Ask Jeff! Glorantha Lore questions

[Jeff]

14 minutes ago, Jag said:

Sorry, wasn't Kallyr the one who summoned the true dragon?

Depends who you talk to.

[Jag]

4 minutes ago, Jeff said:

Depends who you talk to.

O_O and in the actual RQG line is one official author of the dragon rise? Is commonly known by the people in Sartar?

[Stephen L]

Origins of the Lunar Wyvern riders.

The cradle scenario has Wyvern Riders.  Is there any more information about them?  Where do they get their Wyverns, and how do they get their power over them? 

Thanks in advance you have any info on this (or indeed any other Wyvern rider lore!)

Stephen L.

[scott-martin]

25 minutes ago, Stephen L said:

Thanks in advance you have any info on this (or indeed any other Wyvern rider lore!)

 

Not Jeff so this is precarious . . . asking my own question here to evade the thread drift demons.

The wyvern corps gets about a page in Strangers in Prax if you can get access to that or bend MOB's ear. "Bred and trained by the Lunar Empire for centuries . . . used by the army as elite messengers and are also trained to fight."

What I want to know: who within Time has been to Brithos and was it roughly where Old Trade is now? 

[Runeblogger]

What was Labrygon trying to achieve with the Puzzle Canal?

[Jeff]

3 hours ago, Jag said:

O_O and in the actual RQG line is one official author of the dragon rise? Is commonly known by the people in Sartar?

The partisans of Kallyr Starbrow generally claim she was the architect of the Dragonrise and can prove it. The partisans of Argrath claim he was the architect of the Dragonrise and can prove it. Kallyr was present at the Dragonrise, but Argrath is known to be able to speak with dragons, shamans claim he is protected by a powerful draconic spirit, and he taught people Left-Handed magic.  So take your pick.

[Stephen L]

2 hours ago, scott-martin said:

The wyvern corps gets about a page in Strangers in Prax

Thanks muchly.  I knew I'd seen something somewhere beyond the cradle scenario.  Another hunting trip in the loft for Strangers in Prax...

Stephen.

[g33k]

<notionally imports the entire "questions about darksense" thread that's adjacent to this one in my own thread-history>

It appears different authors / developers have had different ideas about this, and current canon (GtG + RQG-Bestiary) do not 100% resolve some of the older discrepancies...

Is it echolocation/sonar?

Is it Gloranthan-pseudophysics magic, actually an invented sense "carried upon the medium of Darkness"?

Something more/else?

Is it some blend or combination of these?

Are there several kinds of it, with poor Trollkin having a weaker version, Mistress-Race having the strongest?

Does it have different effective range than human eyesight?  Resolve details better, or worse?

Does Farsee effect it?  Or is there a Dark-Farsee?  Or is Darkness' propensity for secrets going to bitchslap any damnfool magical investigator trying to GodLearn their way into some un-Natural un-Dark ranged vision?  Or...?

Etc ...

[Richard S.]

16 minutes ago, g33k said:

<notionally imports the entire "questions about darksense" thread that's adjacent to this one in my own thread-history>

It appears different authors / developers have had different ideas about this, and current canon (GtG + RQG-Bestiary) do not 100% resolve some of the older discrepancies...

Is it echolocation/sonar?

Is it Gloranthan-pseudophysics magic, actually an invented sense "carried upon the medium of Darkness"?

Something more/else?

Is it some blend or combination of these?

Are there several kinds of it, with poor Trollkin having a weaker version, Mistress-Race having the strongest?

Does it have different effective range than human eyesight?  Resolve details better, or worse?

Does Farsee effect it?  Or is there a Dark-Farsee?  Or is Darkness' propensity for secrets going to bitchslap any damnfool magical investigator trying to GodLearn their way into some un-Natural un-Dark ranged vision?  Or...?

Etc ...

I can't say for certain, but I think it's been portrayed as close to echolocation since Trollpak, which is why the associated sense of Darkness is hearing. There's probably some magical mish-mash going along with it too, this being Glorantha. It's also why trolls care a lot more about the texture of things than the appearance - I think they may even be colorblind. I doubt regular vision-affecting magic would work on it, but then again it's magic.

[davecake]

Can you tell us any more about Joy of the Heart?

Is it more like a Passion, or more like a limited version of Illumination, or something totally else? More or less, it is a purely subjective personal thing, or something with some objective magical benefit? Can you say an non-Gloranthan concept that you think it resembles? Eg, would you compare it to the Augoeides, Atman, Holy Guardian Angel, Daemon, Higher Self or similar ideas? 

 

[Lordabdul]

Thanks for those Q&A threads Jeff!

AFAICT tin mining/trade (among a couple other things) greatly shaped the real world's Bronze Age progress and growth. In Glorantha you can mine bronze directly so there isn't much need for tin at scale, but bronze mining and trade probably have similar consequences on power dynamics. So where are the main deposits of bronze, who works them, and who controls those trade routes? Are all bronze mines Mostali owned, for example? (I'm not clear on that)  I surprisingly don't see much about that kind of stuff in Gloranthan history -- I would have thought controlling or blocking the movement of resources would feature more prominently in conflicts?

Basically I'm generally interested in what are the most important resources that drive trade, politics, and warfare at large scale. Thanks!

[Dissolv]

How rare is iron?  I recall that you weren't really considered a "full" Rune Lord until you had a full set of iron gear, but that's from a long, long, long time ago.  These days I like to play iron as rare, and an accomplishment to acquire, but I'm not sure that's accurate, thematically.   (I get that I can always YGMV it.)

 

Edit:  I found the answer while searching a Prax question:  https://www.glorantha.com/docs/metals-in-prax/

The answer is expanded to Glorantha in general, and even metals in general.  This is a fairly big deal for me as: 1) I have been trending towards a lower and lower armor/metal world for years in general, and  2) I have to know to buy figures with or without metal armor.  😛

Edited April 28, 2020 by Dissolv

[Sir_Godspeed]

5 hours ago, lordabdul said:

Thanks for those Q&A threads Jeff!

AFAICT tin mining/trade (among a couple other things) greatly shaped the real world's Bronze Age progress and growth. In Glorantha you can mine bronze directly so there isn't much need for tin at scale, but bronze mining and trade probably have similar consequences on power dynamics. So where are the main deposits of bronze, who works them, and who controls those trade routes? Are all bronze mines Mostali owned, for example? (I'm not clear on that)  I surprisingly don't see much about that kind of stuff in Gloranthan history -- I would have thought controlling or blocking the movement of resources would feature more prominently in conflicts?

Basically I'm generally interested in what are the most important resources that drive trade, politics, and warfare at large scale. Thanks!

I'll follow up on that, and ask: where are the main deposits of tin in Genertela? Is it known, or kept a bit under wraps? Is it is as limited in Glorantha as in the RW?

[Gregory M]

Artmal, as a god, is associated to the Fate rune (Guide to Glorantha). Why? What does it say about the nature of Artmal's cult, and about worship?

[Videopete]

What exactly are Chaos Nests, they are said to be  a constant source of chaos, but the few I read about, only a handful of chaos critters ever dwell in it, so it gives the idea that these pockets of corruption give birth to the monstrosities them selves and they slither off into the wider world.  The Glorantha Source Book and Guide are very very vague on chaos.

[jajagappa]

3 hours ago, Videopete said:

What exactly are Chaos Nests, they are said to be  a constant source of chaos, but the few I read about, only a handful of chaos critters ever dwell in it, so it gives the idea that these pockets of corruption give birth to the monstrosities them selves and they slither off into the wider world. 

Pockets of chaotic corruption pretty well sums it up.  Dorastor, Snakepipe Hollow, Larnste's Footprint (aka the Foulblood Forest), the Devil's Marsh, and the Krjalki Bog are some of the most notable.  Some are simply 'breeding grounds' or places that naturally spawn chaos that then spews out with some regularity.  Snakepipe Hollow and the Devil's Marsh appear to be most like this.  Larnste's Footprint is probably the next step up as it has corrupted ground that regularly spawns new chaos horrors, but is at least currently ruled by the Scorpion Queen Gagix Two-barb and her vast horde/brood of scorpionmen which she sends off to raid neighboring lands and bring back "food" that can then help produce the next brood/wave of more scorpionmen. 

Dorastor is "ruled" by Ralzakark, a unicorn broo hero who has existed since the 2nd Age.  It's effectively a chaotic "kingdom" though it certainly produces or spawns a good array of chaos.  It has places such as Neverdead, a village of undead; Slimestone which is like a gigantic gorp (IIRC); and various chaotic terrors such as the Chaos Gaggle. It seems to feed as much on itself as on sending stuff off into the broader world.

Edit: forgot to check which thread this was before posting. 

Edited April 27, 2020 by jajagappa

[Rodney Dangerduck]

On 4/22/2020 at 11:16 AM, Jeff said:

The partisans of Kallyr Starbrow generally claim she was the architect of the Dragonrise and can prove it. The partisans of Argrath claim he was the architect of the Dragonrise and can prove it. Kallyr was present at the Dragonrise, but Argrath is known to be able to speak with dragons, shamans claim he is protected by a powerful draconic spirit, and he taught people Left-Handed magic.  So take your pick

My pick is that one, or possibly both, of Sartar's Great Leaders are actually preening, narcissistic liars.  Isn't this supposed to be a fantasy game?  🙂

[Jeff]

28 minutes ago, Rodney Dangerduck said:

My pick is that one, or possibly both, of Sartar's Great Leaders are actually preening, narcissistic liars.  Isn't this supposed to be a fantasy game?  🙂

My pick is that both leaders are correct. 

[Joerg]

Given the number of excellent questions asked here that invite others to react to them, it might be useful to spin them (and their answers) off in separate threads. Possibly with the help of moderator powers to move messages?

[Jeff]

I'm going to be brutal on these ask Jeff threads about hiding answers from other folk. And there will be questions I don't answer. You can always create new threads if you want.

[Dan Z]

If I understand correctly (or maybe I imagined this) secret Arkat worshippers protect the threads of HeroQuests.  To what extent will they intervene to protect the path of a HeroQuest?  How long have they been doing this and do they specialize in protecting HeroQuests associated with the deity whose worship they originated from or do they more generally protect them?

[Goldennose]

What did Samastina gain from meeting Firewitch? How was Red-Earth Faction and Lunars defeaded from Nochet?

[Akhôrahil]

What's the role of Talastar in the mid-to-late HeroWars, after the big raid against the Lunars and the deaths of Oddi and Ralzakark (and the destruction of much of the Bilini) around 1630?

Related, do we have any snippets from or about the Bilinisaga outside of the box in Lords of Terror?

Edited April 29, 2020 by Akhôrahil

[Gregory M]

From a non-genertelan point of view, who or what is Arachne Solara, and what has she done?

[dumuzid]

Why did Belintar establish the Holy Country?