Akhôrahil

Moana (yes, the Disney movie - it's unbelievably Gloranthan!) Age of Bronze Artesia Barbaren The Northman Princess Mononoke Bahubaali The Spine of Night

That might not be unreasonable - it's non-obvious what an iron weapon does apart from not breaking that makes it absorb more damage. We're not talking Captain America's shield here (that's simulated through Earth Shield instead). (And honestly, the whole "absorb damage" thing probably isn't the ideal design - most defense is about deflecting or not opening up in the first place, and "opposing weapon slams down with full force on yours" is less common. On the other hand, RQ has to be able to handle a giant slamming you with a 10d6 tree.)

Enchanted Iron Weapons have +50% HP straight up. You're probably mixing it up with Enchanted Copper weapons, which have +100% HP for purposes of not breaking but no bonus to damage absorbed. Which is pretty damned good for keeping the weapon in shape, less so for its user.

GURPS famously uses logarithms, and I think it's fair to have them invisible behind the game design, but yeah, SIZ certainly isn't linear.

My headcanon is that the Pavis dwarves pretend to be merely your run-of-the-mill heretics, while in fact they're beyond the pale even for heretics.

This does become a problem another profession is better at the actual profession’s job. For instance, if you want a better hunter, make a herder.

I think there is a lot of worship. While Storm Bull has a limited number of initiates, he surely receives a crapton of associated worship through Waha and Eiritha, having a big role in their rituals.

It's pretty questionable with Issaries as well as equal exchange is his deal. Might not be enough to call down spirits of reprisal, though.

Not that they're allowed to kill, at least...

One thing I wonder about is how often the formal invocations of hospitality are brought out. Presumably you get more formal the more unfamiliar and fraught the situation is? But at the same time, I have a hard time imagining it happens every time, like the sixth time people from the friendly neighboring clan comes over. Hospitality is definitely strong for role-playing, though. My PCs were in a situation where they had to receive an emissary from Ralzakark, and neither wanted to offend nor get too deep into the hospitality. They ended up serving exceptional ale and a lavish fish dish, in order to formally stay away from "meat". As well as trying to counter what they (correctly) felt was excessive gift-giving that would land them in a position of gratitude they didn't want.

Or say rather that it had to be replaced, such as with Storm Bull and even Orlanth in a way (his rains are part of fertility).

I think worship of Storm Bull as a mere berserker warrior god works fine, and in my Glorantha, the amount of focus on the Chaos-killing varies by location (the overwhelming focus in Prax, much less for the Bisos cult). Some places, like the KoW and Charg, worship "all war gods", and I think this means that the warlike aspect rather than the chaos-killing aspect is focused upon.

Bandits are just guys, and in some areas, the difference between a large bandit gang and a small clan might be fluid. Orlanth isn't opposed to banditry and raiding within some pretty loose limits, so I would expect the large majority to be Orlanth-worshipers. Gagarth for the absolute scum, though.

It keeps being weird that trolls go for "chastity and purity" in a ritual.

Possibly, but it could also be that they just really want her back if captured. In my game, I run a "wealthy free" SoL of 120 L for people who can afford it but don't have a noble position. And while the game doesn't explicitly say it, I think there would be a substantial overlap between Noble and God-Talker - your village thane is also the officiator for local religious stuff (you might not go to the clan center for just the weekly worship if it's half a day away). This would also nicely map against how the clan chief is the clan temple high priest.

I would say Merchant - your function as a trader is likely more important than that of a religious officiant. Ransom by your personal wealth? Healer by the argument above, but at elevated ransom? This probably depends. If you’re doing the default ”seasonal adventuring operating out of your home context”, then you should still count as noble. If you go to Pavis to hunt for treasure for a few years, it depends on whether you maintain your standard of living out of your own funds - you’re not getting supported from home until you return. Although as the chief’s offspring, your Ransom should still be high.

While I agree about this, in Jeff's writings on this (assuming I read them correctly) most people with the Noble profession in RQG would rather be some kind of "Wealthy Free", while the Noble social class proper is considerably more restrictive. The Noble profession is kinda middle management in many cases - you're the boss over a few dozen people in a village, but hardly the very social elite.

I'm badly confused as well - I thought I understood this with KoS and the RQG rulebook (Carl = Free = Non-Tenant), but I feel less sure now. Same thing with Noble - if I understand Jeff's posts correctly, most Nobles (profession) are not Nobles (social class).

Well maybe, maybe not. They likely become cottars, and I think cottars qualify as free? Of course, they also might become stickpickers, who don’t.

https://kingofdragonpass.fandom.com/wiki/Issaries_the_Concilliator

The former division was Traditionalist/Appeaser, but in Sartar this has probably moved to Traditionalist/Radical now, with Argrath as the standard-bearer of the radicals (and traditionalist king Broyan dead).

Where is this actually stated? I mean, I think it makes good sense and all, but...

Right now, the White Moonies are what they mostly have to handle ideologically. It's a cogent and consistent in-Lunar challenge to the Empire, and the problem is that when you listen to them, they make a very good point.

Serfs are a different matter, like the modern Vendref (it seems reasonable to describe the FHQ reforms as bringing them from thralls to serfs).

Thralls are literally slaves. It's just that slaves have varying degrees of rights in different systems of slavery, and the Orlanthi one isn't super harsh as these things go (for instance, the children become free).