Fonritian Magic

[dumuzid]

In the game I run, one of the NPC companions traveling with the player characters in Prax on behalf of the White Bull Society is none other than Gabaryanga, the Veldang former slave and revolutionary destined (in the Guide to Glorantha) to raise a great rebellion against the slavocracy in Fonrit during the Hero Wars.  Without getting into the plot details, Gabaryanga wound up in Prax at the end of a long quest through the Otherworlds that spat him out at the Pairing Stones during the Sacred Time of 1625-1626.  He's a guest of Argrath White Bull, and the player characters are a cadre of Eaglebrown warlocks-in-training being put through a series of escalating magico-military field exercises by Argrath, one of several nascent hero bands he's training up for the 1627 campaigning in this Glorantha.  He hopes their runic combination will interact with Gabaryanga's presence in illuminating ways, in as many senses of the word as possible.  His most recent task for them, to that end, is a this-world heroquest from the Leaping Place Falls to the Zola Fel's estuary, retracing the river's march to the sea to aid Magasta's struggle against Chaos.

Maneuvers like this send ripples through the Otherworlds, of course, and by accepting service from Gabaryanga in exchange for hospitality Argrath has mingled his cause in Genertela with the cosmic forces gathering to oppose each other in Fonrit.  Given what we know of Argrath, and what he knows of Fonrit and Pamaltela as a former Wolf Pirate, this may have been deliberate on his part.  What that means in practical terms for my players is that when the Otherworlds reach out to find opposition for them in their heroquesting, it's likely to bring them into contention with questers from Fonrit, specifically Afadjann where Gabaryanga was born, well before they'd ever meet Fonritians in the Middle World.

My question for the tribe is: what sort of powers should a band of Afadjanni heroquesters be packing?  From what I've read in the Guide and Revealed Mythologies the Fonritian slavers mingle theistic and sorcerous magic freely, combining perverse twists on Pamaltelan mythology with sorcerous lore picked up from the God Learners and Vadeli.  Many gods considered heinous Chaos entities inimical to all life and sanity in the rest of the world are openly worshiped in Fonrit, with materially and politically powerful cults that sometimes rule whole cities.  Ompalam is the obvious one but you've also got Gark, Seseine, and plenty more awful sorts.  Thanatar seems a natural fit for Fonrit, for instance, in both the separated and conjoined cult forms.

To start things off, my first consideration is just how the Fonritian slavery magic works as viewed through the prism of RQG's rules.  From the Guide to Glorantha, p. 552:

Quote

Among the Afadjanni, the most important god, by virtue of his political import, is Darleester the Noose. This god gives a spell of compulsion to the high priest, the Jann, who can teach the spell to others who are already under his compulsion. The duration of the spell is for the lifetime of the caster.

Mechanically, this sounds to me like Darleester grants a special form of the Command (Species) rune spell to their high priest, a Command (Slave) spell with a lifetime duration.  That's...pretty scary, right there on its own, even if there's a resistance roll associated as normal.

Does anyone have alternative interpretations for Darleester's compulsion magic, or ideas for other deviations of Fonritian magic from what we're used to in Genertela?  I'm hoping specifically for suggestions regarding Afadjann, but if anyone has interesting ideas for the magical practices of Kareeshtu or other Fonritian polities I'd be game to hear that too.

[metcalph]

3 hours ago, dumuzid said:

My question for the tribe is: what sort of powers should a band of Afadjanni heroquesters be packing?  From what I've read in the Guide and Revealed Mythologies the Fonritian slavers mingle theistic and sorcerous magic freely, combining perverse twists on Pamaltelan mythology with sorcerous lore picked up from the God Learners and Vadeli.

I don't think you can mix the magics freely.  Fonrit does have sorcerors but to be any good they have to be rather aloof from other forms of magic like sorcerors every where else.  If you want a street level magician who curses others for a fee, then they would have a mixture of spirit magic (disrupt, befuddle), chaotic magics (probably Primal Chaos for the ability to control unintelligent chaotic creatures) and secret spirit cults (like Black Fang or the Sunset Society).  

That said, the Fonritans probably have adapted Worship Invisible God into a source of cheap magic points for the rulers and their magicians.  

3 hours ago, dumuzid said:

Many gods considered heinous Chaos entities inimical to all life and sanity in the rest of the world are openly worshiped in Fonrit, with materially and politically powerful cults that sometimes rule whole cities.  Ompalam is the obvious one but you've also got Gark, Seseine, and plenty more awful sorts. 

Thanatar seems a natural fit for Fonrit, for instance, in both the separated and conjoined cult forms.

Funnily enough I don't see Thanatar in Fonrit as he is a mixture of a Kralori (possibly Eastern Isles) and Orlanthi cults.  If you want the severed heads motif, then there's Seseine.  Fonrit would be fertile ground for Thanatari if they reached there but I don't see them doing so in the Imperial Age and there isn't much opportunity during the Closing.

3 hours ago, dumuzid said:

Mechanically, this sounds to me like Darleester grants a special form of the Command (Species) rune spell to their high priest, a Command (Slave) spell with a lifetime duration.  That's...pretty scary, right there on its own, even if there's a resistance roll associated as normal.

I think of the spell as having two forms.  The cast version which functions like a temporal rune spell and the ritual version which creates a lifelong enchantment.   

 

[metcalph]

Another idea I had involved Seseine.  In giving her a highly treasured thing of value (a head of an enemy, a magic tome etc), she can confer a spell or ability of the caster's desire.  In RQG, I would handle this as a gift/geas situation,(along the lines of Yelmalio or Humakt) with the geas being required sacrifices every holy day.  She has greater versitility in providing such gifts because they're powered by chaos and the supplicant's own desires.  

Thus if one wanted to be good at swords or have access to a love spell, Seseine will provide in return for suitable sacrifices.