Art in the Sartar boxed set

[Runeblogger]

Posted by Jeff Richards on the RuneQuest group in FB:

I've been posting a few previews of art for the forthcoming Cults of Glorantha books, but there's another beautiful book already in art production - the Sartar boxed set. And here's just a little preview of a piece by the outstanding Ossi Hiekkala.
 

Our mercenary here has been a bandit/rebel for pretty much her entire life. She might have been young, gorgeous, and wholesome back when she was a young woman who flocked to Starbrow's Rebellion in 1613, but since then, she has become hard, cynical, and ruthless. She started as a Colymar woman from Apple Lane - Raveena Dronlon's Daughter of the Varmandi Clan (her father was Dronlan Swordsharp - the Thane of Apple Lane. But she flocked to Starbrow's banner in 1613, joined a mercenary company and was exiled when the rebellion failed.

She fled to Balazar and joined the mercenary company of Pay Surney but was traded by Pay Surney to another Rune Lord for two horses and a broadsword. Raveena eventually returned to Dragon Pass where she became a bandit attacking caravans along Trader's Valley. In 1622 she was one of those who fought for King Broyan in the Auroch Hills and spent the next three years leading a band of bandits/rebels in South Sartar and Hendrikiland. When Starbrow became Prince, Raveena continued as a bandit.

Now it is 1627, and Raveena has accepted the amnesty of the new Prince Argrath, and has entered his service as one of the mercenaries in the Thieves Band. She is in her mid-30s and has seen and experienced a lot - mostly all bad. She's a senior initiate of the Orlanth Adventurous (Vinga-subcult), but lacks the Honor to become a Wind Lord. She has plenty of spirit magic focii (tattoos, bone jewelry, piercings, etc), and wears a green stone (a spell resisting crystal) around her neck (a gift from a long-gone lover). She's got a lot of scars, and is even missing an eye. She likes to keep the socket uncovered, as she finds it intimidates plenty of people.

And since this is RuneQuest, here are her stats:

STR 13 CON 16 SIZ 13 INT 14 POW 17 DEX 14 CHA 14

 

Edited February 20, 2021 by Runeblogger

[Joerg]

Dronlon was originally from the Ernaldori clan, if the data in HQ2 Sartar Companion still can be trusted. How did his daughter become a member of the Varmandi clan? Is that some sort of automatism for people initiated in Apple Lane, or was it her choice to step away from her father's influence?

I wouldn't be surprised if one could find a whole century's worth or two of Varmandi-initiated individuals serving as mercenaries somewhere around Dragon Pass who aren't included in the population numbers given in e.g. the Colymar Adventure Book.

 

[Ladygolem]

I think your image link might have broke, @Runeblogger . Sounds like an interesting character!

[g33k]

1 hour ago, Ladygolem said:

I think your image link might have broke, @Runeblogger . Sounds like an interesting character!

Either he fixed it in the interim, or the problem is in your browser, @Ladygolem ...  I see the art (using a Chromebook).
 

Edited February 21, 2021 by g33k

[Sir_Godspeed]

26 minutes ago, g33k said:

Either he fixed it in the interim, or the problem is in your browser, @Ladygolem ...  I see the art (using a Chromebook).
 

I'm using the Chrome browser on a laptop, and I see it fine as well.

[Ladygolem]

Weird, must be a Firefox thing. Opened it in Edge (came with my laptop, don't have Chrome installed) and works fine - weird!

 

Anyway, great artwork! She looks like a total badass!

[jajagappa]

29 minutes ago, Ladygolem said:

Weird, must be a Firefox thing.

Works ok in my Firefox browser, so not sure it's that.  But sounds like you were able to find a browser that did work.

I really love the realism in this picture - really has a strong, gritty old-school RQ vibe to it.  The range of art we're getting is quite impressive.

[Sir_Godspeed]

The gritty texturing is great.

[jenh]

Interesting that it mentions what the situation is in 1627 - is the Sartar boxed set covering not just the default starting point of 1625, but also years into the future (to go along with the Argrath campaign)?

[AndreJarosch]

23 hours ago, jenh said:

Interesting that it mentions what the situation is in 1627 - is the Sartar boxed set covering not just the default starting point of 1625, but also years into the future (to go along with the Argrath campaign)?

The RQG rulebook states that it is set (starts) in 1625. 
The Glorantha Sourcebook is set in 1627. 

IMHO: Use the year 1625 as the starting point for your game. Take the years 1625 to 1627 to run adventures to get the characters competent (and the players familiar with the rules and setting) and with 1627 the characters get REALLY deep involved into the Hero Wars / Argrath Saga. 

Edited February 22, 2021 by AndreJarosch

[Shiningbrow]

On 2/21/2021 at 11:51 AM, jajagappa said:

Works ok in my Firefox browser, so not sure it's that.  But sounds like you were able to find a browser that did work.

I really love the realism in this picture - really has a strong, gritty old-school RQ vibe to it.  The range of art we're getting is quite impressive.

It didn't load in my Firefox.. I had to use Opera (as my backup).

Very nice pic! Very detailed!!!

Any logical reason for missing the right greave? She's Vinga, not one of the geas laying cults...

[Sir_Godspeed]

10 hours ago, Shiningbrow said:

It didn't load in my Firefox.. I had to use Opera (as my backup).

Very nice pic! Very detailed!!!

Any logical reason for missing the right greave? She's Vinga, not one of the geas laying cults...

Ad hoc, I'd assume. She's been poor for a long time, after all.

[Joerg]

10 hours ago, Shiningbrow said:

Any logical reason for missing the right greave? She's Vinga, not one of the geas laying cults...

While I cannot speak for the artist, the left leg is the leading leg for a right-handed fighter, with the right leg usually in behind, providing the forward momentum from the ankle. While RuneQuest targets both legs equally in its hit location table, in my experience with rubber sword duels the leading leg is a lot more prone to be hit by low swipes.

Lindybeige's video on donning hoplite armor mentioned how greaves can cut into the top of your foot. I can understand why one might forgo that "pleasure" for the less exposed leg where your foot may angle up more.

 

I keep wondering about mercenaries going into battle barefoot. From talking to re-enactors, I am familiar with the rather short lifespan of leather soles in rough terrain, but combat rarely happens on smooth sand or polished dojo/gym grounds. Thorny hedges are a common defensive line, and stepping into thorns on the ground can cripple you badly, especially when you don't have free hands or the leasure to remove them. The dropped equipment of downed enemies or comrades can be as bad, but then cuts in the soles tend to hurt a lot less than impales.

 

She appears to be quite well off, with two javelins...

Edited February 22, 2021 by Joerg

[Kloster]

4 minutes ago, Joerg said:

I keep wondering about mercenaries going into battle barefoot. From talking to re-enactors, I am familiar with the rather short lifespan of leather soles in rough terrain, but combat rarely happens on smooth sand or polished dojo/gym grounds. Thorny hedges are a common defensive line, and stepping into thorns on the ground can cripple you badly, especially when you don't have free hands or the leasure to remove them. The dropped equipment of downed enemies or comrades can be as bad, but then cuts in the soles tend to hurt a lot less than impales.

As far as I remember, greek hoplites were barefoot, and roman legionaries were the first soldiers to have soles (the calliga) as a whole.

[Joerg]

9 minutes ago, Kloster said:

As far as I remember, greek hoplites were barefoot, and roman legionaries were the first soldiers to have soles (the calliga) as a whole.

Strange, that. Socrates was noted as somewhat exceptional for going barefoot (accompanying his tattered clothes), while one of his comrades in applied philosophy and crafting was Simon the Shoe-maker.

[Kloster]

25 minutes ago, Joerg said:

Strange, that. Socrates was noted as somewhat exceptional for going barefoot (accompanying his tattered clothes), while one of his comrades in applied philosophy and crafting was Simon the Shoe-maker.

At least, all the illustrations and all the statues I remember are barefoot.

Correction: It seems they wore sandals or boots. I stand corrected (by myself). Probably the old age.

Edited February 22, 2021 by Kloster

[Ali the Helering]

The idea that hoplites went barefoot arises from the Spartan tradition of denying footwear to their juveniles in training.  Even if this is accurate (rather than another scary Spartan story) there is no indication that it persisted after they became hoplites.

[Akhôrahil]

14 hours ago, Shiningbrow said:

Any logical reason for missing the right greave? She's Vinga, not one of the geas laying cults...

She looks a bit down on her luck, with that banged-up helmet. Maybe just lost one of them and hasn't had it replaced yet? Or it was loot, but there was just the left one...

[Sid Vicarious]

On 2/21/2021 at 9:45 PM, AndreJarosch said:

The RQG rulebook states that it is set (starts) in 1625. 
The Glorantha Sourcebook is set in 1627. 

IMHO: Use the year 1625 as the starting point for your game. Take the years 1625 to 1627 to run adventures to get the characters competent (and the players familiar with the rules and setting) and with 1627 the characters get REALLY deep involved into the Hero Wars / Argrath Saga. 

 I could have sworn I'd seen mention on these boards of the impending Great Runequest Campaign (??) featuring PCs particpating in  the Battle of the Queens (1626), which would upset the above suggested timeline, but today I could not find it again. Can anyone shed any light?  

 

[Shiningbrow]

9 hours ago, Akhôrahil said:

She looks a bit down on her luck, with that banged-up helmet. Maybe just lost one of them and hasn't had it replaced yet? Or it was loot, but there was just the left one...

Maybe it was loot from someone with the geas of "wear no armour on right leg" 😛

[Grievous]

We discussed that greave thing on Facebook briefly. I and a few others noted that when using a shield to fight, you really only need the left leg covered (and it better be covered as it is a major target IME). That's valid while still using the shield - the situation might change once you lose the shield (in which case at least I would prefer to switch to a right leg forward stance and then armor on both legs would be really nice). But yeah, greaves on only the left leg were also definitely also a thing historically, but their utility can be attested to even today by anyone who's done any fighting with shields.

Jeff pointed out though that she had the greave on one leg only because she ran out of time while looting, so there's that. 

Edited February 23, 2021 by Grievous

[g33k]

On 2/20/2021 at 7:18 PM, Ladygolem said:

... Opened it in Edge (came with my laptop, don't have Chrome installed) ...

FWIW, Edge runs Google's "Chromium" framework under the hood.  Think of it as MS bodywork(appearance) & interior(UI) on a drivetrain & frame built by Google.

I'd expect Edge to work more like Chrome than it does any other browser...

</geekmode>

( ... ahh, who'mifoolin' ... I don' ever stop geekin' ...)

[Ladygolem]

1 hour ago, g33k said:

</geekmode>

Username checks out!

 

 

[Lordabdul]

On 2/22/2021 at 1:44 AM, Shiningbrow said:

It didn't load in my Firefox.. I had to use Opera (as my backup).

Firefox blocks Facebook ad trackers by default (which is good). The OP linked to the Facebook image directly (instead of copying it and uploading it on BRP), so Firefox sees that the page is trying to load a resource from Facebook and assumes it's some kind of tracker or ad-related thing... so blocks it. No pretty picture for you.

You can see that this happened if you can see the "Facebook Container" icon on the left of your URL bar (unless you customized the Firefox UI). It will show an exclamation mark when it blocks stuff:

You can temporarily disable the blocking by clicking on that icon and choosing to opt-in to Facebook tracking:

It will reload the page, and you'll see the pretty image. But now if there were any other Facebook trackers on the page (such as "like" buttons and such), Facebook will know about what you're doing on this site and add it to your profile, potentially showing you more ads about historical costumes or whatever. Knowing Facebook, they may very well read the origin URL of the image and know where you saw this image from even without any other Facebook widgets on the page. They're sneaky like that.

Once you're done, you can disable Facebook tracking again by clicking the same thing:

The page reloads, the image is gone, but Facebook doesn't see what you're doing anymore.

[Runeblogger]

I think these pictures of Kallyr that Jeff shared on FB are also for the Sartar Homeland book. Art by Anna Orlova.

 

Edited April 23, 2021 by Runeblogger