Akhôrahil

Seeing the runes in things (if not perhaps at the micro level) is what the God-Learners' RuneQuest Sight does, correct?

Strictly speaking, this is in itself heretical, the notion that non-dwarves are good for anything and can be bargained with. Yes, playing a "proper" dwarf should be almost as impossible as playing a "proper" dragonewt. Well, Quicksilver True Mostali. Technically, The Dwarf is in fact not a dwarf... I always thought the alchemy bit was a dead giveaway. :-)

I like this a lot better than what the Guide gives us.

Random comments: I love dwarves – they're just so appallingly awful. Lovecraft liked describing some of his alien beings as having a fascistic socialist political system, and that sums up dwarves just perfectly. I imagine dwarves get good press in a lot of older Gloranthan publications, as both the dwarves of Dwarf Mine and (especially) the dwarves of Pavis are completely unrepresentative in their (comparative) niceness. The god-awful dwarves of Slon are far more representative. I absolutely love the Hero Wars sidebars, and the dwarf one (just like the Aldryami before it) doesn't fail to impress. Pulling subcontinents together using cables (and dinosaurs) is wonderfully bonkers! Dwarves approve of the Red Moon. Glad to see some non-Lunars do. Really makes you question the line of argument we see in most Sartar publications, as well as this week's Prince of Sartar. Dwarves – among those who would be most troubled about compromise breakage and chaotic intrusion – seem very calm about the whole thing. The images making clear that these aren't Tolkien dwarves is great. Many of them are so weird. Massively approve. Glorantha sense of wonder moment: Not only did the dwarves invent (not discover, not refine, not be the first to craft - invent) Iron, they could also have invented it to be poisonous to humans as well, had they known at the time what a mess we will make. Wait, why are cannon much more rare than muskets? It's the same technology, only much easier! In our world, cannon predated handguns significantly. Should we imagine that it's not just about the physical properties – which really are the same only simpler for cannon – but about more difficult magic to keep them working. I'll also repost what I wrote in the Bronze Age thread: I don't particularly like the description of Dwarven earthsense: 'Dwarves have a sense, unique to them, called “earthsense”. It is like long-distance touch, and permits them to sense heat, air pressure, and air currents with remarkable accuracy', or the way Troll Darksense is described as sonar. I would much rather see that Dwarves have an Earthsense because they're connected to the Earth rather than because of quirk of their biology, and that trolls can see in the dark because of course they can - it's seeing in the light that's tricky for them! We don't need any God-Learner explanations for how it works! (I'm reminded of the awesome suggestion that Troll Vampires can't stand the darkness, and have to dwell forever in the light.)

I would go so far as to say that I'm certain that it doesn't. The fundamental building blocks of Gloranthan reality are runes, not tiny tiny particles. Fundamentally, matter consists of the elements, organised by the other runes. I don't particularly like the description of Dwarven earthsense: 'Dwarves have a sense, unique to them, called “earthsense”. It is like long-distance touch, and permits them to sense heat, air pressure, and air currents with remarkable accuracy', or the way Troll Darksense is described as sonar. I would much rather see that Dwarves have an Earthsense because they're connected to the Earth rather than because of quirk of their biology, and that trolls can see in the dark because of course they can - it's seeing in the light that's tricky for them! We don't need any God-Learner explanations for how it works! (I'm reminded of the awesome suggestion that Troll Vampires can't stand the darkness, and have to dwell forever in the light.)

Just wanted to say that this is a fantastic sentence: "Ouroboros includes all of the universe, and everything else, too."

One of the awesome things here is that Trolls are far and away the most relatable of the "Big 4" land-dwelling Elder Races. They're people in a way that Elves, Dwarves and Dragonewts aren't. Usually enemies, to be certain, but that's because to a large extent, they want the same kinds of things we do.

p. 69: In the text, Enkloso is described as "combining green and brown elves into a single powerful political unity", but in the map, it's displayed as Green, not Mixed.

I assumed the second. It's not an overly impressive, tree, though. Not sure why female Aldryami have boobs, tbh.

p. 75: Is there a layout error for the main text of the sidebar here? It looks different from other sidebars.

I'm reading ahead here (p. 302): "Alanthore: This Seer and Prophet has been roaming around the Redlands and the lower Arcos River, spreading his new cult of the Red Sun. The Red Sun encourages human sacrifice, and protects those cities which set up temples from Pentan raiders." Blood sacrifice and suns of non-standard colour? This certainly sounds like Ignorance.

It's the Redlands (likely specifically the Red Hair Place), not Balazar. Hence the Red-Haired Tribe and Eastern influence through that route.

Also, if you want to criticize the Red Emperor, you can always claim that his advisors are wicked and attempting to lead him astray. That's how most revolutions begin. Not critizing the monarch himself, oh no, that would be unthinkable.

All over the place in the Civilized section (the West, Kralorela), we see it said that a good farmer is more respected than a bad noble. Are we supposed to believe that this is actually the case (something that at least to me seems highly unlikely)? Or just that's the un-met ideal (which seems exceedingly likely)?

I think it's intriguing that the Lunar Way, while rotten at the core in the Heartlands, seems to produce pretty good outcomes at the more recently Lunarized outskirts. Arrolia and the Lunar Provinces (Lunar Tarsh in particular) look like among the nicest places to live in Glorantha. If the New Moon Empire mentioned in Argrath's story is indeed the breakaway Lunar Provinces, I would imagine it was not an overly bad empire.

Does the crescent-headed axe (D4) have a historical prototype? It doesn't look very practical. (I question how useful the A2 labrys would be in combat, but hey, maybe under the right axe magic... And glad to see that A1 is for ceremonial purposes.)

I stand by my statement that the axehead is huge, and impractically so (this is almost always the case in Fantasy art, so it's not surprising - real-world battle axes (and also maces, and warhammers) tend to look puny to people used to seeing them in Fantasy art). That said, I have little problem with the idea that the warrior wanted the biggest, heaviest axe he could find for status reasons, and someone was only too happy to sell him something less functional, perhaps even a ritual or decorative axe never meant to be actually used in combat. In metal-poor Prax, this would be a serious case of conspicuous consumption.

Image googling says Persia, about 1000 BC.

I really wish that at some point, someone would have bitten the bullet and re-transcribed Zzabur's name in a way that doesn't scream "SILLY FANTASY NAME!!" at you. It always feels completely out of place when I read it. What's the "zz" even supposed to represent? A particularly long "z" sound?

This would also explain their incompetence with athletic tasks.

On the one hand, Rokari Zzaburi are chosen from the children of the other castes. On the other, they're taller. So... the conclusion must be that something about belonging to the caste makes you taller? And it can't be merely that they're properly fed, as they're weaker as well, and also supposedly the nobles are properly fed as well? So what's going on here?

And what kind of attitude towards tapping should we imagine that Fonritian sorcerors have? On the one hand, their view of the world as resolving around mastery and slavery would seem to indicate no restraints, but would their enmity towards Jraktal the Tap color their impressions about what is allowed? This has to be an important question - the matter of tapping is a big deal in the West, after all.

So who is Tentacule? What does a High Slavery God do that's not already covered by the other slavery-related deties?

Also worth noting that both the Lunar Empire and Fonrit (and the Artmali empire, in its days) are fairly heavily chaotic. I'm thinking chaoticism goes hand in hand with decadence, each feeding the other?

Something I find intriguing is that all four civilized cultures presented here centralize not only administration and the military (as we would expect), but also centralize and professionalize magic. Pelorians rarely initiate, farmers in the West and Karolerela use mostly minor farming and healing magics, and in Fonrit the leadership make damned sure to keep the magic in their hands. As civilized peoples surely have ample uses for personal magic, I imagine we must assume that this is a deliberate strategy by the state in all cases? It also helps explain why tiny Sartar can put up some pretty impressive magical units once it gets its act together. Average people are already more "magical" there than among their civilized neighbours.