Leingod

Another minor-but-interesting bit of lore I found out recently: In clan creation, one of your potential famous events is "The Grain Contest of Erkonus, where the barley goddess Pela triumphed over wheat and beezil." Your story tent reflects this event by pointing to the part "when the grain goddess Pela showed how to plant and harvest her golden barley. Our ancestor Sarsadiga was there in the celestial fields, and brought back the seeds and sickle." This event (or something like it) is briefly mentioned in a few places. Page 48 of The Glorious Re-Ascent of Yelm says that Erkonus (Star #17) was where the Grain Contest was held before the Darkness, and afterwards the Grain Teachings were found there, and page 51 lists Barley, Millet, and Beezil (Stars #64-66) collectively as the "Grains of Erkonus;" they are also described as the crops of the Dry People, in contrast to the three grains of the Wet People (which are all different kinds of rice). Meanwhile, page 29-30 of the Entekosiad seems to be describing this event when it recounts the Gods' Second Error, where Entekos is tricked by Hare into creating winter and a grain contest is held, which is won by barley (though "beezil," whatever it is, is seemingly not mentioned here, even though there are a total of nine competitors, though the name of one seems to be omitted). This is, I think, the only place a winner is actually mentioned. Finally, page 318 of the Guide to Glorantha says this contest took place at the Plain of Jars in Silver Shadow. This placement might be derived from the Entekosiad account, which doesn't seem to place this event as happening up in the Sky World. I'm actually kinda curious as to what beezil is. I'm guessing it probably isn't really meant to be anything, it's one of those things to remind you that not everything on Glorantha has an earthly counterpart. But I like to think it's sorghum, which despite being one of the most important and widely-grown cereal crops in the world is something a lot of people don't even know exists. It just seems fitting.

The Sartar Companion seems to imply that Heler, in his aspect as the "Lord of the Golden Tear," has some connection to the Young God, as it's stated that he initiated Sshorga the Blue Dragon into the Young God's secrets, which is how Sshorga (now Lorion) invaded the Sky World.

Well, as far as I'm aware the rules don't specifically say that you need to possess and use the associated rune for a particular feat, but that seems like the much more sensible interpretation to me. If a feat is always a breakout from a rune, and each feat write-up in the book has a rune associated with it, it stands to reason that you're supposed to break that feat out from that rune. Especially since in-universe a feat is you heroforming as that god to do that mythic deed, and there's a risk of failing if you aren't adequately performing as that god (the "identity challenge"). That in mind, it makes more sense to suppose that the demands of doing so are sufficiently strict that you do, in fact, need to use a specific rune. If your connection to the Motion Rune isn't strong enough, it's probably inadvisable to try to perform one of the Orlanth Adventurous feats, and if you don't have that rune at all, it probably just isn't going to happen, period.

I did like that idea in RQ6, come to think of it. It was a good way to give your character a certain "way" they learned to fight.

Has anyone managed to see the full story of Autronos? The wiki says you can get updates of his rivalry with another hero named Usumatus, but I never managed to drag the game on long enough to see any of that, even when his birth actually fired reasonably early. I only managed to get to the part where Beren can duel him once. I'd be curious to see if there's any future plot threads or something with him (or maybe with the Wheel Kingdom that sometimes forms?) that might carry over into the next game.

Even the Last Vingkotling probably doesn't really have the power to "allow" Harrek to do something. Or rather, he only has the power to "allow" Harrek to do what he's already doing.

Don't they have those competing warrior fraternities or something along those lines? That seems like pretty fertile ground for developing and codifying different approaches to combat to try to get an advantage over your rivals.

I'm pretty sure there is, but I think most of it tends to be associated with Kralorela, because it's a pastiche of a lot of "fantasy China" tropes, including kung fu. I seem to recall a specific mention of Morokanth martial arts somewhere, too, though for the life of me I couldn't tell you where. There's also mentions of traditions of wrestling and such in many parts of Genertela - it's a traditional sport of Western nobles, for instance - but I'm not sure how codified it is anywhere. Realistically pretty much every culture should have some form of wrestling, and a lot of them will also have other martial games and sports to train for combat, like boxing or fighting while mounted.

Yelmalio as he is known within Time never actually existed before it (well, he did, and he may even have been called by that title, but he wasn't the Yelmalio any of us would recognize as such); he was created in the First Age by Nysalor and/or Palangio as a sort of Composite Little Sun. He is essentially a synthesis (or maybe a Frankenstein's Monster) of the most commonly shared features of the Little Suns that were active in the Great Darkness, brought together into a single “Little Sun” god that can thus rightly claim to be any and all of the others. Yelmalio's followers can magically prove him to be the same god as any of the other Little Suns because Yelmalio was created for the express purpose of co-opting local Little Suns and their cults into the fold, in a feat that could probably only be dreamed up by an Illuminated mind. Similarly, other traits of Yelmalio were very deliberately chosen by his “discoverers” to suit their particular needs, not just when he was first revealed in the First Age but also each time he's been rediscovered afterwards. That's why, for instance, he is simultaneously an ally and an enemy of Orlanth, and simultaneously a loyal son of Yelm and an independent power not beholden to him. He probably didn't have to possess those particular traits to serve the above purpose of unifying and co-opting Little Sun cults. That flexibility in Yelmalio's loyalties was just considered very useful for the purposes of those who revealed him to the world, and not so far from the truth that it couldn't be proven to be true ("truth" honestly being a very flexible concept when we speak of gods and magic, especially from an Illuminated perspective). And here's where I get into my wild conspiracy theory that is the reason I'm posting it in this thread: Has it ever seemed weird that, throughout much of Genertela, in all three Ages, the cult of Yelmalio has seemingly defaulted to a certain, specific pattern of behavior? It's all just following the design baked into it at its inception. Essentially, the cult of Yelmalio was purpose-built to be able to come into a region, take over the local Little Sun mythos and its worshipers, and set themselves up as independent mercenaries split off from their previous loyalties, who could then be put to work by an expansionist empire with way more money to throw around than any local interests but still be seen as a.) locals rather than foreigners, and b.) sometimes-friends and sometimes-enemies, rather than outright foes; thus avoiding the ire and hatred they would otherwise earn as either colonizers or sellouts. So then, while the Yelmalians are not at all wrong when they reveal another Little Sun to be Yelmalio, they are mistaken when they assume that this means Yelmalio is the “true” face of the Little Sun, the real face to which different locales simply apply different masks to suit their own needs. Yelmalio is, in fact, just as much a mask – an artificial, man-made construct to understand the Little Sun in limited human terms and for a particular purpose and agenda – as any of the others, whether they be known as Elmal or Antirius or Kargzant or even Halamao (the elves, it should be remembered, were Nysalor's biggest fans among the Elder Races). Yelmalio is just the mask created specifically to be all the other masks at once. This actually applies more widely to pretty much all the gods of Glorantha – that all of them as they are understood by mortals are really just masks we've placed on them to make them easier to understand and communicate with and draw power from – but in the case of Yelmalio it's just easier to piece together the puzzle pieces of why exactly he exists in the form he does, because it was a conscious effort within Time that is more well-recorded than most.

Actually, most accounts of Umath presented in The Book of Heortling Mythology 1.) Place the separation of Earth and Sky after his birth, after the Emperor denies him a place in the world, and 2.) Repeatedly bring up his movements through the Sky (as the "Storm Gate"), which disrupts the other bodies up there and forces them off course until Shargash kills him, which actually causes further damage. "Umath's Movements," on page 28, makes this especially clear:

Especially when that clan is in a small backwoods tribe of city-less yokels.

The Conan of his native literature is basically that very long-running PC whose player has managed to put him through basically every kind of adventure you care to name and who has miraculously survived them all through the blessings of the dice gods to become a virtual Renaissance Man and combat beast.

I hadn't thought of that one, but yeah, that tracks. Maybe more of a First Age thing, though.

Not when you got that nickname for violating hospitality to kill a hated rival in that king's own hall (which king isn't stated; Branduan is noted to hate the Poss, IIRC, but if he could do that in his own tribe and not even get outlawed, then Harvald the Hairy must be an even more powerless figurehead than Temertain). Then again, at least in S:KoH, Branduan is portrayed as an ambitious young warrior whose driving motivation is becoming a great hero, and what hero hasn't broken the laws of society in a fit of passion at least once? It kind of comes with the territory, and I can imagine any number of reasons why people would be at least somewhat understanding of why he did it, if not exactly praising him for it.

I'd say the distinction is that she can't be caught unless she wants to be. She can't be tamed, but she can be wooed, and to do that you have to impress her. She's a more "love'em and leave'em" version of Ernalda, essentially. And yeah, I'd say unless you're actually living out in the wilds in the manner of a beast (or beastman), she isn't really a goddess you worship in the usual manner, more a goddess you propitiate as part of the cult of one of her lovers or children and who might give an associated spell or two. To those who do worship her in her own right, I'd imagine it'd be one of those cults that blur the line between theistic and animist worship, though leaning towards the latter. I say this because gods associated with her, like Odayla, are also like that; Odayla is worshiped as a god, but he has certain in-roads into animism and animist elements, which are more pronounced the more "wild" the place he's worshiped is. I'm not up on the rules enough to know how that would be presented in an RQG context, though.

Or some kind of fairly large, short-tailed amphibian. Which could also be a good source of eggs (or rather, roe), if we suppose that the durulz are averse to poultry for some reason.

The one who wins is real, obviously. 😉

Well, now I want the White Moon to have their own Great Sister (or Moonson, or Jar-Eel, or whoever really) so the two can slug it out like this:

Well, most of those options wouldn't really be good at the "amphibious" part of that idea; manatees have no legs, crocodiles are belly-draggers who only really move well in short bursts on land (and are also carnivores, who are more costly to feed), etc. River horses would probably work perfectly, but might be something you need a successful Heroquest to obtain.

Well, if you could make some kind of amphibious chariot, like if the cart itself is designed to be buoyant and the animals pulling it are strong swimmers as well as capable of drawing the cart on land (such as, perhaps, the marshbucks mentioned above, which might be imports from Maniria or the Zola Fel), then if nothing else the sheer shock value and ability to run into the water if the battle doesn't go well might be worth all the costs associated with it. And even if it wouldn't realistically be worth it, I'd still do it IMG because it just sounds fun.

That's probably the sitatunga (also called the marshbuck), a semi-aquatic, medium-sized antelope from Central Africa that dwells exclusively in swamps and marshes.

You know, I was going to include a disclaimer of "Some of these may have been detailed elsewhere in older material I don't have access to," but forgot to. Thanks for the info!

I've seen a topic or two (most recently the one on the Morokanth) asking about named Praxian clans, and I figured since I have the spare time I'd look through a few likely suspects to find clans (and a baboon troop) that have been named and where a write-up on them can be found, which might be useful to anyone who wants to have a name ready to use for an encounter with a band or clan, or even just a template for people to come up with their own. Angry Serpent Clan: A Sable clan mentioned as the current residents of the semi-permanent Sable Camp near Badside in Pavis: Gateway to Adventure. However, since the description of the camp says only one clan is currently in residence and the next paragraph details the Rock Speakers Clan (see below), this may just be an alternate name for that clan. Ansil Clan: A Pol-Joni clan known only for being the birth clan of Toltar Gorsborn, a devotee of Urox who now sits on the Cinsina tribal ring. This is detailed in The Coming Storm. Arinstoli Clan: A Sable clan mentioned in King of Sartar as worshipers of the White Bull, which allowed Argrath to make peace between them and the Bison Tribe. Presumably they live in Arinstoli, a place named for the Impala khan who first led a clan there. Black Bison Clan: A clan only really known for being mentioned as the home clan of some adventurers who appear in the Sartar Companion and Pavis: Gateway to Adventure. Black Shield Clan: A Bison clan numbering about 1,000 people and “several thousand” bison. They first appear in Borderlands, but are named in Pavis: Gateway to Adventure. Blue Llama Clan: The “bloodthirsty and much-prophesied” clan of: Orgwaha, who made all the Chaos of the Lunars manifest itself in Boldhome when he visited in 1613; Yazurkial, a shaman with “strange ideas about magic” who likes to talk to foreigners; and Orgdaka, a shaman who spends most of his time questing in the Spirit World to return Lucky Star (a.k.a. the Blue Planet) to the heavens. Lucky Star played a big role in the creation and leadership myths of the High Llama, and the Blue Llama have a special connection to it that's likely the source of the aforementioned prophecies. Father Aedan's Big Weapon Troop: A baboon troop of 18 adults led by Father Aedan Big Weapon; they appear as an encounter in Pavis: Gateway to Adventure. Flower Bison Clan: Also called the Skull Bat Clan. They number about 800 people, and their khan is Narmeed Whirlvishbane. They're apparently detailed in Cults of Prax, but I don't own that book. Green Stripe Morokanth: A “large” clan of Morokanth that set up a semi-permanent camp near the Bilos Gap for unknown reasons. Other clans seem to drop in every week and leave a week later, and many ceremonies seem to be going on. They first appear in Borderlands, but are named in Pavis: Gateway to Adventure. Impala Bone Clan: A clan mentioned in the Guide to Glorantha as inhabiting the Impala Bone Grasslands, a “magical place” on the borders of Vulture Country and Wahafanzali, sporadically fed by the Angry Serpent Path. They're also mentioned as being famous for their “serpent fighters.” Rock Speakers Clan: A wealthy and prestigious Sable clan of about 400 people and more than 2,000 herd beasts who claim the place known as “Where the Rock Speaks” as a holy place and currently reside in the semi-permanent Sable Camp near Badside. Their khan is Boronwaha, but the real power is his wife (to whom he is only the senior husband), Queen Delenda. Their shaman is named “Teaching Stone.” They're detailed in Pavis: Gateway to Adventure. I don't know if they appeared first elsewhere. Snow Bison Clan: A possibly lost/extinct clan mentioned in the Guide to Glorantha as leading the push against the horsemen of Pent back in the Second Age. Stone Llama Clan: A lost clan spoken of by the Animal Nomads; known only from a mention in the Guide to Glorantha that the nomads deny that this clan is actually the hundreds of sandstone shapes at Sitting Llamas.

Quite easily. Historically, most groups or societies that put a lot of store in "honor" and honor codes are also experts at finding or manufacturing loopholes and exceptions to allow them to do things that should be considered dishonorable by their own rules, but aren't in this particular instance for whatever reason. The Lunars probably have some eminently reasonable-sounding excuses for why the strict honor demanded of Yanafal Tarnils's worshipers didn't apply to Yanafal Tarnils himself whenever he acted in a blatantly dishonorable fashion. Or maybe they even just go, "Oh, well, he was doing it for the Red Goddess, so anything goes." That's also not an uncommon way of excusing dishonorable behavior. Then again, I'm of the cynical belief that "honor" is by and large a total sham, so maybe that's just my own opinions talking.

You're right up until Point #4, which is instead "Humakt spends the whole Gods War fighting to reclaim Death from the unworthy holders who are abusing it, and also separating the dead from the living."