Glorantha THE ENCYCLOPEDIA OF SESHNELA by Greg Stafford UNIQUE MATERIAL: What is it?

[mal]

Hello - Just wandering around on ebay and I found this and other items from the same seller: https://www.ebay.com/itm/Glorantha-THE-ENCYCLOPEDIA-OF-SESHNELA-by-Greg-Stafford-UNIQUE-MATERIAL/274751225044?hash=item3ff872fcd4:g:ciAAAOSwTAVgbxWl

Glorantha THE ENCYCLOPEDIA OF SESHNELA by Greg Stafford UNIQUE MATERIAL

I'm wondering if anyone knows what these documents are. And if someone could give me some info on them. Were they super special items from the Guide kickstarter or the RQ2 reprint kickstarter? That's the only thing I can think of...

[scott-martin]

1 hour ago, mal said:

Hello - Just wandering around on ebay and I found this and other items from the same seller: https://www.ebay.com/itm/Glorantha-THE-ENCYCLOPEDIA-OF-SESHNELA-by-Greg-Stafford-UNIQUE-MATERIAL/274751225044?hash=item3ff872fcd4:g:ciAAAOSwTAVgbxWl

Glorantha THE ENCYCLOPEDIA OF SESHNELA by Greg Stafford UNIQUE MATERIAL

I'm wondering if anyone knows what these documents are. And if someone could give me some info on them. Were they super special items from the Guide kickstarter or the RQ2 reprint kickstarter? That's the only thing I can think of...

Hi Mal -- 

The Encyclopedia is also known as the Seshneg Book of Kings and was incorporated into the Guide kickstarter package, which is why the seller (not me!) is letting this previously published piece go. It's a pretty cool artifact IF you are obsessed with the Dawn Age West and wanted a little more than what the publicly available Seshnela Kings Lists provide. 

The Froalar book is also known as Hrestol Saga so is arguably the most famous, least rare and most important of the manuscripts he's selling. The Yrleam book was only reproduced a handful of times to my knowledge beyond the kickstarter. On the other hand, it's pretty short and only good value for absolute completists, which is I think why the seller stopped collecting the "rainbow books" on their own. Both made it into the kickstarter.

The Arkat and Harmast takes (two separate books) were not in the kickstarter but are roughly as scarce, maybe one or two more copies of each in circulation.

Edited April 19, 2021 by scott-martin

[David Scott]

There's more info and pictures on the two editions here:

https://wellofdaliath.chaosium.com/home/catalogue/publishers/moon-design/moon-design-kickstarters/guide-to-glorantha-kickstarter/roots-of-glorantha/

[David Scott]

On 4/19/2021 at 8:23 PM, scott-martin said:

The Arkat and Harmast takes (two separate books) were not in the kickstarter but are roughly as scarce, maybe one or two more copies of each in circulation.

I think there could be 4 or 5 copies of Arkat Saga out there. As for Harmast Saga, more, mainly due to Friends of Glorantha. FOG was a patreon style group that ran from roughly 2006-2007 and sponsored Greg to write his unfinished novels, variously titled Harmast Saga, Ten Woman, Well Loved, Lokamayadon-Novel, and a few other scripts.

 

[scott-martin]

1 hour ago, David Scott said:

I think there could be 4 or 5 copies of Arkat Saga out there.

Great point. The kickstarter was the widest release some of this material ever got, so not being in the kickstarter means they're rarer.

Further complicating the situation is that I've spoken with the seller and this is not 10 Women Well Loved (which I need to revisit) but "Attempt 1" from 1991, the one with the proto-KOS LBQ materials along with material like "Here Is What I Did." 
 

[jajagappa]

36 minutes ago, scott-martin said:

but "Attempt 1" from 1991, the one with the proto-KOS LBQ materials along with material like "Here Is What I Did." 

That's actually one I have a copy of!  Greg sent me an unbound copy of that one back in the mid-90s.

[scott-martin]

1 hour ago, jajagappa said:

Greg sent me an unbound copy of that one back in the mid-90s.

Love it! I wouldn't mind a census of this type of thing just to map the revisions across copies, get a more refined sense of how the ideas are emerging year by year.

I've always loved esoteric glorantha collectors because from the outside it looks just like the cutthroat economy of occult curiosa and maybe even the medieval relic trade. A whole separate underworld of ambition, thieves, grifters, disaster, greed, madness and all that other good stuff. Magic and Loss, Luck and Death. The booklets, like comets in the far sky or grimoires in somebody's vision of the sorcerous west, keep circulating. It's their nature. Maybe some day a minigame around those grimoires.

But it's fascinating that by definition all of this material is not essential to a rich Gloranthan experience and probably even gets in the way. As the public-facing Seshnela Kings List notes, "this list of facts is virtually unknown in Glorantha." These largely fictitious societies don't even remember all the people who ruled them going back to the dawn. It's arcane trivia for heroquesters only.

And as we know, heroquesting is just the continuation of life by more desperate means, what you do when you can't get what you need any other way.

Edited April 21, 2021 by scott-martin
MOLAD

[mal]

thanks for the great info guys!

[scott-martin]

7 minutes ago, mal said:

thanks for the great info guys!

Always a joy. This doesn't seem to have motivated you to grab any of them, though, and while there's absolutely nothing wrong with that, I have to ask anyone reading this: at what price point would this kind of document become attractive to YOU?

Edited April 21, 2021 by scott-martin

[Eff]

3 minutes ago, scott-martin said:

Always a joy. This doesn't seem to have motivated you to grab any of them, though, and while there's absolutely nothing wrong with that, I have to ask anyone reading this: at what price point would this kind of document become attractive to YOU?

Depending very much on the document, I'd probably be willing to buy it in the $50-100 range, sort of like buying any out-of-print book, or commissioning some simple artwork, or buying a board game. Granted, I've made purchases on the level of these individual documents, but only when I've had a sudden windfall of cash handy.

[mal]

well i may still go for the Arkat and the 2 Harmast documents if I can work something out with the seller. I'm thinking about it seriously ...   the stuff on the west doesn't interest me as much so I'd not likely go that high for it...

 

[mal]

4 hours ago, scott-martin said:

Great point. The kickstarter was the widest release some of this material ever got, so not being in the kickstarter means they're rarer.

Further complicating the situation is that I've spoken with the seller and this is not 10 Women Well Loved (which I need to revisit) but "Attempt 1" from 1991, the one with the proto-KOS LBQ materials along with material like "Here Is What I Did." 
 

I think this might be what Greg read from at RQCon Baltimore back in the 90s... and since I was there it makes it particularly appealing to me.

 

[scott-martin]

2 minutes ago, mal said:

I think this might be what Greg read from at RQCon Baltimore back in the 90s... and since I was there it makes it particularly appealing to me.

Love it!! Do you remember anything he told you back then? I have a feeling that stuff lines up with "Life of Harmast" . . . first person fiction, dialogue, day-to-day memoir that ultimately evolved into the 10 Women Well Loved @David Scottmentioned. "Harmast Saga" is where the more technical ritual material happens.
 

[jajagappa]

52 minutes ago, scott-martin said:

Love it!! Do you remember anything he told you back then? I have a feeling that stuff lines up with "Life of Harmast"

I was there, and I'm sure heard him read it, but can't recall which section he read.  But was definitely from "Life of Harmast".

[Rick Meints]

3 hours ago, scott-martin said:

Love it!! Do you remember anything he told you back then? I have a feeling that stuff lines up with "Life of Harmast" . . . first person fiction, dialogue, day-to-day memoir that ultimately evolved into the 10 Women Well Loved @David Scottmentioned. "Harmast Saga" is where the more technical ritual material happens.
 

I was at RQ Con 1 as well and I am pretty sure I went to that Greg Reads. I only remember it was Harmast related though. Hans Van Halteren probably recorded it. He supposedly has his video camera with him and filed a number of events. Peter Michaels also supposedly video taped a number of seminars and such. This is mentioned on page 54 of the RQ Con Compendium. Some events were also tape recorded. I wish I remembered more, but it was 27 years ago.

Edited April 21, 2021 by Rick Meints