jeffjerwin

The marsh lands - like the Huang Chow in Kralorela - are probably the best defense against the horse barbarians. There may be a bit of 'opening the dykes' by the marsh folk too (they have no reason to cooperate with 'Dara Happa on Horse')! SS however vowed to 'stand upon the Moon' which started his whole awful career (like Argrath, another Arkat, vowed to destroy it). My timeline notes: Before 1374 the ‘cities on the shore of the Elf Sea’ were destroyed by the Opili. In 1389 SS besieged Glamour and wrestled the Emperor. In 1415 Sheng Seleris slew Takenegi. He was called Kazkurtumas emperor of Dara Happa. He subordinated Shargash and Alkoth. In 1423 Sylila reconquered Alkoth, linking itself to Glamour. Takenegi returned, lame, in 1428. In 4/19 [1428] SS’s brother attempted the Ten Tests. In 1436 the Sable tribe was granted rule over Kostaddi. In c.1442-4 SS was in the East confronting Godunya. 1442 Tarshite raids reach as far as Sylila and Kostaddi. In 1443 Kostaddi rebelled after SS revealed he had stolen part of the Emperor’s worship in 1389. Yara Aranis was defeated. In 1448 part of the Mad Sultanate escaped Tork and went northwest past Bikhy. They crossed the Oslir north of Alkoth. 1449 is the year of the campaign: two years after Sheng Seleris became a star he invaded the Moon. He slew the Children of Change and the Council of Elders and Wise Ones (the Egi). Sheng Seleris’ brother was the Emperor ‘On-Horse’ of Dara Happa. In 1449 Takenegi and Orios of Tarsh were slain by the Mad Sultanate [or slain on the Moon by Sheng Seleris, ‘the Celestial Emperor’]. Vanch, Saird, Imther, and Forantin (Aggar) are all de facto independent, while only Rist, Sylila, the city of Torang, the Silver Shadow, and Carmania remain loyal to the rump Lunar Empire. According to the Arrolians, since the death of the Red Emperor at the hands of Sheng Seleris the Empire has been ruled by the ‘Dead Moon’ dynasty. In 1453 the Mad Sultanate attacked Lankrene before entering Dorastor. The Emperor was in hiding in Doblian until 1460. Battle of Kitor in 1460. Submission of Dara Happa in 1462.

You have described a monstrous perversion of asceticism. I fear you are right. It means, however, that the torments of Sheng Seleris in the Lunar Hell have only made him stronger. His release was the worst of all Argrath's actions.

Fair enough. Still, we know now there were multiple urban settlements around the sea before the Opili. Still, the map on p.140 shows the area as Balazaring around the right time. We may want to say (as you do) that this is spurious, like the evidence of Votanki power south of the Rockwoods - in my opinion that should be a green/Aldryami exclave.

As an aside, I noted when I was reviewing my sources on Balazar that in the Glorantha Sourcebook it's stated that the Opili wiped out 'cities' on the Elf Sea prior to 1375 (p.169). Based on the Guide, p.140, these would have been otherwise forgotten Balazaring citadels.

On p.63 is an illustration of the 'Crippled Man' helping Sheng Seleris escape the Emperor (according to the endnote on p.93). Any theories on this?

I notice this map mistakenly has SS on the Moon in 1419 when that happened in 1449. (At least in the copy I have - I'm downloading the newest version to see if the error persisted - um, yep.). Looks like a misreading of Greg's handwriting. I thought also it was implied in the Fortunate Succession that SS had captured Raibanth also. (Maybe this was in the 1370s-80s instead in his first incursion).

Some players and GMs care more about these things. Some do not. Do you want a 'gritty' game with accounting involved? (The main advantage is that the effects of crises like the Wasteland and wars are more palpable, and servants, family, and local details matter more)... Or do you want to focus on relationships with major NPCs, adventures and the meta-plot?

Sounds very much like a euphemism for some sort of death. The name may have been a trick. Edit: a trick that appeals the God Learner's particular sin, that of Greed.

In 1449 Sheng Seleris invaded the Moon and he ruled much of Peloria until the Battle of Kitor in 1460. My current campaign is set between these events. (My Gavrening game is on hiatus) It's more or less a Wuxia game. I'm looking for thoughts about the period. His brother is said to have attempted the Ten Tests (Fortunate Succession). It seems that Kazkurtum is used instead of whatever divine name AgartuSay or his Brother (?) chose. Any information on this and the nature of the Celestial Empire - how it supplanted the Lunar Empire for instance - would be appreciated. Also, I'm reconstructing the cult of Verithurusa for my daughter's character. Any help would be appreciated.

If Chaos was the cause of the Votanki separation there's a pretty rational and grim reason why goats were abandoned by the proto-Votanki.

That seems plausible.

That's probably the simple, and therefore best solution, thank you. My daughter wants to play a lunar princess/elementalist now but a 7M approach is easier for her (she's still young) over sorcery and animism in the RQ rules.

Uryarda was 'separated' (ritually/magically) from them by some experience in the Early Storm Age? (Just throwing that out there). It's possible to lose access to valuable skills via a curse, cultural cataclysm, or some such, I think, in Glorantha. Hunting and Gathering is sometimes better as survival strategy as well.

Question: if a character specialised in summoning/working with the Young Elementals of Lunar lore, would that be a spirit or a sorcerous tradition?

The giants came to Argrath's aid at the final battle against Chaos. Perhaps she was their leader?

"partially shipped" refers to the fact that the pdf is not shipped with the rest of the order. Confusing... (I only know this because my copy of Reign of Terror displayed the same status but arrived a month ago. I figured out then what was going on).

The vendref are serf-like. 'Serf' is of course a type of servile class, a not-free group. We tend to use the term for chattel slavery, as in America, but there are many gradations. Concerns for keeping one's serfs low are similar to suppressing slave rebellions... Of course, the practical solution for the Lunars in Sartar is binding rebel households as thralls to loyal groups, since that uses existing magical and legal language, but Dara Happans I think tend to default to Ergeshi slavery even when inconvenient. I think that the Ergeshi in Vanntar are deprived of their cultural identity and magical ancestry (Kitori) by being ritually defined as servile group controlled by the magic of Yelm... This is a hostile version of how clans 'adopt' a wyter and the ancestry of their wyter as part of their clan history. Ergesh, god of slaves, is substituted. Perhaps he offers spells like "Endure Hardship" and "Please Master" but in exchange forbids rebellion. This would provide practical safety to the oppressed at the expense of freedom... the old dynamic of collaboration might be strengthened by this tradition. Priests of Ergesh might be slave-catchers, the ultimate sort of collaborator.

Speaking of dog-headed people, who are the dog-heads who were carried on the back of Worcha Rage? (In the RW, perhaps they are like the dog-heads who fought King Arthur or Saint Christopher's species, but in Glorantha...?) Also, I'm much in favor of Nick Brooke's Hippogriff's Avenging Daughter: http://etyries.albionsoft.com/etyries.com/folktale/hippo.html

This is the plot of more than one part of the (poetic) Tristan cycle. He ultimately dies while awaiting a chirurgeon... So it can make for as good a story - finding a healer - as something more 'heroic'.

Yes.

I may be influenced by my own interest in Taoism, but I tend to think that anyone who covets temporal power and claims to be a true mystic is lying.

I'd say that you should settle it with a contest. A mythically appropriate one. If you want it to be simple, make it a boasting and flyting contest.

Yes, most likely. I am at play, not working, if you catch my drift. Yinkin is a cat and his descendants are more about the moment than the past anyway.

My home campaign is set among the Gavrenings who are a Yinkin clan. I'm trying to puzzle out their pre-Time history. YINK- WINK- VING- are pretty much all the same thing. Moreover... Worcha Rage is defeated by Vingkot. Or sometimes by Orlanth. At Whitewall, five miles from the clan sacred stone. Though I can throw out that Orlanth as Varanorlanth also is pretty much in the same place when he catches the Devil-Fish while chasing his half-sister Velhara. Who is the mother of Gavren by Yinkin as well. Varanorlanth, wild/hunter Orlanth, is the pre-civilized Orlanth, who is not yet the consort of the Earth or king of Storm. Worcha is I think = Wachaza, War-Ocean. But it may also be a Waertagi dragon-ship attacking Whitewall...? It vomits out blue men, dog-heads, and others...

Necromancy is possible though Shamanism (ancestor-worship, contacting, binding and exorcising ghosts), theism (Zorak Zoran is one of the great non-chaotic necromantic cults; Shargash is too distant from the core setting (and not in the rules yet...)), and sorcery (Death rune manipulation). Nontraya may or may not be Chaotic, but he's an enemy of the Earth pantheon and would be hunted by Babeester Gor initiates, along with a slew of others. Gark and Vivamort are definitely Chaotic. Nontraya was equated with Vivamort by the God-Learners. Necromancy is Delecti's special niche in Dragon Pass and he will take an interest, particularly if the character is not a Zorak Zorani.