Sir_Godspeed

Well, iirc, they started off doing things the right way, like Obduran, but then later fell into the temptation of using draconic disciplines in a way that did not help disentangle them from the world. Now, Argrath seems very much entangled in the world, so not sure why he gets a pass, hence why I'm guessing he's following some different deal than the EWF mystics were.

Why would the dragons want the other gods removed though?

Many years ago, I read something about the pig-faced orc coming about apparently due to "orc" rhyming with "pork" in English. Not sure if that's true or merely apochryphal/conjecture.

I could be wrong, but it seems to me that the only thing Argrath worships, deep down, is vengeance over the Red Moon. Everything else is merely a means to an end. Pulling an Arkat, so to speak.

Holy crap that's awesome!

I'm trying and failing to see what this is reference to, if anything. Does sound... evocative, though.

Or indeed, there could be a Red Moon heresy in this Blue Moon version.

"And do not look into his eyes." Honestly, love it. Great stuff. ^^

It's the Wild Wild West now.

He decided to give them all shotguns. PEW PEW!

Oh god, now I want to see the Mad Sultanate of Tork being led by some pastiche of the Joker (a Chaos-maddened Trickster-King?) or Two-Face (a Chaos-maddened former Lunar high official torn between to opposing phases of the moon?)

That depends on the region/cult, I think. Rokari and Brithini horsemen are, if I've understood it correctly, mostly Talars, whereas Horali (or rather, Men-of-All) horsemen are probably more common among Hrestoli and others (Loskalm, Castle Coast, etc.). For the Rokari (Seshnelans and surroundings), Horali are mostly foot soldiers, I think. I could be wrong, but that's the impression I've gotten from the Guide and discussions here. The comparison to cataphracts is, however, pretty spot on, regardless. Some of the artwork in the Guide features domed buildings and rich, vivid textiles, etc. Stuff that while possibly more directly borrowed from India, can evoke the Middle-East/North Africa as well. Not to mention, the Malkioni have a rich history of seamanship (which, admittedly, is only recently being rediscovered) so that probably skews the impression towards Sinbad and other mythical Indian Sea traders. Albeit with triremes and the like instead of dhows. The guide, iirc, has a picture of Fronelan (Loskalmi?) Zzaburi looking straight up like a mix of Judaic priests and Russian Boyars, in front of onion-domed architecture. Sog City also has onion-domed architecture, which kinda mixes (imho) Eastern (Central Asian?) and Slavic influences. There's also artwork of a Pithdaran Zzaburi in the Guide wearing fur-lined clothing in the subtropical Seshnela, emphasizing how Rokari caste ideals hearken back to the Ice Age, iirc. Another trigger for Russian imagery, perhaps. In addition, the Zzaburi have the same breastplates as the Judaic Kohenim had, and presumably among the Zzaburi, a similarly scholarly and literature-heavy culture as some Jewish diasporic groups migght thrive, without me really knowing too much about how that worked in practice. They're also quite a lot like the Brahmins of course, with priests in both cultures being subject to a number of cleanliness taboos. Anyway, this could go on for ages. The Guide illustrates a lot to get a look and feel for them. Sorta Indian-Persian-Byzantine-Central-Asian-Slavic kind of folk, with different regions expressing different influences to different degree. This is not limited to soldiery and armor, of course. Based on what I've seen of Men of the West in the example thread on this forum, it does a pretty comprehensive job of illustrating the military side of things.

Good point. Hoert was a shaman, and his story mentions that as well. It's interesting how the Orlanthi sort of have this-side stories (Heort and the I Fought We Won), and other-side stories (Lightbringer), a relic of the gods having somewhat deviated from their worshippers somewhat even by that point, maybe.

Theist narratives of the Greater Darkness are pretty well-covered and common: they usually take the form of person-centric stories about heroism and survival of one kind or another, against the anthropomorphised or monstrous powers of Chaos or some other similar power (like rebellion, decay or disorder), and the collapse of social norms and interpersonal bonds. In many cases these stories tie together into a larger, semi-organized/semi-canonical cycle, like the Lightbringer Saga (albeit with plenty of variation across space and time). Thematically, the struggles of the main characters of these stories, the collapse of the specific, named societies, and the peril of the Cosmos at large are usually conflated or made interrelated. My question is, do animist cultures differ from the above model when talking about the Greater Darkness? Animist societies are sometimes (arguably) seen as more local than theistic societies, more concerned with the minutiae of a very localized and particular worldview, but there's no hard rules on this, of course. Additionally, animism, especially how it's presented in Glorantha through the Guide at least, is less focused on the cosmos as a result of the actions of a limited number of named personas (gods). The one animist Greater narrative that comes to mind is the Praxian one, which as far as I can recall, does have similar traits to the theistic ones I cited above (perhaps inaccurately, I'm more thinking out loud than confidently asserting anything), with Storm Bull, Waha, Eirithia and Genert all acting in much the same way as the central characters of a theistic narrative, as far as I can tell. But then, Praxian religion also seems to straddle the animist and theistic, so maybe that's a cultural peculiarity. On the other hand, it's not like theistic cultures aren't replete with very localized elements in their myths, so this dichotomy is at best a difference of degrees more than anything. What's your thoughts? Is there a different trend among animist societies in how they view the Greater Darkness? Do we have any solid examples aside from the Praxians? The Doraddi come to mind, but most of what I recall is their disdain of the Artmali Empire, less so then their own actions specifically. I'm probably wrong, or lacking some info.

That's the Hendriki Spirit of Freedom, iirc. Not sure it has any other name.

The Rinliddi bird-people and the Darjiini heron-people are going to have a field day in this version of the Empire.... or?

Oh my god, the Memri TV-style meme is absolutely glorious. 🤣 The Sakkar-bro is badass, love it. Are those filed-off horns or some kind?

Even before reading Joerg's essay (which I don't know how much aligns with published material), I believe the canonical story of Stormwalk Mountain is that it was a giant that got its head twisted off by Storm Bull.

Absolutely. There is some written on it already, that somewhat mirrors RW biology, in that most of the seafloor is the equivalent of a desert or steppe (low biological density), and most of the life is located along shallows and reefs. Anyway, back to your regularly scheduled stuff.

They do, and whale nipples are located in slits towards the tail. Weirdly enough, I know this because someone on another fantasy forum I frequent brought it up recently.

Maybe Ethilrist has some manner of Heroic insight to see past the Masks to whatever semblance of essential self lies beyond, and doesn't like that. Who knows. Also, I agree with @John1000, it's a neat detail, a little "Alexander the Great gets told off by Diogenes"-vibe to it, in the sense that we get to see how remarkable historical characters interact.

These are great! I really enjoyed the one about Babeester's role in the harvest. It feels like a logical development of her runes and conceptual nature, and I'm wondering if it can be tied into her role in the Elven pantheon as well.

My lecturers would certainly agree with the latter.

Not sure why I mistook @Hteph for you, I must've been very tired. Fixed it, anyhow.

Not so much dumb as it is an alternative interpretation, but still: The Babeester Gor cult is frightsome all right, but its publicly known myths and popular image has been purposely shaped and carefully cultivated by themselves and the associated Earth cults essentially as propaganda to maintain the safety and sacrosanct status of the Earth Goddess cults and their worldly holdings, and to an extent, women in general. Internally, the cult and cultists, and even their secret idea of the goddess herself, is less stereotyped and stark. It is not so much that Babeester Gorites don't want to kill, but that they consider the formenting of a fearsome public image as part of their strategy to safeguard their charges, one which is a very effective synergy to the much more rare strategy of actually going out and killing people. Propaganda is proactive, long-term and sustainable, vengeance-killing is reactive and usually short-term (barring lengthy chases and vengeance-quests or vendettas), and usually a lot more costly both financially and in womanpower. This doesn't imply an overarching, deliberate conspiracy as such, rather it has always been part of the goddess' worshipand internal cult identity to induce dread in others to minimize the risk of violations.