Sir_Godspeed

I'd say there almost certainly are.

UM THOSE ARENT ACCURATE TO THE BREEDS FOUND IN DRAGON PASS AS PER RUNEQUEST GLORANTHA haha just kidding but could you imagine though? 😁 Great models! ^^

While not "massive stretches" the way we might think of them, the terra preta (black earth) of the Amazon basin, making up as much as perhaps 10% of the surface soil there, was made by deliberate forest burning for agriculture. I also believe there are accounts of North American natives burning down stretches of forest in the wastern woodlands to provide grazing fields for horses after contact with Europeans. Again, not really massive deforestation, but there are reasons to clear areas even outside of large scale manorial agriculture.

Some of this was a bit confusing, since "sodomy" usually refers to bestiality in Norwegian - but then I realized it mostly refers to anal penetration in English.

That doesn't sound entirely right, since most Bronze Age civilization resided in river valleys - although they mostly used floodplains, which are usually lightly forested to begin with. Anyway, the point is a bit moot, since deforestation is less a case of heavy equipment and more a case of utilizing fire, as far as I understand it. Hell, even today you might find farmers who take out the hardest stumps with petrol and a match over trying to dig the sucker up.

I don't think we have any cases of people aging and dying in the Underworld, but I could be wrong.

Errinoru sailed down the whirlpool and returned by sea. I'm not sure if he came back up again, or if he took the other way around - ie. via the Outer Worlds' River of Ssramak.

I'd imagine that the Dragonships function, at least in part, like gigantic bronze age aircraft carrier, just with smaller ships instead. This makes the Waertagi incredibly maneuverable (who else can refit refit, restock and so on on the high seas?). Potent magic and sea-folk allies comes in addition, of course.

Gotcha. Looks like their alliance is still in effect, then.

Isn't there some overall Hero Wars plot with the Waertagi recruiting a bunch of non-Waertagi allies and the murdering them to finish some kind of ritual? I seem to remember that from somewhere.

I've bolded the relevant passages in @Qizilbashwoman's quote above. This is your Glorantha, so it's your decision, but there is published textual support for polygamy in some forms of marriage, if you ever change your opinion. I also highlighted "frowned upon" to highlight that, as in the other cases mentioned above, this isn't necessarily a "one and done" kind of deal. Some spouses might, for whatever reason, refrain from seeking divorce. Others might not. It's unlikely that any substantial pressure from the clan will occur, though it's possibly that the bloodline (ie. the extended family) or in-laws would want to have their say, as their honor/face/standing is probably entangled in this as well (as is often the case in real life stateless societies). They might urge a divorce to gain some restitution, but they might also urge the pair to stay married, so as to avoid upheaval, breach of family alliances, and so forth. IMHO it's impossibly to make a generalization here.

Depends. Those warriors do themselves belong to the clan's varied bloodlines, unless they are retainers from outside the clan (and I'd argue that while this happens, they make up a minority). If someone is very popular/wealthy, well-connected or what have you, you can have the clan enter a crisis. There's a spectrum of responses and consequences these intraclan interactions can lead to. We should be happy that there is a lot of grey area here, as it creates space for dynamic storytelling based on many different factors. If there was a clear law code that we could just flip through to find every appropriate response, that would imho be incredibly boring.

Two of the marriage forms specifically open for non-monogamy (Husband & Underwife and Wife & Esrolian Husband). It would be inaccurate to call polygamous sexual relations adultery of course, since they are still regulated by marriage norms. Then there is the exception of ritual sexual relations, in which someone might be tasked with performing in stead of a divinity or hero. The idea here seems to be that since the people involved are acting in place of deities, it's not really "them" who are having sex, so in effect, no breach of marriage. Children can still be conceived though, so it's not like they don't physically carry it out. Also, children are a blessing, so there's that. My point about ameliorating circumstances for extended absences might just be a personal interpretation, but I still believe it is common enough for a lot of people to have to deal with it in ways that they find personally acceptable and pragmatic (a relevant dilemma for professional warriors, herders moving into the mountains for the summer, sailors and caravaners, traders, etc.). It's not like this is unknown for Ernalda or Orlanth to have something on the side, after all. So, probably still adultery, but... possibly tolerable. That's my take on it, at least. And children are a blessing, in general.

I couldn't find measurements on the newer models (only that the square bases are 20mm), but when going back to their older Egyptian mythology line, it says 28mm for those, and I haven't seen anything to suggest it's changed.

https://www.crocodilegames.com/ has models based on Egyptian and Greek bronze age mythology. For example, they have Mycaenean models which would fit well as Kethaelan Orlanthi. They also have Amazons which could make Yelornans for example, or Lunar cavalry. EDIT: Went back to the first page of this thread and just realized I've linked to this site before. Oops! 😅

The would-be-splitting bloodlines keep electing a newer and newer Ring that keeps bumbling it up.

I was just reading the glorantha.com document "Safelster in the First Age", and came across this deity in the pantheon of the primordial Vustri: "Nagimer" does look *very* similar to "Agimor" for course, and the snake theme is there. However, this is not tied to Earth, but rather the whole Animal Totem complex. But then so is the Serpentbeast Society, and Dragons, Serpents and Beasts have always had a complicated relationship in the mythos: We have Serpent Shamans connecting the different Animal Totem people in Fronela against the Malkioni, or organizing a confederation in Ralios, or the very complicated case of Hsunchen prevalence in Kralorela that coexists with Dragon worship and mysticism there, how Hykim and Mikyh are sometimes imagined as dragons or two separate aspects of one dragon, and Langamul/Amuron, the horned serpent god of Doraddi myths, whose nature is vague, but I believe both tied to the creation of the world (Langamul) as well as modern shamanism/spirit magic (Amuron), though I could be wrong). Personally, I like the idea that dragon/serpent is essentially a kind of "undifferentiated" beast archetype, from which, runically, other forms derive - hence why serpent-totemic groups have been able to act as go-betweeners. However, that is clearly not the entire case. The connection to earth - beyond simple themes such as dwelling underground, being rebirth through shedding, and arguably being "earthy" with thick scales and the likes - should be accounted for. I don't want to drag this thread too far from its main topic, but maybe there's something to be gleaned from contrasting the "gross" materialism of creation, animality, earth and serpents, with "transcendental" draconic mysticism. Dragons - both as entities, but also as a generally used term for unfathomably powerful beings, ie. the seas for example - often seem involved with the creation of the universe/cosmos, and opposed to Chaos, but also seek to return to the Void (which arguably is just Chaos unfettered by the limitations of being trapped in the Cosmos). So if there is a "dichotomy" between a (creative?) Material-Spritual Earth-Beast Serpent Complex and a Transcendental Mystic Dragon Complex, that dichotomy disappears upon further inspection. Theory: It's Ouroborous all the way down. The Totemic Serpent in some ways explores the creative and procreative material and spiritual aspect of the overall Whole, and so it's tied to life* and earth and flesh (earth and flesh arguably being the same in this case), whereas the Mystic Dragon explores the liberating*, transcendental aspect of the Whole. Head and Tail. Brahma and Shiva. Fuel and Smoke. Headwater and Estuary. (*Both of these including death also - but in different senses. Or maybe not. After all, dichotomies are usually artificially enforced, which is kind of the point here.) This escalated a bit during writing, but I was given a lot to think about and tried to put it down in hopefully somewhat legible terms. All this considered, I'm almost somewhat surprised that the Empire of Wyrm's Friends wasn't based on ERNALDA having a hidden dragon soul instead. Don't tell the God Learners.

A lot has been said about what the Lightbringer Missionaries brought with them in terms of mythology, social conventions, laws, technology and so forth during the First Age. However, I am here inquiring a bit about what was brought back to the Theyalan heartlands around Kethaela and Kerofinela. Here are a few suggestions of mine, mostly based on what I heard said, or contextual clues: - The name "Ernalda" to describe the general archetype of the Earth Queen Goddess from the areas around Saird. This is based on some posts I've heard here before, which are in turn possibly based on Dawn Age maps from the Guide, or possibly older. The name may have supplanted native terms like Ketha or Ir, or maybe not, this one is not something I'm hugely knowledgeable about. - The name "Yelm". A generally accepted syncretization of the Heortling mythical cycles and those of the Dara Happan mythical cycles occured during the Council of Friends and later the Bright Empire, where Orlanth was identified with Rebellus Terminus, and Yelm was identified with the Bad Emperor. This is not to say that they were not always the same - a dicussion that's been had in many older threads - but at least the explicit identification was new at the time, it seems, and reshaped the myths as told from then on. It is also quite possible that this meeting also changed the narrative itself, where the main focus of the Darkness quest turned from bringing back Ernalda ("The Lifebringer Quest") and turned to bringing back the sun and creating a lasting compromise and mutual recognition of the sun and storm ("The Lightbringer Quest"). Alternatively, these myths have always coexisted in some capacity. - The name "Ehilm". This is the Western term for the sun god, found in Ralios and Seshnela at the Dawn. It is also found in a single instance in the Lightbringer's Quest, near the very end, and may suggest that either the Missionaries brought the name back with them, or that later east-faring Orlanthi brought it (for example Alakoring, or who knows). My suggestions have been exclusively names and mythic details or themes, but feel free to add art styles, architecture, technology or whatever. Also, these are suggestions, so take everything with a pinch of salt, as I'm not exactly speaking from authority here.

Eh, just make the thing smaller, and make the eye beams/breath weapon something can could feasibly be blocked with a good shield. Still deadly, but manageable. I mean, that's what I'm imagining. The above monster is basically a demigod in the context of the comic.

There are multiple forms of Orlanthi marriages. They are essentially contractual, with some stipulations being made before the wedding/betrothal. Monogamy is *generally* part of this, at least what we can call "ordinary monogamy", which would mean that there are some exceptions like religious festivals, and I would personally argue extended absences. Basically, depending on the form of marriage, and the individual partners, they may or may not seek divorce. There is of course also the issue of power/status imbalance between the kinship groups involved. I will assume that he can do so, at the very least if he or the Ring considers it a threat to the wellbeing of the Clan as a whole. It's not necessarily a given that all restitutory payment is Wergild. Wergild is a specific system, following specific formulas. It's quite possible that restitution is possibly outside this formalized framework, on a case-by-case basis. Like a lot of oral societies, Orlanthi tend to view their laws as universal (to them) and eternal. Realistically, they are quite mutable and manipulateable. Less so perhaps in a magical world were spirits of reprisal actually do exist, but still... gang law isn't a hundred miles off.

I always assumed that this was a God Learnerism, based on serpent-based Earth imagery from Seshnela- but I'm not opposed to it, snake people are indeed cool.

Wow. Did not expect that. So the "South" being spoken of here is not specifically Pamaltela, or is it a throwback to maybe when the southern lands hadn't quite been differentiated yet or something? I wouldn't exactly mind seeing stereotypical naga (lower body snake people) around in the tropical rainforest regions of eastern Pamaltela or East Isles, although I'll admit I'd imagine them more as chaos beings akin to Genertelan Scorpionfolk than an "orderly" race. EDIT: Not that the RW Hindu naga are evil, so maybe that's doing them a disservice. It could be a neat way to play with the intersection of Earth and Sea as elements in Glorantha, since snakes are largely associated with Earth in Genertela, but Water in Hindu mythology, so maybe they were some kind of races created by the union of those elements, much like Storm people are Earth and Air... Just thinking out loud here.

VSHOOOMM!! (courtesy of KillSixBillionDemons.com)

Pew pew mind bullets.

Aw yeah the rad sunglasses.