jeffjerwin

No, I missed that (probably because I can't find it on my shelf). I'll update when I'm able.

The Hill of Gold. (notes) The Hill of Gold is an enormous volcanic plug. No temple is at its summit (13thAge in Glorantha) but a settlement (Peralam) serves pilgrims below, with ‘plenty of temples’. The Vanchite name for it is ‘Lip of Reladiva’ (Enclosure 2) The parts of the Hill of Gold are: Morhaka, the Dead Gullet Tralastaro, the place of the Silverbark Tree Edaranu, is the Holy Wanderings Hodrudes is the Opossum Hut. In Vanchite legend, Sarval the Possum lives here, one of the three servants (= Shadows) of Heliakal; the other two are Tunoral the raccoon and Yermalio/Yotelap the fox (the traitor). White Fox is the pet and servant of Inora in other myths (Anaxial’s Roster), so Yotelap may become her follower after Khelmal was frozen. Peralam is the Hill of Gold proper. This is the trollish ‘Court of Conflict’ and conflated with the Empty Mountain in Berenethtelli stories. Yelmalio/Antirius/Lightfore. Called Heliakal in Vanch, where he is consort of Reladivela, the Mare Goddess. The Vanchites say Heliakal was ‘killed’ at the Hill and Tunoral the raccoon god took up the protection of the people. ‘He took a fatal blow atop the Hill of Gold but returned after the Dawn to prepare for the coming of Yelm’ [GS, p.102]. This may be the last of his ‘six errors’. ‘Wounded, robbed, and hounded from place to place, Yelmalio carried the spark of life throughout the Darkness’ [GS, p.102]. The Kargzant cult of the Pentans views Antirius as a failed god. After the sixth error, Antirius returned from the Hill of Gold on the back of a ‘gaunt black ox which coughed up maggots’ [GRY, p.17]. The Orb of the Eye (also called the Orb of Authority) was held by the usurper of the Hill of Gold. The GRY divided Yelmalio into the immortal Antirius and the mortal Emperor Vanyamoret. Vanyamoret was faced with his Black Shadow, the Other of Yelm, Kazkurtum, after he was wounded by the Cruel God. The body of Vanyamoret was brought back on a red and white bull. His body was burned but the feast at his funeral was thin and not enough for the people. Later Vergustus was killed attempting to recover the Orb (and usurp the throne from Manimat), and his people were eaten by digijelm (trolls). Alaramsor appears to be an avatar of Lightfore. Compare the troll name for Yelmalio, Amanstan. [Enclosure 2] Orlanth. During the Haradangian Battles, Rastalulf took the Vanak Spear from the ‘heart-space’ of a foe (Alaramsor) at the Hill of Gold (this was a hero quest, and in the Otherworld). Earlier, Rastalulf had fought Alaramsor at the Empty Mountain; the Rastalulf saga however says the second battle at the Hill was also at Empty Mountain. This was in the First Age; Rastalulf was from Yinkstead, among the Berenethtelli, that is, the composite Hyalorian Riders and northern Vingkotlings. Rastalulf was accompanied by six companions, a Knower, Scout, Speaker, Watchman, Healer, and Riddler. The Vanak Spear was greeted by Rastalulf-Orlanth as his ‘grandfather’, that is, Aether. It was a weapon against the Darkness. Orlanth disarmed Yelmalio, leaving him unprepared for the troll god (GS, p.102) Vanchite legend makes him a ‘weapon’ of Valkharal (Valind-Inora), called Ralantak the Winds of Change (Enclosure 2). The importance of Orlanth in the Hill of Gold legend is probably a First Age innovation, derived in part by Rastalulf’s actions. Zorak Zoran. He took Yelmalio’s fire from him after slaying or incapacitating him (in 13G it is said he ‘smashed his thighs’ (i.e., his genitals) at the Hill of Gold). Possibly called the Cruel God by the GRY, p.29. The Cruel God gave the Orb of Authority to the digijelm (the trolls) (GRY, p.44). May be equated with the Black Shadow, that is, Kazkurtum (the Empty Emperor, the embodiment of anarchy). However, note that Yurmalio is both trickster and betrayer and ‘follower’ (shadow) of Yelmalio/Khelmal in Imther. The Invisible Other encountered Antirius at the Hill of Gold, ‘but Antirius was not fooled’ [GRY] Eventually the Orb was recovered from the digijelm by Darvedeskorgos, cousin of Khordavu, by gambling with the stake of his own soul. In Enclosure 2 the troll name for the Hill of Gold is Challenge Peak. It is reached by the Bridge of Passage and contains the Court of Conflict. ZZ took the shadow of death from Norag and used it to immobilize ‘Amanstan’, maiming him. Orlanth attacked ZZ with the Firewind and the Hellwind (which is cold storm), but ZZ ‘swallowed them’. Hellwind is also the name of one of the spirits that was incorporated into ZZ by the Kitori, Zolan Zubar. Orlanth fled in a ‘cloud of smoke’. ZZ then took Death, and beat the sword into a maul. ZZ returned to the Court of Conflict and subdued Humakt, Shargash, Vronkal, and Karrgan (the original holder of the rune of Ending, Kargan Tor; however, compare Kargzant). Note however that Zorak Zoran, like Yelmalio, is a composite god of the Unity Council. He combines Hellwind/Zolan Zubar (possibly the son of Orlanth and the Dark Woman or of Inora), the Black Shadow/Kazkurtum (the hungry emperor), the Black Sun/Monster Sun (Shargash) and other great spirits into a new entity, by ‘eating them’. Because Zorak Zoran was made to destroy the Riders of Dara Happa, ‘Dara Happa on Horse’, he usurped part of Kargzant as well. In Vanchite legend he is two entities, firstly a weapon or spirit dominated by Valkharal (Valind/Inora), called Orak the Nightmare, Mask of Darkness, and secondly an entity called Vinak the Bonecrushing Grip. (Enclosure 2) In ‘How Inora Preserved Ice Mountain’ she is served by hollri, or ice trolls, who drive off their cousin ZZ. Inora/Norag: the trolls claim she was victorious at the Hill of Gold over the Little Death. This was on Fireday/Illusion Week/Dark Season, the Winter Solstice. She froze Yelmalio after ZZ broke his thighs (GtG, p.156). This was because his sexual potency was diminished (my interpretation). The White Lady received the Heart of Oslira from Antirius to give life. (GRY) This signifies the heat of the Winter Sun melting the Great Glacier. In Enclosure 2 it is said that ZZ subdued Norag and took from her the ‘freezing Shadow of Death’. This was a fragment of Death itself, which she lost forever; she fled to the North. In Enclosure 2 (The Fall of Heliakal) she is merged with Zorak Zoran (or his precursor) and Orlanth and described in Vanchite legend as Valkharal the Winter King, who may be more accurately her father, Valind the Glacier. In the Ralian (?) myth of Inora she defeats all three: Zorak Zoran with her hollri, Orlanth by her freezing embrace, and Yelmalio by causing him to slip on her ice and fall off the mountain. The Prototype of the Myth: The Little Sun is the sun of the Lesser Darkness. He protected the people of Elempur. *Qelmal was Lightfore, the Little Sun. Qelmal’s horse was Hippoi, the mare, who was also his mate, though her brother *Qarzan attempted to take her away from him, and sorely wounded her. At Peralam she toppled from the heavens, stricken by a treacherous bolt of thunder; the snow king was marching south with his armies. Qelmal convinced the Winter daughter to help him find his dying mate, melting her with his ‘heat’. Qelmal did not intend to stay with the daughter of Ice, but she befriended his shadow, a spirit with a tail of fire. Ever afterwards snow persists in the shadow of the sun. Qelmal tried to leave with Hippoi, breaking his promise to the snow princess. She went to her father and demanded justice. The enraged Cold King found him after Qelmal’s own shadow, the fox, betrayed and attacked him from behind, and the King of the hollri (snow trolls) buried him in wind, darkness, and ice, destroying Elempur. The Glacier afterwards separated this place from the rest of Dara Happa/the Empire of the Sun. Hippoi was freed by the winter king’s daughter and was healed, in part, by Hyalor, one of the mortals of Elempur, making the Riders. Inora, regretting her anger, wept tears of sweet water, which combine to form the great river, and the Shadow Fox went into the Night, which now covered the sky, and fetched the stars to repair her mistake. When the Glacier went away the Sun climbed out of icy tomb and took to the sky again. But he never came to touch the ground in the Middle World again. My contention is that the Council substituted the artificial Zorak Zoran for the distant and still Valind. The fox-god, the little traitor, was partly combined with their Orlanth, but is more accurately connected with the Blue Moon [and the Bat of Death], who summoned the stars when the Sun and the Sun’s Son were lost, making the Great Darkness slightly less dim.

The deeper Lunar Hell is the same one the Goddess was lost within, is it not? Isn't that interesting? Because perhaps Argrath merged the LBQ with the quest of Yanafil Tarnils to find the Goddess after she was trapped by Carmanian sorcerers in the Seven Teeth and Two Jaws... Which would mean learning Lunar secrets, I think. Of course Annstad and his father were illuminated and initiates of the RG.

I always have wives and lovers as fully realized characters, played either by me as GM or another player (so long as they're ok with that). It's pretty important thematically for the "Romance Phase" and onwards, at any rate, that love interests have autonomy. Give spouses jobs at Camelot (ladies in waiting, for example), or make them act like the many wayward and strong-minded women of the romances, instead of ciphers. Random characters can be fleshed out and developed as well... Make sure you know basic facts about who they are: who are their brothers, sisters, parents? These people are also a part of the extended family and can provide adventurous motivations (or problems).

Sheng is however, as much an manifestation of Yu-Kargzant (Sun Stallion) as he is of anything else... Which means that Argrath could perform Orlanth's action without being the actual 'First Rebel'. However, it is true that Sheng was slain by the Red Emperor and the Great Sister, not Argrath... though as Sheng is AgartuSay he is in fact an aspect of Arkat just like the Prince of Sartar... There may be some sort of penance for the wounding of the self going on. Not sure.

Recall, however, that the most recent Moon Goddess was dismembered or destroyed by her own son, a Dara Happan Emperor, and that the primordial Moon was forced into the underworld/death by Yelm. Matricide is perhaps a worse crime than the murder of a stranger... The quest of the Seven Mothers is equally making 'something right' as making something new.

Jajagappa, who is the Ever Radiant Winter Queen? I take it she is an avatar of Inora at the Hill of Gold... A meeting with Yamsivas would make sense for my story, or perhaps one of his followers. However, as the main PC is an avatar of the Great Sister, there would be some gender-based conflict. Also, no doubt, the presence of a fox in her party. Though Inora above does like foxes.

I always thought that the Lightbringers might vary in different parts of Orlanthi (or really, Theyalan) world. In Esrolia, I think I recall from somewhere a Lifebringers' quest led by Ernalda... So the Lunar version is perhaps based on another potent myth cognate to the Heortling one but not necessarily interchangeable or matching in some one to one way. It's isn't really so much derivative as a telling of a method for bringing back a dead god[dess]. Since the Sun died/fell/drowned in the Western Sea more than once before Time, the path Orlanth took with the help of Ginna Jar, the ghost woman, might have been the path she took before the rise of Yelm. It is she who told them what to do. Deezola's goddess is equated with Ginna Jar...

The same way that it's averted in other cases? cutting the soul into seven pieces and hiding the pieces in different places? Or, of course, using chaos magic to devour the ghost...

(x-post from facebook) So my daughter and I have moved on from the Empire in our quest to defeat the terrible Sheng. We will be arriving in Balazar soon... in the year 4/41 (1450). I have a few sparse notes on the area and I wonder if anyone else has some suggestions... Imther. Ruled by a client king of the Lunars from Hilltown, end of the Daughter’s Road. Who is the king of Imther? He is probably an ally of the Lunar rump state of Sylila. Two years ago Orios of Tarsh was slain in Tork after being led astray. He had sacked southern Imther en route… Soldiers’ Ferry – either a ruin or non-existent – on the path of the Opili Horde in 1375 – the same year that the cities on the north side of the Elf Sea (Garsting) were destroyed. In c.1220 the area was ruled by Imther. The Sun Dome in the Laramite Hills (Imther) is probably active. Elkoi – culturally influenced by Northern Tarsh (alias Holay) and by Imther. Tarshite exiles here. Trilus – ruled by the Gadaringers, who held the citadel for 200 years before c.1600 – i.e., from c.1400. Dykene; in ruins since 1280. Tarsh is in the throes of Civil War. The most powerful man in Holay is currently Jornkalor of Talfort (a Sylilan/Lunar ally). In 1450 Tarkalor the Huge ravages Holay and besieges Talfort.

The coat of arms of Summerland in older products is based on the modern coat of Somerset. I'm not sure why it was changed but it does seem appropriate. Cadwy's name comes from a Welsh form of the same name as Cador, the ruler of Cadbury... Part of the 'mystery' of the Summerlands is that it fills in the gap from the movement of Camelot from Cadbury Castle to Winchester after the 1st edition. Gwynn or Gwyn fab Nudd is cognate to the Irish Finn Mac Cumhail, whose maternal grandfather is Nuada. Meliagrance, however, derives from Melwas, who is associated with Somerset in early medieval texts (as well as with Cornwall and Caerleon). Gwyn is definitely associated with the Wild Hunt in Welsh legend, but Melwas is not; it might be that Melwas ('princely youth') is an alias for Gwyn who does have a beef with Arthur in a fragment found in Culhwch ac Olwen. There is, however, a Cadwr or Cadgwr in the pedigree of the (mortal) Welsh rulers of Gwlad y haf, so it may be better to make him a wizard or a fey ('bewitched or enchanted' knight - like the Green Knight) rather than a faerie. Greg and I discussed faerie knights and wizard knights (and so did some other KAP people) and the sense of it was that the faerie world was slated for a total revamp. The Book of Magic should provide a taste when it's out. Speaking of Green Knight, compare his name to Gwyn-ap-Nudd. Here is an authentic Morien of some interest, the black son of Agloval: http://www.ancienttexts.org/library/celtic/ctexts/morien.html. He's even connected to the Grail Quest.

Tar- I think means 'high' - compare Tarumath. Tarsh = highlands.

In terms of Welsh tradition, Vortimer had a single daughter, Madron, who married Ynyr of Gwent, who appears to have been loyal to Uther or Arthur. Would Aurelius or Uther have married Madron instead? It would have been logical: after all, combined Aurelius and Uther with Vortimer would have defeated Vortigern. But one wonders if they could have solved the succession after Vortigern's demise without a marriage or adoption. Vortimer was the grandson of Magnus Maximus, so he had a fair claim to the throne, as much as either of Constantine's boys. The descendants of Pacsen (Paschent) and Cadell, the other Vortigernids of Powys, were not wiped out and were granted parts of Britain by Aurelius, according to Nennius. Aurelius (but maybe not Uther) seems to have willing to find a compromise and conciliate former enemies. So... if Vortimer had won, Aurelius might have come back to Britain (or even allied with him) and sought a co-kingship, and possibly his daughter's hand. Uther might have chosen civil war... (Note: Severa, daughter of Magnus Maximus, was the first wife of Vortigern, before his marriage to Rowena/Rhonwen).

I suspect Vortimer - who is always depicted as a good man in Welsh sources - was horrified at his father's treatment of his sister and murder of Constans. One could take a tack from Hamlet to see why even if his rebellion was doomed he was impelled to do it. He may have even been coaxed into it by St. Germanus. Vortigern, the 'Over-Tyrant' as he named himself, is not a charismatic or good man, and his evil deeds lead to civil war. It's simply in his nature to be proud and cruel. Note also that Saxo's Amlethus, the eventual original of Hamlet, is depicted as a Jutish mercenary who takes part in a slaughter of British.nobles... In Welsh legend, Amlawdd, that is, Amleth, is the father of .... Eigyr or Igraine. Curious that. So even if Hengest fails, there may be a way for history to 'right itself'. And I'd go with the fatalistic theme in Pendragon, which goes all the way back to the HRB. It isn't just weak leaders that lead to the ruin of the Britons, but their pride and crimes of parricide and fratricide (as Gildas says). Maybe Hengest saw Vortigern's flaws and initially wanted to be his (nobler) successor, before that ambition was thwarted by nascent national resistance.

Yes.

I think a good case could be made for Vortimer as a tragic hero: hating his father for what happened to his sister, and dying fighting his stepmother's father.

I think that a case could be made for Vortigern viewing the Irish, the enemy of the Romano-Britons for centuries, as the more significant threat than loyal Germanic mercenaries, often used by the Romans. Hengest's treachery was a pretty new thing: the Visigoths and other foederati Germanic tribes were apparently loyal to Rome (more or less) until after Attila. So in a sense, it was a pretty significant surprise. There is some evidence that Vortigern's eldest son, Vortimer, did not agree with Vortigern's analysis and this formed the rift between them. Vortimer of course fell in battle fighting the traitorous Jutes and Saxons. It is from Vortimer's younger brother, Pascen, however, the same one who fell fighting Uther, that the Powys dynasty was descended.

Vortigern has many descendants... (including me). Seriously, though, the Vortigernids were the dominant dynasty of Powys, at least the western, mountainous area (Sugales) in Pendragon.

In my campaign, Ulurda the Blue Fox, an aspect of Sedenya Herself, has thieving aspects. She's a hunting goddess and a spirit of trickery and survival, but these aspects, though rustic, are obviously roguish.

My impression is that City gods take as lay members anyone who lives in the city - no further action is needed.

There are likely a fair number of Bullmen in the clan, I'd think. There was some strife between the old Holy Country Governor and the Bullmen back in the day, and this made things a lot worse for people around the Print, so expect people to spit when they hear Belintar's name...

The knowledge that Arkati are illuminates is not widespread. Nor is the association, for that matter, between Arkati and Nysalorean illumination. I think Arkati prefer it that way. There is, of course, not really an organized cult of Arkat. It is a mystic path. You learn it from a master and your own experiences, not from a temple. Arkati in the wider world interact with society as a member of a better-known cult. "Weird Harlant is a strange one, but he's always been good at finding chaos. The calmest Storm Bull I've every met..."

Children, at least, are protected by the Earth cult, regardless of gender. Otherwise, what's the use of being a mother and Ernalda initiate if BG will only avenge your daughter? (Besides the fact that among Orlanthi/Heortlings, the private space of the home and family is Earth cult territory, so in a sense, boys before their initiation into adulthood are part of the Earth Realm). Any cult that hates Thed will you help you avenge yourself, if you are the victim of sexual assault, I suspect. It's manifestly chaotic, after all. However I suspect that many of the same issues that bedevil men in our world and in our world's past regarding confronting sexual trauma is probably (sadly) still true. Many of the storm deities are rapists. Actually, given that Uleria is goddess of consensual love and affection, her courtesans will probably work to combat sexual violence as a sacred duty, and a Uleria priestess will have many powerful friends. Remember that Ragnaglar went mad when he was thrown into the 'sex pit'. Perpetuating sexual violence is a core trigger for social breakdown and the rise of chaos. Though to get such a nuanced view you may have to approach Chalana Arroy, or a justice-oriented aspect of Orlanth, who represents Storm that has abandoned and shunned sexual violence.

Well, at least in Genertela... Pamaltela still has its Earth King. Genert has parts of him surviving as he was a primeval giant and a continent, of course, like Gonn Orta and Jernotius, but in the latter case Jernotius/a is in an indeterminate gender and may have lost his/her fertility. Gonn Orta famously is finally able to have a daughter in 1621 or thereabouts. The Earth queens however had non Earth king consorts before Genert's death. Since there's a lot of incest in the early part of the Earth deity lineage (Genert fertilizes multiple generations prior to Asrelia), I wonder if Genert was betrayed or 'helped into death' by his daughter's lovers...

Also there's a picture and information on a Kitori Shadowlord in the Sartar Companion, in I think the chapter on Argan Argar. The Torkani probably settled in Dragon Pass originally with the full support of their Kitori relations, unlike the 'pure' Heortlings. I think the Torkani would also have old grudges against the tribes that drove them from Caroman Pass.