John Biles

There is one Godtime but it contains contradictory truths. The more people who believe a truth, the easier it is to reach and relive correctly. You can prove that Zorak Zoran is Shargash, naked, but it won't be easy unless you have a large community that already believes that. You can prove that Yelmalio = Elmal, that they are not the same, that Yelmalio is the little brother of Elmal or vice versa, that Yelmalio and/or Elmal were created by the God Learners, and thus should both be avoided, etc.

The Invisible God *made* the runes, his believers believe. And he's the font of sorcery, an entire category of magic. So from their point of view, all those other gods are just his creations.

Saying which is more true is hard in a world where Heroquesting can prove contradictory things in the hands of different people. And those contradictions are baked into the Godtime by the Great Compromise itself.

Smell Food is known as 'Smell the Blood of an Esrolian' for reasons known mainly by the mostly forgotten Ernalddottir Giant-Killer cult (see below). Seven League Stride is an obvious one. And the obscure Ernalddottir Giant-Killer cult (Nearly wiped out when the subcults created by the God-Learners were wiped out with the God-Learners), in which Ernaldadottir takes out 7 giants with her domestic skills - sewing their clothing into a trap as they sleep, poisoning their breakfast, singing High C to escape out a glass window, tieing shoe laces together so they fall off the cloud, and styling their hair so it blinds them, and the like.

Arolanit yet stands between Erontree forest in the north and the Castle Coast to its south. Volume 2, Page 413 of the Guide to Glorantha.

There is a great scenario for Trail of Cthulhu set in the 50s connected to Jack Parsons (with various famous sci-fi authors of the period as PC options) The God-Learners would have totally tried to build a rocket to get to the Moon, the Stars, the Skydome, etc. Probably powered by an imprisoned diety.

If Socrates was Goranthan, he would 100% be an illumnated initiate of Nysalor. Asking questions which bring enlightenment / piss people off is his jam.

Given Plato was a wrestler before he was a philosopher, that fits. Plato was the name he wrestled under, which meant Rock and I'm not joking.

My understanding of Loksalm is like this. In an ideal world, everyone would work their way up through the castes and become Men-of-All. But most people won't make it - they'll rise to some point and stay there, because mastering all the castes in order to be free of them is hard. Indeed, I expect a majority stay in the dronar caste because they don't want to be a soldier. But one of the most important things about the system is that everyone, even the kids of talars, experience how the dronars live. And that helps make a better society where the rulers don't have the kind of cognitive bubble that most rulers have. (And there are no child rulers, one of the great banes of civilization.)

My own take on the Morokanth success was Eurmal found it amusing.

In the Heroquest era, Pella was goddess of pottery, one of Ernalda's handmaidens. Now she's no longer directly worshipped like a lot of minor gods and goddesses.

The biggest difference between Glorantha's mystics and Buddhism is that Buddhists have compassion as an element of the eight-fold path and Goranthan mystics think there is no good or evil, just relative positions they've risen above.

Templates, I think. It's easy to do in Firefly, anyway.

The Chain probably has all the slaves they're hauling attached to it.

Several things: We mostly observe crazy-town illuminates because the non-crazy ones live quiet lives trying to become more enlightened or just ascend to whatever the goal of their mystical practices is. The ones who become famous are the ones who became bonkers. Especially because illumination offers you many ways to overcome the normal limits on going bonkers with power. We don't have rules for illumination in RQ:G which would clarify what exactly illumination does now (to my knowledge). Looking at the Lords of Terror rules, though, it would seem to basically eliminate any passions connected to order and chaos from illuminates, along with the set of 'rip off the gods' cheat codes, like ignoring spirits of reprisal. The central problem for illuminates is that you have to build your own new moral code because the one you absorbed from your culture has lost its ability to influence you due to upbringing and initiation. This is how occulted illuminates differ - they basically just go with 'whatever is my will is what is fine to do' and then find a crazy train to ride. Oddi gets something some illuminates don't get - guidance in building a new moral system. Those who do don't end up occulted, of which Sheng Seleris is the classic form of occultation. This is why Nysalorian illumination did so much damage.

First idea: The deified ancestor enabled them to finally break out by somehow learning Dromal's sea-openng rites and passing them on. Second idea: The water diety was a mermaid who married the First Whaler, probably after saving him at sea. Her cult would be the local extension of whoever merfolk worship. Third Idea: Perhaps the craftsman god who also does writing is linked to Lhankhor Mhy. Fourth thought: Perhaps the priests of the timekeeping god locked the island away to keep the god of the wild from *escaping*. But now the First Whaler is tired of sailing around the same tiny sea and found a way out because that's what Heroes do.

Pretty much every pantheon has room to grow if you think the deity's important enough to actually be worshiped. Quoting RuneQuest Glorantha, p. 269. Classes of Cults Cults may be divided into three classes, depending on how widely worshiped the god is and how powerful it is. These are interrelated factors, as a god draws power from being worshiped. The first and most important type of cult is that of a major deity. The major deities of Glorantha include the Seven Lightbringers, as well as many others. These gods usually have subsidiary deities associated with them and their cults have access to a broad array of Rune spells. One example of this sort is the cult of Orlanth in Dragon Pass. A major cult like this has more than a half-million wor- shipers and a large hierarchy with many temples. They are quite formalized, and shamans have little to do with them. The second type of deity is a medium-powered deity, with anywhere from fifty thousand to five hundred thousand worshipers. There are usually no associated minor deities. The cult of Waha is an example of this type. The third class of cult is composed of minor deities, subsidiary deities such as mentioned above, and powerful spirits that have not managed to make the jump to godhood. Numerous cults to local heroes and spirits are examples of this class of cult The worshippers listed above are for a diety's entire cult across Glorantha; actual sites of worship don't require that many people, but the more worshippers at a given shrine, the more a deity can do for worshipers there. And a community can only support so many temples.

During Lunar rule of Sartar, Barntar often did basically take Orlanth's place and their kids then get more attention.

Harrison wasn't writing his stories to be used by thousands of people in ongoing play. The true version of I Got Rhythm does exist - it's the sheet music. Which Jazz people then twist, fold, and mutilate, but the actual core version people riff on is there. (Jazz is a pretty good parallel to how gamers relate to the game canon.)

Pavis: Gateway to Adventure, p. 30 Pavis animated and befriended the statue. He and his companions rode atop it as it strode to Dragon Pass. There he met with Joraz Kyrem, Kahn of the Horse People, who was anxious to re-establish his folk in Prax. The new allies marched slowly to the old site of Robcradle. In the first battle, the statue alone drove off the beast riders, and they retreated within the walls of Paragua. Then Pavis and his army and statue attacked. This is called the Too Tall Battle, and was fought in 830 S.T. The giants were driven off by the magic of the horse priests, the nomads were confounded by the magic of Pavis and his friends, and Waha engaged in combat with the statue, but was injured, and had one of his hamstrings torn out. Howling in pain, the god limped away and his armies fled with him, abandoning the useless walls to their foes. The giants withdrew to the mountains and never returned. Other folk retaliated against the Praxians. The denizens of Dragon Pass sent out a strong expedition against the Paps. It was led by a great worker of magic, Varajiia Nopor. Waha had to respond and was again wounded severely. Numb with loss, the barbarians agreed to surrender if their sacred grounds would be left unharmed. The invaders agreed and withdrew. Pavis then visited Waha in the Paps and used his arts to heal the barbarian god of his crippling injuries. This brought peace between Pavis and the nomads, and they agreed to act peacefully around Robcradle if Pavis would properly respect their beliefs, too. Many compromises were made, but both parties agreed and peace was made.

Derrida clearly was part of the force of Praxians that sacked Pavis. And definitely an ally of Argath.

The White Moon goes back centuries as a theological speculation of the Seven Mothers Cult. But it escaped containment and now it's the favored idea of the poor, lashing out at the Empire's oppression. The White Bull cult is basically a Ghost Dance style response to being conquered by the Lunars to my knowledge. I assume it's a spin-off from Storm Bull's cult.

The White Moon represents the Good Tsar, who will surely listen to the needs of the people and relieve them of their oppression. Once the Red Moon stood for liberation, leading a rebellion against those who had overthrown the land. But the Red Moon was led astray and now leads a corrupt empire full of slaves and monsters. The common man lives a life of boots to the face. Heavy taxes to pay for stupid wars, paying heavy rents and generally suffering. Only when the blood covering the Red Moon is wiped away and the bad advisors removed can Sedenya become the White Moon she would have always been. The White Moon stands for liberation from oppression and a time of joy to come. (Instead, Argath destroys the Red Moon and there is no time of liberation, only destruction by monsters and oppression by Sheng Seleris reborn and Argath's armies. If that possible future comes to pass.)

Mostal can be dead and alive at once in the sense of doing things because he is the World Machine. Machines can act without being alive. So when he swats you for being too real-world rational, that's one of his programmed actions. Eventually, when the Dwarves fully fix him, he'll have the full flexibility of living things, but that hasn't come yet. Zistor was basically a patent violation of Mostal/The World Machine, which is why Dwarves hated it and had to destroy it.

The map that Metcalph posted literally has 'DAWN AGE' in big letters on the central circle.