Darius West

Perhaps doubly so there, but true everywhere. Knowledge is power, and so LMs hoard it to maintain their power keep information that might be misused away from the unwise.

Thanks for the edit Scotty. My bad.

Lhankor Mhy is a greedy cult, and its members maintain individual private book collections, which will invariably contain sorcery grimoires other than the Torvald Fragments.

The whole purpose of Chalana's Oath was to stop wars; that is intrinsically political, and is based on a very specific value judgement that was not widely shared. If Chalana Arroys cannot be political, then why can they serve on Clan Rings and Tribal Rings? Why do CA temples have a hierarchy? Why did the Goddess herself make the political decision to become a Lightbringer, and not remain a good and faithful little Solar girl and STFU when the men are talking? A happy and well-ordered society with just laws is very much something that Chalana Arroy wants, as without these preconditions there can be no peace, and peace is her end-goal. Narrowing her down to a 'one-trick healing pony' is not doing her justice imo, and as the old saying goes, "without justice there can be no peace".

You've obviously never done bedpan duty or graveyard shifts. I would argue that they are soul destroying enough to deny you a seasonal POW gain.

Torvald was a hero of LM of the Second Age and he used the powers of knowledge given to him by his god to unlock the powers of sorcery, which he then transcribed so that other LMs could learn them. This led to Torvald's followers becoming effectively a sub-sect of LM, and for a while Belintar moved them to the Great Library in the City of Wonders in the third age. The spells are translated from the Eternal Book which was written by Lhankor Mhy the deity, though some portions were recovered using a device known as the Alien Combination machine. The Eternal Book was written by Lhankor Mhy but stolen by Zzabur.

Apple Lane / Rainbow Mounds spoilers ahead:

Lhankor Mhy gives sorcery as an option now in RQG, see page 298. The grimoire is called the Torvald Fragments and teaches Enhance Int, Identify Otherworld Entity, Geomancy, Logical Clarity, Reveal Rune, Solace of the Logical Mind, Speak to Mind and Total Recall (p389).

Hi Beorne, I draw your attention to RQG p201 "Use of Dodge and Parry against Missile Weapons". It specifically says that a character cannot parry a projectile weapon. It then draws our attention to RQG p219, which points out that a shield may be used to provide cover for a rider based on the table provided, and in accordance with the rules presented in the SoloQuest scenario.

I can sympathize, but I can't agree. After all, Chalana Arroy's cult teaches non-violent spirit magic so that the members can defend themselves. I think 'restoring order' can be formulated as "social healing", and catching a bandit without killing them might be akin to helping to cure the 'body politic'. Of course that isn't what happened the case I mentioned and the Gagarthi didn't so much fly as plummet. This is complex. I don't think that gods can automatically knows a character's intent, but I think that if someone else can divine the intent of another character, then a god can choose to pay attention to that too, or a divination of that nature couldn't work. A question of intent is entirely within the purview of what a divination can answer (I just checked). I can say without doubt that the CA in question sincerely believed that their Dismiss Magic spell would go off with enough time to spare to insure the Gagarthi couldn't fly away, but never stopped to consider that they might become airborne and fall. You might even say their intention was good but their execution was a fumble. I can see why the GM had the character cast from the cult, and I suspect the GM might have had a bit of a grudge against the player IRL, and it definitely "fell within the terms" of excommunication (see what I did there?), but if intent is the measure of these things, I don't think the killing was intentional at all... So really this falls in the category of malpractice imo. It was an accidental killing, no different from a fumble while they're on the operating table or accidentally poisoning someone with the wrong herb. Don't get me wrong, I definitely see a lot of graveyard shifts and bedpan duty in the initiate's future, but I'm not sure expulsion was fair.

Good intentions don't matter much to your starving peasants. No, I don't think Uther intended to rule over a catastrophic period either, but a really good leader is the one who fixes the problems, not the one who 'treads water' waiting for the storm to pass. William the Bastard however was 'the storm'.

Actually the matter was queried with the local Lawspeaker, who reviewed the matter and remonstrated with the local CA priestess, and it was found that the CA initiate Clarinda the Gentle was delinquent with her tithes, and with under-reporting her income by not declaring her adventure earnings for the last 3 years. Further investigation revealed that Clarinda had previously claimed donations to the temple that she had subsequently spent on her own training. As a result she was cast from the temple, and settled with the Poss clan of Lismelder who were looking to start another feud with their Colymar neighbors. Naturally they gave the delinquent Clarinda perpetual bedpan duty for being an ex-Colymar. Clarinda then started trying to resuscitate her reputation.

Strangely enough, we can actually refer to plenty of old records about harvests. I know what you mean though. The rules at present can cope with 1 crop per year AFAICT. And if we are going to allow the Lunars to bring in 3-4 crops a year of maize, will we also give them the nutritional problems associated with a maize diet's poverty in trace minerals? I am well aware of the whole Glorantha bison =/=Earth bison, Glorantha bronze =/= Earth bronze, but I don't like it. If it isn't a bison, why call it a bison? If it isn't maize, why call it maize? Given that we live in the age of the internet, when we can perform a "summon factual info" using a phone in a matter of seconds, why not use real world examples? All a GM has to say is "well that is how it is today, so let's tweak the stats down to accommodate the lack of X that they didn'thave/know at that tech level."

Orlanthi are a dueling culture. Insults are settled on a field of honor. Of course there is another way... If you are sent a donkey with a moon rune on its head as an insult, you rise to the challenge and send them back a mule (larger infertile donkey) with a truth rune on its behind and an illusion rune on its head.

Hmm... While this explains why most Malkioni have all lost their Brithini caste immortality, this information raises rather more questions that it answers I fear. Are we being told that the Talars worship St. Worlath, the Horali worship St. Humkt, and the Dronari worship St. Barnt and St. Nalda? Where does this mentioned Spirit and Rune magic come from? The Invisible God certainly doesn't provide it, so who does?

It is not so much that these cults teach sorcery, but rather that they don't care if members learn it. I personally have the Arroin subcult involved in sorcery using a grimoire called "The Xemelic Remedies"(Accelerate Healing, Mend Flesh), as they don't have access to Divine Magic, and have a more skill based approach to healing. Issaries may not have restrictions against sorcery but they also don't have a cult grimoire. I suspect that the term Meldek is generally used to describe Malkioni, who posed a threat to Orlanthi in the Second Age, and who have invaded the Heortlands, and thus pose an ongoing threat to the Orlanthi way of life. I suspect the term isn't used much in cities but is more of a xenophobic parochial term. Clearly what LM members do isn't meldekery because we know and trust them. As I have written elsewhere, I suspect that something a bit odd is going on... To open a new rune requires a successful ritual and the expenditure of a point of POW. This is akin to a self-initiation into the "worship" of a rune, much as when one forms a link to one's deity at initiation. The difference being that the link to a god is a lot more active, with the deity having expectations of the worshipper, and the worshipper potentially getting a lot more power channeled from their deity. The Sorcery Runes as deities have no egos, and aren't sentient; they expect nothing of their worshippers, but allow themselves to channel power that create certain magical effects when combined with other sorcery runes. Are these principles existing within the mind of only the Invisible God? Does Invisible Orlanth know them too? What about other deities? The correct question might be "does it matter?", as the sorcerer forms an intellectual connection to the runic principle, and the rest might be a bit of incidental mythologizing to explain to themselves what they did when they don't entirely know. Not only can sorcery be taught, it can also be learned from first principles by a detailed reading and experimentation with just a Grimoire. Anyone who knows sorcery can teach it. The only issue is that (RQG p384) that you only get INT-12 runes you may learn. Thus if you have an INT of 15 you will only have access to 3 Runes, and they may not be the same as those of a potential grimoire or teacher. This represents a hard limit on one's sorcery. On the up-side however, it is possible to make new spells (RQG p390), so if your grimoire doesn't seem very full, you can potentially research new magic, but beware that each new spell you keep in your head reduces your Free INT (another limit on sorcery, but less hard, as you can unmemorize spells to free up your Free INT).

In RQG the world is made of runes not atoms. Spirits have spirit runes in their make-up. Undead have undead runes in their make-up. It is these runes that Detect Spirit and Detect Undead can find. (Don't ask me how Detect Enemies works, I can only guess, but if anyone else has an answer, consider making a separate forum topic about it.) As to what constitutes undeath? Well, in Glorantha it seems to be about making dead bodies move around, and also have no POW. (It may be that what POW they do have has been turned into CON but that is only a guess.) This is true for skeletons, zombies, ghouls, vampires, and revenants. Spirits can possess a living person, but that doesn't make them undead. In fact within the Humakt temples of Glorantha, there will be many spirits of the Einherjar, who are dead Humakti returned in Ghost form to protect holy sites or serve as allied spirits for the cult. I hope that helps.

That is the very thing that the monopoly of violence exists to prevent by stripping local elites of the power to hand down summary justice, and instead placing that power in the hands of national institutions, under various forms of policy and oversight to avoid systemic abuses.

Amen LOL. Of course not everyone always has the financial liquidity to migrate, and not everyone has the survival skill to travel unequipped and un-provisioned. I tend to let CAs off easy, as if you can forage for healing herbs you should know a food plant when you see it imo. A great comment and a great example soltkass. I hadn't thought of the 3 laws being used this way, and I like the way you think. So how about this situation... A Chalana Arroy initiate sees a Gagarth worshipper getting ready to flee a crime by using telekinesis, and as this is the 'big bad', and nobody else can act, the CA lets rip with a 3pt divine Dispel Magic. The Gagarthi acted first, and is now 30 feet in the air, and they fall awkwardly (fumbled jump) and broke their pelvis due to the weight of the loot they were carrying, and died. The Chalana Arroy didn't anticipate the height the Gagarthi would get, or their fumble. Should the Chalana Arroy be excommunicated? This is a real example that happened in a game I saw back in the 1980s, and the GM had the healer chucked from the cult. I was only spectating and had no "dog in the ring", but found it an interesting 'test case'. Obviously anyone else who wants to chime in, the more the merrier. We have no clarification on this point. I would suggest a CA can self-harm without penalty, but the oath says "harm no living thing" and the CA is unequivocally a living thing. This just isn't covered anywhere, and I think it needs to be. Now you raise the issue, as a GM, I have seen a fair bit of hatred and jealousy towards Chalana Arroys from other players, (quite apart from when I played Malicia). Initially they love having someone with Heal 6 around to patch their limbs up, but that wanes over time, and the CA begins to look like a massive financial drain and a one trick pony who 'wet blankets' everything with their oath constraints or by declaring some enemy "under healer's protection". Their tendency to monopolize magic crystals has been a particular sticking point for some parties, but this is understandable imo. There are a lot of treasures that have no value to a CA, but they can always use more magic crystals, but then, everybody else needs them too. It is watching these incidents that actually gave me the idea for Malicia in the first place, especially when CAs try to charge the party for healing after the adventure, and after all the loot has been divided up. I just thought "Wow, there is so much potential for a deeply corrupt and sleazy Chalana Arroy there".

The citizen resolves to give up their recourse to violence to the state, and the state in turn promises to render justice in the case of wrongdoing. Thus the state has the monopoly of violence. The monopoly of violence is the foundation of the Rule of Law. When the state cannot maintain the monopoly of violence, you get anarchy, like Somalia. When the monopoly of violence is well established, and there is broad consensus that it is well administered, you get countries like Norway. If you want a status quo of misery, Somalian anarchy is the example of misery, not Norway.

What about if your CA high priestess is a bitch who is out to get you ? Agreed. But what about deliberate self harm, such as needing to remove your own foot because it is trapped? I am personally against any restriction to do with self harm, and would go further than that even. Can a CA be cast from the cult for causing a lethal accident such as malpractice? What about killing a fly (which are servants of Malia)? I would argue that these things are lamentable within CA, but should require atonement rather than ejection.

It is less about leaving harbor (though that is certainly when the ritual is performed) and more about heading a given distance from the shore when the curse effect begins. Open Seas exists because of 'The Closing of the Seas', which was a spell cast by Zzabur that causes all blue water sailing vessels to come under continuous attack from sea monsters and natural disasters. While the exact nature of Open Seas isn't known, it appears to be a 'hack' that allows the bypassing of The Closing via comparatively low level magic ritual. Of course, with so many ships being destroyed and the art of seafaring essentially lost for hundreds of years, people had stopped experimenting until Dormal came along and figured it out. This ultimately caused the Boat Planet to reappear in the Sky.

No. Actual libraries. The Roman Catholic Church maintained its own separate legal system in Europe for centuries in every kingdom. As a result they have libraries full of trial records, jurisprudence, and so-forth that are a rich source of primary source material for interested parties. Many of the cases brought directly related to members of the clergy, whether monk or priest, who broke their vows, and recorded the reasoning that went into the deliberation on their cases.

I am trying to demonstrate that there is good reason to have the practical meaning of an oath spelled out, as it is something humans have historically and legally spent a long time doing, even in the bronze age. Obviously you will do as you please Bill.

The wording is "don't harm a living thing and aid all within the limits of one's ability". Now, this ruling doesn't apply to spirits, does it? Of course not. A Chalana Arroy cannot heal a damaged mind, unless it is damaged by a disease. Clearly Chalana Arroy is about healing bodies, not minds. You see children always complain that they don't like the taste of their medicine, or that their stitches itch, but ultimately they are hurting themselves by not obeying the wise healer, and must be stopped for their own good. Arguably being the slave of a healer is the best possible outcome, as the healer will always find ways to insure you are healthy and productive and you will be bound to follow them in the noblest of all possible endeavors; the healing of the world. How are you "harmed" by being bound into the most noble purpose of the kindly goddess of healing? Surely "aid all within the limit of one's ability" therefore must include he social and emotional shackling of individuals to a cause that they in their willful ignorance would not otherwise willingly follow due to their evil and waywardly childish natures? If Malicia has the ability to help the cause of Chalana Arroy by trapping people in debt slavery so they are bound to help world peace through their perpetual economic contribution, how is that a bad thing? This is the best way she has yet come up with and represents the limit of her ability to aid the whole world. After all, freedom is a very esoteric concept, and most people who have freedom use it very badly. They think only of their own advantage, and they often go around hurting people (like those troublesome guards that protect priestess Malicia. Phew, isn't it good that they mainly obey her, and for the most part they only beat seven colors of shit though people who owe her money and don't pay, but she scolds them bitterly for such behavior, often docking their pay (actually she doesn't pay them, because they owe her too), and she always heals the injured party herself. Of course good people will make further donations to the cult at this point. You wouldn't want to offend the healers after all...) So too money is such a materialistic concept that leads to terrible behavior as people pursue it for such ignoble and self-serving ends. Before Time, people had no such pretentions, and were happy to have food, drink, medicine, shelter, clothing, and a profession. Service to Chalana Arroy through her servant Malicia is a spiritual calling, which allows one to divest oneself of such silly notions as freedom and wealth, in order to live a simple life in noble service that will make the world a better place. It should also be pointed out that individual initiate healers don't lose their rights to private property (well, unless they are working in Malicia's temple at Horn Gate, in which case Malicia will find a 'legitimate' way to turn them into her cash cows). Any resemblance to the Cult of Gark the Calm are purely coincidental! 😈