Akhôrahil

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).

Thralls are fully unfree. They're slaves. I agree about cottars, though, and that seems to be the current canonical line as well - semi-free is more for stickpickers and the like.

This is a balancing act - more cottars mean more taxes and richer nobles and temples, but lower clan coherence and weaker military. Nobles in general might be expected to push for it, but the chief has to have the support of the carls.

And what's the collective noun? A prudishness of Yelmalians?

RQG rulebook, p. 200: ”If the attacking weapon is a long-hafted weapon or an impaling weapon, the parrying weapon takes no damage”, but only when you roll a crit. Personally, I think that’s weird. A halberd or a longaxe is going to make far more of a mess of a shield than a regular sword will, and more and not less on a really good hit. Not sure if this is an intentional rule or a cut & paste error.

Stretch goal.

It makes sense to me that magical power drained from something would still bear the "resonance" of the source. In some cases this may just be a bonus or a hindrance, but when it comes to Chaos, it's spiritual plutonium.

Blue Book of Zzabur Written by Zzabur himself in True Script, this book is a first-hand record of creation, inscribed upon the flayed, yet still-living skins of his ancient foes. The Blue Book requires great labor and study even to read; the intellect must be attuned through rigorous logical self-discipline (Solace) and other strictures so that it is not annihilated by the knowledge contained within the book. This book is the core source text for all zzaburi wizardry. No complete copy exists in the world today. https://wellofdaliath.chaosium.com/home/gloranthan-documents/glorantha-2/history-of-malkioni-thought-brithini-and-first-age/

The PCs in my group were granted a (superior) trollkin, and they rolled up his stats. It turned out the trollkin had 18 in INT, and everyone decided he had been smart enough to hide that.

They gain various chaos features and mutations because of the tainted energies.

You could also treat it as a Community, even if it doesn't include any people apart from the PCs.

Agree, that's a terrible design for the reasons you mention (Tribe 8 first edition did the same thing). The good fix is making it dual-purpose - if you spend a Hero Point for success it also gets spent as XP on that ability only.

One potential workaround is that it's possible for trollkin to prove that they were "really" full dark trolls all along, just born as a trollkin. One imagines this is much easier if you actually were part of a dark troll twin birth.

Anyone else thinks the full sorcery system should be published as The Blue Book of Magic? 🙂

Yes, but emphasis on "potentially". You will suck for a long, long time, while a Rune Cult initiate can be pretty badass right away. Lunar Sorcery has traditionally been designed a bit less flexible (as it bases off of Spirit Magic) but much easier to learn and use. Much more PC friendly. With regards to Earth cults, one possible explanation is that Ernalda's traditional enemy is Nontraya the Taker, who can reasonably be identified with Vivamort, who is associated with Sorcery.

"Do not ruin that which you love" is a commandment in Malkionism. The orthodox interpretation seems to be that you should love Creation (as it's made by the Invisible God and good), and therefore not harm it by tapping. But some sects have workarounds - the Boristi reasonably argue that you shouldn't love Chaos, and therefore feel free - no, duty-bound! - to tap it (this has side effects, as one would expect). The Galvosti didn't think you should love non-Malkioni, and so thought tapping them was fine. Brithini and Vadeli don't care, and tap to their hearts' content, because they're like that. Rokari at the very least used to allow tapping of animals, because apparently you can't love animals (this seems very Rokari). Not sure if this has been changed in current canon?

The party of my PCs include a trollkin. Feeding him chaotic stuff is their go-to way of getting rid of it.

Correct. Their initiation quests get derailed into following Cacodemon. It's a bloodline taint. You would think ogres would put in even more of an effort to do this kind of thing, introducing their seed into bloodlines.

Something similar is in Lords of Terror, in an Elven source. (I also love how the disaffected youth of Yuthuppa are doing Gbaji graffiti. 🙂 )

"Arkat fought Nysalor, and Gbaji won."

It at least used to be the case that Entra the Sow Mother was a part of Ernalda.

"Do you like a nice garden? Do you enjoy the company of friends? Do you believe the world is made of tiny particles, which you call 'atoms'? Do you trust the evidence of your senses? Do you find politics tiresome, and raise a skeptical eyebrow at those who live in fear of God? If your answer to these questions is 'yes', you might want to consider becoming an Epicurean." —History of Philosophy Without Any Gaps podcast

I don't know what "accurate" even means in this context. What is it that you test the myth's correspondence against?

Less common name for Ascended Masters, as per the Guide. Probably most often seen for Saint Xemela? There is also a Saint City on the Red Moon, and the Hideous Saints of the World of Losers movement.