially expect thick goulash-like noodles, a variety of breads, and likely meat and vegies in wraps. Hot weather makes food storage difficult, so the problem will likely be solved by animals being slaughtered, butchered, cooked and distributed on the same day across a whole village. The main preservative will be salt, but potentially common spices can be substituted, when they could work in that role. If you have a bean culture, you may well have soybeans, and soy sauce, or something equivalent. There is also the potential to cook by wrapping the meal in large leaves and burying it in hot volcanic ground. I would imagine there would be plenty of hot spicy soups with meat, eggs, mushrooms, fresh herbs and noodles. While the Caladralanders likely have beans that could provide cooking oil, this is likely something they will trade for, as they won't have the technology to extract it. Daily lunch will likely be something akin to a burrito. Breakfast is likely to be a porridge with fruit. They will likely have some potent local hooches, based on fermenting local fruit and even beans. Bean alcohol would be like a whisky that makes you fart like a bugle. Given the high spice foods, the taco bell effect may find foreigners "disgracing" themselves with this in combination with bean whiskey. Invariably, Caladraland's wealthiest cuisine will be influenced by Esrolian cuisine. It is possible that reusable cans have been purchased from the dwarves, that can be boiled and filled for longer storage.

I disagree with this point. The Sun Domers are on the opposite side of Prax, and are the stay-at-home hoplite kind of Yelmalios. Do they even have a mobile cavalry force? In fact the Sun Domers of Sartar are closer.

Are Wolf Pirates the Sea People of the Bronze Age Collapse for Glorantha?

It's still bestiality. Ask Paula Abdul and the song that killed her career.

Good answers. As to the other issue. What do people think about the Death that Trickster and Humakt found in the Underworld? After a fashion it is part of Kargan Tor. Did he put it there, to protect the world from the excesses of his power perhaps? What are the origins of this "new toy"? Is anything written about that? Opinions?

Does anyone else find Kargan Tor to be a confusing deity? I mean, he was the god of Death before Humakt. The problem was, he was a god of death when there sort-of was no death. I mean, people fought, and I suppose they were knocked out if they were defeated, but got up again after a bit of a sleep or something. Does that mean Kargan Tor was a god of violence, pain, and sleeping? What form did death take during the age when Kargan Tor held/was the death rune? Also, was Kargan Tor the death rune, or was he somehow responsible for hiding the item in the underworld somehow? At first I thought the whole idea of a Death God in a world without death was somewhat comical. It is a little hard to reconcile. If anyone else has had any thoughts on the matter of this obscure piece of Gloranthan lore I'd love to hear about it.

I recognize this is a very valid question. Especially with consideration to mounts. I'm not sure that a mount that loses the use of its legs will do anything other than fall over and scream in pain.

Or alternately go to your Chalana Arroy Healer and get a regrow limb spell cast on you.

I love this too, especially the last line. 😂

As to what Mostali will trade. I think Mostali WILL trade for human food. They will then take that lovely produce and grind it into a nutritious gray paste, then inject it in calorie measured doses into cans. It tastes something like vomit, because they add "digestive accelerators" and preservatives to it. Humans CAN eat it, they just don't want to. I think Mostali will trade for livestock and beasts of burden. For all their technical achievements, I don't see many trains, so all those animals will be needed for carrying things around. Mostali will happily trade for scrap metal, provided the price is right i.e. lower than their own finished goods. Mostali will trade for timber, even if they don't need it due to their hatred for all things Aldryami. Mostali will trade for trollish weapons and armour, in order to coax humans to kill trolls. Mostali will trade for regulation sized barrels, sacks, crates and other storage containers, depending on quality. Mostali don't make much rope. It's not that they can't, they just don't. They need it and will trade for it. Similarly Mostali don't make much fabric and will trade for that too. Mostali like to trade for alcohol. They refine, concentrate and remove the alcohol for alchemical purposes, and drink the remaining juice. Mostali don't have great carpenters, and so offering to create furniture for them is a good bet, provided they are clear about their specifications in human terms.

I have always assumed Mostali were really Flat Effect deadpan, technical, numerical, monotone.

Agreed. That is how I have handled such problems when they emerge. Thus far I haven't had players try to invade the Castle of Lead to enter the Underworld. I'll cross that bridge if I ever come to it.

Lots of people. Yelm, Humakt, Trickster, Rufelza, just to name a few. Orlanth completely admits that killing Yelm was wrong, and even fixes the problem.

I've read both in different places. The synthesis being that the basement of the Castle of Lead is in the Underworld.

The fact is, the Orlanthi are a better choice for player character adventurers than Solar Pantheists. Orlanthi are raised with a sense of agency. Solar Pantheists are raised with a sense of the chain of command, and who they take orders from. Lunars however are taught "An ye love Moonson, do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the law. Love is the law. Love under Moonson. Moonson is watching you". As for Orlanth being a Mary Sue, whoever said that doesn't know what a Mary Sue is. By definitions, your Mary Sue is a character who starts out with no flaws and all the benefits and is always right, and always succeeds. Orlanth is none of those things. Orlanth fails, and gets defeated, but perseveres against the odds. Orlanth is the only god who ever admits he did something wrong too. As for people sneering at Argrath, I prefer him to Moonson's thousand chaos loving faces, even though Argrath remains an enigma. Real geniuses are often enigmas.

I have a similar story about a family friend who went to a toilet in Calcutta on a hill. Huge squealing and excited pigs slammed into the cyclone wire fence as he passed. When he got to the top, he realized it was a long drop, and the pigs were down there leaping and snapping below him for the "prize". Suffice to say, he "feared for his sporrin". Not quite the same as your friend's "glory hole" experience. Some say that the Aldryami have a similar outlook... But those who speak such are tricksters, surely?

I'm glad you feel that way. On the other hand, I suppose that depends on whether you think Kyger Litor actually lives in the Castle of lead or not. It is my understanding that deities are in a state of torpor most of the time. I am glad you like the "divine stranger at the hearth" idea, but it is undeniable that the Great Compromise will change that dynamic from the way hospitality was managed on Earth. I actually like Bohemond's reasoning, and the idea that this "divine stranger" is something that is alien to Glorantha because of the Compromise. It makes both worlds more consistent and unique imo. The Gloranthans can still have heroquesters showing up in place of the gods, and inhabited by the gods. As one of the meanest tricks you can pull on a heroquester is to remind them that they aren't actually their deity (such that if you are persuasive enough they will fail on the spot), so in that sense they embody the god and are the divine visitor, but metaphorically, and yet also in reality, as they are acting out the archetype's story. I'm sure, given time we could cobble together a theological justification for how a God can show up in disguise to someone's door, but I think when we uncover a philosophical "hard limit" like this, it is more interesting to uphold it. I am arguing metaphorically "in favor of gravity". Limits are good. Flying all the time makes your legs weak.

In terms of his personality, the first thing to remember is that Argrath is a military genius. He is slow to show his hand, and normally has a series of tricks in reserve for when things don't go his way. Argrath is intensely intelligent, and can read a battlefield or a room with ease. Argrath is illuminated, and that means that he is able to see opportunity in the sort of calamity that would drive everyone else to despair. His illumination also makes him seem mercurial. Argrath is given to the awkward pause, and will stand observing his underlings until they start talking again out of sheer nervousness, often blurting out the truth. Argrath has made an in-depth study of how the Lunar administration operates, and has a fine sense of what they do well, and what they do poorly, and what he can copy, and what he must change. Argrath has been leading warriors for a long time, but he is aware that logistics are every bit as important as actual combat. He understands the value of bureaucrats and muleteers. Argrath is also extremely well versed in the lore o Glorantha. Yes, he is an opportunist, but that is born of being hounded by Lunar assassins, enslaved by Praxians, murdered by Harrek, and betrayed by Sartarites for coin. Argrath would not be alive if he weren't a gifted student of human nature. It is also worth pointing out that Argrath may well be an initiate of a great many cults, due to his illumination. Storm Bull, Trickster, and Humakt are obvious choices, as well as Nysalor, apart from the obvious Orlanth. Argrath is always interested in intrigues and gossip, and is likely bisexual. Argrath considers loyalty to him as the most precious currency. He is also sufficiently wise and self-serving to know to reward his followers with fresh problems. Does he have a region that is giving him trouble? Parcel it out to a successful commander as a "reward".

Great pictures, but you seem to have ignored the fact that the streets of Dykene, Trilus and Elkoi run thick with pig poop.

As to why the Solar Pantheon seems to suck, well, it isn't dynamic and it doesn't embrace change. If you don't change your tactics, you become predictable, and that makes you lose. Dara Happa is hidebound, and the person of the Emperor is really the only hero of the story. As with Yelm before his death and before the fall of the Spike, everything revolves around the ruler, and everyone else is barely a footnote. Not so in Orlanthi society where respect for the individual is paramount and "nobody can make you do anything". The other important thing about Peloria is that they embrace Empire and centralized authority, even if they are the ones being subjugated (for the most part). Yes, we can point to the Sun Dragon of the Second Age, who sat as emperor for a time, and against whom the Solar Worshippers rebelled, and we can point to Jannisor who fought the Lunars, but for the most part they just want the feeling of security they get from knowing there is an Emperor in charge. As for the Sky Gods being incredibly weak, I have to disagree. Fire Elementals are the best elementals without a doubt. Yelorna cultists come armed with a machinegun spell. Sunbolt is stronger than Thunderbolt. And frankly, impaling weapons do vastly more damage on an impale than slashing or bludgeoning weapons can generally hope to achieve. The Phalanx formation is devastating. I have pitted really well-geared and heavily experienced Humakti and Orlanthi Rune levels against a phalanx and they couldn't cope with 8 pike attacks per round, despite their iron armor and shield spells combined. The issue is that the Orlanthi embrace change. Orlanth shows up with technical surprises, "Wandering Sun, Jealous Uncle, I have a new toy, see it?". The Lunars also know the trick of technical surprises, and if anything, incorporate it into their worship even more than the Orlanthi, at least until Argrath comes along.