Akhôrahil

I'm assuming it's Groom Price in Esrolian Marriage. And see the KoDP example above, with the 50 cows.

That seems like some one-off payment outside the regular system, because she wants him to live with her clan, and this acts as compensation. 50 cows = 1000L = Noble ransom, so this is in line with my 50-100% estimate. Perhaps 100% instead of 50% means to signify that this is a very solid offer? (Man, they really did work out the economics in KoDP, didn't they?)

This is my understanding: The groom pays the bride price to the bride's clan (this is a big reason why the young men have to raid for cattle). The bride's family supplies her with the dowry, which is her property but which she brings to the groom's clan. This means that basically, the same cows can passed around...

Ah here - 10 cows, which would presumably mean 50% of ransom if she's a Free woman. https://kingofdragonpass.fandom.com/wiki/Divorce_Dowry

I'm thinking this should probably relate to the ransom level. 50-100% of ransom makes sense to me (although it could be higher if people start to go crazy about things). And yes, both dowry and bride price is standard (they do pretty different theoretical things - bride price is to compensate the (typically) woman's clan for the loss of her work force, dowry is to create some financial security for her because she can bring back some wealth if she leaves). There's is every opportunity for both parties to jointly jack up bride price and dowry for a status increase, although this comes with some risk for the man's clan (I'm fully expecting the PC household and the Burisons to do this for an upcoming wedding in my campaign, as both have very solid finances for Free households). I know there's a scene in King of Dragon Pass where we get an explicit dowry level, but i can't remember what it was.

One has to wonder how this meshes with having to spent 140% of your income on the combination of cults... is this some kind of The Producers situation where you have to make sure to never earn anything?

"We had to destroy the village in order to save it."

Although the comic intriguingly identifies him as The Destroyer, not The Liberator. And given future history, it's hard to see that it has it wrong...

Speaking of, where in Glorantha can Kralorelan exile communities be found?

And auto-wins any tournament he participates in, which can be a massive annoyance. Fighting for second place isn't a lot of fun. (I also massively dislike how nothing that makes Lancelot so perfect is earned. Apparently great knights are born, not made, and Lancelot just had the maximum possible amount of the Knight gene.)

It's an objective fact of the world (I think it's an objective fact?) that a little Chaos is necessary for the world to continue existing (the whole point of the Chaosium). Now, it might be argued that the best way to maintain the balance is to constantly fight tooth and nail against it and all pretend that this isn't the case, but from a philosophical standpoint, the lunars are right in seeing Chaos as a necessary part of the world. I personally can't see any reasonable reading that makes Argrath's ritual of the net an "Oops!" moment rather than a deliberate act, but to each their own.

One of the good things about Arthur is that after gaining the crown and kicking the tar out of the saxons, he doesn’t do a lot. Yes, there’s the occasional war, but he’s not really driving the plot. Being a perfect king is a rather passive job. You can tell how he doesn’t get that much screen time in Malory later on. Also, some early baby-killing aside, Arthur is basically a good guy. Argrath on the other hand is a serial génocidaire. In a way, Lancelot is more annoying, because he does drive the plot, and he’s a “you will never be this good or this cool” NPC.

Unfortunately, Chaosium has backpedalled hard on this interpretation - there was one Argrath and he did all this stuff and that's just the way it goes. YGMV, but this is the official story.

I'm not sure why, but it's become incredibly iconic - this and the music is what everyone remembers. "Þungur hnífur" is basically the most Icelandic thing it's possible to say. It's probably more a case of being laconic.

The Great Pendragon Campaign handles this superbly by recapitulating the entire technological arc of the Middle Ages during Arthur’s lifetime.

If you can somehow get hold of Hrafninn flýgur (When the Raven Flies in English), it’s an old but good Norse Icelandic revenge story, with a spectacular soundtrack. Most famous couple of lines:

It was a while since I saw it, but to me, it felt more like an initiation story (into a rulership cult).

Conan the Barbarian, which also has the advantage of being a genuinely good movie. Moana for understanding exactly how a heroquest works. The Troy movie has awful writing, but the design and acting are quite good.

No, of course not (you don’t even need a lance for a good cavalry charge!) but we’re talking using the steed’s damage bonus on a lance charge here, and that supposedly requires a couched lance for full effect. Again, it’s weird that you don’t get any significant bonuses for mounted outside of the lance and mounted archery.

I think some have stirrups - High Llamas probably have them just for mounting purposes! I don’t think western cataphracts have them (but those horned saddles are pretty good instead).

At the kind of power and into the kind of resistance to be expected on a battlefield? Absolutely full charge on a destrier-size horse and slamming the lance into fairly unyielding targets, like armoured people (perhaps the shield first) or horses? I have certainly never seen reenactors come anywhere close to that level of violence. Which is probably for the best - it’s unlikely it can be done safely!

For a couched lance charge? Source on this? A high-backed saddle is widely considered a prerequisite.

Once again, note the difference between just any charge - you can charge people while wielding a saber, because you get some decent shock effect anyway - and specifically the couched lance charge, which is what would supposedly use the steed's damage bonus. The weird thing about mounted combat in RQ is that you get no bonus from just being on horseback in a fight (barring mounted archery, which is excellent), or from a charge outside of the lance effect. Once again, Pendragon does this a lot better.

And the saddle, of a type that no-one in Glorantha uses? And honestly, in most of Glorantha, the horses themselves are kinda unimpressive - certainly no medieval chargers.

There's a big difference between using a spear one-handed to stab from horseback, and delivering a fully powered charge with couched lance. It's the latter that requires a lot of support.