The wolf-bear, what is it?

[Akhôrahil]

The wolf-bear is a mysterious entity as described in Dorastor: Land of Doom - the son of Dorasta and the prophesied cleanser of chaos. But what is it?

1) In Siberian mythology, a "wolf-bear" is a wolverine, which is also considered a channel to the spirit world. The myth could be taken just this literally.

2) Not only does Harrek the Berserker combine the aspects of wolf (Wolf Pirates) and bear (obviously), we also see him fighting Ralzakark (along with Argrath) on the Glorantha box cover (unclear when - anyone have an idea?). Under this interpretation, we shouldn't take the notion that he's Dorasta's son and sleeping within the Cleft of Dorasta literally .

3) This thread suggest the intersection of Zolan Zubar (as Cave Bear god) and the Telmori. 

Wild speculation welcome - it's not as though we have a lot to work with, here!

 

Edited April 24, 2020 by Akhôrahil

[soltakss]

11 hours ago, Akhôrahil said:

The wolf-bear is a mysterious entity as described in Dorastor: Land of Doom - the son of Dorasta and the prophesied cleanser of chaos. But what is it?

When I have run campaigns in Dorastor, I have left the Wolf-Bear alone and pretty much ignored it. The concept just isn;t useful to me, something undefined that will awaken and rid Dorastor of Chaos means nothing to me as a GM. 

If the Players want to do something with the Wolf-Bear they can and I'd run with that.

11 hours ago, Akhôrahil said:

1) In Siberian mythology, a "wolf-bear" is a wolverine, which is also considered a channel to the spirit world. The myth could be taken just this literally.

It might be a wolverine, but that adds nothing to what it is, unfortunately.

11 hours ago, Akhôrahil said:

2) Not only does Harrek the Berserker combine the aspects of wolf (Wolf Pirates) and bear (obviously), we also see him fighting Ralzakark (along with Argrath) on the Glorantha box cover (unclear when - anyone have an idea?). Under this interpretation, we shouldn't take the notion that he's Dorasta's son and sleeping within the Cleft of Dorasta literally .

That is the common interpretation, that Harrek comes along and proves that he is the Wolf-Bear, that he was always part of Dorasta but slipped away long ago.

I have never liked this interpretation, as it is too obvious for me.

Harrek probably fights the Monster Empire, but is he active in Dorastor?

12 hours ago, Akhôrahil said:

3) This thread suggest the intersection of Zolan Zubar (as Cave Bear god) and the Telmori. 

I very much doubt that this relates to the Wolf-Bear.

12 hours ago, Akhôrahil said:

Wild speculation welcome - it's not as though we have a lot to work with, here!

That is the problem for me, it's just too vague, so I ignore it.

[Akhôrahil]

A related question would be just how Dorastor could be rid of Chaos. Its origins is Arkat’s curse, altered through unknown means (Fertility returned, but is now Chaotic).

That it could involve the rebirth of Dorasta, or something related to her offspring, might make sense, but it’s hard to tell when we can’t even tell quite what makes Dorastor a Chaotic in the first place. A returned Arkat lifting the curse would also seem feasible, although it’s possible it’s too late for that.

[Akhôrahil]

1 hour ago, soltakss said:

Harrek probably fights the Monster Empire, but is he active in Dorastor?

It’s Ralzakark With The Scorpion Arm that he’s fighting, and we have a lot less evidence that he leaves Dorastor.

And then of course it’s the whole thing where D:LoD is explicit that Oddi hands out Final Death to Ralzakark long before we get to the Monster Empire, so the entire thing is muddled.

Edited April 25, 2020 by Akhôrahil

[jajagappa]

21 minutes ago, Akhôrahil said:

Its origins is Arkat’s curse

It's origin is Nysalor's birth. Just as the Red Moon explicitly had Chaos as part of its birth/rise, so the New Light also had Chaos as part of its birth/rise.  Dorastor was tainted at that point, long before Arkat arrived.

[Akhôrahil]

A kind of workable synthesis might be if Harrek produces the Wolf-Bear as offspring with Dorasta somewhere in the future. Although if Harrek is the superhero incarnation of the Death rune, that might put his powers of procreation seriously in question...

[soltakss]

7 hours ago, Akhôrahil said:

It’s Ralzakark With The Scorpion Arm that he’s fighting, and we have a lot less evidence that he leaves Dorastor.

He becomes the monster Emperor and heads the Monster Empire, after Sheng Seleris kills the Red Emperor permanently. Presumably, unless he moves the capital to Dorastor, he leaves for a while.

7 hours ago, Akhôrahil said:

And then of course it’s the whole thing where D:LoD is explicit that Oddi hands out Final Death to Ralzakark long before we get to the Monster Empire, so the entire thing is muddled.

He had a final death before. Ralzakark is good at coming back from final deaths.

7 hours ago, Akhôrahil said:

A related question would be just how Dorastor could be rid of Chaos. Its origins is Arkat’s curse, altered through unknown means (Fertility returned, but is now Chaotic).

Dorastor was where the Unholy Trio gathered to birth Wakboth the Devil. it was either cursed from then on or they gathered at a place already cursed.

All you need to do to rid Dorastor of the Curse of Chaos is to close the Chaos maws at the heart of the Chaos Nest. Ah, but Dorastor is a seething mass of Chaos Nests, all open and all spewing Chaos into the world, so you need to close them all, mend the tears in the fabric of Dorastor and kill the remaining Chaos Heroes who would try to reopen them. Easy, really.

6 hours ago, Akhôrahil said:

A kind of workable synthesis might be if Harrek produces the Wolf-Bear as offspring with Dorasta somewhere in the future. Although if Harrek is the superhero incarnation of the Death rune, that might put his powers of procreation seriously in question...

Now that could work.

Harrek is a violent barbarian SuperHero. Dorasta is a very fertile Earth Goddess with very dubious taste in Husband Protectors. In my game, she had Ragnaglar, Wakboth, Pocharngo and Ralzakark. Adding Harrek to that list makes all the sense in the world. She can be fertile enough for the both of them.

Edited April 25, 2020 by soltakss

[Ali the Helering]

I would assume that one Liberator could lift another one's curse. Argrath should have no real difficulty. Removing a power of the Monster Empire gives him a motive. 

[Akhôrahil]

12 minutes ago, soltakss said:

He becomes the monster Emperor and heads the Monster Empire, after Sheng Seleris kills the Red Emperor permanently. Presumably, unless he moves the capital to Dorastor, he leaves for a while.

The Unicorn Emperor (or his replacement does). Does RWTSA? I don't know.

12 minutes ago, soltakss said:

He had a final death before. Ralzakark is good at coming back from final deaths.

Good from coming back from deaths, certainly. Final death, though? Does that word even mean something in that case?

[Akhôrahil]

59 minutes ago, soltakss said:

Harrek is a violent barbarian SuperHero. Dorasta is a very fertile Earth Goddess with very dubious taste in Husband Protectors. In my game, she had Ragnaglar, Wakboth, Pocharngo and Ralzakark. Adding Harrek to that list makes all the sense in the world. She can be fertile enough for the both of them.

Their offspring being a bad-tempered, violently heroic man-wolverine with adamantine claws...

[Joerg]

8 hours ago, Akhôrahil said:

A related question would be just how Dorastor could be rid of Chaos. Its origins is Arkat’s curse, altered through unknown means (Fertility returned, but is now Chaotic).

Dorastor north of the mountains (Skalsland, Benksland etc.) may be infested with Chaos and somewhat mutable, but the real Chaos infestation is in the unmapped valley between Arkat's Last Tower and Kartolin Castle.

We don't know many Feldichi ruins - it is possible that their Shangri-La was in the lost valley that isn't shown in any of the official maps. (And I am convinced that the distance measurements for the mapped part of Dorastor are entirely correct - the lost valley is a place where the seams of the patchwork of Arachne Solara's web fold away from the Surface World. A Hidden Castle/Hidden Greens situation. In older terms, maybe a Short World.

IMG there are similar folded spaces, e.g. around dragonewt cities like High Wyrm, or the Karandoli valley between the peaks of the Brambleberry Hills or possibly the high peaks of Kordros Mountain and Hareva Peak. And then there is the inside of the Crater, which is the visible surface of the Red Moon. The Crown Mountains limiting the visible part of the Red Moon are the far side of the Crater peaks IMG. That way I never run out of parts of Glorantha that remain unexplored. The trick is to find the entrance and the entrance conditions to these places. (Or in case of inner Dorastor, how to avoid the place.)

Robert Holdstock's Mythago Wood gives a good parallel how some of these places work, a topology connected by a rather narrow ring with a near infinite interior. Much like my concept of the Red Moon being part of the SIlver Shadow, and vice versa.

 

A way to rid Dorastor of most of its Chaos would be to separate Inner Dorastor from the Surface World. Or to resurrect the Feldichi Shangri-La. Maybe as a new mppn.