Sir_Godspeed

I would be onboard with longhouses, but Chaosium seems to currently be going in a slightly different, more Mediterranean direction. My interpretation of multiple sub-dwellings of semi-free dependant tenant farmers (ooph, a mouthful) is based on the idea that the (idealized) distinction between free and semi-free is the ability to maintain a full oxen plow-team. This, imho, implies separate fields to plow, because if they had all been living in the same household, I am somewhat uncertain why they would divide the plots into different properties and divide access to the plow-team. A main dwelling of the free farmer, with multiple sub-dwellings of semi-free dependants makes more sense in this regard. The same also goes for the idea that another term used (in-universe) for semi-free Heortling farmers is "sheep-men", which for one, again refers to the lack of a complete oxen plow-team (to the best of my knowledge) but imho also to that they do still possess their own flocks of sheep which their graze on their own grazing ranges (the existence of commons will have to be discussion for another day). Lastly, there is also the term "cottar", which I am aware is being phased out as inaccurate, but if it still carries any weight, it does literally refer to a cottager or crofter, ie. a tenant farmer living on an outlying plot. As always, this is just my personal interpretation, and I should probably add that I have a feeling that Chaosium might also not be going in this direction. And I do like the longhouse, and also the mediterranean square courtyard-house so I'm not super-upset whatever solution works out. We should probably also keep in mind that it's not like any of these residential patterns necessarily exclude each other. There are bigger and smaller longhouses (and even an outlying semi-free family can still number enough to construct and maintain their own mini-longhouse, if we go by what I've read about Norwegian archaeology, although I don't know how it looks like in say, precolombian longhouse cultures or the Caucasus), and the shape and construction of dwellings is going to vary greatly on climate, access to building materials, surrounding dangers, and in Glorantha, construction myths. EDIT: Had a look through the linked article about Heortling housing from 2016, and clearly this topic is something that has been discussed at length several times.

As I understand it, God Learnerism is in a sense relativizing what various cultures hold as gospel, allowing people to radically question what are held to be profound truths. Suddenly your storm god isn't THE storm god, but just another expression of a pattern of interacting runic ideals. That kind of relativism is not very popular with people who hold those ideas to be the truth, and the truth to be the basis of their very existence and survival. Not AS relativizing as, say, certain forms of mysticism, I bet, but intolerably abstracting for your average theist or whoever. EDIT: For a real-life example, I grew up with some very devout relatives who found the idea that members of other religions could make just as strong a case that *their* religion was true to be patently absurd, and honestly pretty offensive. The idea that my relatives' god and the god of some other people might both be equally plausible was unthinkable. Basically, "relativizing" their own worldview and trying to see something from another religionist's point of view was not only undesireable, but practically impossible.

Yeah, the distinction between True/Ancestral Mostali and Clay Mostali/Dwarfs is really murky, especially in older material (assumedly because that hadn't been quite worked out yet). To the best of my knowledge (possibly gleamed from this very forum, or some kind of message thread elsewhere), Pavis' parentage was the product of some kind of movement that looked either to the World Friends' Council of the Dawn Age, and (possibly by extension) back into the Green Age. Something something refining the Man Rune. But then people here tell me that the Dwarfs don't have the man Rune (sounds like a game convention rather than actual worldbuilding sense, but who am I to say) so maybe that's overreaching Pavis' and his forebears motives.

Yeah, that's odd. It's almost tempting to say that perhaps they weren't wives after all, but possibly high-class hostages (in the medieval sense) or perhaps priestesses or something - however these seem a bit fanciful. The simplest explanation, that they were exogamous wives, does still seem to be the most likely one. The implication of the practice of agnatic seniority is interesting too - ie. younger brothers of the deceased having inheritance priority over the sons of the deceased. It's not exactly super-rare (iirc. it occurs in some Slavic and Gaelic cultures, as well as some Old Norse cases, albeit being subject of rivalries). As @Joerg mentioned, the practices of a central stead with (outlying?) tenant (or unfree)-steads and some live-in servants/slaves is very reminiscent of 1800s residential patterns I'm familiar with from Scandinavia (but I'm sure it occurs in many other areas as well). To be honest, it's how I imagine a number of Orlanthi steads in my head (moreso than the pseudo-medieval village cluster of houses) but there's a certain overlap.

I don't know if there's anything in the already existing material about this, but personally I'd imagine some kind of giant demigod-like Alynx could make for a cool mount for a Yinkin/Orlanth-worshipping Orlanthi hero or whatnot. We have flying bulls and giant flying rams, so I mean, why not.

To my knowledge, yes. Kolat was basically a spirit (he might still be one, I don't know what runes he's given in the games) and had to choose between his god-kin and spirit-kin. Then there are Kolat's bound spirits (breaths) which according to the book of Heortling Mythology are grandchildren of Umath, who apparently spontaneously spawned a goddess in his wake who in turn spawned them. Yinkin might also count. Even though he's a deity for all I know, he is related to the whole Hykimi-complex wich can appear as both deities and spirits depending on how their worshippers approach them (the same is arguably true for deities as well, given how Praxian and Doraddi mythologies work).

It's a bit like when in Vanilla World of Warcraft, when you were leveling up a human warrior in Elwynn Forest, hacking at goblins and murlocs with your crappy iron sword, but then suddenly a lvl. 60 toon swoops by on an epic amored charger mount with glowing eyes, armor that glows golden, and a freakin Windfury epic blade, and shoulderpads that shouldn't even be physically possible. Gives you something to strive towards, if nothing else.

From my understanding of how a good deal of Gloranthan lore has been developed through cooperative play sessions, I wouldn't be too surprised if Mularik and Ethilrist and lots of other powerful, eccentric individuals were essentially player characters that later got "canonized" after they were used to "explore" a section of Glorantha, or a period of the Hero Wars or whatever.

I never got the impression that being a Vingkotling meant that you literally were a descendant of Vingkot. On the one hand the Vingkotling were a specific clan and dynasty, yes, but on a wider scale it was a reference to a tribal confederation/polity/empire which the eponymous Vingkotlings ruled, a bit like "Ming China", as it were. Most Vingkotlings (in the political/ethnic sense) probably had no direct blood-relation to Vingkot, them being descendants of Heler, Durev, and other conquered or assimilated peoples. Sorry if I misunderstood the debate, but I felt it was taking a bit of a overly narrow turn.

I like that he sounds like some kind of Gary Stu payer character someone made up to be as awesome as possible : "Uh, and yeah he's a warrior AND a sorcerer and he's like, um, descended from Arkat... Oh, and he has the Runequest Sight because he replaced one of his eyes with this secret artifact!" "God damn it, Gary."

I can only send my best wishes to your mother, and hope she's being taken proper care of.

I'm not surprised, but I am disappointed nonetheless. As much as I dislike corporate "hello fellow kids" I thought the designs were amusing, and in my head I went "at least some game designers and artists got a decent paycheck out of this" - which is still true, but less valuable if you can't at least use it in your portfolio or something (I'd imagine, as a non-creative professional).

You could highlight RQ's morality system, which focuses on alignment to social institutions (clans, cults, etc.) instead of alignment to abstract moral concepts. I always felt that was a strength of non-DnD systems.

Push comes to shove you can sleep underneath the cart as well. Either by balancing it well, or by turning it upside-down. Apropos of nothing: when I saw that (Cree?) word on the picture, my first thoughts were "That's definitely Adûnaic".

After some googling, I realized that the word "gapahuk", which I translated in my head to "bivouac" (which really means any kind of simple rest-stop), is probably more accurately translated to English as "lean-to". Something like this (just replace the tarp with waterproofed textile or with leafy/piney branches): Or more elaborately, like this, which addionally has windbreaking wall on our left (this time, imagine them sleeping on top of sheepskin, for example): Parts of Sartar is not going to have enough wooden materials to make this possible - in which case planning, improvising, etc. is probably key.

In Sartar, using the landscape for partial cover is probably wise. Determining the prevailing wind or downpour direction, and choosing to rest against a hillside, cliff, or copse of trees that shelters against it is probably pretty common. Sartar's weather is fickle, however, so this is hardly enough alone. If there are trees, or even brush, nearby, you can always set up bivouacs pretty quickly. All you need are two standing poles, a cross-beam, and several branches going down the back side, sort of like half a roof. In all likelihood, if it's a large group traveling, such poles are part of the packed equipment, maybe carried by whatever pack animals are part of the baggage train. Depending on the kind of vegetation, it might be more or less effective. I'm mostly used to pine which are quite effective due to the way the branches are shaped (Norway spruce for example has branches with a feathered pattern, which means that when you layer them for roofing, they guide water away and down, instead of letting it pass through - although multiple layers are recommended). If there are tall grasses or reeds nearby, that might maybe also be used. I'd mention banana palm leaves as well, but, well, wrong climate. Similarly, I'd imagine canvas might be used. Canvas (ie. hemp), if it is available to Sartarites, is relatively easy to make large amounts of, iirc (although not to modern standards, I assume), and to waterproof. They might be used for roofs, of course, but perhaps equally important as walls to keep wind away - which is nice to have if you need to start a fire for cooking, dry up after fording a river, etc. The same can probably said for linen. Woolen textiles can also be made waterproof - either by shearing naturally high-lanolin-containing wools (lanolin is a kind of natural oil sheep produce to stay waterproof) and using that in weaving - or by applying additional lanolin later (by desaturating another, different, batch of wool). I've been told lamb's oil is especially rich in lanolin, but I don't know too much else about that. Such woolen textiles are probably used more as cloaks and as blankets than as tents, I think, due to being harder to mass-produce than canvas - but I could be wrong. I think in many cases travelers would indeed sleep under the stars, or improvised roofing (like the pine bivouac mentioned above) and rely on their blanket for most of their insulation and waterproofing. Lastly, treated pelts might help out. Again, probably more as individual waterproofing (as blanketing or as "matresses", perhaps) than making up tents (unless you're the Praxians or someone else with access to huge amounts of pelts around). I did a quick googling, and apparently there is at least one attested Roman leather tent discovered, so it's not entirely fantastical. Also, in some cases, if it's a marching army we're talking about, I assume shields might be used in some capacity. Big, round or square, mostly made of wooden boards covered with paint or leader - they're unlikely to suffer from being rained on (unlike bowstrings and cutting blades), and might be good if combined together or something.

Well, Chaotic infestations are a good possibility.

That's technically correct... the best kind of correct. Speaking of this kind of genre interaction: I've recently been catching up on Dragon Ball Z Abridged (the comedic parody redub) and there's a lot in there that reminded me of Glorantha. The flying nimbus (cloud as a flying mount) made me immediately think of a reward for an Orlanthi heroquest, for example.

Snufkin is some kind of shaman or mystic or something. Living outside or at the edges of society, and providing sage advice and clever tricks whenever needed.

That's terrible, I hope your mom is doing okay!

The issue is whether everyone who worshipped Orlanth (by any name) in the Storm Age were Vingkotlings. In my question thread on the Talastari, they were mostly agreed to not be former Vingkotlings, but remnants of other Storm People, possibly a failed invasion of Dara Happa or Pelanda, or having migrated around or across the Rockwoods at some point. They worshipped a Ram-god of some kind which seems to some form of Orlanth (or possibly a beefed-up version of Voriof, which would basically be Orlanth anyway). Then there are the Imtherites, who apparently are goat-herding Orlanthi in Time, but we don't know what they were in the Storm Age I think, and all the other Bull Storm people towards the northwest as Fronela and Peloria meet. These are more or less Orlanthi in Time, but seems generally to be accepted to have been some kind of Storm Bull people in the Storm Age (or at least a lot more cattle-obsessed than the Vingkotlings). And there is of course the Ralians, as you mention. No idea about them. Hell, you don't need to go farther than Maniria before you meet the Entruli, who are Orlanthi now, but definitely were not Vingkotlings back in the day either, as they were convered during the day from essentially being Swine Hsunchen, or possibly just Swine-focused Earth People of some kind. Or maybe they reverted to being that during the Darkness and they actually were Vingkotlings (possibly Durevings or Helerings) during the Storm Age.... So yeah, uh, not easy to tell for me at least.

Are you talking about the chest-zeppelins? That seems to be a common trope in South Asian temple art, so maybe he just replicated it.

I've seen the "Raksha Warrior" image shared around the web a few times before. Nice to know where it comes from.

To be fair, the situation at the time was probably a bit less clear-cut than it's made out to be in the "winter tribes and summer tribes" schema. We also know that they allied with/confederated various other groups, so there's a potential fuzziness.

Yup, he was indeed carved from wood. Interesting stuff. Also interesting that he is referred to as "obscure", since as far as I know, he is hardly obscure in the Third Age. This might be during the period when the Durevings had not yet entirely integrated into the Vinkotling confederation, and not yet syncretized their own (undoubtedly different) mythology with that of the Kerofinelan Vinkotlings proper. Although, saying that, since this is well after the Flood, then I suppose the Durevings should already have been assimilated... Bah, I don't know!