Akhôrahil

"Elfs"?

Hellwood.

While the conclusion might well be true, I don't think the reasoning holds - neither of the two big Shadows of the Lunars (Sheng and Argrath) are Lunar Illuminated.

Arkat, not Argrath. Argrath is clearly Draconically Illuminated, no doubts about that.

The regular Resurrection spell seems to assume this - you have to beat up the spirit of the dead person to get the whole thing to work.

Actually, what kind of Illumination did Arkat achieve? There aren't so many types. Rashoranic Illumination would have you accept chaos, so that's probably out. Draconic Illumination doesn't seem at all indicated. Can sufficiently heroic people create their own kind of Illumination outside of the traditional schools?

In either case, with a big helping of The Incredible Hulk.

One of the defining features of a hero is that they have some notion of what the world should be like and that they're going to inflict on others. Very likely against their will and well-being. ("Drag them kicking and screaming into the Century of the Fruitbat")

Andrea: Unhappy is the land that breeds no hero. Galileo: No, Andrea: Unhappy is the land that needs a hero. —Bertolt Brecht

It's such a neat coincidence that the guy with the victorious army just so happens to be the rightful Emperor and passes all the tests, isn't it?

Also, anyone who's farming land (20% tax, presumably 10% to each temple) regardless of initiate status. You need to be a non-initiate non-farmer in order to get away from it. That's, what, 10% of the population?

One of the things that makes Heortling society interesting is that it does have an answer to how a society works without a police force. Wergild and other fines, outlawry, vengeance, blood feud, and even just regular social pressure keeps things functional, although the blood feuds and kinstrife might well be considered the failure modes of the solution. I like to shock newcomers by telling them that murder isn't illegal, and then unpack the statement.

Don't forget about the Edo police, though. It was impressively sophisticated. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edo_period_police

Proper investigative police yes, various city watchmen no. "Riot police" armed with clubs of some kind seems to be a historical universal. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vigiles https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Police#Ancient_policing

This is interesting - who would the most traditionalist major Orlanthi heroes be? I'm thinking Alakoring, Vargast Redhand (slayer of Loko Moko), Garundyer...?

Surely it must? Otherwise Wind Lords or Swords couldn't possibly meet their 90% time requirement.

He does? Missed that! That makes him more farmer-friendly, certainly. She is the best healer, without doubt. But Ernalda is a solid healer who can then do a thousand other things besides.

I definitely agree it’s not about mere belief. Belief is just a personal state of mind. There has to be a social aspect to it as well. The myth has to be socially constructed, practiced, and reinforced (this is also a difference between mere belief and a religion - a religion is inherently social and performative). While I do believe you can HeroQuest any myth, a lot of stuff people believe aren’t myths. For instance, does Bad King Urgrain rise to the quality of myth, or is it just stories and sayings and fables? I’m not sure, but I think I would lean towards the latter.

IIRC, Greg weighed in on this, and said that things could be mythically true without being historically true. You can certainly prove (for a value of “prove”) that it’s mythically true (in the context of your myth structure) that Boldhome was built in a day. Or Neil Gaiman: “Things need not have happened to be true.”

I don’t believe this is really a restriction - the important thing is that you HeroQuest a myth. It can even be factually incorrect. Take a myth like the Grazers’ creation story (separated centaurs) - we know for a fact that it’s not what happened, but I’m certain it can be HeroQuested regardless.

I like the idea that he had to heroquest to become a descendant and obtain his Sartar rune, but this is completely not-canonical. (Inspired by a humor boardgame where the goal was to become king, and one of the things you needed was to get yourself a royal birthmark.)

Can’t remember, probably somewhere in the rules QA thread.

TV-Hannibal Lecter strikes me as a good start for portraying Vadeli.

I have said it before: the opposite of Illumination is also Illumination.

The obvious use for Sing is as a skill augment.