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No Aldryami pack


Squaredeal Sten

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I'm thinking of  a small adventure that may involve Aldryami, as the adventurers pass through a wooded area. 

It looks as if anything I do will be a first, which is surprising considering how long Runequest and Glorantha have been around.  As far as I know there is no Aldryami equivalent to Trollpack.  

As I look for Aldryami background material, I only find the Aldryami section of (RQG) Glorantha Bestiary and its equivalent in  (RQ3) Elder Secrets. which are near-duplicates; a couple of pages in Glorantha Sourcebook, and pp.59-69 of Guide to Glorantha.    A few short mentions elsewhere in the last two references.  The map in GTG does indicate that there are not many Aldryami in Sartar, which correlates to the dearth of printed material.   I see the mentions of the Lunars burning two Aldryami forests, but no where or when for that.

Is there anything more that you know of?

Edited by Squaredeal Sten
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9 minutes ago, Squaredeal Sten said:

As far as I know there is no Aldryami equivalent to Trollpack. 

There is not (unless you venture into Mongoose RQ territory).

9 minutes ago, Squaredeal Sten said:

I see the mentions of the Lunars burning two Aldryami forests, but no where or when for that.

If you have Glorantha Sourcebook, read the Redline History of the Lunar Empire.  You can find bits about these in the Guide - look under Erigia for the forest destroyed by the Char-un using the Skyburn (end of First Wane IIRC); look under Sylila for the forest of Rist destroyed by the Lunars with the Moonburn (early Second Wane - then the Conquering Daughter made peace and resettled the area).  The refugees from the Moonburn mostly fled to Dorastor - I don't recall whether they became the Hellwood or the Poisonthorn elves there.  For the latter you might check out the Jonstown Compendium work Secrets of Dorastor.

There was also some material on the elves in Griffin Mountain (in the RQ Classic collection).  There's a fair sized elf wood there, too.  And the Aldrya writeup in Cults of Prax also talks about aspects of Aldryami society/culture.

Overall, though, nothing extensive.

Edited by jajagappa
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1 hour ago, Squaredeal Sten said:

Is there anything more that you know of?

Hi Sten -- welcome to the ranks of the green sages and please keep us updated on your adventure.

The illustrious Jajagappa has covered all the essentials. I would add this essay of Greg's as a slightly different take on the core mythology. Reading between the lines might get you going down rarely traveled paths.

The Mongoose supplement points in a good direction but I think was overly burdened by game design values at the time. More tightly focused material from that author shows up in Tradetalk 7-11 if you're willing to dig a little. It's really as close to modern canon as we have.

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A while ago, like 10 years, i was itchin' to run an Aldryami campaign and I made list of Aldryami articles that were out there. I'll try and find it. One thing though, Shannon Appelcline apparently wrote a manuscript called 'Oak and Thorn' I believe, but it was never released. I would love to purchase that (probably not canon anymore but still, he wrote good stuff on them... and a lot too.)

Here are a few more items that can give you some Aldryami info.
*Heroquest Voices - Elves section.
*Smoking Ruins - The Grove of Green Rock scenario is about helping the elves and you'll learn about their inner forest (i dont want to give any spoilers.)
*Uz Book 1 mentions the Redwood Forest and the Shanassae tree stump that's still there and the Aldryami worshipping the Torch spirit (p38).
*RQA Issue 6 was about the Stinking Forest. I'll have to find my copy but there was a good amount on elves.
*An article "The Unbalanced" in 'Unspoken Word - The Thieves Arm', about a group of aldryami in  Dragon Pass.

That's about all i can remember.

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2 hours ago, jajagappa said:

If you have Glorantha Sourcebook, read the Redline History of the Lunar Empire.  You can find bits about these in the Guide - look under Erigia for the forest destroyed by the Char-un using the Skyburn (end of First Wane IIRC); look under Sylila for the forest of Rist destroyed by the Lunars with the Moonburn (early Second Wane -

Will do, thanks.  And I don't know how blind I must have been not to include Cults of Prax.  Which I see has one rune spell that exactly fits what I'm thinking about.

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15 minutes ago, Sir_Godspeed said:

Oh yeah, and the Guide contains information about Aldryami outside of Central Genertela, so the 2nd Age Aldryami Empire in Pamaltela, the new Aldryami forests in Jrustela, various plans for the reseeding, etc.

Speaking about Reseedings which Sir Godspeed brought up  -  new forests imply to me that they will need new Great Trees. 

Providing those may require heroquests or at least rune magic beyond the scope of what adventurers would encounter.  

Or as simple as taking a cutting?  

It seems to me the chance of an Aldryami colony ( new forest or taking over or recovering an old forest)  implies some method of generating a Great Tree. 

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59 minutes ago, Squaredeal Sten said:

Aldryami colony ( new forest or taking over or recovering an old forest)  implies some method of generating a Great Tree. 

SPOILERS for those wanting to play The Smoking Ruins - The Grove of Green Rock scenario.

..

..

..

..

This scenario covers exactly that. The PCs are hired over several years to guard the growing of a Shanasee tree in an Aldryami grove... every sacred time for like 4 or 5 years, something like that. This scenario describes the changes in annual growth every year if the PCs are successful. It goes in the elven defenses and is good all around. If the PCs are successful in t hose years, the result is a new elven forest.

(Actually, the Smoking Ruins was just released in hard back, gotta put that order in.)

Edited by 10baseT
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Random old stuff from me:

Seasonal Aldryami Personalities.

The Roots of Hellwood.

I’m pleased with this note (part of my “Dragon of Thunder Hills apocrypha” at the back of The Duel at Dangerford) -- the bit about slaughter-groves was also great fun as a scene-setter and mood-changer, and I commend it to you.

 

B0405A7F-8502-4B03-ACD2-C1396D08A626.jpeg

Edited by Nick Brooke
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Here’s some useful names and phrases you could use to hunt through the archives of the Glorantha Digest for the good stuff (screenshot from an archived version of my old Lokarnos web index, sadly missed at times like this):

363A43A6-0227-483A-9F2F-0D836E13C07A.jpeg

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Paul Honigmann’s Elf Psychology and Physiology

Neil Smith on Elfsense and Elf Psychology (annex)

Peter Michaels on Pruning, Grafting and Splicing (with horrible examples by Martin Crim)

Richard Melvin on The Selfish Tree

Sandy Petersen on Aldryami Weapons

 

Edited by Nick Brooke
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10 hours ago, Squaredeal Sten said:

Or as simple as taking a cutting?  

It seems to me the chance of an Aldryami colony ( new forest or taking over or recovering an old forest)  implies some method of generating a Great Tree. 

Whichever works in your game!

If you think about how a Great Tree is likely to be a tree of "multitudes" (i.e. that it includes multiple fruits, leaves, seeds), then a cutting will probably give you one out of the multitudes.  It may still grow into a Great Tree, but only an exemplar or exceptional tree of its type (e.g. a redwood, a great oak, the apple of life, etc.).  To get a True Great Tree that is a tree of "multitudes" (a Tree of Life or World Tree, if you will), then you need a Seed.  And those are undoubtedly only found in the Underworld, or in some Garden at one of the four edges of the world (i.e. in Vithela, Altinela, Luathela, or amidst the Sea of Fire).

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+1 to Shannon Applecline's book Elfs: A Guide to the Aldryami.

Also, another version of this first-person essay from Belintar's perspective on how it was to be an elf , with some additional stuff, appears here: http://ruleonemagazine.com/Iss9/WorldOfPlants.php .

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What really happened?  The only way to discover that is to experience it yourself.

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For details about unpublished HeroQuest Elf Book, check
http://erzo.org/shannon/index.phtml
and designer's notes in Hearts in Gloranha #2.

Shannon Appelcline:

Quote

After I wrote Mongoose's Elfs: A Guide to the Aldryami, I regularly contributed supplementary articles to Signs & Portents.
Some were fluff, but there were also some great articles on black and red elfs that I hoped would make it back into a second edition of the book ... but it was not to be.

Signs & Portents Roleplayer #49:
Aldryami Addendum: Prophet, Adventurer, Warder (Stats: Characters)

Signs & Portents Roleplayer #50:
Aldryami Addendum: The Elder Wilds (Background: Setting)

Signs & Portents Roleplayer #51:
Aldryami Addendum: The Voralans (Background: Group)

Signs & Portents Roleplayer #53:
Aldryami Addendum: The Voralan Tribes (Background: Group)

Signs & Portents #63:
Aldryami Addendum: Plunder of the Elfs (Stats: Items)

Signs & Portents #67:
Aldryami Addendum: RuneQuest Elf Monsters (Stats: Monster)

Signs & Portents #73:
Aldryami Addendum: The Goblins of Genertela (Background: Setting)

 

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2 minutes ago, Ian Absentia said:

Yes.  And "dwarfs".  This ain't Middle Earth.

!i!

The difference being that "dwarves" is a grammatical innovation by Tolkien, whereas "elves" is the standard, I believe. So "elfs" kinda comes off as a reactionary anti-Tolkien hypercorrection.

Edited by Sir_Godspeed
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1 hour ago, Sir_Godspeed said:

...whereas "elves" is the standard, I believe. So "elfs" kinda comes off as a reactionary anti-Tolkien hypercorrection.

Yeah, maybe so.  I understand that both "elfs" and "elves" are used in English, which may be the source of the Professor's commentary on the plural of "dwarf".  It's fair to say that Tolkien gained common currency in the last century.

!i!

Edited by Ian Absentia
"Efls"?
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9 minutes ago, Sir_Godspeed said:

The difference being that "dwarves" is a grammatical innovation by Tolkien, whereas "elves" is the standard, I believe. So "elfs" kinda comes off as a reactionary anti-Tolkien hypercorrection.

It's Mongoose, screw 'em. "Elves" it is.

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