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This is the cover, by the inestimably talented Mark Smylie, of my current Jonstown Compendium project, which itself is in the (near) final stages of proofreading and art gathering. This is a nautical companion to The Armies and Enemies of Dragon Pass with a focus on seafaring - mercantile and military. A round ship is towed by tugboats towards the quays of Nochet. A patrolling triaconter exchanges news with her crew, as two merfolk also talk with a sailor. Beyond rises the temple of Issaries, with the Great Market before it, and behind lies the massive bulk of the Grace Temple. The temple of Dormal is off to one side, and a floating shrine used in festivities sits at anchor nearby. Personally, I believe that Mark has excelled himself. There's a huge amount of detail in this painting, much not easily seen at this scale, but it conveys the size and prestige of Nochet, the Queen of Cities. Many of the crew and passengers aboard the tub feature in their own illustrations, complete with character descriptions and stats, and many appear in the Periplus. Chaosium kindly shared a portion of the map of Nochet, which made this possible.

Recently necessary disclaimer: This is not presented as fact, but as proposal for working out the background of Sartarite clans or houses in Nochet. A clan grows overcrowded in one of the city confederations in Sartar. What can they do? Prior to the city confederations, a clan would have sent off a splinter clan with some of the herds, seed grain, and the tools necessary to claim a new clan tula elsewhere. Rarely, they would have land to spare for the new clan, but more often that new clan would start over far from home. By the time of Sartar, most places suitable to start a new clan had been claimed. Occasionally a place on the border to some unpleasant neighbors would become available, like the Pol Joni establishment at Barbarian Town which opened some farmland south of the Dundealos, or the opening of Pavis County by Dorasar’s founding of New Pavis. But with the city confederations, there was another option. Even before reaching the critical population size, excess people could be shunted off to the cities, where the constituting tribes controlled plots or even housing. These folk would formally retain their clan identity, at least for a while, but they usually were too removed from clan activities to participate in the decision making. Over time, these folk could join the guilds, or possibly move on. Are there “urban nomadic” clans in Sartar, taking temporary residence in a place but moving on after a while? And over time, Sartarites began populating the Sarli district of Nochet. Some may have started as squatters, putting up camp on plots that weren’t inhabited (although quite likely someone would have used them as pastures or even gardens). Others may have looked for a sponsor, an established house in Nochet that would lease their ancient claim on some plots in the city to the newcomers, possibly defining a client relationship and imposing some of the civic duties tied to that plot, too. This might demand the formation of a house or a guild. Would such clans or guilds be Adjusted (Heortling-style mildly patriarchal) or Traditional Esrolian (i.e. mandatorily female-led)? Later (Lunar, but also internal) troubles might send entire clans (or what remained of them) packing from Sartar. How would a refugee clan establish itself in Sarli? Another question is how such a clan would feed itself. I get the impression that the granaries of Nochet are one very real power instrument in the hands of the Queens of Nochet, although failure to feed the city was a surefire symptom of not being fit to be Queen. How could a newcomer clan partake from that source, and how would that clan be expected to contribute? Does this require intercession of an Enfranchised House who would take the feeding upon their own responsibility, and who would define a se of demands to the new clients? I have some questions about the history of Sarli district, too. The presence of Orlanth Hill makes this a logical point for Adjusted clans, providing a priesthood to the temple that sin not so easily cowed by the demands of the Grandmothers. Such clans/houses will originaly have hailed from Heortland, or from a fusion of Adjustment warlords from Heortland with an Esrolian house. Following the conflict between Finelvanth and his wife, there probably wasn’t much sympathy for Adusted houses in Nochet. However, there was plenty of space available, especially in the neighborhood of Orlanth Hill which may have been a symbol of bad luck in Grandmother circles. Do the temples own land in Nochet (apart from their actual sites) where they can install clients without consulting any of the Enfranchised Houses? Does Orlanth Hill priesthood have claims for plots in Sarli?

Greetings, I've started my Mythras/RQ6 game set in Nochet back up again, surrounding an up-and-coming Lanbril initiate. I've kicked it off and would love to add a second character to the mix, and my curiosity of Animism/Shamanism is very high up on my list. I've been doing some reading and am struggling to find connections between an appropriate spirit society that could work in concert with a Lanbril initiate set in Nochet. All of the logical spirit societies seem to be largely based in or around Prax from my readings. Being that Glorantha is still fairly new to me, I wanted to see if someone could set me in the right direction. If it isn't plausible, I'll just roll something up from Prax and possibly try to conclude the Lanbril storyline in Nochet earlier than I had intended to tie it in but would prefer to keep things centered in Nochet for the time being as I feel there is so much to explore there. Thanks!