Sir_Godspeed

Maybe we can conceptually separate the Disease Spirit and the Disease as cause and effect, as it were. Or maybe the Disease Spirit spawns a "mini-me" for every new person that turns ill, as a sort of hive-mind. Maybe there's a "Disease Spirit Prime" in patient zero. Maybe not. I'll admit, I have no idea, just throwing out some ideas for play.

I have subconsciously also used an uvular trill (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uvular_trill). I can't quite make the Dzh and R fit together otherwise. It's easier to change from a sound made in the front of the mouth to the back of the mouth for me. Granted, I come from the Throaty (uvular)-R part of Norway, so it's pretty much just cultural bias. If I were to use an alveolar trill (ie. a Scottish or Spanish-style R), it would be markedly more pressure there, as it's a lot of change to shift between two different sounds produced in the same part of the mouth. There's obviously the American/Irish-style R as well, (postalveolar approximant or Retroflex approximant), but since it's produced in the back of the mouth, the points for the uvular trill kinda ring true here too, although it's going to be a more "buzzy" sound overall, going from "dzh" to an American "rrr". It's not too far off from the word "Journey"... sorta. I'm influenced by Latin and Tolkien's Quenya, and automatically assume that any ending -i is prononounced as the vowels in "lid" or "leave" (the first being short, the other long, but otherwise identical).

Nothing about Jrustela? That's a name that popped out to me immediately as "someone definitely just made this up for a laugh." My best guess is "Dzh(e)'-RUST-ela", but I have no idea.

This is highly circumstantial, but the numbering scheme of the texts in the Knowledge temples based on how they're written in the Guide and Sourcebook, with the multiple numbers and letters, seem to imply that there is quite a lot of written pieces to keep tabs on. Such lengthy and highly abstract designations wouldn't really be needed otherwise. If Lhankor Mhy Knowledge Temples and Libraries are also used as repositories for censuses, royal accounting, property evaluation, contracts, and other largely non-narrative documents, that could explain some of the need for complex numbering systems though. It's very possible that the actual number of narrative documents in those temples compared to archived inventory lists and legal documents (genealogies, etc.) might be quite small. (And apropos Iceland, I seem to remember something about it being the most literate society in the High Middle Ages in Western Europe.)

"Big wheels keep on turnin', Big Serpent keeps on churnin'. Ronance, Ronance, Ronance down the river."

I'm eagerly awaiting "RuneQuest: Oops, All Ducks!"

I was sure you were going to say "until ejaculation".

Well, Shaggy is based on a stoner archetype, and there's stuff like "Drunken Master", so maybe there's some kind of hallucinogen-fueled superpowers involved. Sort of a "does eating this herb make him really powerful, or just so incredibly lucky that it just SEEMS like he's powerful, and is there a difference?" If the drug analogy is a bit too adult, feel free to replace it with some other kind of substance, or ritual, or divine patronage.

Your son has an excellent taste in memes. Shaggy is indeed a mighty yet callous god.

I'm pretty sure the Guide states outright that the term "Mistress race" is just feminine because trolls tend to name things in the feminine as a default, being a matriarchal society, so yes, there are male Mistress race trolls. In the same sense that - pardon the comparison - Hitler's "Master race", did not include solely male humans, the term "Master" just being an artifact of German/English gender biases. Can't remember seeing any male Mistress trolls mentioned anywhere, though.

When reading some of the descriptions David provided about him giving people the secrets of plants in the Golden Age, and leaving trails of plants in his wake, I couldn't help think of some of the theories of how early nomadic agriculture is thought to have started: hunter-gatherers would walk along tracks at semi-regular times, and while doing so, they would plant certain seeds, remove vines from fruit-bearing saplings and in general promote plants they found beneficial. This is still done in some areas. It sort of seems like the kind of thing some of the denizen's of Genert's Garden would've lived, and from a Gloranthan perspective, it sort of makes sense for those tracks to have been established by a god or spirit. The main thing that sticks out is the chariot, which seems a lot less primeval than this proto-agri/horticultural practice, but that's a matter of interpretation, I suppose.

The office of Emperor addititionally has (or had?) some restriction on at least four degrees of separation between each emperor, don't they? I remember some references to that in GRoY and some mentions here and there.

I agree. There is something about the moon that appear to be going back to the Green Age. The Seven Mothers, I think, were tapping into a lot of things, but reaching back to that ancient concept rather than simply trying to create rival sun, as it were. However, that doesn't necessarily prevent the Dara Happans from at one point looking at the sphere hovering above Mernita and calling it a Sun rather than a Moon. Possibly mainly for political reasons, I don't know. Possibly because they identified it as a daughter of Yelm.

That looks badass. Thanks for sharing. I'm more thinking Hsunchen, but it might work for either.

Doesn't Lodril/Veskarthen have an Underworld Ruler aspect? Is that outside of what you wanted to cover, maybe? EDIT: I guess that maybe is Monster Man / Derdromus. The number of hells and underworlds and gods meeting themselves all make it a bit confusing, tbh.

I hope you don't mind this post - it's entirely lore-focused, but I like to muse about the "Warm Earth"-complex of gods, so this promising, multifaceted pair of posts brought back some thoughts I've had before, especially on the agricultural side of things (which I feel says more about how most people relate to this related group/complex of gods than spear imagery and volcanic eruptions necessarily do on an everyday level) EDIT: Just wanted to add that I know you'll be covering agriculture too, so this isn't intended as a criticism, more like a splurge of preemptive ideas, I suppose. In that respect, I was considering how his main symbol, the phallic pole, can be translated not just to a spear (which is an interesting image, but not always what you need), but other, more immediately useful things: - In a slash-and-burn horticultural situation like Caladraland, the main symbol of the farming aspect of Veskarthan seems like it should be the Fire Stick. I think it ticks all the boxes: it is primeval (and so likely a very old and immediately associative symbol), it is phallic to some extent, it is practically useful, and of course it is associated with fire. - In other agricultural situations, the symbol might just be a digging stick. Less of an elegant association, but also works, imho. More clearly associated with his fertility aspect, as it is the means by which the farmer can seed the soil ("you see, the digging stick is my pe-" okay, enough of that.) Another thing I was thinking of is how to translate the idea of fire and heat to a more abstract and holistic perspect. In the case of Orlanth, he is not just associated with the air and winds in the skies, but also with the air inside people, ie. breath. Breath is an incredibly important symbol for the Orlanthi, and in cultural anthropology breath would probably have been considered a "root metaphor" for an ethnography on the Orlanthi cosmology and conceptions of personhood. A root metaphor is a symbol that can be use to extrapolate and illustrate other aspects of a culture (it's a bit of a dated concept, but fun to use). In the case of Veskarthan/Lodril/Caladril/Turos, aside from the phallus, I've been thinking that a potential candidate for a "Lodrilic root metaphor" could be body heat. The Warm Earth is a personification of the heat energy that exists within the mass of Earth. It is a force that shapes landscapes and can erupt violently. It adds motion to the otherwise static mass. Similarly, body heat animates the human body, and allows the common man to produce great feats of strength. As a Lodrili initiate might say to a son, the more work you do, the hotter you get, so clearly you get closer to Lodril - but most people can't take all that heat, so we need to relax. Lodril is fine with that. Unlike what the nobles say, he's not lazy, he just enjoys good times as well, after the work is done, it's time to reap the rewards. When a child is born, Veskarthan/Turos/Lodril has given his great heat into the body in the womb, so that it can grow and work and thrive and be active. Without, we'd all be misshapen, inert lumps - but don't say that in front of the priestesses. When someone dies, their body heat goes back to Lodril, and he keeps it safe in his home. So that's how the body heat metaphor for most common folk, but they aren't really adventurer material I guess - But some kind of Veskarthan (Or Turos) Rune Lord? What if they could heat up their bodies and become glowing red-hot. It would be great as a weapon, of course, sure - but what if this kind of transformation was equally useful for miraculous, heroic feats of strength, like pulling a plow all by yourself, building a wall in a day and a night, or holding off an avalance. Turos is the God of Strength, after all, and Veskarthan, while probably overshadowed to some extent by Barntar as a stereotypical "burly everyman god", could maybe also have some of this? It would be a cool way to make an initially skeptical village like you, for example. Charisma through strength. Heroic status through... well, work. Works for farmers. - Of course, there's always using it to club a snow monster or somesuch to smithereens. That works too. Anyway, long ramble, but some things I think could be cool, both lorewise and maybe implemented as powers, if given a gander by someone who understands balance and mechanics more than I do.

That's been my vague impression too, but I admit this is pretty much up for personal interpretation.

Hah, that was the one I designated as nr.7, so it's all good.

Nr.1 (or 6) seems like the best, composition-wise, but nr.7 is probably the most informative, without separating them completely. I just realized that I don't know if you were looking for feedback, but here it apparently is.

Am disappoint

Seems to me that the simplest interpretation is just that it's referring to the king being Malkioni as opposed to a theist.

I've previously made a thread about Alkoth, and it seems to me that it is by and far the most distinct of the Dara Happan Tripolis. Its explicit association with Shargash and its physical construction, being surrounded by a massive, green solid-structure wall makes it stand out visually as well. I've sometimes asked myself what exactly makes it "Dara Happan" beyond simple imperial history and administratrion (does Alkoth have Buseri priests scrying the skies? Does its noble houses act as fastidiously and jealously as their Yuthuppan counterparts? Etc. etc.) This made me also consider in what ways the two other cities, Yuthuppa and Raibanth, were different from each other. I will admit, that aside from the Footstool of Yelm being located in Raibanth, and it therefore being the traditional coronation site of the Emperor, and the Star Towers of Yuthuppa, I can't really see much of a difference between them, culturally. Aside from specific historical events and the various monuments, are you aware of any general practices, traditions, events, styles, etc. that separate the two?

Sounds a bit like a Man-of-All too. The Woodsman's axe is perhaps not quite Dronari staple, and the Talar aspect is not there yet (unless you count the imminent crowning), but still.

Yeah, I was of the impression that Seshnela was involved somehow, but Jajagappa provided an alternative scenario, so I'm not certain.

The kingdoms could be Akem and Jonatela though, if it needs to be kept local. (Although Akem seems to be a country in name only)