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I say "redemptive elements" here because the way in which the Vinga cult-gender complex has been presented frequently crosses the border into offensiveness, as Vinga is described (by Chaosium employees) as a goddess of trans men or transmasculine people more generally, via "men in women's bodies" as shorthand. But Vinga is always "she/her" and associated with warrior women and Vasana is supposedly a Vinga initiate who is also referred to as a woman and with she/her pronouns. So are vingans just consistently misgendered by the narration and the cultures they live in? Now, thankfully, we do not have an explicit textual statement that this is what's happening, and so we have the nonbinary identity of "vingan" in The Six Paths as a counterexample that is explicit though not official. But certainly, the way in which the extant text around Vinga (and Nandan, but Nandan is a relative nonentity in fan discourses because the assumed modes of gameplay for most Gloranthan gaming keeps Nandan from being relevant and picking up substantial fan interpretation) is written creates a very strong implication that these are representations of trans men and trans women in Glorantha. This was also Greg Stafford's intent for Nandan, at least, but Stafford was very clear that the cult of Nandan consisted of "women with dicks", as he put it, and so would embrace pre-op and non-op trans women and transfeminine people, some cis women, some intersex people, some additional complicated gender categories, etc. I don't think that that's a road worth traveling back down, because I do think that folding transness explicitly into the general society and understanding of gender is simply better, but it's worth keeping in mind when we discuss these topics as far as "creator's intent" is concerned.

Waha and Eiritha are intended to be the backbone of Animal Nomad society in the way that Orlanth and Ernalda are of Sartarite society, however. I think that the implications from the text as given are that Animal Nomad society has more restrictive gender roles in RQG than Sartar has ever had in any set of game rules, because even when Orlanth and Ernalda were more strongly gender-restrictive cults, this was accompanied by Vinga and Nandan emerging as alternate pathways. So I think that the broader question here is "why play a Praxian/in Prax, then?" I mean, you could play a cultist of Storm Bull who's... challenging gender restrictions, an intellectual activity, which Storm Bull and his cultists are known for. You could also play various Lightbringer cultists, or Yelorna, or Yelmalio, or Seven Mothers (unless you've been paying attention to the previews of future Praxian material). But by default, the assumption from the text is that Prax is a restrictive place when it comes to gender. It is of course always possible to go beyond the text, and in some circumstances encouraged, but I think it's a very open question as to why I, say, should do the work of making a less sexist Animal Nomad society and cult structure, rather than playing somewhere where the sexism is more sublimated (Sartar, Balazar, Esrolia, Heortland, etc.) or somewhere that's supposedly ruled by feminists (Lunar country). And you could apply this to the Grazelanders as well, since they also have gendered restrictions on Yelm. Even if I wanted to play in a pastoral/nomadic setting, and I'm already going to the work of making things up to define the setting to my standards of fun and playable, there's always Pent, which is almost completely undefined, meaning I could conceivably share my creations without them running orthogonally or counter to official materials. That really is the major question around both where the conversation has moved to and where it began with Vinga- although we always have personal editorial power, and are encouraged to wield it, there still has to be a reason to point that red-inked pen at a particular part of the setting over another. And in the case of Prax, the game I run with my partner has a running joke about Prax not being real because neither of us feel strongly that there's something redemptive in Prax that a bit of editorial work will bring to light, as opposed to having to invent a fresh Prax from scratch. To contrast, there's plenty of redemptive elements close to the surface of Vinga for us, even though they are firmly orthogonal to the official materials.

The dividing line between religio and superstitio is thin, but within the former, of course, we still have verba certa and verba concepta to stand apart from one another.

The Thunder Brothers (and Thunder Sister, like in the cartoon) feel like a useful method of categorizing and breaking things down, whether that's of time or of space or of parts of the storm or of the universe. I feel like you could find equivalents to the Lokapalas or Four Heavenly Kings among them, and as the Lokapalas fill in the ordinal directions, we can assume that there are eight for the ground, five for above, and five for below, for eighteen total (before getting into interordinals, which would make 36, a 6 of 6s... but that may be a high secret, or there may be pairs or triplets associated with each direction, and we may be able to reach 108 total, or just 54, if we want to stick with an "inner" correspondence.) But in turn, this kind of fine-grained mythological detail seems practically useful mainly for long-distance flight or ocean travel, and the former is dead and the latter is replaced by Dormal techniques. So there's a reconciliation here and cause to have a multitude of names without standardization, and if we want, these can all be emanations or hypostases, or distinct people. Where is Vinga in all of this? Wherever you want to place her. Maybe her position "in Saird" is a relic of this, or of tutelary assignments for various Thunder Siblings.

Not explicitly, but Krarsht can be seen as a Chaotic reflection/parody of Darkness in the way that Gloomshark is of Water or Sky Tyrant is of Fire. Fusing a roughly arthropod form together around a body that's mostly mouth.

I think we can assume that purring cats (Felinae) are Yinkin's descendants in this scheme, so housecats, lynxes, cheetahs, servals, caracals, ocelots, fishing cats, as well as alynxes. Sakkar might be the name of the ancestor of sakkars/smilodons, for that matter. The real question is whether Basmol is ancestor of the roaring cats (Pantherinae) or just lions. "Hsa" is the name of tiger hsunchen, so perhaps that's the name of the tiger ancestor, but perhaps we can lightly fiddle with the scheme and make Basmol a nephew of Yinkin, with an intervening generation of some god called "Panther", "Atrox", or "Blythea" who parents the big cats, which would be leopards, lions, tigers, snow leopards, and clouded leopards at a minimum, and possibly also jaguars or equivalents of RW extinct species like the cave lion. If you liked the idea of the "Atroxi Church", this would also be a way to reintroduce the concept, tying it into totem societies in Seshnela, as Panthera atrox is an extinct species of cave lion, and this would be Ethilrist reinventing the lion society following his prolonged katabasis.

Well, in history, even highly patriarchal societies like classical Athens and Rome had a relative availability of divorce, even initiated by women. So here are my thoughts, which should be taken as such: -There's a tendency or throughline of uncomfortable valorization of celibacy in the Yelmic cultural material (Glorious ReAscent, Fortunate Succession) and there is also a focus on purity and maintaining separation from impure things. As such, we can imagine that divorce is permitted but that a period of purification and abstinence must follow, which is presumably sexist and classist- women and nonbinary people must purify themselves for longer than men, lower classes must purify themselves for longer than higher classes- because the idealized purpose of divorce is to pursue a purer life. It might even need to be an at-fault divorce where the initiating partner must prove that the other partner is a source of impurity (perhaps they ate a mushroom, or enjoyed sex, or whatever Plentonius zingers from the Glorious ReAscent you wish to use). But this applies to urban Dara Happans in the core around the Oslira. I think that peasant marriages often aren't recognized as legitimate by this system, because one of the lessons of Lodril and Oria is that contact with impurity doesn't make you yourself impure, and so I doubt peasants follow so many restrictions. Similarly, subcultures like Weeders and Mudders are associated with "licentious" entities, so we can assume they also don't follow the purity rules fully, if at all. To the west, we have the Pelandan cultural zone, but there's not enough about them to really derive things from the sources. I suspect that from what little we do have- the "high gods", the relative respect they're held in by Dara Happans, etc.- that there's similar things happening with observance of purity rules, but we can also assume that these are different, because Lodril here is an exalted figure (as Turos/the turoi). Perhaps, then, they have marital systems which have their own spin- but that's a matter of pure invention, or near to. To the east, we have the fringes of the grasslands, and we know very little about Pentan or Zarkosing daily life. Again, a space for pure invention, perhaps drawing from steppe cultures in the real world for guidance. I'll set Yelmalio aside because I think Yelmalio is so frequently a subcultural tendency in a broader cultural zone that it's hard to say anything definitive or universal. The Lunars presumably, given the alchemical symbolism in the Red Moon, freely allow people to ignore purity customs and marry and divorce freely and lightly, in the tradition of the Red Goddess and her many lovers. Perhaps there's also a subcultural trend of embracing impurity as a consequence of divorce, and deliberately degrading yourself for a period afterwards if your marriage was too purifying. Of course, for upper nobility, marriage is far more about the exchange of family members to maintain social ties and proximity to power, so the anarchic Lunar tendency might be dampened down- but perhaps it's more explicitly transactional. Divorce (as opposed to separating) would require producing some kind of substitute to maintain the social tie, whether it's providing another marriage or offering a hostage or taking on a debt or entering a tributary relationship via contract. There are many possibilities there for grotesque aristocratic drama.

Supposedly, Broyan and company escaped Whitewall by a detour through the Underworld, so really any chthonic critters could have wandered through whatever door they opened.

Not really accurate, I'm afraid- the picture is significantly more complicated. For example, the evidence used by Larsen in the primary source for these statements, "Biological Changes in Human Populations with Agriculture " (Annual Review of Anthropology vol. 24) has been challenged in terms of its direct applicability, as there is an equal degree of variation due to local conditions in peoples with similar diets for the evidence of dental lesions, (https://www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/10.1086/703376) and in turn, recent analyses of Catalhoyuk suggest that while there is an increased risk of malnutrition at the time of transition, the longer Catalhoyuk was inhabited (growing the whole time) the lower the frequency of particular bone lesions like tibia diaphysis which are associated with the transition period, and the people of Catalhoyuk consistently ate diets that sustained them to similar levels of nutrition as contemporary humans (https://www.pnas.org/doi/full/10.1073/pnas.1904345116#sec-3). Which is to say, the idea that agriculture was purely a negative was always somewhat suspect given that it was adopted so frequently without evidence of violent domination, and the evidence used to argue it from physiological causes is increasingly pointing towards the idea that agricultural transitions produced stress in communities as they aggregated into denser living environments, rather than that agriculture is bad for your body. All of this is applicable to hsunchen in that hsunchen claims of a superior way of living should be evaluated as the subjective and value-laden claims they are. (Hsunchen also don't really seem to be strict foragers from the evidence of the Guide, as many appear to be pastoralists and others may well rely on horticulture contra agriculture and reject the plowed field...)

Some might say that "Gold-Gotti" is a corruption, and in the original divine speech (which divine speech they rarely specify), it was simply "Go-Getter" and Issaries bestowed this title upon the hardest-working followers of his, and their wealth was the product of their labor. But within the world of Time, there has been drift and reversal, and there is no longer necessarily a need to be a real go-getter to become the Gold-Gotti. Harstoreane the Provocative claimed that the well-known story of how Issaries and Uleria argued over whether it was in fact possible to get something for nothing was the root of this semantic transformation, or "corruption", as he put it. This he derived from the dual meaning of "hustler", and few have found it sensible since.

I just finished reading Margaret Clunies Ross's Prolonged Echoes, volume 1, and one thing she repeatedly notes in the comments is that although the older expectation was that myths and rituals paired with one another, and if we lacked a myth for a ritual it was a lost myth that could be reconstructed, fieldwork in the second half of the 20th century has shown that myths and rituals are only sometimes associated with each other, and can be associated loosely. So these rites may not have a straightforward myth explaining them, unlike the one of Orlanth's first initiation, or how Ernalda's is woven from a variety of Ernalda mythemes.

At one point they were intended to be, but Greg appears to have accepted the fandom understanding of Vinga at some point after enough flamewars on the mailing lists. Nandani probably need to be initiated right around the time they're showing signs of puberty for the same reason that GnRH agonists are prescribed to certain children today. I don't know if they go through any particular different initiation rite- I suspect that there are actually two forms of the Ernalda rite, which you might refer to as the "inner" and "outer" routes.

There's a slight difficulty here, in that if we're talking sex as a bodily phenomenon, Orlanth is both masculine and feminine and so really the Orlanth initiation would have to be the "both" initiation. And if we accept the Enferalda story from the older material, Ernalda's initiation would also be a "both" initiation. But let's set that aside and consider that initiation into adulthood is a social phenomenon and the ritual exists to confront the child with dangers relevant to adulthood that they prove adult status by overcoming. Which is to say, initiation for someone with "both" or "neither" on their body, and initiation for "helering" and "none", must revolve around the presumed social role of adulthood in the culture. What is that role? For some cultures, we can assume that this gets you put on the express train to Shaman Station, but although shamanism is present in Orlanthi culture it is also countercultural- it represents tendencies that run against the grain of common daily life. So precocious shamanic initiation is an option but probably not what little kids with ambiguous bodies usually go through. What kinds of gods have ambiguous, fluid, or multiple genders in Orlanthi tradition? Heler is about it. What ones have no gender, xenogender, or gendervoid? None have been articulated. What is the social role that Heler plays in the society? Well, canonically, to accompany Orlanth, but how does that translate into an initiation? Does Heler have any existence or presence or social existence beyond this? What gods might be non-gendered and what social role would they play? If we go to the elemental model, of course, these questions apply just as well to Fire, Water, Dark, Moon, non-elemental, true null, and Chaos genders.

You can probably find the "taotie" sheeplike motif from Shang bronzes somewhere in Glorantha, and that's probably where the lost antelope people lived and settled down and made sheep monster art.

I don't think there's a canonical answer. So, 1) Going by the Stephen Martin version, the deal they make is probably a simple truce, or a pact of non-interference, after they've realized neither can triumph over the other. But casting a broader net, I suspect that Yelmalio trades some of his celestial orientation to Inora and gets some of her earthly orientation, so that Yelmalio always is able to touch the ground in the mountains and Inora has a firm elevated position in the mountains. Neither of these translate well to RQG magic, and I can't help you there. 2) This is a Yelmalio myth, so Orlanth doesn't have a motivation beyond being a thief and a brute. I have no real insight into what the Orlanth story is that underlies this mythological intersection point, and I think it has to be invented from nothing because Orlanth is straightforwardly a literary device to render Yelmalio vulnerable in the myth as it is roughed out.

Flamal has marginal cultic role because he's without prejudice and gives growth and vitality to all sessile life, plants, fungi, and protists (and presumably to all mobile life as well, but to a degree beneath anyone's notice or attention). You need his discriminatory descendants, who will give life only to those plants you want or need, while Papa Flamal tends the weeds as much as the garden. But Flamal deserves honor as a primordial entity, and so there is still some ceremonial incorporation of Flamal into religious practice, even if it means that gardens grow full of weeds.

So... the answer is that the Marazi acquired sailors from Kethaelan refugees and remnants of the expeditionary force but at no point have developed any kind of capacity to construct ships on their own? Because if they were a closed society that would explain why they would remain unable to build ships after decades of interaction with the outside world, but instead they seemingly just don't adapt themselves to the new world in any way beyond this initial infusion of ships and sailors. This all feels extraordinarily convoluted as compared to "the Amazons have significant manufacturing capability and this is why they're a maritime power with crossbow-equipped marines on their warships."

The implication of the Sex Pit is that rape and child molestation are real threats, and in the Ernalda initiation Greg wrote, these threats are sublimated into the succession of suitors starting with Flamal. The majority of the Ernalda initiation is one giant Sex Pit. (And then it all culminates in getting impregnated by Ernalda. Sheesh. The symbolism is almost text.)

Uleria had those demonic associations because love hurts, love scars, etc. alongside the residual sex-negativity. But more broadly, Uleria has consistently been defined by a whorephobic desire to avoid examining the implications of what Uleria binding romantic love and sex work and counseling/psychotherapy up together in one bound means- she becomes a joke, a shadow, a demon. Her cult is marginal and gods don't act outside of cults, so she's a minimal presence. Streetwalkers aren't under the protection of Uleria, she only protects high-class courtesans. Uleria hears these propitiations as they wend towards her, and in her laugh and smile, there is only rejection of such pleas. Uleria violates boundaries casually. No scheme of classification can make her fit except as "Uleria". Strange are your ways, Uleria. No one else is like you. And so on. But of course, the women's initiation takes place after first menstruation according to Greg, so around the ages of 13-15. Uleria surely pays a visit to the girls and the boys and the enbies, but if it's a sexual one, I suspect it's look, don't touch. Time enough for them to experience death-in-life when they're ready. For the moment, Uleria speaks of love and desire in less sexual ways. But her appearances are secrets, to be kept within the closed circle. To spread knowledge of her tests means she'd change them, and back you'd be at square one.

Caribbean pirates were residents of a broader society which built ships and cast cannon, and then in turn they were mostly experienced in repairing and operating ships and cannon before becoming pirates. In this model, the Marazi are outsiders to the building of ocean-going ships and to the construction of crossbows, and it becomes a little incredible to assume that they got all of their ships and weapons by getting lucky with attacks by canoe or ambushing a lone ship beaching on Trowjang and then building from there without ever developing any kind of construction or engineering expertise. On top of all of this, warships in classical antiquity were specialized vessels that were very different from mercantile vessels, so we have to ask whether they got effective warships from getting lucky several times in a row. At this point, we may want to ask if Trowjang Tolat has the Luck Rune in his panoply.

No, no, I mean that they spread out manufacturing across each individual village without much concentration or specialization. The presence of crossbows (hardly unknown in antiquity but rare) and their frequency in the one bit of art we have is my basis for thinking they're technologically developed.

I think that they might have a fairly unusual social order with distributed manufacturing- unless they have some unnoted Mostali connections, they're one of the more technologically developed societies in Glorantha and it would be somewhat absurd for all of that to come from initial lucky raid. Or we can ignore the Amazonomachy art in the Guide and the prevalent crossbows there.

Oh no, I mean (but forgot to elaborate) that they could probably participate in Little Sun worship ceremonies so long as they're willing to job a bit. Or find someone a bit more associated. Babeester Gor might not be the worst one, one thing that Shargash/Tolat seems to be is a respecter of women/protector of the earth.

I think Tolat and Shargash, known for indulging of impulses and desires, probably aren't worshiped directly in Little Sun cults but are certainly present in some form as an obstacle or possibly via a monster associated with them.

I think that given that the Marazi have pregnancies that are very different from the human norm (2 weeks to 2 years in length!) and gain them from a god who famously has phallic symbols "he" keeps giving away or losing or having to share with others, there's no reason at all to assume that anyone born to them would develop into a man by adulthood a priori. I would also assume that Tolat isn't a divine rapist and the Marazi aren't his facilitators, for my own sake, so I think participation in sexual contact is entirely voluntary. Trowjang supposedly is at constant war with everyone apart from the hsunchen and aldryami around them, but the material in the Guide is a bit confused- the Marazi have one settlement with a thousand residents and 120,000 total people but apparently build warships and manufacture crossbows from their many small villages. But if you carry this motif forward, that suggests Marazi scholars are likely to be found in Kethaela and the East Isles, further afield from the mainland and Melib. Tolat is the god of the red planet in the sky, a sibling of the Blue Moon and was a close ally of her son Artmal. He's firmly identified with Shargash by Chaosium. My model for him, as a god of sexuality and violence in alignment, is probably similar to a masculine (or femboy) version of Ishtar/Inanna or akin to Karttikeya or some interpretations of Shiva (Mahakala and Ardhahanari are probably fun ones to use).