Snugz

Ahh I'd never have thought of that; that's an interesting idea. I'd assumed that this was some sort of parallel with the Orlanth and Aroka myth; but both could be "true".

Question on Felster Lake/Lake Felster in central Ralios: if "It was carved out of the earth when the Storm Gods warred against the Serpent Beasts" (GtG), when did that happen? It sounds like a Storm Age thing, but where it might be (~south/east of Nida, etc.), the GtG age maps (Appendix E) just show forest/ocean in early Storm, then Greatwood (middle Storm into Lesser Darkness), then ~Deadwood (Chaos Age), back to Greatwood (Grey Age). It's there by the Dawn (p126 Guide). I guess the Appendix E maps are just too zoomed-out to show it, and it was hidden in Forest (where the Hykimi Serpent Beasts would have been too, perhaps). And so yeah, maybe in the Storm Age sometime. Or, is there something I've missed?

Lutrai/giant otters also feature in Tradetalk #11 on Handra and the New Fens.

I'm not sure myself how to compare Ehilm with Yelm/Yelmalio. I've been puzzling it over for my game. I think the point above that it's a more general "aloof" solar diety works. So perhaps a blend of Yelm/Yelmalio aspects. Less "I am the greatest and in charge", more "I am/became the sun but the Invisible God is the greatest". Anyway, the Galanini and their fondness for Ehilm are great adversaries for Ralian barbarians, if that's what players would be. Not that Ralians need more enemies!

For Galanin (moreso) and Ehilm, there are official bits in the Guide to Glorantha. Then there is nice unofficial stuff in (closer to official/modern) Men of the West; and Children of Hykim has some excellent fodder on their "beast-blood", with epic ideas for what may happen in the Hero Wars, then (older) a lot of basic Galanini info in Tradetalk #3. And if you search this forum, there's plenty more if you want a deep dive! 🙂 There is Saint Ehilm info in The ZIn Letters #2. I am not so clear on how well it relates to more current thinking. With Galanini, it will help to read up on who the Enerali were (their ancestors), too.

Weird question: if you looked up in a fairly open space in Gloranthan Hell, would you see stars? i.e. dead, weakly glimmering stars in the Underworld "sky" (upper Underworld or something)? Maybe former Sky Realm stars; or parodies/nightmares of them?

Hi, a minor question: Tolin (Safelster) city is described as having a Sun Temple (Ehilm, Galanin) complex designed as a chariot on ten pairs of decorated wheels at its base and drawn by seven spirited horses. I'm having difficulty picturing this. Would the actual temple be on some sort of platform atop the chariot (and maybe horses too), maybe with grand staircase(s) leading up to it? Or would the chariot+horses be entirely separate, or something else? Any speculations would be welcome.

Hello, my players have happily wandered to Helby county in Ralios (from Pralorela) and I am totally unprepared for Helby, as I expected them to go to Estal(i). Which makes it fun for me to learn about now! From the bits in the Guide (there's precious little elsewhere) I can't see what differentiates it sociopolitically from Estal. Except for its lake and the road via Drom. They're both matrilineal Galanini, with putative rulers who are men (but we know who holds the reins), and a syncretic mix of religious practices. What would you suggest as differences to note or present as interesting tibits, people or adventure seeds, for Helby as opposed to Estali? Who the heck is this Forester Prince (or who might he be, speculating), I can find nothing about him?

A historical question: was the Arkati (trapped) tome "Impossible Landscapes" an inspiration for the infamous Delta Green campaign of the same name? Or did these timelines converge independently? Or is Arkat the Yellow King, or vice versa; and/or Carcosa = Dorastor (City of Dreams)? Or did RW Chambers use that phrase in his stories in full knowledge that two RPGs would use them over 100 years later? All of these prospects terrify me, and perhaps these are things I am not meant to know, but I must ask. Coincidence would be the most cosmically terrifying.

Yes, demi-birds are inspired by phorusrhacid-like extinct flightless birds, but seem to have some draconic/dino-ish inspiration added in sometimes in Gloranthan artwork, and the "Brontornis draconis" illustration in the Bestiary looks more like a proper (smaller) phorusrhacid than a chonky Brontornis. So it's a Mélange-ornis.

It's funny, I was wondering this myself lately as it came up in-game, and I thought no, that's too arcane, no one has answered this; and I browsed the Guide and that seemed to confirm my suspicion, and then I Googled "glorantha potato" and found two threads with extensive, sagastic discussions of potatoes in Glorantha: and Especially, GtG does say the Doraddi use "root vegetables". So here it is not a case of YGWV, but rather GtGDNC (GtG does not contradict), as potatoes are root vegetables.

Thanks for flagging this up! I loved the art enough that I bought it, and it pays off nicely. There's cool inspiration for a variety of Gloranthan cultures/locations.

As an aside, here's what an Arkati mentor told his "student" IMG; a distillation of history (but as always, filtered through his own perception): “You have heard the stories. Arkat is returning to Ralios in at least five of his masks, and the Seshnelans rally to crush this. They have the advantage that the Arkati sects can be paralysed by their own scheming against and even murdering each other. Some believe there is but one True Arkat; brought about by a Grand Conjunction; others just revere one mask. But you may not know the whole tale of Arkat and his masks, or shadows. Here is that tale, in brief. Everyone agrees on the first parts, but as the story of his life proceeds, so does controversy increase. Maybe Arkat’s heroquesting gradually created more of himself co-existing.” “He was born in Brithos in 375 during the Sunstop, and fostered by Aldryami. Around then, he became mystically Illuminated. He was raised in Brithos as a Horali, joined the Army of Law, and freed Arolanit from Tanisor. This is where his heroic stature became evident; and he was wielding the Unbreakable Sword or God Cleaver by now. He began a crusade against the being he always called Gbaji, and many call Arkat at this time the Saviour. He fought Gbaji’s agents across the West. He then became a Hrestoli; in Brithos’s eyes an act of betrayal; and most agree that this is when he became Arkat the Liberator or the Knight. He slew the Vampire Kings, and razed their city of Tanewal, now called the Red Ruins. But he was killed by Palangio, leader of Gbaji’s forces, in 418. All thought him lost then, but Harmast brought him back in 422 at Hrelar Amali, the holiest site in Glorantha; a site of Life and Fertility. But Arkat grew full of Death. He became Humaktson or Humarkat; a Sword of Humath or Humakt; and turned further eastwards against the Telmori of Ralios, who were Chaos-tainted by Gbaji. He earned the name Chaosbane. But he could not penetrate into Dorastor to face Gbaji yet. Instead, he moved further south and then east to aiding Slontos, then Dragon Pass. There he started his connection with Darkness, and many there call him Black Arkat. Arkat continued his fight north to Dorastor. But the fight was fierce, so he sought more power. He heroquested and became a Mistress Race troll; an Uzuz; in 448. Some named him Kingtroll then. But he eventually turned to worship Zorak Zoran, and raged across Dorastor as Arkat the Destroyer. In 450, he finally met Gbaji in single combat atop the Tower of Dreams in the City of Miracles. Arkat killed Gbaji. Some instead say that it was the other way around, that Gbaji persisted as Arkat the Deceiver or Arkat Chaosmonster or Arkat the Devil. But Dorastor was devastated nonetheless. Here the First Age of Glorantha ended and the Time of Empire began. Arkat, perhaps no longer a troll, returned to rule Ralios, forming the Dark Empire or the Autarchy, which he called the Empire of Peace. For this, many call him Great Arkat. He made a great fortress-capital called Arkhome, and then retired in Ralios, having brought peace there and to the Elder Races around it. So his final title may be Arkat Peacemaker. There are many more titles or interpretations of Arkat; some combine them, or separate them. Some even claim that the flagellant World of Losers Movement unwittingly reveres Arkat the Loser; or maybe the Martyr. But Arkat became a god, or took himself to the Hero Plane where his secret star is hidden, in 500; that much seems sure; and in the Second Age the God Learners crushed his Autarchy. Until now… perhaps.” “This all matters because there now are figures of great power in Ralios that believe in different aspects of Arkat, and at least five of them might be true Arkats, in a way. Each figure is at another city-state. Remember that no-one rules Ralios; it is a confederation of the city-states of Safelster and the diverse, fierce Storm Tribes of the East Wilds and then Vesmonstran to the north. Those city-states and tribes, like the Arkati, bicker and fight. But if they and the Arkati and the powers of Darkness, Dragons, Beasts, or whatever else are to be free, they must find more unity. Your words can have more power than your blades in Ralios.”

This is the way I play the Arkat thing, which is inspired by the canonical writings but necessarily fills in gaps/[re]interprets that. "Where the rubber meets the road" for me is the issue of what is the relationship between two "masks" of Arkat (out of the seven main ones; e.g. see Alangellia pic in Guide), Destroyer and Deceiver. This is where the line gets blurry. (in addition, but less interestingly, to other "sub-masks"/splinter factions like Black Arkat and Arkat Kingtroll that might fit somewhere between Chaosbane/Destroyer... loosely. Or who the heck knows if "Arkat the Martyr" [see: World of Losers Movement] is "real".) I think many Arkati would agree that Destroyer was something like Arkat using Zorak Zoran's Disorder power to defeat Gbaji, but that Arkat Deceiver is a mask of Gbaji and one could even say that the two masks fought each other (Arkat vs. Arkat). A cautionary tale, that a reckless Arkati might slip from their adherence to the Destroyer into the Deceiver. (but other masks could go that way too) Whether there is a distinction between Arkat Deceiver/"Chaosmonster" and Gbaji himself would be of some debate, then? So perhaps of all the Arkati, those of the Destroyer mask are most liable to slide from Disorder into Chaos, even being able (via bending their own mystic philosophy cough Illumination) to justify using Chaos to their ends (e.g. see how Arkat used Chaos things to seal away pieces of Gbaji after the Tower of Dreams battle). And outsiders easily could be of the view that there is no important difference between Destroyer and Deceiver; they are both bad for everyone else, cannot be trusted, and are best purged from society whenever/however possible. So Arkat gets a bad rap; beyond some people in some places like Ralios. Added to that, plenty of Westerners would lump some/all other masks as "Arkat the Traitor", for their own reasons (e.g. Liberator became Saviour, a betrayal of the former's values).

True, the few sentences of recent canon stuff about Handra/Khorst doesn't support or deny much of anything. Indeed, following it we might assume that Ramalia has attacked no one!

I'm not so convinced, as the New Fens are much larger (in terms of what is Ramalia-adjacent), not full of dinos but still very unfriendly folk, newtlings and Lutrai; and yet Handra (which is out in the Mournsea; and MUCH further from Ramalia/Bizos) has had a really rough time with Ramalia?

Hi, Why does Khorst (port city west of Handra) still exist in 1625 -- or does it? I am unclear how it has persisted with ship-hating Ramalia so nearby (~30km from capital Bizos!); not to mention the Alatan pirates. Yeah, Trachodon Marsh is a pain but Khorst is not THAT isolated from land? IMG, once the Boat Planet does its reveal in 1624, the Ramalians say enough of this nonsense and unleash Hell, so Khorst is first on the menu and that's that. But I wonder what others think.

Yeah Duke Kimiv surely gets involved, and is good odds to become Arkat Kingtroll; supposedly in 1624 he weds a troll-wife then in 1625 he becomes a troll. So this is part of his hero-journey; among others'. Grodnin would be a surefire stop for the Swarm en route eastwards from Guhan; trolls/AA cultists visiting its Black Stone. Probably there's some interesting opposition from anti-trollers like Aruzban Ironarm of Delela (the Swarm likely passes thru there) and whoever wields the "legendary magical iron sword Trollbiter" from Istakax; and Sun Dome Temple, etc. etc. As Arkat Kingtroll rises, so may the power of Retter the Stalker.

I'd LOVE to have one, and the 2nd Age one (Mongoose) doesn't give enough inspiration to me, and I've written some stuff for my own game, but I'm no games-writer and don't have the deep knowledge of Ralios that would be ideal.

I like this idea too, and I think this discussion is leading me to work in a 2nd (later) heroquest; one Saviour-focused w/Foyalfine (and Shield would be good) and another Arkat Kingtroll-focused w/Kimiv of Naskorion, for whom the Cloak of Dusk seems a good fit.

Yes I think that would be the final challenge at the Waertagi docks; IMG the Vadeli are the Big Bad, now with opposition to the Waertagi, so it fits well (and they're a good Gbaji buddy).

I love that, thanks a bunch! Cloak of Dusk is perfect. The PCs were just at the Gates of Dusk as part of the Boat Planet quest, and did a lot with the Luathans, so I'd have to be creative to make it less of a repetition. I *really* don't (and am sure they don't) want to have them go into the Underworld as they've done that twice already (again, w/Boat Planet just 2 seasons ago). They have had many (friendly) associations with the Waertagi, including w/the Boat Planet, so the return home w/them works. I was already thinking of bringing in the Raven + Crossroads as that fits the needs very well; and yeah it's fun riddling. Good stuff; cheers!

Well put. As I understand Archon Foyalfine from various written material out there, he is for example (from GtG) "Ambitious and frustrated". I think it's both; he wants to be The Proven Arkat and unite Ralios, perhaps at a great cost to others, and to do that he needs to be more powerful.

Oh I didn't mean LBQ; I meant from that pantheon's myths. Mainly because there are more of them available to use as inspiration. But yes, something like ZZ would work, too; in the latter case though there's not much available, aside from Hill of Gold. (unless playing as an enemy in another heroquest, which would be bold to say the least)

Yes, I'm going with Archon Foyalfine's competitor Erengazor as using this as fuel for his fire that Foyalfine is Arkat the Traitor, not Saviour. (after this quest) (Foyalfine's quest unwittingly ends up connecting with Nysalor/Gbaji, hijacked by Argin Terror/Arkat Deceiver and his agents; but PCs don't learn that until sometime later after Foyalfine withdraws from the Dangan Alliance at the battle of Dangk.)