Akhôrahil

So when you’re on Mobility, it’s the opposite and you talk really fast and high-pitched? I can buy that (no, not really).

Yes, you’re right (realised this a while back). It’s really bad writing to make this explicit on almost all, but not quite all, spells, because that becomes actively misleading (I and several players made this mistake) if you don’t happen to read the general rule.

It's clearly not all of it - no-one gets converted to post-modernism through cheap koans, for instance. That aspect is pure Zen. It's also one of the more confusing aspects of how Illumination has been depicted in published sources. In RQ, it's all about getting your Illumination score up through Riddles. It also seems to be an effect of experiencing enough cultures to become a relativist (this is how Argrath Illuminates, isn't it?). And it's also about extended mental discipline and meditation. And ascetically denying the world. And becoming one with the universe. And also dragons. These don't exactly seem to be the same kinds of things.

I’m inclined to believe Scorpion Arm when he says he’s the original. I wonder what happened there. Wouldn’t be surprised to learn it was experimental heroquesting.

I wonder if anyone had an actual plan or explanation for the many versions of Ralzakark, or whether it was just done for shit and giggles. For instance, in the Genertela cover above, why are Harrek and Argrath fighting Ralzakark-with-the-Scorpion-Arm? He’s small fry compared to the Unicorn Emperor.

I keep saying Illumination looks like a mix of post-modernism and existentialism in its effects. But surely there’s far more to it than that, or most every half-baked arts student would count as Illuminated? It is, after all, a fundamental mystical experience, not just a choice of methodology.

In a way, it’s surprising that the big-time Illuminated NPCs don’t change more than they do. Ralzakark is still just a broo, albeit with enormous ambitions. Argrath decides to stick with his all-consuming insane quest for vengeance for a teen trauma (see, back to topic!). Beat-Pot Aelwrin murders a woman again in a second after the moment he’s Illuminated. Oddi is mostly the same Oddi, just unhappy now. I don’t see anyone in canon going “oh, now I realise I wasted my whole life - I need to change”. Which is the kind of revelation I would expect in at least some cases.

I think this makes sense. If anything is going to make you abandon long-held beliefs and practices, Illumination is it. It’s what will reveal that what you used to value was really just an arbitrary subjective preference all along, and one that you’re free to abandon now. Or stick to, if you prefer that - either way is fine. It’s completely a free choice now.

Related: can you use the Death rune for any combat activity (or at least offensive ones)? The Man rune for any social situation? On the one hand, it makes sense. On the other, these are super wide areas.

They were extraodinarily powerful and had access to cheat mode spells - Ward Against Agents of Reprisal doesn’t strike me as outside their range.

Sure, that will do too.

This is a significant deal. I'm of the opinion that every cult should have some selling point, something that it can do better than anyone else (one of my problem with the old style of Grain Godesses cults, which were just bad compared to Ernalda). It doesn't have to be something big, but it should be something.

Yes, I mean basically follow the pattern of the existing cults, doling out the average amount of skill points. Rune Magic selection is probably the most important part. The kinds of normally lesser cults that don’t get covered yet probably shouldn’t get a wide selection. I’m planning to introduce some subcults (Hedkoranth ftw!), but I’m waiting to see how the Cults book handles them.

You start out with a lot less skill percentages than others, though, and you're missing critical skills like Peaceful Cut. Some players at my table noted that Herders make for better hunters than Hunters do.

It's been often noted that this game hates hunters.

I don’t. However, it’s pretty clear that it’s epistemically correct. This is what I meant with ”getting it right”. Nothing stops you from being awful just because you understand the world better - if anything, Illumination enables it by removing the checks and balances and traditions that can otherwise make people behave.

I mean, he can't be, right? Once you're Illuminated, you don't register as Illuminated, so Orlanth can no longer punish you. What he thinks about Illuminates is completely academical. The Cult of Orlanth, on the other hand... (Also, Humakt?)

Corollary: Anyone who asks you strange, critical and incisive questions (that you don't like) about your religion is a riddler and needs something bad to happen to him or her.

Although would Illumination have provided immunity to the Gift Carriers, as they are essentially a kind of Agents of Retribution? Supposedly not, as that would have had a lot of knock-on effects, but it seems like the kind of thing that should have worked,

This is true, but it's still a mental state that objectively provides you with a number of advantages, without any downside except that you might miss your earlier lack of freedom and clear thought.

Yes, because it seems Gloranthan Illumination is something you can accidentally stumble into. Some people spend decades meditating, others experience a few different cultures and hear a couple of Riddles, and wham, suddenly Illumination! The cosmopolitanism of the God-Learners might be an opening for that. Oddi the Keen is royally (literally) pissed off about his own unwanted Illumination in C/LoT. He can't enjoy himself any longer.

I have problems with the God Learners being Illuminated (I mean, some would surely be, I'm talking about the general case). To me, God-Learners are akin to scientifically minded modernists, while Illuminates are post-modernists or existentialists. The God-Learners want to find out the objective truth of the matter, while Illuminates are more like (gross generalization, obviously) "nothing is true, everything is permitted". The God-Learners surely got the largest areas of theory right out of everyone who's tried. Wise practice, not so much.

Well, I mean, Illumination is basically "getting it right" in a way that almost nothing else is in the highly subjective Glorantha. So you're not without a point.

While I think it would be good if those posts were mirrored here (perhaps in a ”Notes from Jeff” thread?), in the absence of that, I see it as a public service to inform people of relevant stuff there that they might have missed.

You will have to balance things according to your decision here, but note that 3 RP seems to be the default for average dudes in Dragon Pass if we go with published sources. And for good reason - once you're initiated, you have very little reason not to dump a couple additional points of POW into it. (Especially if you're a Scorpion Man and you have a killer 3-point spell.)