Sir_Godspeed

I think this is a major part. The God Learners started off with the ideal that they could simply observe and record "truth". Then they learned, perhaps to their frustration, that "truth" is affected by the act of observation and altered by recording. Then they ultimately embraced this, I think. They were no longer simply charting and recording. They were manufacturing truth. As they thought it should be. I might be biased, because it's a self-criticism Social Anthropology (and probably other social science disciplines) have struggled with for a long time.

Since Ali took this in a good fashion, I don't see the point in taking offense on their behalf. It does remind me of someone I knew who read LotR and Wheel of Time, but refused to read Harry Potter, because in the two former, magic was stated as coming from a monotheistic creator god, while the latter was unspecified and potentially pagan or satanic.

Oh, and don't forget that sails themselves can be decorated.

Less countries or city-states (though I suppose the latter is possible) and more the patron noble house, guild or other organization (including temple or organized cult, if such a thing is applicable), imho.

-kin works too, I suppose, though it's obviously more vague. I suppose "scion" could work. "Argabscion", etc. Though it's a mouthful and less elegant. I'm also not a huge fun of stuffing latinate words into Orlanthi names, but I have a bias there. EDIT: Scots/Northern English -bairn might work too (cognate to Nor/Swe "barn" and Ice/Dan "börn")

Hm. Yeah, cardinal direction in a world where the Sun sits eternally unchanging in the centre, and planets are immobile above terrestrial cities don't make a whole lot of sense. At best, one would base directions on which celestial body one movies towards/away from relative to the immobile Sun. Unless of course, the Sun was not always immobile - which I think most people in this thread already are onboard with. Yelm the Usurper, and all that.

Oh, those. Thanks.

A third perspective on trollkin: it's not necessarily how loud they are, but rather how constantly chittering and whining they are, and how there isn't really any logic to it from the perspective of a Dark Troll. Very annoying.

I'm not familiar with this term, could anyone explain it for me? That's a very cool idea. It reminds me a bit of that cheezy scene in Daredevil where he takes his romantic interest out into the rain. The splashing of the drops on her makes his echolocation able to finally see every little detail in her face. Cheezy, but emotional. Similarly, a thunder might give trolls a much more detailed or immersive impression of the landscape around them than they are used to. Awe-inspiring, just like for humans, but for slightly different reasons. It was mentioned earlier that emotionalness might be seen as an influence of the Sun. I'm not sure about that. Of all the elements, the purely Celestial strike me as the most stoic of them. There are different aspects of that element, of course, Lodril is embedded fire and quite emotional, so there's that. But then we have Earth, which can seen as quietly calculating, but is clearly also one of rambunctuous exuberance for harvest and the good material things and close social bonds. Storm... well enough said there. Orlanthi often make up the neighbors of Trolls, and I've always imagined Orlanthi as being much more open with their emotional expressions than the classic Western "macho" ideal. More like historical vikings than pop-culture vikings, if that makes sense. More hollering and wailing of sadness and holding a great deal of respect for tearful poetry, and less a bunch of muted stonefaced blokes. It might very well be that the Storm-Earth neighbors of the Uz have culturally influenced them in this regard. It's quite possible that they get relatively well along for these and other reasons. Just a personal idea. I do like the idea of troll emotional outbursts *appearing* sudden and unpredictable to some degree for humans, but only because they aren't able to read the underlying cues that trolls involuntarily produce before them. Could be infrasound/ultrasound, could be subtle body movements or posture things, etc. Obvious things to a troll or a troll-friend perhaps, but largely invisible to a random passerby.

That's sort of what I mean. It makes sense in a differentiated origin like the Four World, but in a world where these gods all coexisted, how exactly do you differentiate Orlanth summoning his mighty winds (theism in the God Time), and the Burtae Worlath manipulating his runic power to make winds? (sorcery in the God Time) Revealed mythologies seem to imply that even in the God Time sacrifices were a thing, and that lesser gods could sacrifice to greater gods (the gods of the Vithelans appear to have sacrifices to the High Gods, f.ex.), so I guess that system works even in a system where there is not God Time - Middle World separation as there is in Time.

I found some really cool pics of some African fantasy characters. It's probably a bit more medieval than Glorantha, but then again Fonrit is based on AD/CE-ish West Africa, so it works, imho. Maybe some inspiration for Thinobutan-descended people? Either way, they really have that heroic, "enhanced realism"-feel to them that is fun in fantasy (reminds me of 13th Age in Glorantha artwork, if that makes any sense). https://www.artstation.com/artwork/BVDE4

That's almost outright explicit in Book of Heortling Mythology, where Lhankor Mhy basically states that there are other worlds with other Lhankor Mhys and Orlanths, but they work differently. They meet at the Spike. According to @Joerg's comments, if I remember correctly, this approach has been either retconned or just kinda abandoned. I mean, it's there, but it doesn't seem to be brought up in newer publications.

The division of sorcery, theism and animism feels a bit odd before Time.

Is there some trade traffic through the gap by the Green Dragon Vale?

The little valley just northwest of Green Dragon Vale could be a candidate. Perhaps the priestesses conduct a Heroquest/Ritual that makes Voria reveal to them that it actually is deeper and more welcoming than others saw it as.

I'm assuming that patro-/matronyms are based not on sex (ie., for lack of a better way to put it, genitalia) but on gender, so a neuter or hermaphrodite person can still identify as a man or woman. Conversely, of course, someone biologically male can identify as any of the given genders. Hence biologically male nandans identifying as women (a culturally specific kind of woman) and joining Ernalda gender-restricted ranks. This is mostly based on what I seem to recall about Orlanthi viewing sex and gender as separate concepts, though I might be wrong.

It is an important point to make. Sustained.

Just a bit of banter.

I like those words being etymologyically tied together (dunno, I just think etymological bonds are neat).

Poor Dethstrok. He dipped one foot in and y'all pulled him down like a swarm of sirens! 😁

Am I making something up, or has Vadrus been associated with Mastodons too? Ragnaglar also seems to have some associations with antlered animals, even if apochryphal, as per his Gods War miniature and a certain plotline in Six Ages.

I was about to mention the Lunar magics (I forget what they're called, specifically), and how they wax and wane and seem to be sort of illusory in a way?

It's in Revealed Mythologies. It's not super expansive, but there's a decent bit there.

That can be a challenge for them as they move into hidden wilds, where the access to trade in diverse resources (metals, clays, textiles, color pigments, etc.) will be much more limited. Not an impossibility, just something to spin a story on further.

The East Isles has Thella, the Goddess of Dreams. They also have Avanapdur, an anti-god (a divine being seen as a dangerous, basically) who managed to create an empire that turned out be an illusion, a sort of dreamlike influence of the middle world. Dreams is a pretty major theme in the East Isles, with different philosophers taking different views on whether they are beneficial or distractions for mystics, for example. Not so much in Genertela though, to my knowledge, though dreams in and of themselves are pretty important for several deities.