JRE

I would expect that to be unusual but not unheard of, specially if they get a nice bow as a heirloom. However I would be clear that if they lose the specific bow they lose the benefit, and bows are much more fragile than swords. Depending on the type of bow, even getting it too wet or in a fire, not to mention a deliberate weapon attack, can end it. Not that I would do it deliberately as a GM, but it is better to warn the character. I would use the geases themselves as what is Humakt's reaction. Use no non-cult weapons, that bow is a bad idea. Do not eat vegetables, Mistrust Uz, Mistrust Mostali, Humakt wants you to be an elf-friend. And so on.

If they are initiated, sex is no longer taboo, and that Command sheep spell suddenly makes sense...

I assume the mythic reason is that it is the division of roles in Praxian society. Men butcher, women (Eiritha) heals. It also means even war expeditions will take some Eiritha healer with them, which also will make sure animals will be treated in the right way, and that the other half of the clan makes their opinions heard, or you will bleed to death. Eiritha is not a peaceful cult at all, but one specialized.

It is French, but I hope you forgive me. Déjà vécu. Is the god dreaming the hero, or the hero dreaming the god? That I cannot answer.

My own take is that Orlanth was missing a key element to be a penitent most of the time, which is repentance. He was quite happy cutting heads and electrocuting foes during the Lesser Darkness. When his lady love went missing, or possibly, Lysistrata like, just withdrew her favors till he made things better, he went to do just that, with no real idea of what was needed. As he met others questing for answers, he decided to join them to see if those quests could show how to fulfill his. Enlightened self interest, rather than repentance. However it is true that Orlanth changes as the quest goes on, or possibly he learns from the people that travel with him that he lacks something, and try to do the right thing because it is right, and not because he will benefit from it. If we take the two clear cases we know of a succesful LBQ, Harmast did not feel penitent for Arkat, who he did not know, and I am pretty sure Argrath was not interested in making up to Sheng. They wanted a weapon against their enemies, whether the Broken Council or the New Moon Empire. That would indicate that at certain level Orlanth wanted a weapon against his enemy, and I cannot help but wonder if he just wanted a weapon against the Uz, and that is why Yelm was his choice (who had been killed before Chaos officially came to Glorantha), rather than a weapon against Chaos or his nephew (shades of Mordred at play too). In my view, the new Orlanth still gets Yelm, but he no longer wants to use him as a weapon, as the quest has shown him there are bigger problems in Glorantha, and he cannot do it on his own. It is this spirit of collaboration that becomes, or is seized by Arachne Solara, the ghost of the world that was hiding as a humble spider deity to get the remaining gods to lend her their power, and bind Kajabor in hell (it cannot be Wakboth, as he was, and still is, under the block). Orlanth and Yelm, and by following their example all remaining beings, pooled their power and gifted it to the spider, who if she was not the ghost of Glorantha, was that ghost now, catapulted by all that power. I never get the feeling of repentance, and instead you get the vibe that Orlanth would do it again. I am sure The killing of the Evil Emperor is one of the most popular cult heroquests among freedom loving Orlanthi, which shows Orlanth's followers do not share the idea of repentance. It is pragmatism that pushes them to ally with their enemy to save at least part of their world. Eurmal is unable to repent, and Orlanth can always blame Eurmal, so nobody needs to be really repentant. So the key event is not getting the back the sun, even if it was what Orlanth picked as his aim, but accepting they are all in this together, and that they fight together because they live or die together. Like in Backdraft, "You go, we go". Or, "I fought, we won." The sun is the Macguffin just to get all the gods dead and facing oblivion together. If Arachne Solara was in hell, she either started there, or had died at some point. Who is behind the mask?

As for the Dwarf in the bestiary, I just assume the dwarves can make steel, so their unenchanted iron is better than the enchanted iron of others, except that they prefer to keep the magic dampening because they seldom use magic in combat. The bestiary is quite specific the chainmail has 11 AP and the Full helm 12, which I consider as 10 AP for the chainmail (twice the value of a hypothetical bronze chainmail) plus quilting, and 12 (twice the value of a bronze full helm). That surely will make adventurers pause, specially when the loss of such an armor may bring an escalating response, starting with a few gobblers and ending with a company of iron dwarves...

I confess I saw flaming trebuchet and I inmediately went Volcano! Flaming forge! How did mortals know Martaler had a flaming forge (as most forges are flaming...)? Because he made flaming weapons! I also considered the factoid that Greatway refuses to deal south of the mountains, trading only to the north. But of course the debacle in the First Age may well be the reason why they only trade with the Balazarings now...

Maybe we are missing a reuseable Eiritha spell, Call Founder's mount. Reuseable because it can only be used in combination with a Call founder ritual, but it is not a core Eiritha magic. Gets both sides of the clan involved.

In the main version of Hill of Gold we know, Yelmalio is ambushed by Orlanth and loses his weapons and armor. Then he fights Zorak Zoran and loses. I would play that if you follow the script (which means fight Zorak Zoran barehanded) you will always lose. If you "cheat" in any way, such as beat Orlanth so You are armed and armoured, have a companion bring you replacement armor and weapons, use that badass Sunspear you traded (damn illuminates), maybe even uproot a tree and grab a door and use them as pike and shield, then you play the fight. You may still lose, but you may win. But you need to be willing to do something different to win, not just fight in the prescribed way. If you do not give it all in the fight, I would have Zorak Zoran kill you instead, as you are not worthy of his respect to leave you alive.

I would say the White Bull is a Praxian deity, or a mask / son / fragment of one, Storm Bull. As a Secret group, nobody should know much of the special relationship, but for me it is a Praxian spirit, not a desert one. Just channeling my conspiracy theorist, truestone is whitish, so what if it has nothing to do with albino animals, and it is the truestone purified bull, the perfect weapon against Chaos? What do the Storm Bull Khans do with all those truestone pieces chipped from the block?

I would play it that a thieving orlanthi magical group may use Desemborth, or some other name, to separate themselves from the above the board Orlanth temple. I would allow as a special case that their shrine teaches as its special rune spell Darkwalk, without needing to join the Four weapons, which means normal initiates can learn the spell.

As there is no clear way to stop being an initiate, you may have devotion once, but life may have made you lose it (Orlanth's death may have caused that in many orlanthi, as who says it cannot happen again). So an initiate may still go through the motions and even keep their magic, while being unsatisfied with the god and the hierarchy. I have always liked that the rules, even if not specific except in some fiction, allow career priests to be powerful without being devoted or fanatical about the god. It fits with the transactional view of Rune magic, and allows outsider heroes such as the PCs be devoted and still have plenty of troubles with the cult hierarchy, which is MGF for me. Personally I thing the 50% requirement for priests is a wink in this direction as well. Rune Lords have that 10 DI, which for me is reason enough to go for the 90% Devotion, as if you are expected to get frequent DI, devotion would be a given, rather than Loyalty (Temple).

Some cultures do not consider the spike important (such as Dara Happa Solars, and probably other Northern peoples, including most westerners, which are actually Northwestern), and others consider that some pet enemy destroyed the spike, and that allowed chaos in, so not everyone thinks that chaos caused the destruction of the Spike. Most have early myths about the residence of the old gods, but they are mostly focused on the current gods, and if Chaos is not so important to you, the spike and its destruction will not be important The spike is very important in Dragon Pass, as it was just south of it, and it is most of what we know about Glorantha, but it is not all.

As the change happened in time, IMG people will remember that Magasta used to be stronger, but that those godless sorcerers weakened him and Wachaza took part of his power. As that is what people experience when going to the other side, it is quickly accepted that it was always this way and those godless sorcerers crippled him in the Godtime, not a century ago. That makes written records extremely dangerous and important, as the change, if it sticks, is reinforced in each worship ceremony. There should be a period of conflict between the old and the new myth, and the cult hierarchy will try to defend their status quo by questing in the traditional way. It may well require beating almost all priests to make such a change stick. Or you can have a localized effect like the long winter, as you do not beat all Orlanthi priests and Ernalda priestesses in Glorantha, but you beat all those that try in Dragon Pass, and the others do not dare to go against you in the other side, so the change sticks. Inversely, it may be a consequence of the Orlanth and Ernalda cults puring their power and support in Whitewall, so when Whitewall falls, they cannot resist the subsequent Lunar heroquest that officially kills them, as they are already beaten with the fall of Whitewall. The risk of committing too much power in one conflict. Orlanthi in Ralios were not involved in Whitewall in significant numbers, so they did not suffer the consequences. Records are important because they show you what was made, and that can always be unmade. Could the illiteracy curse be an Argrath effect, to make unmaking his changes to the world harder?

I would not play the Berserker spell ends, just that the berserker is calm, and you have till the spell expires to heal them. Otherwise it could be used to kill wounded berserkers, which does not feel right. It would be possible for them to become agitated again, if attacked or somehow provoked. The duration of all divine spells is constant, and this allows them to stack extension, and makes the potential collaboration of CA and Storm Bull stronger, as healed storm bull cultists may return to the battle as berserkers. Things are not so good for other berserkers, so getting a bound spirit with Heal is probably a primary priority for anyone planning to use Berserker, as a poor man substitute of an ally spirit.

Iron mostali are presented as an innovation that allows the mostali to go into the offensive (to recover secrets taken by others and to destroy their enemies in their own terrain). I am sure all castes are used to and useful on the deffensive, and I expect self-defence is allowed to non-iron castes. I agree with all your caste ideas. However I would expect dwarves to use a lot of containment and long range weapons, as well as use of constructs and other artificial beings to avoid putting dwarven lives in danger. I agree rock dwarf excavators will have protocols and have magic and equipment to face typical underground menaces, including Krashtkids and Uz. I expect that they are aware the most likely solution is to collapse the tunnel on themselves to protect the dwarfhold. Gunpowder is known to almost all dwarf cities and made by the Quicksilvers, so bombs, mines and demolitions will be typical tactics of Octamonists. I expect catapults and similar high arc weapons are supplied to surface allies, and as such not treated as dwarven secrets, though they can be useful in the defence of the surface portion of dwarven strongholds. I suppose dwarves are still mostly shortsighted, but glasses are within the lead dwarves ability to make. Isidilian was already around in the First age, but a flaming trebuchet looks like it should come from volcano powered Gemborg, in Maniria, and something Martaler of the Iron Forge could have given to a Heortling clan. Besides fighting elves, as Gemborg was trying to stay independent from the Only Old One, it could also be an effort to find support among independent minded Heortlings. I would expect the flaming projectiles were supplied by the dwarves, so when the alliance breaks, the Heortlings are left with a trebuchet without ammo they cannot maintain.

Most of that "creative" heroquesting will be done by illuminates, which is why it still happens in Glorantha. Players, unlike Gloranthan characters, surely count as illuminated as well, which is why even non-illuminated characters will be pushed by their players into illuminated behaviour. Few people do these heroquests, but their influence is huge in Glorantha. Also some of these heroquests may be "hostile takeovers", without illumination as a necessary requirement, where a stronger cult tries to absorb a weaker one. That was widespread in the first age with the theyalan deities, and recently by Monrogh's Yelmalio on Elmal. My view of gods and godtime is just the opposite of Eff, as I see them as patterns of energy without free will, modified by the actions of free willed humans within time. Changing the pattern, burning new ones or erasing others. Most cult activity is reinforcing their desired pattern, which is why change is so hard in Glorantha.

In the same stele he claims to have purified his mother's home of quarrelsome Egi, which may be why he is a single self instead of many. On the other hand he still knows the secret knowledge Moonson shared with Ethilrist many years before he was born... The New Moon Empire starts by getting rid of the Old Moon traditionalists in the Moon...

For me it is like time travel (because that is what it is) with paradoxes solved by forking the deities and the myths. So if you have a bunch of people going to the Hill of Gold and winning (with some variants, as you may win only against ZZ, or you may beat Orlanth first, and your interaction with Inora will change too), they will end up with a different deity, another son of Yelm, one that went to the Hill of Gold and won, and who has access to Yelm's Fire. However there will be a drawback, as only Yelmalio survived the Darkness, so there will be some GM defined drawback, probably associated to one of the other sons, or even Antirius. You can now heroquest to make him survive, but inmediately obstacles appear, Orlanthi quest against you, Zorak Zorani quest against you, etc. I would propose that is what Darvedeshkorgos did to recover the Orb from the Hill of Gold, in order to allow Khordavu to pass one of the ten tests, change the myth and possibly discover Daysenerus. Which is on one hand a new god, but in the other another mask of whatever deity is Lightfore. As people stop doing the victory myth, Daysenerus is forgotten, but his phalanx magic is recovered as Tharkantus to fight the EWF. As a variant of Yelmalio in the Sun Domes, it is likely the myth had returned to being defeated to get benefits in endurance and survival. I would play that you can use the "normal" Hill of Gold for community benefit. The community will stick together and be more resilient, less affected by cold, hunger and other trials. That is one of the secret benefits that allowed the Sun County to survive in Prax, that even robbed of food and timber by the nomads, they still stick together and survived with almost no food or fuel. In fact, my own take is that Yelmalio lost his fire in the Darkness, but there were different myths about the Cruel god that crippled him. It was Arkat who identified the Cruel God with ZZ, and so the god of male troll teenage rebellion became a terrible war god, and darkness with power over fire. In the process Arkat crippled also Daysenerus worshippers, taking out their fire powers and making mythically correct that they always lost against Zorak Zoran, just when he faced a Dorastor army whose strength were the Daysenerus phalanxes with his ZZ berserkers. Daysenerus, Tharkantus and even Yelmalio are, IMG, gods created within time, masks of whatever unknowable deity was represented by the Yellow planet, Lightfore and who kept light, even if weak, in the Greater Darkness. Yelmalio absorbing Elmal is another example of this heroquest style, in this case making a god disappear by identifying it with a stronger myth, and if you are succesful Elmal's myths will be harder and harder to find in the God plane.

According to the Takenegi Stele in GtG he becomes emperor in 1638, and the Ethilrist frgment indicates that Ethilrist had fought for him before he was emperor, so probably in the different conflicts for control of Saird and Holay between Mularik's death and 1638. That same fragment indicates that Jar Eel failed in taking control of Tarsh from Annstad and his allies, though it may be she still cannot fight against him. As son of Jar Eel he surely got a full lunar upbringing, keeping him also away from his half brother Pharandros, at least till Pharandros' death. Even then I suppose he has other interests, but I would expect he intervenes in the conflicts in Tarsh and Saird, as both a son of the Moon, even if he is not yet Moonson, and a provincial, understanding better the provincial mindset. Those years, the decade between the sacrifice of Argenteus and Phargentes' ascension, the years of the False Emperor, the Usurper, the Empire is at its weakest, as the Western Reaches are independent, there is no Yelm emperor, and the south is in turmoil, so it is no surprise that Argrath can keep Tarsh and take Saird and Holay, even if he loses them again. Phargentes unifies all the Empire, and besides his exalted mother I would expect he was the best candidate by his success in defending the south, or at least minimizing the losses. Dwernapple in this context, although a victory, is bad for Argrath as a weak emperor is replaced by a new strong one. As for the original question, as son of Jar Eel, born from a magical ritual that killed his father, King Moirades, he is probably more than human, and his upbringing probably reflects it, so he was directed from birth to become Moonson. However he was probably still young and learning when Great Sister sacrifices Argenteus in 1628, so there is an interim Emperor till he is ready to take the mantle. Probably he was in the Moon at that point, and returns later, when the False Emperor is seeing the Empire break up. As for his aims, his objective is to recreate the glory of the Lunar Empire (as New Moon Emperor), as his feats show. Pass the 10 tests and recover Dara Happa, accepted as Shah by the Western Reaches, bringing back from the Moon the Crimson Bat (showing his mastery of Chaos), and reconquering the south. He also performs new feats, such as getting Shargash (Tolat's?) sword or supporting the Arrolians against Loskalm, getting tribute from Sog city along the way. He was bred for this and he does his best, with the help of his mother.

Rope strong enough to hold the weight of several adventurers is heavy, and useless 95% of the time. Pity it is critical that 5%. String is much more useful for juryrigging, but still a luxury. A quick check with hemp rope suppliers, apparently you need a 30 mm rope for climbing more than one person (with current safety limits), and that weighs 0.7 kg the meter, or 1.4 pounds the yard, twice as much if wet... 2 mm hemp string weighs only 0.225 kg the 50 meters (half a pound the 50 yards), and has plenty of uses. Cotton and sisal (I suppose there are agave in Prax...) have similar weights to hemp, with slightly less resistance but better behaviour when wet...

Some nitpicking. Tea seems to be an Eastern and Western product, rather than Dragon Pass. And they are missing some metal cup to heat water in if they have tea. Dragon Pass solution to doubtful quality water probably follows the weak alcohol route, rather than boil water and make it interesting. So sour wine to add in small amounts to water or a strong beer to drink weak beer with added water. Lots of wool make sense for Orlanthi hill people, but others will use leather more (such as Praxians and Grazelanders), or other materials, such as hemp, linen, straw hats (better in the rain than felt). I would expect more straw raincoats than oiled tarp as well, as oil is expensive and requires maintenance. In Dragon Pass cotton and silk are imported goods, but the trade routes make them at least available, specially cotton. Hoods or scarves are also a must in the cold seasons. And I have no idea when they became common, but I am missing socks or stockings, specially with those boots. I would use drawers for the underwear. In some cultures the tunics may extend below the knee, and go with breeches. Finally in wet areas (and I always see Sartar as wet) gaiters may be used to protect the expensive boots. Most people will recognize the culture and possibly the region just looking at your clothes. Torches are bulky, difficult to carry and useful only in particular circumstances. I would expect a traveller to have a clay oil lamp or candle for the limited things you will do in the dark. You will get torches if you know you are going into a ruin or cave, but not for traveling. A one hour torch is nice in games, but in my experience fifteen minutes is closer to what you can expect with pitch and oil (some LARP tests). For food, I would add honey and nuts (typical mediterranean travel food), cheese and dried fish. All those cows and sheep mean a good part of the protein is milk sourced. My Gloranthans use a lot of soap, so they will take a sliver when traveling. I suppose there is also a shared equipment list with a lean-to or tent, metal pot, and other one item per group items. Spirit magic makes some typical items rare or unnecessary, such as firestarting kits and Ignite, or bandages and needle and thread when people have Heal. No need to mend clothes or boots in most cases, and I am sure there is magic that cleans you up, or at least makes you smell better. One day we will have to prepare a list of useful minor magics. Because that will be more useful than Bladesharp for most Gloranthans (Heal will be still the number one choice for most).

A good reason for a heretical dwarf to go out in the world is that they begin to age, so they have to leave the dwarfhold before it is remarked, as that guarantees a quick trip to the recycling vat and several tin cans. IMG the biggest benefit of officially becoming a diamond dwarf is that suddenly caste limitations no longer apply as long as you still work for the benefit of the World Machine, opening an interesting parallel to Hrestol and the Men-of-all. That lets Isidilian use any weapon, if pressed. Or Battle Dress. True Mostali were always like that, doing what they did best because they were best at it, not because it was forbidden or for fear of any punishment. Clay mostali need to learn to focus first, before they are allowed to make decisions. That would make a diamond dwarf heretic still immortal, unlike lesser dwarves.

The one time we briefly toyed with a dwarf PC (shortly after getting Elder Secrets of Glorantha) it started more or less like that, as a dwarf that had being taught by another dwarf the concept of self, and trying to follow the steps of Chark the Liberator by learning from humans how to get a soul. In true Wizard of Oz fashion, we all knew the end result would have been that the dwarf had a soul all along. We were starting with a silver dwarf, and the individualist had already learnt that part of individualism is defending yourself, despite what caste rules say. A stillborn game, but the discussions shaped a lot how I see Glorantha dwarves.

I agree. CA is all about personal action being right, while they do not have any obligation to limit the actions of others. So they cannot harm others, but they can witness the harm happening without being forced to act. Getting hurt does not allow them the potential of hurting others that may come from parrying. For what is worth, I consider Dodge is not a Combat skill, as it is both useful outside of combat, it is Agility rather than Manipulation, and it cannot hurt others (except possibly dodging a bull rush charge so they move into something dangerous...).