Richard S.

Well, actually, separation of church and state is part of the constitution, and not an invasion of free speech. What SoCaS means is that the government cannot use its powers to enfore, promote, or create a single religion as a "state" religion. This doesn't prevent religious people from holding office, nor from privately practicing or supporting their chosen faith, but it prevents the establishment by the government of the types of religious institutions many early colonists fled from, such as the government-controlled Anglican or the government-controlling Catholic churches, which tried to prevent them from practicing their own.

This makes me wonder if Grimoires will be handled as books of inscriptions. It'd be a nice way to handle it imo, plus it would kinda tie into HQG's interpretation of sorcery as hyper specific spells, since once an inscription's been made you can't change the parameters on the fly.

Which version is correct?

I haven't looked at the Smoking Ruins yet, but I'd heard from someone that the sorcerers in it had taken zzaburi caste restrictions. Don't sorcerous caste restrictions increase free INT in RQG? I seem to remember reading or hearing something about that.

What the fuck are you trying to get at. I legitimately do not understand, and it feels like you're just trying to be rude and cause trouble. Yes, our laws of physics don't apply, but in general things do pretty much work the same, even if there's different underlying reasons. Men have deeper voices in general, just like in our world.

So, I think the conclusion is that there is a gender dichotomy. Whether this is a good thing or not is a matter that probably won't ever be resolved. Personally I think a little gender dichotomy is good for a fantasy world, as long as it goes both ways and there's a good amount of gender equal organizations and societies as well. Lends a little bit of grounding and some possible story hooks (one unique things?) as well ("I am the only female worshipper of Yelm", "I am a man who gave birth and now serve as a devotee of Ernalda"). YMMV/YGMV.

Personally I think that Orlanth's, and probably by extension the Vingan's, hair is the shade of orange we call "red hair". Orange is the primary color of air, after all. Blood red is more of a fire or moon color.

I mean, the "all Men/Women are Air/Earth" assumption was really the "Orlanthi All", which means it really only applied to somewhere between 70-80% of people in the "all". In HQG I don't believe Orlanth was really gender restricted, or at least females didn't have to worship him as Vinga if they wanted to join. Same goes for Ernalda, men didn't have to be Nandans I don't think. Honestly, I'd say Ernalda is more gender restricted than Orlanth, since to rise higher than an initiate you have to give birth to a kid, something that, as far as I know, is notoriously difficult for men to do .

And if we can flip the trope around even more, Yelmalio, a decisively male character, remains crippled for eternity after his injuries! How's that for getting back on topic

What cult or cults is in charge of minting silver coins anyways? My first assumption would of course be there merchant gods, Issaries and Etyries, but knowing the world we're talking about I wouldn't be surprised if there was a universal god of minting or something. Maybe it's a subcult of one of the merchants. On a similar note, who handles copper? I know gold coins are Lokarnos' deal, while lead are Argan Argar's. Hm. Since silver coins were only popularized by the MSE (to my limited knowledge) does that mean that the minting aspect of whichever god(s) create the coins was popularized (or even, dare I say it, created) by the God Learners? I know that their minting can probably be done just find without gods, but knowing the GL and MSE I wouldn't put it past them to do something like that.

Preliminary reaction time (This goes for pretty much everything y'all put out, it's all great despite the wait) Edit: updated the picture to something more appropriate

A hundred trollkin with typewriters, given infinite time, will eventually type the entire works of Chaosium...

Thanks for this! I'd been meaning to put something similar together to help with introducing some of my friends, but it looks like you beat me to the punch .

Most likely because they only wanted 3 passions per culture. Also chaos, while the greatest enemy, probably isn't common enough in Sartar or Heortland for most people in the culture to have actually experienced it and thus develop a proper hatred for it.

I can see that, but what does the Imperator subcult offer worshippers?

Are there any major mechanical differences between the Yelm writeup in RQG and the Yelm cult as worshiped by the Dara Happans? Do they offer any different spells or have different requirements? At the least, I'd expect they that they wouldn't have the Golden Bow subcult and would have an Imperator subcult. What would the Imperator subcult look like in terms of requirements and magic provided?

If Illumination allows you to unlink power runes then that means gods such as Yelm and the Seven Mothers require Illumination to effectively use all their magic. Quite appropriate I think.

iirc he provides something of that nature to the Seven Mothers, so I'd think so. It's basically sword trance but restricted to kopis.

So that's why he was the only version of Orlanth allowed by the Lunars

Can you elaborate on these? AFAIK, Tanian is the god of burning water who conquered the sky dome, and while water is often associated with dragons I don't see any connection beyond that. Unless he is/is related to the dragon constellation Sh'hakarzeel/the mover of heaven. I also don't have Eleven Lights and am running a tad low on cash so I can't get a copy to look myself. As for Lankst, I've never heard of it. Where is i mentioned, and what exactly is Lankst?

Fair enough, though those pages are basically a reprint of the RQ2 Rune descriptions.

I wouldn't say they're completely misogynistic, though I wouldn't be surprised if in general they were a little. It is a solar cult after all, and we all know that in solar culture the woman's place is usually not the battlefield. It probably varies from temple to temple and member to member, but in general I think that the Yelmalians would be more open to the idea of women joining than most other masculine solar cults, either due to distance from the centre of solar power, the influence of surrounding cultures, or just the need for more soldiers. The only one I would describe as totally misogynist would be the Sun Dome County temple on the Zola Fel, and even then there was that one woman that you mentioned that worked her way into it despite the attitudes of her peers. In short, while some temples may look down their noses at female members, it's a merit-based cult so as long as you obey the cult strictures and do your duties there's not much they can do besides sneer. And again, attitudes will vary widely based on where you are, it's just that the Yelmalian culture we have the most insight into, the SDC temple, is also the most conservative and oppressive of them that we know of, so that's what our ideas about the other Yelmalian cultures are coloured by. Edit: your comment about real-world people not being able to stomach playing it is a bit harsh methinks. Even with people who interpret it as very misogynistic, I usually find it's one of the more popular player cults. Semi-mystic sun hoplite mercenaries are cool, yo. Edit 2: could Yelnora be seen as a sort of female counterpart to Yelmalio I wonder? I don't personally think so, but now that we're on the topic of female Yelmalians I'm curious as to what other people think. Edit 3: I really need to start writing this stuff up before I post. I've edited this thing like ten times and it's nearly a whole new message.

When the constant intrigue just isn't enough for the Esrolians

Yelmalio embodies the Light Rune and the honourable parts of the Truth Rune. As Elmal, he was defeated by Orlanth but spared because Orlanth saw his honour and took him on as a warrior and member of the tribe, an oath he has kept until the present day. As Yelmalio, he is an enemy of Orlanth because Orlanth was not honourable and stole Yelmalio's weapons instead of befriending him. Thus, Elmali will be welcomed by Orlanthi while Yelmalians keep and are kept at arm's length. I wouldn't call Yelmalio forgiving and altruistic, but he is honourable and will respect those who deserve it, like he did as Elmal when he was spared by Orlanth. As Yelmalio, though, he and his cultists are more aloof and prideful as fits the Light rune, owing fealty to none save Yelm.

That sounds like the EWF schools which supposedly taught how to become a dragon. iirc Obduran was there only one who truly succeeded, but it was the goal of many of the leaders. The Cult of Immanent Mastery is also an example of humans wanting to turn into dragons, and though they can perform physical, hsunchen-like transformation there have been none who have apotheosized through it. The Kralorean emperor and some of his peers have technically become dragons through mysticism, but they remain in human form and do not display their powers.