Out now in print & PDF - A History of Malkionism: the illuminated edition

[Nick Brooke]

A History of Malkionism, Nick Brooke's classic article introducing the mediaeval West of Glorantha, has been gloriously illuminated by Katrin Dirim, and is available now from the Jonstown Compendium, for just $7.50 in PDF.

My article was previously published in 1994, in the Sog City Conference Guide and in Tales of the Reaching Moon #13: the Go West! special). Like the Abiding Book of the Jrusteli God Learners, its text has remained pristine and unchanged from that day forth, despite the worst efforts of accursed heretics and revisionists.

The article was written as a crash-course in Malkionism, to enable the players in How the West was One, our 70-player live-action role-playing game, to quickly grasp the fundamentals of Western religion and history. It takes a deliberately neutral, mainstream perspective which could be broadly agreed on by both the Hrestoli Idealists of Loskalm and the Rokari Realists of Seshnela, the two dominant sects of Third Age Malkionism, while also introducing the major races and heresies of the West.

The illuminations are completely new, and it was an absolute privilege and delight working with the brilliant Katrin Dirim to bring the history of Malkionism to light via the medium of gorgeous mediaeval artwork. 16 glorious manuscript pictures depict key moments in Malkioni scripture and history, as well as three studies of the Western peoples: the ancient Brithini, maritime Waertagi and detestable Vadeli.

From the Ice Age to the God Learners, from the Serpent Kings of Seshneg to Arkat's Dark Empire, gain new insights into Glorantha through the eyes of a visionary steeped in the artistic traditions of antiquity and the middle ages.

Edited December 20, 2021 by Nick Brooke

[jajagappa]

1 hour ago, Nick Brooke said:

A History of Malkionism,

Pelinorius Staarki, Vice-Chancellor of the University of Sog City, and founder of the New School of Business Studies and the Performing Arts approves. 🙂

 

[Joerg]

A delightfully heterodox text (sez who, asks the High Watcher of the Rokari school at Leplain) grounded in what we thought we knew about the Malkioni in 1994. But who cares about the text, just look at the illumination! Not (quite) in the Gloranthan sense, although you'll have to roll this Sacred Time unless you already have that mystical insight.

Even without that mystical insight, don't get worked up about details you disagree with in the text. This works just fine as an informed in-world document, avoiding many of the pitfalls that would make it incompatible with either the vision of the Malkioni carried by the RuneQuest 3rd edition material and the early material by Jamie Revell written for the first edition of the Questworlds precursor HeroQuest (the rpg, not the boardgame) or the move to the current concepts as discussed (again) in a few paragraphs in the rules material, at some length in the Guide to Glorantha, and gloriously in Martin Helsdon's "Men of the West" also here on the Jonstown Compendium.

 

[Squaredeal Sten]

Very nice artwork.  Nice document on Malkionism. 

[Nick Brooke]

[Alex]

That's a spectacularly lovely looking document.  (Well, the first 11 pages are, at least!)

[Nick Brooke]

The digital edition has 43 pages & 19 illuminations. This is an artbook, not an article.

[Nick Brooke]

To celebrate our Copper best-seller medal (for over 50 sales), and to thank our customers, I've just uploaded the book's first bonus content: Illuminating Malkionism - part 1. This is a collection of emails, group chat logs, concept sketches and B&W line art showing how we created the first four illustrations (The Kingdom of Logic, The Ice Age, The Exile from Brithos & "I Fought, We Won"). If you log in to DriveThruRPG, you'll find it in your Library or on the book's product page.

If you'd like to see more of this, please spread the word on social media / game-related groups and forums, and leave ratings or even reviews over on DriveThruRPG: it really helps!

[Brian Duguid]

I was going to ask if there'd be an Exegisis for the art. Off to download that now!

[Nick Brooke]

Next instalment at Silver (101 sales), and more drops after that until we hit Electrum. If you help me sell my book (by posting ratings, reviews and happy feedback), we'll get there even quicker!

Edited April 23, 2022 by Nick Brooke

[Nick Brooke]

Now available in print: $14.95 for a 48-page premium colour softcover 6”x9” booklet with three additional illustrations: gorgeous icons of the Prophets Malkion and Hrestol, and the traitor knight Sir Arkat.

[Squaredeal Sten]

Congratulations on going hard copy.  That was quick! 

I bought one. 

[Nick Brooke]

Silver bonus content drop: Illuminating the History of Malkionism is now 26 pages of emails, sketches, line art and group chat logs, covering the creation of the first dozen illustrations (four each: Malkion's Kingdom, Dawn Age Seshneg and Arkat's Crusade against Chaos). This is free bonus content with the digital edition: you can download it from your DriveThruRPG library when you're logged in. If you only bought the print edition, just email me your receipt and I'll send you the file.

[Nick Brooke]

Excerpt: “They’re the ancient and rightful rulers of Seshneg. They’re the Old Gods, sleeping, who must not be awakened. They’re the Witch Cult, the lamias and succubi and Eves and Liliths who haunt the dreams of the virtuous. Their treasures are real (piles of gold) and spiritual (a bite of the Apple of Knowledge) and sacral (rightful rule over the Land, in a way not recognised by the Church but which everyone knows is older and more true). They’re the Old Ones, the Fair Folk, and we meet them in liminal times and places, at graveyards and crossroads and twilight moors and battlefields where the barrriers are thin. And their followers are the Old Folk, the satyrs and fauns and centaurs of the Isles, and the Old Families, those village wise-women and gifted youths and councils of druidical elders who meet under the trees for unsanctioned rites condemned by Holy Church…”

[Nick Brooke]

We're half-way to Electrum (176 copies of A History of Malkionism sold), so the bonus content Illuminating Malkionism has expanded to 33 pages, now including The God Learners. All sixteen historical illuminations now have art direction notes, sketches, line art and related excerpts from our group chat.

As always, if you could leave a rating or a review on DriveThruRPG (or just share a friendly comment on social media) it'd be greatly appreciated. I can't make more books like this if this one doesn't sell, and your feedback is extremely useful in helping other potential customers to make up their minds. Ignore the Canon Cult: seek Solace, embrace Joy!

[jajagappa]

4 hours ago, Nick Brooke said:

All sixteen historical illuminations now have art direction notes, sketches, line art and related excerpts from our group chat.

I love reading through the art direction notes - there's so many wonderful ideas packed in there!  (Plus helps call out details overlooked during earlier reads!)

Love seeing these expressions: "Magasta’s beard is Cthonically tentacular" and "it just cries out for a “Help me! I’m melting!” speech bubble."  And then it seems so obvious that the "Wicked Witch of the West" had to be an Earth Queen (Seshna Likita? Slonta? Luatha? or some unnamed one drowned by the Neliomi Sea?).  Maybe Samastina gets to be our new wicked witch now that our wizard in the City of Wonders has fallen? (Or keep the wicked witch for the west???)

I hadn't caught the "St. George and the Dragon" style image in IFWW previously.  And "bridges Rainbow Girl with Noah’s Ark" is very evocative.

"apocryphal scriptures recording conversations between Hrestol and his Horse" - I'm going to Narnia/The Horse and His Boy with that line.

"What dark times have befallen Seshnela! Beastmen cavorting with proper folk, Kings treated like pagan gods, honest wizards replaced with snake priestesses wiling femininely!" - With a vacant throne, this could be the Kanthor's Isles now.

"It’s Narnia gone wrong. The Pevensey kids have killed Aslan and usurped his power, making a religion out of boys and nylons, and chucking the Professor out of his own house." "the Seshnegi tragedy is the conflict between thought and senses." - I think these ideas are great for rethinking what's going on in the west.

"Seshnela fucking rocks and I want people’s heads to blow off when they realise how much Game Fun has been locked away and ignored" - Yes! Though a short work, I do think the ideas and illustrations (and notes) really help open up playing in Seshnela.  Maybe if blown by the winds of Aeol I'll find myself there one day!

"Did Bailifes the Hammer do a deal with the Fair Folk, much like Macbeth with the Witches, before winning at Asgolan Fields?" - now that's an interesting thought.  And now in 1625+, the "fair folk" come back to claim their side of the bargain from Guilmarn (or Theoblanc)?

"The back ranks are going to be visible only as sillouhettes." & "The insect wallpaper!" - wonderful details but so easy to skim over on first (or even second or third) view.  

"And are we asserting that the Invisible God is left-handed?" - But it must be so! (What else would a True Dragon dream?)

"make yingar feathers a thing" "or Bird of Paradise, or something else glorious?" - I bet the Vadeli sell those...

 

[Nick Brooke]

Samastina is green-skinned (on ceremonial occasions, for sure), and she comes from the west of the Holy Country. Just saying.

[jajagappa]

2 hours ago, Nick Brooke said:

Samastina is green-skinned (on ceremonial occasions, for sure), and she comes from the west of the Holy Country. Just saying.

Exactly! 🙂

[JRE]

I have the original 94 text somewhere in a box, so I was hesitant to buy it again, despite my avowed interest in the West.

Buy it, if you have any interest in the West and Malkionism. This is a beautiful work, and it will be in-world canon for me. It is also great to show to the players and get them in the right mindset. It concentrates a fairly complex story in easy to digest nuggets, and with pictures for the illiterate ones!

The extras are very illustrative of what happens behind the screen, and how much work this takes. They are also much funnier than the main text...