EricW

I don't think you have to look far. I know of at least two isolated communities, separate groups in my local region who are following someone they believe is the second coming of Christ. There are strange rumblings in the sea, leading to the occasional minor Earthquake, aboriginals practicing their ancient magic, private airstrips, swamps, boats calling by on the way to who knows where, and the occasional disappearance at sea attributed to a deadly jellyfish. Just as well Cthulhu is fiction, right?

Thanks for setting me straight Qizilbashwoman.

There is evidence of a Tunguska scale impact event in 1650BCE in the Fertile Crescent, which may have devastated the city of Tall el-Hammam in the late Bronze Age. An interesting event to incorporate into any regional Cthulhu narratives.

Maybe Leonardo’s lab is on the hero plane. People drop in and chat to him, leave useful ideas from all ages.

The liberator who succeeds will also be Argrath, just a different Argrath 😉

The summoning of evil is an obvious heroquest which draws in opponents regardless of their willingness. There is a beautiful example in “Orlanth is dead”. The moment the summons is complete, the Lunar army commander loses contact with command - but rashly decides to push on anyway, because the summons made his presence at the battle inevitable.

There are all sorts of potential reasons for making such a dangerous journey. For example, maybe they are there to rescue a critically important artefact stolen by the god learners, like a stolen wind sword which everyone believed was lost in the final machine city cataclysm. Thanks for the precedent.

Maybe there is a "Genesis of the Daleks" style heroquest waiting to be discovered? Obviously the Clanking City might not be entirely welcoming towards visitors who emerge out of the heroplane inside their city, given the magical attacks they were fending off towards the end?

Perhaps they died out in the gods war. Bringing them back could be an oddly disruptive heroquest, a whole lot of other things might also return, like elves with fire magic, who tend flammable Eucalypt forests which thrive in dry lands like Prax. Perhaps this is the missing link which leads to restoring Genert’s Garden.

I've always wondered, why are the Lunars so intent on destroying Orlanth? Why not follow Lokaymayadon's footsteps and try to subjugate Orlanth? Surely Tarsh would be the place to attempt such an experiment?

Maybe there is a case for using POW as CHA when Tusk Riders are interacting with other riders? Or Broo interacting with other Broo? A leader has to have charisma in some form, even if the only beings which appreciate it are their fellow horde.

Sure, have some mercy. Like if the Lunars are so incensed they're waiting just inside the gate to kill any barbarian who vaguely fits the description, the party could meet someone who somehow escaped the kill squad who could warn them. I doubt the Lunars would do anything like this, unless they were truly desperate, if the PCs became so powerful they were starting to threaten the Lunar occupation. Otherwise, the Lunar authorities would be complacently confident that sooner or later the bounty hunters will find the rebel scum, so no sense getting all emotional about it. If the PC party does something especially outrageous, just increase the bounty, and increase the scariness of the Lunar bounty hunters. The PCs will quickly discover they shouldn't stay in one spot too long, which makes it easier to ease them into new adventures.

Even more hilarious if the copper arrests everyone who looks suspicious in rebel infested areas. Because everyone does look suspicious. They’re all barbarians. Or if a patrol includes a psycho - “let’s kill them anyway”. How many times have you looked and not been sure they are someone you know or have heard of? It’s this fringe of doubt the lie would act on. I’m sure Lunars could work out a system, like putting deaf people in charge who can’t hear the lie, putting stupid people in charge who don’t understand the lie, a series of interlocking lookouts who can rush out and persuade soldiers at checkpoints they’ve been lied to. Or Yansfil cultists maintaining continuous “detect honour” spells at all checkpoints. All hilariously consequential - especially in the trickster has multiple uses of “lie”.

Surely the identity and criminal status of a group of PCs a perception of "fact" which can be manipulated by a lie spell. "We are not the people you are looking for" - its a lie, a mistruth about a fact. Of course, if this is abused enough Lunars might develop elaborate strategies for trying to protect themselves, like ensuring the leader of the patrol is deaf - which could lead to even more hilarity - "write more slowly, I can't read when you scribble too fast". The natural limit on this manipulation is local tolerance for tricksters running around with lie spell. Tricksters wouldn't only use lies for escaping justice, they'd heavily abuse this power for pretty much anything you could imagine. When you think about it from that perspective, its pretty obvious why the Trickster Great Temple in Slontos sank beneath the waves, it sank under the weight of all the lies.

Or the liar could say “we are not the people you are looking for” before they are arrested and separated.

At the weekend club BBQ the German chef complained that nobody was buying his potato salad. So I got a big red marker pen, circled the salad on the menu board, and wrote "try this" with the red pen. The potato salad sold out in an hour. Clearly it was the use of the demonic red pen... 🙂

I sure hope the party includes a trickster. That phenomenal lie spell could be used to convince hostiles they made a mistake. Lunars would face the absurdity of following them everywhere and not catching them. ”These aren’t the droids you’re looking for”

It’s actually a form of immortality. The owner of the head hierarchy promises to consult all heads before making decisions which affect the group. Meanwhile you can socialise and enjoy the amenities, while being part of a unique, vibrant, active community which caters for your needs, and respects your individuality and contribution.

I meant pass for human in polite society, like ogres do :-). but yes, if said veteran wanted to live in Storm Bull territory, illumination would be a plus. Having said that, how many non-illuminated veterans who had used chaos gift or otherwise become tainted retired to occupied lands anyway, without the protection of illumination? The locals hated them anyway, so I’m not sure a chaos taint would have made that much difference to the level of risk.

I'm surprised Yomat never became a Troll trickster god - darkness, illusion, disorder? The child of a trickster and a darkness demon would be a terrifying encounter. "Dad, mum says its your turn to do the babysitting".

You could have some fun with a power like that - like if the eye allowed you to see and potentially enter the realms you see, then the moment you start looking other things have a chance of seeing you, and can attempt to drag you into their realm. So an artefact which grants significant power, the price of which is some interesting encounter rolls.

I wonder if the Styx could be summoned? As the God Learners summoned the God who Burns Water, maybe heroic magic on a similar scale could summon a rain of Styx water on a battlefield, or a Styx water undine. Bad news for any Lunar vampire regiments.

I'm a fan of the idea they are heretical, at least from the POV of other dwarves, but they also don't age. If Glorantha can simultaneously contain contradictions like Elmal and Yelmalio, why not multiple contradictory visions of the correct adjustments to fix the world machine? Obviously this would be deeply troubling to establishment dwarves, because how could they be sure their path was the correct path, if there are a multiplicity of divergent solutions which pass validity tests, and which may or may not lead to the same objective? The need to study these divergent but disturbingly coherent solutions might be the only thing preventing a murderous "correction" of Flintnail's heresy.

I can't help thinking following a troll river down to hell isn't exactly a leisure outing - a significant chance of meeting heroic and demigod level darkness entities which attempt to show you their version of a shortcut to the underworld.

How does that invalidate my point? Perhaps temporary gifts are the price of avoiding the risk of transforming into a Broo - being strengthened by chaos, but keeping it temporary. Temporary transformation seems very much in tune with the ethos of the Goddess, use chaos but keep some distance. At least, that seems to be the ethos before the rise of the monster empire. A Lunar veteran with access to multiple chaos gift spells would be more formidable than most chaotics - and the veteran would have the advantage of being able to pass as human most of the time. Perhaps one day some Lunar will discover a hero quest which grants access to heroic casting of chaos gift - as many castings as you want, as you can power. There is a hint such things might be possible in "Dorastor, Land of Doom" - one of the Slime Broos has the power to grant a random temporary chaos feature by touch.