Akhôrahil

Oh, and the Vingan painting is lovely. Even with its "female armor" of dubious protective worth. The sleeve style tattoos are nice. What's the metal of her bracelet? I wonder what the (supposedly Lhankor Mhy) Law-speaker thinks of the head-taking - it's a touchy subject...

A look at the pictures. They are all really nice! Hsunchen: Very much a Sami look to the outfits of the Uncoling, as we would expect. Both of the outfits are fairly similar-looking, though - almost too similar for two different tribes, in fact, although we shouldn't be surprised that similar material factors drive similar manufacture. Among the things I Iike: The Bear snowshoes. The rune tags - those make a lot of sense, as it's going to be hard to get runes on fur, and they look amazing (prominent Bear runes on the Rathoring). The snow-goggles on the Uncoling - I didn't notice those until I looked closer this time! The Rathoring has found, just like Harrek did, that you look silly in a bear-head-hat if you keep the jaw part. The text piece starts the trend that we, oddly enough, get what I assume was the description given to the artist, which always diverges at several points from the actual image. (Among others, the Rathoring isn't wearing his snow boots, and I'm fairly confident those aren't snake ribs the Uncoling is wearing.) Doraddi: You can tell that the Kresh are traders, as the woman has access to exotic things like fabrics. The runes are... embroidered, it looks like? This being Glorantha, I'm almost surprised that the belt is decorated with something other than runes, but it makes a nice contrast. The Arbennan's scarification comes through nicely. Note also the Air runes in his earpieces. The metal spearhead must be worth a fortune. Does he have a moustache, or is that just shadowing? Baobabs (?) in the background. The vegetation they're standing on looks suspiciously like grass... Praxian: The image is very evocative, but one has to wonder if it wouldn't have been better to have someone more representative in them? The queen is obviously of very high rank, and that can't be her everyday outfit. The warrior has exceptional metal equipment for a Praxian (the text says leather, but that's clearly metal, and I've already told about my misgivings about the oversized spearhead and axehead elsewhere). At least one regular Praxian would have been welcome, with more typical clothing and equipment. This said, it all looks great. Unlike in earlier examples of runic wear, the Queen's leather skirt now looks like the runes are painted. Wings and horns on the hat - certainly no minimalism here! I love how the dagger grip forms a moon crescent. Not sure why the warriors has that odd second little pony-tail at the top of his head. I wonder if his helmet (he just took it off for the picture, right, surely he has one, having full armor but no helmet would be insane?) fits over that hairstyle. No tattoos on the warrior, and in fact very little in the way of runes at all, only a few smaller Air runes (including earpieces, once more). Water would be more common among the High Llamas, but there's nothing weird about an Air-aspected guy. Orlanthi: The trend of high status people continue, in a way I'm starting to increasingly mislike - we haven't had an average Joe since the Doraddi Walker. That said, the Esroalian hair set-up looks equal parts cool and ridiculous. Bare feet makes excellent sense. Being bare-breasted is apparently not mandatory. Standard Ernalda rune-set, plus Illusion. The heavy Lunar influence on Aggar shows nicely on the Thane (at least if we imagine the Lunars as Roman-style, which perhaps we shouldn't). The pattern on his tabard seems like it's woven, which again is a nice touch, showing how we're seeing technology increases as this chapter continues. He must have a shield in order for that sword to work (and also for Weapontake), but I guess he left it out of the picture - it's not something you carry around in everyday use, anyway. Standard Orlanth rune-set, prominently displayed. When the Lunars ban Orlanth worship, is it only in Sartar, or throughout the Empire? Or is it just that the locals don't care and the Lunars don't enforce it? What's that thing in the background, and why does the symbol re-occur on the Thane's chestpiece?

Supposedly, it's some kind of ceremonial, non-mounted garb, and not the everyday outfit? I had an issue with the weapons instead - they're very much "fantasy weapons". Both the axehead and the spearhead are huge! And the triple spikes at the back don't seem to serve any obvious purpose (a single spike is for armor-piercing).

That's the problem with Sacred Kingship - you put someone in power who wants nothing better than to make sure it doesn't happen...

Speaking of the picture, should we think of the warrior as a particularly successful one? His gear is loads better than I'd expect of the average guy.

If the tattoos had to be hand-made, it would be a lot harder to keep Sartar runes secret, and there might even be wariness about literally marking someone for death at the hands of the Lunars with it.

I thought this section was... bland. It does give a good overview about things you would have to know in order to play in Doraddi society, but unlike the Orlanthi and Praxian sections, after reading it I ask myself "so what would you do as Doraddi character?" without having an answer. The combination of extreme conservatism and a fairly harmonious and peaceful society doesn't make for a lot of adventuring bait. Later on, we get both area descriptions and hints at the Hero Wars (I'm sure the New Artmali Empire is going to be well received...), but for now, the section isn't very grabby. And while it's probably just a matter of limited source material, the Doraddi culture seems extremely monolithic for something that spans an entire continent.

Lysus scoped me. Waha is totally a culture hero.

I always thought of thralls as clan property, but the text seems to state differently - they are personal property. I'm also intrigued that the text indicates that prisoners from raids is less common than criminals or debtors. How does that work? Surely you can't make thralls of your own clan members, at least for the clan itself, and there would seem to be limited ways to "recruit" thralls in those other two ways mentioned. Should we imagine that if an outsider is in debt to you, you go out and conk him or her on the and he/she wakes up as a thrall? Can you be awarded someone as a thrall from legal proceedings? Is slave trading part of the system? Maybe even selling your clan members as slaves (probably unusually common now that the Lunars are in charge - such a great way for pro-Lunar chiefs to get rid of malcontents). Making thralls out of outlaws would also seem to be one of more practical methods.

Something I would have enjoyed seeing more of is the differentiation between various Hsunchen peoples. I'm not getting much help if I want to play, a Sofali character - the section is about the general, and I would imagine that the closer you look at individual peoples, the more differences show up (isn't it always like that?). Obviously there is a space constraint, but boxes no larger than the Rathori and Uncoling descriptions would have been helpful (as would have a "group photo" of all the various peoples). Also, as the section is so generic, it's not very "grabby" - at least for me, I don't feel a lot of plot hooks here. I also find the concept - brought up here about the Basmoli, but something we will see again and again - of Hsunchen people "evolving" (with heavy scare quotes) out of their traditional niche. The language thing is gloriously weird. The God Learners must have loved it! :-) "Wake the dragon" instantly makes me think of A Song of Ice And Fire, as it's something of a catchphrase for the unlamented Viserys. ;-)

Of course the ship has painted eyes. How else would it know where to go?

While I would normally tend to agree with this, the Guide indicates otherwise - that physical damage is routinely healed with magic. p. 9: "Injuries are not as serious on Glorantha as they are in our world, for most physical damage and infection can usually be healed by one’s friends or family, or at least by someone local. This contrasts with life on Earth, where many people’s sole recourse for serious injury is to journey to highly-paid specialists found only in urban centers. However, the ease with which magic heals wounds means that violence is even more popular in Glorantha as a way to settle disputes than it is on Earth."

Page 2. Kickstarter backer "Yievan MaynensÃn" - this looks like a character encoding bug.

I had the same reaction. I would have expected an entire corner being broken, not just the surface.

In a few weeks, this re-read should merit its own sub-folder in the forum, IMO. That will make it far easier to find old threads, and also won't spam the regular folder with them.

Wait, so Kalikos isn't the Northern Guardian (even though we see him holding up the Sky Dome and all on page 1)? That should teach me to make assumptions!

Thanks, that does explain a lot!

Cover: So I recognize the people, but what about the thing with the circles and runes? Initial impression is some kind of representation of the heavens, with some stellar objects being in the sky and others in the underworld. But in this case, why is the Red Moon off to the side? Why is there a darkness symbol attached to it in the lower part? Why is there a Storm rune outside of the circles, and why does it have a different background? Yes, they do seem to at least in part correspond with the position of the four hero characters, but why is that? (It's hilarious that the red "Moon Design Publications" logo is up next to Jar-Eel and the Moon rune.) Page 1. The artwork here is outstanding. I also approve of the Lhankor My invocation. Page 2. "I Bought, We Won" is just dreadful! :-) Page 8. Are humans a young species? In what way aren't they as old as other man-rune races? Surely humans diverged from a more undifferentiated "man" sometime in the Green Age? (Human dominance is its separate issue.) Page 8. The classification of civilization levels here reminds me of Lewis H. Morgan's three-tier system of Savagery, Barbarism and Civilization. I would imagine that this kind of nomenclature isn't used in current anthropology... but then, the goal here is to present a practical model for the reader. It serves this purpose well enough. Page 9. The magics of Mysticism being described as "inconsequential" strikes me as decidedly odd, here. Also, I thought we had moved away from seeing Mysticism as its own path, and instead something that can be found within each of the other three (at least, that's what Robin D. Laws told us in a podcast, can't vouch for it)? Page 9. I find it very interesting that good access to healing magics is described as in in-game thing, which means that it's not merely an artifact of the healing rules. This is really cool, as it means that (for instance) duels to first blood face a much lower threshold than in the real world, and in general that people (not just PCs) can afford to live more dangerously. It's the kind of thing that should have a huge impact on society, and helps explain why life in Glorantha isn't quite as awful as in the real bronze age. Barring monsters and harmful magic, that is... Page 10. So... does the four directions each correspond to a more dominant kind of magic (Mysticism in the East, Theism in the North, Sorcery in the West, and Animism in the South)? It sure seems so - particularly conspicuous as the four types were listed just last page - but what could have driven that development? Pages 9, 11. This nicely drives home the early levels of social development. This isn't a even a medieval world, let alone a modern one! Page 12. Just as Mythic Europe (Ars Magica) has its own "Mythic Penny" to allow players to count silver pieces without annoying exchange rates, so Glorantha has a predominant size of silver coin, supposedly of about the same worth. This is probably for the best from a roleplaying perspective. If anyone missed that Kralorela is Fantasy China, their Cash (really, "Cash"? :-) ) drives the point home. It never stops being cool that Wheels are perfectly geometrically round. Page 16. How big were the gods, if their bones make up the available metal?! Since you can find the actual, intact, bones, this is a relevant question. What kind of intact bone could a man-sized person wield as a weapon? A femur? The hammer bone of the inner ear? Page 16. Quicksilver is green and aluminum red? Okay... but why? This seems weird and comes out of the blue. Page 16. I like the description of "adventuring" as at best a morally dubious practice. As opposed to defending your stead and your clan, which is commendable. Page 17. "Several cruel Gloranthan cultures even enslave persons of different races." This feels simplistic. It's not about outright cruelty, and surely the overwhelming amount of slavery goes on within the same of the four racial types?

In order: 1. I think this is simply poor design, but it's also easily house-ruled. 2. I can definitely see this. Probably ask for a character concept first, then help guide towards a functional "build". 3. I don't like the rules design here – using Hero Points in play for bumps makes you awesome, and you shouldn't be discouraged from awesomeness. Trying to be "cheap" with your Hero Points seems to go against all the spirit of the game, yet really does pay. I would use the following house rule: You can use unspent Hero Points for character development however you like. But when you use a Hero Point for a bump, that also counts as spending it to develop that ability (make a mark on the character sheet).

Thanks, Joerg – I never quite understood why people say "Green Age" when it comes to Genert's Garden and Pavis' project. Yes, it's about a time when things were lush and green in Prax, but not predominatly back to the mostly undifferentiated past of the Green Age. Genert's Garden is mostly a Golden Age thing. Also, I have to wonder just what Waha-worshipers would think of the Garden. Yes, it's lush and nice and all, but also 'soft'. It's not really a case of "God created Arrakis to train the faithful", but they're likely to think of the Garden as somewhat unmanly, and compare it to the oases and the widely despised oasis peoples of the current day.

Pavis might be the more controlled case. But I doubt anything fun happens when the Praxian tribes conquer the Grantlands.

This is what we have the word "fanon" for.

I assume genocide and slavery, the way history so often goes, but that is admittedly depressing.

Is this material available aywhere on the net? Most of the specific links are broken. Almost all is out of print at Tradetalk.de, and only the Tradetalk issues can be bought at Drivethroughrpg.

One of my favorite examples of this from history is how how some Muslim rulers tried to stop local Christians from converting to Islam as it reduced the tax base.