Richard S.

For now I think we should assume that the ability to cast it without being a sorcerer is unique to this spell, possibly something invented by Dormal. 4mp is probably good for the cost.

If I remember correctly, Jeff said something about ship captains being able to learn it as a "package", where the runes and techniques needed are included in the skill. You technically don't have them mastered, so you don't write them on your sheet and can't use them for other spells, but it means you can cast Open Seas without having to become a sorcerer and master the runes and techniques individually. This is all from memory though, so I could be wrong. EDIT: Found the quote. "The definition of a sorcerer is someone who knows sorcerous Runes or Techniques. Open Seas can be cast without knowing any. Most initiates of Dormal know just this one spell and are not sorcerers." Not quite as elaborate as I remembered it, so my memory must've made some conjectures, but the gist is the same.

I believe the current understanding is that non-wizards do worship local gods and spirits and their ancestors in exchange for spirit and rune magic, like pretty much anywhere else in Glorantha, though they also worship the Invisible God and sacrifice MP for the wizards to use and send up the chain of veneration. The warrior societies are the biggest example of this, as they're basically just thinly disguised Hsunchen cults. The wizards oversee all of this, though, and to an extent control who is worshiped and how. They, of course, use pure sorcery, and know that the beings worshiped by the lower castes are merely imperfect manifestations of the pure runes.

Okay, it looks like the rules say two different things. Under "Manipulating Spells" it says "Unless otherwise specified in the spell description, it costs 1 additional magic point to increase the intensity of a spell by one level; or double the amount of magic points if it uses a Rune or technique that the sorcerer has not mastered." which implies that the cost per intensity is only doubled once. Under "Spell Cost", however, it says "Using an unmastered technique or Rune costs double the magic points, and if a sorcerer tries to cast a spell with a Rune and a technique they have not mastered, the magic point cost is multiplied by 4 (essentially, doubled twice)." The Q&A doesn't help either. It first seems to say that the cost per intensity is doubled for each implied r/t (which would make casting a spell with 3 implied r/t cost +8 per level), but then immediately afterwards it cites the "Manipulating Spells" quote I posted above and states that it's only doubled once, not per r/t. Both the rules and the Q&A contradict themselves oh dear...

Mastering the chaos rune gives a chaotic taint, even if you have no affinity with the rune. We don't know exactly what that taint means though. It could mean a minor chaotic feature, it could be like 1% in the chaos rune, or it could be something entirely different.

Yes, which is why people are rightfully suspicious of schools like the Borists who tap chaos

Yes. 1 if all r/t are mastered, 2 if even one of them is implied. Basically. Essentially, for each r/t you don't have mastered it costs 1 extra on top of the base 1 per each r/t.

The cost should just be 2mp+1/level. You said you know both Harmony and Combine, so it's just 1mp for each. You can't cast that, since you don't have any runes mastered that imply death. If you knew life, you could cast it for 4mp+2/level. If you knew death, you could cast it for 3mp+2/level. 6mp (magic=1, air=2, combine=1, separate=2)+2/level. The base cost of a spell is 1 for each rune that you have mastered, and 2 for each rune you have implied. A spell which you have mastered 1 rune of and can imply 2 costs 1+2+2=5. The cost for adding levels is only doubled once, if any runes in the spell are implied. If two, or three, or all runes are only known through implication, the price per level is still only +2. This is all based on the core book. There may be some change in the Q&A which throws this all out the window.

Heroquest rules are coming in the gamemaster book, which is slated to come out after the cults book and starter set if I remember correctly.

I have a suspicion that the ACM is just a fancy way to translate Western to the Elasa Script.

Then he can't initiate to Vrimak. Initiation is a sacred, complex thing. You are devoting yourself body and soul to a single god in order to wield their powers in the mortal world. It's not something you can just do on a whim, with minimal effort. Priests serve as conduits between the god and its worshippers, and can lead worshippers in the process to become initiated. Without a priest, you're blind, with no one to show you the way or speak for you to the god.

If it's Vrimak I think he'll just need to seek out a priest. The big bird already has an established cult; if you want to start another one from scratch, that'll take a Heroquest.

A little bit, yeah, though he did have the existing Elmal cult to work off of.

I feel if there were no worshippers at all, such as with a god who only exists as a name, or a background character in some other god's myth, it would require a Heroquest to find and learn the mysteries of the god and then perform the most central of those to connect yourself to the god. This would give RP and one or two Rune spells related to the quest. Further quests and more worshippers would be needed to acquire more Rune spells, though once gained anyone could learn them in the standard way. I feel that technically you would be the high priest of the god too, even if you don't meet the requirements for a Rune priests. Maybe you would be a god-talker mechanically? I think using the process for establishing spirit cults as a model would work too.

Origin unknown, yes, but we know that he is an actual, full-on God who follows similar rules to the Red Emperor, and resides in both the god world and mortal world simultaneously as an intermediary. AFAIK we never had all that confirmed, though some may have been guessed.

Well, Jeff did basically just spell out most of who/what Belintar is, so I think we can make a good guess.

He probably gets an exception like Waha occasionally does and the Red Emperor. Probably it's at least partially due to having a mortal host - he's kind of half way between mortal and god, so he can do a bunch of stuff other gods can't without getting slapped.

Ooorrrrr you could say that all those deaths give nice openings for the player characters to step in! Of course, Argrath may still end up taking the credit, arrogant bastard...

I think you have to establish your own presence on the other side first. Worship just strengthens what you already have, it doesn't make it in the first place.

Well there's the answer to one long standing question. The winner isn't overridden, or replaced, just added to. Good to know!

Given some stuff Jeff and others have said previously, I think any benefit the cult gives is decided by you. It can't be anything like Rune magic - until you're a permanent fixture in the God world, you can't be the source of magic - but you can teach your skills and Spirit magic and other powers that can be taught.

That's one point I found particularly ironic since, in the rules, women could only join Elmal through Redalda, if at all, while Yelmalio was open to everyone.

I'm surprised no one's mentioned the Yelmalio greeting: YO!

Yes, but the critical/success/failure/fumble classification of results is still used for individual rolls in HQG (QW changes that up a bit). Comparing the results of two rolls gives you your complete/major/minor/marginal success/failure.

Being possessed (or turning into, who knows) by Belintar is probably enough of a sell for the people selected for the contest. Sure, maybe his power overwrites your mind and burns up your body, but the chance to be that deeply connected to a god is something pretty special, and the people selected are probably those who were devoted to Belintar in life anyways. Plus, while I don't recall exactly where I heard it, I believe the winner gets a special afterlife paradise.