10 minutes ago, JonL said:

Circling back to Glorantha for contrast, when Kallyr suffers setbacks, even fatal ones, she bounces back and continues her great work. Only when her oath to liberate her people is fulfilled does she finally lay down her burdens and accept the final rest.

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 .

6 minutes ago, Rodney Dangerduck said:

BTW, how come Heortlings don't start with any "Hate Chaos" passion???

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.

54 minutes ago, Jeff said:

The Yelm writeup in RQG lacks the Yelm Imperator subcult, which changes things a lot. 

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.

1 hour ago, Caras said:

Does Yanafal Tarnils have a spell Kopis Trance or Scimitar Trance? I quess it has very much similar runespells as Humakt.. But Sever Spirit only One-Use. But how about Trance spell?

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.

55 minutes ago, g33k said:

Arguably -- because of this Cultic format -- Barntar is ironically a better way to get to Illuminated Orlanth than is mainstream Orlanth!

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

10 hours ago, metcalph said:

The only known Dragonewt Power cult known so far is Tanian (Eleven Lights).  There is another is Lankst worshipped by the Hargovans who are able to breath fire as a result (one of them later becomes a Dragon in the Hero Wars).  

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?

9 hours ago, Tindalos said:

For what it's worth, they are mentioned in the Glorantha Sourcebook (page 193)

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

44 minutes ago, Rodney Dangerduck said:

I haven't played "official" Glorantha in 30 years, just returned recently with the advent of RQG.  Had no idea about the Ergeshi.  Thanks for the info.

Yelmalio used to be a challenging but very playable PC cult, and Griffin Mountain featured a female Light Son.  One of my Light Son's 3 personal followers was female.  It is very unfortunate that the powers that be have apparently turned it into such a nasty cult that many real world people cannot stomach playing.

I await the new Cults book.  Maybe it will mellow things out.  Otherwise, Our Glorantha will hopefully differ.

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.

2 hours ago, Atgxtg said:

They might also have represented some of  the human cults that wanted to "evolve" into Dragons. Apparently there was some way for powerful members of the cults to turn into dragons via apotheosis, and I suspect it was somewhat inspired/related to the Dragonewt practices. Of course we're going into RQ3 Glorlantha here, but I think the underlying ideas were probably the same as for RQ2, even if the game mechanics were somewhat different.

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.

DRAGONEWT - as exotic as the race it represents, it is found only in the Dragon Pass area. Unlike most of the other Form Runes, it cannot be used with an Elemental Rune, though there are several Dragonewt Power cults, all modified by the Dragonewt Rune.

Does anyone have any insight into or ideas about what these "Dragonewt Power cults" were? I doubt that they exist in the current Gloranthan canon, but I wonder how they fit into the RQ2 era. Were they remnants of EWF cults? Dragonewt racial cults? Kralori or other mystical groups? I know that, most likely, nothing was written about these besides the one throwaway sentence in the Rune's description, but this question's been bothering me for a while so I figured I might as well ask.

Ah, here we go. The Travels of Biturian Varosh: https://web.archive.org/web/20050928174316/http://www.glorantha.com/library/biturian.html

Jaldon is obviously just a trickster that got really good with the Swallow spell

4 hours ago, g33k said:

Have you read the Travels of Biturian Varosh?  It's "personal journal" entries from a merchant who's also a priest of Issaries.  Pretty much EXACTLY what you describe!

It's in the original Cults of Prax book (coming back into print via the RQClassic Kickstarter (it's a stretch-goal from the KS, and only in PDF for now; but (at least theoretically) expected to be available in hardcover "eventually").  It was also re-printed in the Glorantha Classics series Cult Compendium book, available both PDF and hardcover (note hardcover, and so a bit dear).

Travels of Biturian Varosh can also be found on the internet with a little searching; I think it was on the old Issaries site if you're willing to use wayback. But yeah, it's a great resource and imo a better and more approachable one than Vasana's Saga, though of course that's just my opinion.

CoP/the Cult Compendium are great resources for background lore too, as well as having more detailed cult information including worshipper duties and expectations. Even if they're a tad dated they're a good read if you don't want to wait for the upcoming cults book (which I'd hazard has up to a year or so left to go). I would recommend the Cult Compendium over CoP though, it includes information from several more books and is generally better presented compared; CoP is more something to buy for nostalgia's sake than for pure usefulness.

Just for fun, I made up a set of traditions for playing on the other side of the conflict, as some people are wont to do

Priest
Always dress richly.
Divine Wrath - 3d6 close. Area near when outside.
Divination - Discern the location of something or someone.

Esoteric Mystic
Never speak clearly.
Abjuration - Gain +3 to resist magic.
Third Eye - Detect and reveal all lies and illusions in the area.

Elite Warrior-Noble
Never retreat.
Shield - Gain +1 armour, minimum 3 points, and +1 to resist magic.
Truespear -  A piercing weapon inflicts +1d6 damage for one battle.

Witch Assassin
Never reveal secrets.
Concealment - Become undetectable by magical means and can only be clearly seen in full light.
Mindblast - One enemy goes mad and acts randomly.

War Wizard
Never touch blood.
Boon - Ally's weapon inflicts +1d6 for one battle.
Curse - All attacks against one enemy inflict +2 for one battle.

Imperial Agent
The empire before all.
Detection - Reveal the location and all pertinent information about someone or something nearby.
Charisma - Gain +2 to influence people.

I really like this, good work!

So I've been reading some of Martin Helsdon's excellent book The Armies and Enemies of Dragon Pass and would just like to present some of my assumptions on how things like unit wyters and standards and initiation work under the Runequest rules. Please confirm or deny these ideas as you see fit, I'm not an expert concerning either the world or game.

1. An entire unit will be members of a specific subcult of their patron deity, often unique to the unit, which provides the unit with specialized Rune magic.
2. A unit serves as a temple to their subcult, and members can replenish their Rune points through it.
3. A unit wyter mostly functions like any other community wyter. The standard serves as the wyter's home, the unit leader serves as the wyter's priest, and the rest of the unit sacrifices MP and POW to the wyter to replenish it. Going by the rules, I suppose this means that members of established units have a loyalty passion specifically for their unit? I'm assuming that the wyter's main job is running interference against hostile spirits and casting the unit subcult's special Rune magic when it's needed, the soldiers don't do the casting themselves. Maybe only the commander is initiated to the subcult, so he gets the special magic which the wyter can then cast, and the rank and file are lay members?
4. Vexillae allow members to use their unit's special magic even when not under the influence of their wyter. This seems to imply that the members of the vexillae have intiated to their respective subcults and learned their unique rune magic for themselves, so they don't have to rely on their wyter to cast it for them. The wording of the section on vexillae makes me doubt this is the case however.
5. Magical units like warlocks or the lunar colleges follow most of these rules, but their wyter is able to act offensively and the magicians of the unit often discorporate and follow along with it into battle. The magicians protect their wyter from hostile spirits, while the wyter attacks their target's wyter.
6. Mass Rune magic like the Sunspear used against Harrek works along similar principles to the old Mind Link spell: one person casts a spell using the resources of everyone else involved. Thus, while only one priest is casting Sunspear, it uses RP and MP from everyone in the ritual, creating a terrifyingly hugely stacked Sunspear. Sunspear isn't stackable RAW though, so maybe something in the ritual changed that rule?

Please feel free to add your own thoughts or respond to mine.

I think that may mean it's selling really fast, even if not many have been bought yet. Congrats though! Who knows, maybe being on the front page of DTRPG will get some people interested in the setting