Darius West
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Posts posted by Darius West
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Humakt is an illuminated deity, having (I think I recall) met Rashoran in the God Time, possibly in the company of Chalana Arroy. This is why Ralzakark as a force of Humakti broos under his control.
Yelm partakes of illumination via his connection to Dayzatar, and of course via Yelm's connection to Nysalor.
I don't know why Ourania is on this list as I haven't read her myths. Does anyone else know?
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Lost Songs
Sometimes on the evenings when the air is still in Prax, one will hear strange archaic lilting melodies and songs coming from far away. These musical refrains will be sung in unknown or forgotten languages, often playing instruments that are no longer made by men, and in refrains of such ephemeral beauty that they tantalize and frustrate the listener. Praxians know that these songs are dangerous and bring only madness, for they encourage the curious and unwary to wander into the night in search of things that are not there. Lost Songs are echoes of the lost ages of Prax, but they have become more prevalent since the rebirth of the Red Moon, just as they became more frequent in the times when Pavis settled his city. These beguiling echoes of a lost and better time echo down the ages to lead the tribes of Waha astray, and turn them in longing to recreate a past which must not return (for everyone’s safety). While the songs cannot be caught by chasing, there are various ways in which cunning people have worked out ways to lure in the songs and learn from them. Were someone ever to actually capture a song, they are likely to begin a Hero Quest in the Praxian Spirit World without being prepared, which means they are likely to never be seen again.
Characteristics Average
Pow 3d6 10-11
Int 2d6+6 13
Cha 4d6 14
Move: Equal to Cha
Magic Points: 3-18
Skills: Play Instrument 200%, Sing 200%, Speak (Aldryami, Spirit Speech, Earth Speech, Seatongue, Firespeech, or Stormspeech) 200%, Lore (Choose one) 200%.
Magic: Glamour, Fanaticism, Spirit Screen 5.
Runes: Harmony 200%.
Special Ability: Beguile. Those who hear the refrain of a Lost Song may become beguiled into following it. The power of the Beguiling requires a test of resistance against the Charisma of the Lost Song. If anyone has the skill of Praxian Customs and they successfully roll their Praxian Customs, the highest skill will be treated as a bonus to resistance against the Beguiling, as the Praxian will caution them against listening too closely to the mad songs on the still air, for they call you to your death (it is known).
Thus a person with a 10 Pow resisting a Cha 18 Lost song would normally have a mere 10% chance of resisting, but if they were in the company of a Praxian with Praxian Custom of 65% who made their roll, they would now have a 75% chance of resisting.
Luring In the Song. While it is impossible to get closer to the source of the song by physically following it, wiser souls have figured out better methods. This requires a successful Listen roll to catch enough of the music to copy it, followed by a successful sing or play (instrument) roll to accompany the music. If this is done, the music will follow the musician and become more audible to all concerned, but they will no longer be inclined to follow it, as it will be present in the camp. It is also possible to turn the wind and bring in the song using Wind Words to twist the air and amplify the refrain. If anyone knows the language of the song, they will be able to gain a 1d10 increase in that language (as it is being spoken in a very pure and beautiful form), and a further 1d10 increase in a single Lore skill (including Spirit Lore), as this is the focus of the song. It is also distinctly possible that when the song is lured in that a Shaman may seek to defeat it in Spirit Combat and bind it.
Capturing the Lost Song. It is madness to think that a person can chase a song into the night and somehow run it to ground. Nonetheless, where mere mortals might fail, there are heroic individuals who are made of sterner stuff who may find a way. The skill Spirit Travel is certainly a contender for how this might be achieved. Another possibility would be to use one’s illumination to do this apparently impossible deed. In short, this is the start of a Hero Quest path, should the GM wish to develop it as one. If not, the characters chasing the song will inevitably be lured into danger, quite possibly of the Chaotic type.
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Salini
Salini are tiny people, seldom more than 1/3 of an inch high, made out agglomerations of man rune and of pink salt found around salt licks. Left to their own devices, Salini will build little salt villages for themselves, and will live their little lives. They are remnants of broken lives from the Gods’ War who now take this form. Salini are much loved by Praxian children who will keep them as pets and play with them. This is not often a kind fate, and most Salini maltreated in this way crumble and are put into a salt pile. Shamans will sometimes procure Salini for help with sterilizing and stitching wounds. Some Salini are quite expert at healing creatures, and on occasion are masters or above in their various skills.
Salini cannot speak, and must communicate via sign language, even with each other, represented by the skill Charades. Salini
build elaborate structures out of salt at their salt lick, fashioned after the architectural style of the land of Prax before time began, but these tiny civilizations often go unnoticed, trampled underfoot by the beasts of Prax eager to consume salt. Such events mirror the terror and tragedy of their civilization in ages past, as playthings of larger powers, and the Salini are doomed to repeat these terrible events like the tiny broken spirits that they are. Those who have watched them closely have noticed that while their tiny mouths perform the motions, the Salini cannot, in fact, scream in horror and frustration as their world is destroyed again and again.
Characteristics Average
Str 1d6-5 0
Con 1d3 2
Siz 1d6-5 0
Dex 3d6 10-11
Int 1d4+6 8-9
Pow 1d6+1 4-5
Cha 2d4 4-5
Hit Points: 1
Damage Bonus: -1d4
Move: 1/2
Magic Points: 4-5
Skills: Boating 35%, Charades 50%, Climb 50%, Craft (Salt) 75%, Customs (Green Age) 40%, Dodge (Dex x5%), First Aid 50%, Green Age Lore 35%, Hide 65%, Jump 35%, Move Quietly 90%, Treat Disease 50%, Treat Poison 25%.
Magic: Healing 1, Repair 1.
Special Ability: Solid Form. If the Salini is destroyed, it gives up its body and returns to the salt and forms a new body over the course of seven days.
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11 hours ago, svensson said:
OK, in an in-world manage-the-economy sense, taxes are usually paid in kind [you owe x amount of produce of y types for z hides of land]. It is very rare that taxes are paid in cash. What's more, even if you did pay your taxes in hard coin, with so many types of coin of so many vintages it is most likely that the coinage is measured by weight instead of purchase value.
In a game mechanics sense, your taxes are paid during the Sacred Time end of the year phase of the game. The 10% of 'income' is income from all sources, including adventuring. Now YGMV on just how much of a stickler the gods are about shorting your religious tithes. Back in the days of RQ2, many PCs would go on a spending spree right before the High Holy Day so that the temple got '10% of what I have on me right now'. The Sacred Time mechanic is intended to average that out a bit and make the adventurers actually pay more of what's owed.
Something else to remember: The cult tithe also INCLUDES two weeks of service to the cult per year. In an agrarian society like the Esrolians or Heortlings [and by extension the Sartarites], NOBODY wants to be polishing statues or standing guard at the temple during planting and harvesting. There is A LOT of hustling going on behind the scenes to avoid doing your cult time during these vital seasons of the year. Oh, and Sacred Time NEVER counts towards your annual cult service. During those two weeks, the whole society is focused on religious duties.
As you can imagine, 10% of annual income and 2 weeks per year adds up quick if you join multiple cults.
Taxes and the dodging thereof is an old established rule.
The argument about what constitutes income is one thrashed out yearly by Tax lawyers and every government on the planet to this day. For every definition there is a disqualification of that definition, or an alternative interpretation of the listed terms, or a logical contradiction, or a breach of precedent, and arguments can come down to the implications of a semi colon in a written act. There is no reason to suppose that Glorantha is any different.
One good thing however, if you liberate an 18,000L magical treasure from a ruin; that isn't income unless you sell it.
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On 10/9/2023 at 6:26 PM, metcalph said:
https://www.chaosium.com/cults-of-runequest-mythology-hardcover/
No hardcopy in Oz yet.
PDFs buyable here:
https://www.chaosium.com/cults-of-runequest-mythology-pdf/
Will Oz hardcovers be available before Xmas? Asking for a friend.
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On 11/15/2023 at 11:24 AM, jajagappa said:
Yes, they are the same person - they remember each thing that they've done before as Red Emperor. Everyone in the Empire will tell you this.
No, clearly they appear different, and have different policies, so they can't be the "same" Red Emperor. But we won't speak of such things as it might prompt the Red Emperor to send Tax Demons, assassins, or others after us. 👹
I think the memories are contained in the Imperial Regalia somewhere. Likely the crown.
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13 hours ago, Nozbat said:
I'm confused .. which is not unusual or uncommon.. however...
I was looking at doing stats for the ubiquitous Gagarthi bandits that pester legitimate travellers in Prax and was considering what magic they might have.
So looking at the Prosopædia, I find that Gagarth is the Wild Hunter, seeking lost and lonely spirits as food for his Hunt
This is not the Bandit god I was thinking of... can anyone point me in the right direction.. or give an explanation?
The thing is, most people don't start out their lives as bandits. Rarely will there be a bandit community where a child is raised to be a bandit. Bandits are people of martial skill who are forced out by their communities and who make a desperate living by preying on wayfarers. Pretty much universally they will never start as Gagarthi as there is no place in decent society for Bandit cult initiates. What will happen is that their membership in their original cults will lapse, due to excommunication or non attendance of rituals etc. They will eventually fall into the company of Gagarthi bandits and they will eventually choose to initiate as Gagarthi.
All bandits are fringe dwellers who hover at the edges of larger human communities and carry off scraps. Prax and the wastes are especially hard on bandits as even bandits need water, and water is a highly contested resource. Given that water is so scarce, Gagarthi in Prax subsist almost entirely from milk as their fluid, substituting urine when they must. Watering their beasts is a constant struggle for them, especially as they are often forced to hide in very arid and uninhabitable areas. Gagarthi will almost always steal your water skins unless they have somehow overcome the limitations of their lack of a reliable water supply. In all likelihood there is only 1 actual Gagarthi settlement at a hidden well somewhere in the Wastes, and this is where the High Priest will live. Raider bands will come and go from this place, always at pains to keep it hidden. Whirlvishes will cover their tracks as they approach and leave.
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On 11/13/2023 at 6:08 AM, Murf said:
So what happens to everybody's favorite undead menace?
Does Argrath take some time out to eliminate this threat to his flank and later his rear?
Also are there any stats for the Mr Cold and Clammy and his bevy of blood sucking bimbos.?
No, Argrath sacrifices some ducks to Delecti and gets the Necromancer on side as a mercenary, before marching a chain of zombies North West against the Lunars. Play the boardgame and you will understand.
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On 11/11/2023 at 9:05 AM, Erol of Backford said:
Maybe Argrath was also a trickster?
The Myth of Drinking the Giant's Cauldron also features in Norse Mythology. Thor attempts to do it and fails, because the Cauldron contains the entire ocean, though Thor doesn't know it, because magic... You don't have to complete the test to win. The giants are impressed at your efforts regardless.
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18 hours ago, Erol of Backford said:
This may be deserving of some dislike but the whole Belintar and City of Wonders with the magic roads has never been part of Glorantha for me. Its way to hoaxy for me. We never had it back in the early 80's or we didn't know about it and so when it appears it was, now that I recall, in its own right a Ghost Ruin. I am thinking the City of Wonders would be a thriving city but not something of the past or future like something Feldichi (as per the inversion of Clarke's theorem - Joerg wrote this - will make a new thread on Feldichi) stuff... someone else has had to think that the City of Wonders is out of its proper time period in Glorantha?
Maybe that thought reinforces that Belintar was a time traveler? YGWV and so the magic roads have not been integrated for me.
Who knows maybe the next big campaign will have them included...
Well the City of Wonders has been part of Glorantha since the RuneQuest II Companion gave us a map of the Holy Country. Each of the Holy Country's provinces is tied to an elemental rune, which is why it is called the Holy Country, and thus the City of Wonders can be seen as an analogy for the Spike. The irony then being that Jar-Eel acts as Orlanth killing Yelm, while Harrek acts as Wakboth destroying the Spike. It is quite likely that the magic roads are actual magic supplies to power the City of Wonders and all its magics. Remember also that the Feldichi don't hold a candle to the Godlearners in terms of technomancy, and the Godlearners once owned a decent portion of the Holy Country. The Holy Country of course also includes the sorcery of the God Forgot Islands. On the whole, the City of Wonders is sort of like what Pavis was supposed to become. It should be an amazing place where the markets are open day and night, and the people live in an art-adorned environment and enjoy a near-modern level of amenity provided by co-operating magics, but mainly from sorcery bent to civil projects.
As to who Belintar is. I don't claim to know his origins, but I do know that he is a body hopping evil sorcerer much like Ephraim Waite from H.P. Lovecraft's "The Thing at the Doorstep". That is the fate that awaits the winners of the Tournament of Luck and Death.
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As a rule, most pack animals, if properly and evenly loaded can travel all day at a walk if they are carrying a weight equal to half their own. Camels and Mules can carry 55% of their weight this way.
A draft animal can pull 8 times its own weight all day in a cart on a level surface.
On the other hand, if you want to ride hard all day, you need a big animal and to travel light. Ian Absentia's 15-20% guideline is sound. In Prax, that extra weight had better include water skins, or a support beast in tow with water skins.
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Even a permanent Farsee 1 isn't worth the geas.
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18 hours ago, Erol of Backford said:
But trolls love onion and mustard sandwiches with whole grain elf-seed bread?
Such a sandwich will surely make a troll weep.
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On 11/10/2023 at 5:06 PM, AlexS said:
I've been doing some thinking about Customs recently, as I'm working with a couple of other people on a resource for supporting efforts to incorporate adventurers' cultural and homeland backgrounds into RQG gameplay in a richer and more satisfying way.
Consider publishing your efforts on the Jonstown Compendium.
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On 10/26/2023 at 9:30 AM, Erol of Backford said:
What makes a troll cry?
Kill their children. Oh, or freshly cut onions.
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19 hours ago, mfbrandi said:
I don’t mind either way. I think that Sandy still had Belintar as a time-traveller in 2014 or 2015 — IIRC, it is in one of the Kraken chapbooks — but by then, it didn’t matter what he thought.
Well, the only time I have ever involved Belintar in my RQ, he was a time traveler. He gets trapped in a Lunar Hell, only to escape by going back in time to live out a very long Groundhog Day.
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On 10/7/2022 at 12:44 PM, Erol of Backford said:
I used heavy tape on the cults book. The heavy tape and glue on the Griffin M. book got really bad more recently... I ended up putting clear thick packing tape on most booklet edges... Having a lot of the older stuff in PDF has saved a good bit of wear but I still like to read an actual book/booklet as I am older and grew up holding a book. LOL.
My copy is still holding in there, but then I covered it with perspex to stop it being destroyed in my schoolbag back in highschool. I can't believe how long ago that was. 😆
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On 11/9/2023 at 12:09 AM, mfbrandi said:
Personally, I like it, and if you like it, you should do it. You might — only might, it is not compulsory — want to set yourself some ground rules if you want to stay fairly close to canonical Glorantha, as if I have it right (always a big if):
- heroquesting is not itself time travel
- you cannot time travel to the Godtime/Godswar (but you can heroquest to it)
- Belintar didn’t fall backwards through time (contra Sandy P)
If Glorantha in 2023 doesn’t seem especially friendly to time travel and heroquesting doesn’t use it, there is a risk of things becoming a little kitchen sinky (an arbitrary pile-up of features), but:
- I am sure you have your own idea of heroquesting which you know how to mesh with time travel (if integration is required)
- You can always use the old dodge of “you can visit the past, but it is never the past of your timeline” (e.g. as in The Female Man)
The alternate past dodge makes continuity easier, and it also allows you to avoid the question of whether time really began only 1600-odd years ago.
You also have the option of the players entering a fully-functional city where there ought to be only a ruin and offering no explanation of how it came to be there (and later went away again). A ghost story doesn’t have to come with a lecture and explanatory diagrams.
One way or another, it will fly. Have fun! 😉
Of course there was the time where Sandy P and Greg were flirting with the idea of time travel. I'm glad they didn't opt to include it.
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On 10/28/2023 at 7:31 AM, Hellhound Havoc said:
I've been reading Trollpak and understanding a lot more about the trolls, and how they seem to be these weird brutish creatures but there's a lot of sense in how they act and think. Well, as much as can be in a race of weird shadow hippo demons that escaped from Not!Hell and were cursed.
But later on, describing their living quarters, they're described as slovenly, and this keeps coming up. How their hovels are ramshackle, how they keep refuse to the side apparently unbothered, etc. But I don't get why though. Also they can be poisoned, so surely they're also prone to illness, and living in abject squalor can't be healthy.
Hi Hellhound Havoc. Humans don't understand trolls and their senses. Trolls have rich olfactory senses, quite apart form their darksense, and many thngs humans regard as stinky and abominable, trolls appreciate for their unusual textures and aromas, much like dogs or pigs. Remember that trolls can eat anything, and feces is potentially something a troll would eat if it smelled like it was full of undigested nutrients. Similarly, Trolls would enjoy the aroma of flowers, as they find Aldryami absolutely delicious and delectable.
Where Humans see a stinking cesspit in the middle of a troll community, the trolls see an interactive community art project that they all contribute to. Where a human sees a pile of elf and runner heads with their genitals stuffed into their mouths, and thinks "atrocity mongering trolls", the troll sees "beautiful flower arrangement" (because, let's face it, flowers are actually plant genitals, and giving ripped off plant genitals to your girlfriend is a bit weird when you realize this). Stinking untanned hides provide a pungent and homely smell with a meaty undernote. Trolls are actually aesthetes wandering a world of beauty and sumptuous feasts at every turn.
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On 11/2/2023 at 9:32 PM, David Scott said:
I've always seen these other bull gods as the counterpart of whoever is the cattle goddess (mask of Eiritha).
I don't think Uralda is a mask of Eiritha. I think Uralda is Eiritha's way more successful sister.
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I would argue that Ideology in Glorantha is primarily religious, as every religion is, by definition, an ideology. Furthermore, those religions all have their place within a complex interrelated mythological ecology. In this way, ideology in Glorantha is quite formalized.
The real politics is all about FACTIONS.
Orlanthi struggle to get a friend onto the clan or tribal ring. Families take their legal issues to the ring seeking justice, but always seeking to increase their benefit, legitimate or not. Rich families patronize Clan Chiefs, or forward their own members for the role. Attitudes to Lunar occupation runs the gamut from anti-lunar terrorist who has thrown all honor away, up to "More Lunar than Lunar" converts who have thrown all honor away, and every gradation in between.
Politics is a moving feast, and every day or week will bring a new issue to resolve.
Good leaders are skilled at reaching a consensus which serves to weld their group together.
A perfect consensus is seldom reached however, as there are always some people who find themselves aggrieved by the political process.
Of course there is the alternative strategy of "Divide and conquer" where leaders set factions against each other, while gradually disempowering them all as they argue for more stringent laws to control the threat the other faction poses.
By comparison, the Lunar Empire is extremely Orwellian due to Illumination.
Truth is Falsehood. Beauty is Ugliness. War is Peace. Misery is Happiness. Wealth is Poverty. Slavery is Freedom. Oppression is Joy. Sacrifice is Profit. Atrocity is Compassion. Wisdom is Foolishness. Madness is Sanity. Life is Death. Property is Theft. Strength is Weakness. Health is Disease.
Illumination is all about reconciling opposite ideas. Lunars reconcile three or more of these contradictions and many others before breakfast each day while professing their love for Moonson. Most Lunars find themselves babbling incoherently, reconciling ridiculous contradictions, and regard the madness they experience as a sign of spiritual progress, willingly accepting a Mind Blast being cast upon them as a valuable spiritual lesson on the road to illumination; a peak experience, if you will.
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I can see a Humakti being able to act as a bandit. The crucial thing is not to be dishonorable. They will likely not rob the poor unless they are poorer than the poor person they accost. They will be threatening, but polite. They may not even take all the possessions of the traveler. They will not lie or ambush them. They may decide to ransom the traveler. They are unlikely to hold up members of their own clan, unless they have been exiled and are no longer part of it.
Orlanth Adventurous can make good thieves, and could turn to banditry, but are bound by a measure of honor like Humakti.
I note that Zorak Zoran hasn't been mentioned much, and neither has Stormbull as potential bandits. They are bruisers and bullies who are very intimidating. Stormbulls can always "legitimize" their banditry by claiming that they "smelled chaos" on the victim. Who is going to waste a divination to prove them wrong?
Black Fang only operate around Pavis. When acting as bandits, they are prone to murder those they accost.
Lanbril isn't about banditry, but about robbery via break-ins and stealth.
Potentially anyone who has not disavowed violence can become a bandit in hard times.
Gagarth is the quintessential bandit god. Contemptible scum who are the opposite of honorable.
Waha isn't a bandit god, but is prepared to turn a blind eye for cases of expediency and advantage. The worst followers of Waha to be bandits will be morokanths, who are also likely to be slavers.
Tricksters are wastrels and good-for-nothings who have all the makings of great bandits, but they F up at banditry like they do at everything else. They just can't hold down meaningful employment, even as criminals. Why, there was one trickster I met...
It is possible for chaos cults to take payment rather than attacking. That is a form of banditry.
It would be interesting to see Yelmalios with kuschile archery and horse skills acting as bandits. Obviously phalanx tactics won't lend themselves to banditry.
There is no reason why members of the Seven Mothers can't be bandits. Jakaleel the Witch would be a good bandit. Danfive Xaron would not, as they have quit their life of crime.
Valind cultists would be nearly as nasty to meet as bandits as Gagarthi.
Troll cults could be nasty bandits, with the most terrifying being Gorakiki worshippers and their big poisonous bugs.
Gonn Orta
in Glorantha
Posted
Gonn Orta is large enough to rip the wings off the Crimson Bat.