Sir_Godspeed

While Belintar's "Aldrya's Own Story" is more than twenty years old, it at least seems to disagree with you: It seems to argue that uncontrolled Growth CAUSED Taker (or more accurately, a portion of Oblivion, which would BECOME Taker: ) It also views the current state in Time as actually preferable to the conditions in the God Time (or at least preferable to the Storm and Dark Ages in God Time: ) I think it's also worth noting that the Aldryami concept of Grower is not just plant growth or fertility, it is a cosmic principle, and they view the creation of water, the sky, and so forth, as caused by Grower. Conversely, Taker is also a larger cosmic principle. I'd argue that Grower has more in common with the Draconic or Malkioni ideas of duplication/division/differention/emanation than simply the colloquial sense of "growth".

No, that would be water!

Or an Outkast group of Yelmalions going "Hey-ya!"

You'd hope so. I hate the idea of an "empirical" Rightness that's just fundamentally evident.

I seem to recall that Rokari Talars fight, just not with swords (they use maces and "crowns" aka chakrams apparently, to get around certain rules). No idea whether this also applies to Aeolians. Also, isn't Ingareen more of a Dawn Age term? Or is it synonymous with the God Forgot atheists?

I know, I'm basically taking the piss because that always seemed like someone either made a massive worldbuilding oversight or decided to be very cheeky, and in either case making life difficult for future non-English writers.

The EWF rune was literally the Latin letters of the English phrase "Empire of Wyrm's Friends" because for some reason New Wyrmish IS English in-universe.

That's... that's the same thing though.

Well great, now I'm just thinking about that one Simpsons gag.

Yeah, I'm approaching the concept of numbered souls as a cultural categorization as well, rather than a substantive thing. It's like thinking about how many colors there are in the rainbow: it's completely arbitrary, but you just sorta have to make a decision, and hopefully one that resonates with preexisting values and an overarching system. Now, I'm not saying this can't have an impact, with your afterlife or access to magic or cults, but I'd argue this is more about entering into a system and less about anything substantive actually changing. Sorta like filing for your personal company to change into a limited company. The actual assets of the company don't physically change, but the way the law treats them is transformed, if that makes sense. Different ways of viewing the integration of personhood into the divine and cosmic cycle, basically.

Moreso than already? 😜

Radical Earth mystics in Esrolia and Prax, with cells otherwere, go all-in on a project to permanently revive Genert. They hope to reduce the conflict between Yelm and Orlanth, they hope to made the Wastes verdant again, they hope to reclaim Seshna from heathen atheists, they hope to calm Maniria, they hope to liberate Darsenite and Darjiin cults from under the Celestial yoke, etc. It's an immense project taking decades and reverse engineered Godlearnerisms (like the Seven Mothers' project). It works, but not quite the way they hoped, as with all of these kinds of plans.

Recalling Jeff's comments, the Elmal cultists that converted en masse were at least somewhat convinced by the ability to access a fuller mythic landscape and a wider context. Becoming their own power base was probably an important part of that, but I doubt all of it. So there's a piece of the puzzle we readers currently lack, I think. At least I hope there is. I can't recall whether Jeff said so or someone else, but there was apparently a myth where Yelmalio deliberately walks off into the dark with the last remaining light, to take the bull's eye off the other survivors, and makes himself the decoy, allowing them to survive the darkness. That's a pretty cool take, I think.

What's the context?

I like to think Trolls have fairly deep, rumbling voices, with implied infrasound. They've got big ol' chests after all. Makes me think of Warcraft Taurens, admittedly.

Makes me wonder if Greg was familiar with Asterix and Obelix.

This is a great question! I am not sure of the answer, truthfully, but the first that came to mind for Yelm's Seventh Soul is (very conspiratorially, mind you) ... Nysalor (or is invented deity, Daysenerus, although he kinda overlaps with Yelmalio/Antirius in a weird way). Ernalda has an absolute butt-load of subdeities or nicknames associated with her, to the point where I'm not really sure if it's possible to define specifically which would constitute her Sixths in a Pelorian/Lunar context. If we define Ernalda as not just the conventional "queen of the earth/Orlanth's wife" character, but rather view her as the totality of Earth powers, the Creatrix and capital-g-Goddess, then we could argue that deities like Asrelia, Ty Kora Tek, Maran Gor, Esrola, Babeester Gor, Voria, etc. etc. could be parts of her soul (they all interlink in deeply complex ways). But if we view her in a more limited, "personal" manner, then it would perhaps be easier to look at more domestic, agricultural or prosocial deities.

Ah, the NSA, Nathaic Security Agency.

The term "farmer" has sometimes belied a wide range of status and wealth, from serfs to manor lords, so it is possible that the term "herder" covers a similar range (from actual herdsmen to the actual owners of the herds, etc.) Purely speculatively, and probably not the original intention, but possibly useful.

Pictures taken moments before disaster.

The Earth Temples are likely to be big players in this, given that it is them, and not any kings or nobility, that "formally owns" the land.

It's also thematically likely that the Mostali plans to return to the God Time are, in fact, utterly impossible.

Paying bandits protection money seems like a Gagarthi "sacrifice" as it were. And yeah, Gagarthi has some of the qualities of Wotan/Odin, within reason of course.

I've heard people argue that Air was already around pre-Umath, but that it wasn't animated or embodied the way it later became. I have no idea. There's also the possibility that, indeed, no one really "breathed", or whatever other weirdness went on in those days.