jeffjerwin

It was a period of much havoc, and the ducks and the Lismelders would have had to deal with the whole Tarshite wars - first the Colymar went and stole the Ivory Throne from Bangor (around 1440) and then the Tarsh king died without heirs. Of course, the Colymar are not to be trusted, so the Duck king or queen might have allied with Tarsh and the Earth cult on Wintertop during c.1450-1460, and even helped Illaro attack the Quivini. Perhaps 'Brackbrood the Lothario' sought an alliance with the Tarshite Earth queen and presented himself as potential lover and consort. This may have ended badly.

Hey Quackatoa, who was the Duck King or Queen in c.1450? (a generation or so before Sartar, that is)? Anyone in particular, or should I make something up?

Alusar is the child of Yinkin who is demigod of sneaky black cats. The simplest explanation is that Slythin is a lesser godling, perhaps a child of Alusar, like the sorts of minor gods and spirits one meets in the wilds. Alusar likes to keep secrets and move about by night, doing sekrit cat biznes.

At least one Blue Moon type is known: bats. These are mammals with flight, a sort of mixture of Sky and Storm.

At least in Dragon Pass, the gazzam are pretty established as Earth creatures... the children of Maran Gor. If they have a connection it must be through the 'father'.

Well polyandrous and polygamous marriages are possible, which also is an exception, though rare. Hendira, the queen of Nochet, had two underhusbands, for example. If you are married to a Uleria cultist, technically, all of her extramarital relationships are ritually exempt, but there are cases-in-between.

It does seem that given that Ernalda has the Harmony Rune she is the source of justice among Earth peoples. I would imagine given "There is Always Another Way" that the principle behind Earth justice is restorative, not codified. The Gor cults are necessary only when restoration and recompense is impossible or the enemy is not cooperative.

Drogarsi is an Orlanth sub cult dedicated to being a skald. He is also connected to Donandar. I'd run it as Orlanth Adventurous with an adjusted skill list and some different spells.

Sorana Tor was also immune, by virtue of being a demigod's avatar. The other possibility is that the leadership of the troupe isn't actually human, at least to draconic reasoning.

Well, there is an enormous Donandar temple in Nochet. The methodology of the hunting and waltzing bands, of conversion through performance, seems awfully similar, but maybe, if the proximate holy realm magics are a shared secret that is the main link.

Sartar turned some people into termites, so they must exist also.

BTW, I have continued to develop this campaign idea, though it's now set in 1450+. I've come to the following conclusions: There is an obvious connection between the EWF and the Puppeteers. But the Puppeteers survived and continued during the Inhuman Occupation, meaning that they were not 'flawed' in the sense that the Dragon Ring was. I think the Puppeteers were originally part of the Proximate Holy Realm system. Like the priests of Orlanthland, they reject kings... Like Orlanthland, they promote harmony and nonviolence. As the Guide says: "In 600, the priests of Dragon Pass successfully executed the Gate of the Proximate Holy Realm. This initiated a long period when the priests and priestesses (and their later draconic heirs) ruled. The Orlanthi way was directed to create a society based on the Ernaldan virtues of providing. Violent men were sent to join the Brotherhood of War, who expanded the Kingdom of Orlanthland into southern Peloria at the direction of the priests." The proximate holy realm was a gate between the Hero Plane and the mundane world. This is also a feature of Puppeteer performances. The Puppeteer territory is essentially the same as the core of Orlanthland. They gather in EWF (and earlier, Orlanthland) ruins. Compare their values, and the values of Orlanthland to the values of Sartar, who was initiated into the Puppeteer secrets... I think Vistikos, with his 'dancing' magic, and his mysticism, was a breakaway figure from the Puppeteers, and thus the EWF could be said to be a mistaken path taken by an aberrant troupe.

One thing to keep in mind is that the River used to be quite populated, during the EWF and the First Age, as we can see in King of Sartar and other books; we also know there were Far Point/Tarshite settlements on the banks before c.1450. So the reasons there is no one there is probably defensive.

jajagappa, I am in your debt.

I always thought Masada was similar (in more than one way) to Whitewall.

Serdredosa, the Earth Witch.

I'm thinking particularly of trading vessels headed to Nochet, loaded with goods from Tarsh and further afield. Ducks might use coracles, I think. There are also trolls around the Shadow Plateau who might engage in trade.

Just fishing for some help here: what do they look like? I assume the river is navigable as far as Duck Point or so (the Upland Marsh is presumably a bit unsafe anyway). But if I'm wrong I'd appreciate the correction. How do they get upstream, or does traffic pass by other routes inland, and only passes southward via the river?

The who serpent saga with John Adams is pretty interesting. It must be the same serpent that Benjamin Franklin formed out of component parts. Presumably Franklin's huge serpent then turned out to be more than Adams could handle, and it ate his mother. Lucky that the Mountain Witch knew how to summon the great Eagle spirit, which is now the wyter of America. Edit: Of course, Franklin and Adams did find themselves at odds. When they were sharing a bed, Franklin insisted in opening the windows at night, which caused quite an argument, though Adams fell asleep while Franklin orated on the subject of night vapors. (https://prologue.blogs.archives.gov/2012/06/20/in-their-own-words-john-adams-and-ben-franklin-part-i/)

Curiously, I can find no evidence that there are Greek or Egyptian style sphinxes in Glorantha. Are they mentioned anywhere? I suspect they make sense as inhabitants of Beast Valley, given the presence of manticores, fauns, and minotaurs there... Or maybe they make sense as spirits (compare the picture on p.364 of the new RQ rules, where there is a similarly structured man-deer). Thoughts? Edit: I have discovered that the deuterocanonical Dara Happa Stirs mentions depictions of Shargash as a male Egyptian-style Sphinx, which makes a great deal of sense. Perhaps the Greek sphinx could be used as a model for an Alkothi demoness.

Donandar the major Lunar gods and goddesses Lodril and his variations Veskarthan and Turos

Yes, me too. "Energetic" is certainly an excellent quality for a lover from the perspective of Esrolians.

Yes, by Bruvala.

I'm thinking the queens of Nochet (the city only) would be 'river queens' from the Evaeo and Oraneo, who had claim to the lands close to the embarkment on the Lyksos, and thus would have profited the most from the trade from the Creek-stream. They would be rich enough to bribe their way into the queenship for a few generations.

Well, let's see; I'll focus on it as a starting element for now. In HotHP, we have Sartar, and all his descendants. Let's set them aside: the name element is going to mean the same thing for each. There's the ancient royal name Sarlanth, where we have Sar+l/anth. Associated with Sarl, most likely. These are the only Sar[l]- names in the Heortling Mythology book as well. Interestingly, in Fonrit, the city of Sarro worships Orlanth as their main deity. Since Is-sar-ies and Orlanth share the Movement Rune, it makes sense for Sar-el, Sarro to signify movement, a shared quality, and one which is closer to the Esrolian 'Orlanth the Lover' than his Air/Storm affinities. Sar(l)+ 'moving beloved' + tar (high, rising, cognate to Dar, chief) = the king of rushing/movement, a likely 'lesser' name for Orlanth...?