magic after Argrath time (and btw, elder races)

[French Desperate WindChild]

Hello

My ideas are not very clear about magic after Argrath.

What I think have understood is :

- gloranthan people continue to believe in gods (for people who believed) but the relationship is definitly not the same.

- gods (if they still exist) and not able to provide any spell

but not sure, and I have absolutly no idea if there are still spirits in mundane world (or are they like the gods, no more in mundane world) and if sorcery still works

 

same question about the trolls , aldryami, and any sentient no humans people. Are they still in mundane world, or ... like in Tolkien's story, Argrath deeds consequence is now the middle world is for humans ? I read somewhere (but when/where ?) that trolls will not be any more in the same plane ?

 

To explain my question, I m building a campaign during the setting times (1600+) "explaining" the future (king of sartar book). The big issue is ... I don't know the canon future 😛

as I m always lost when I read KoS, a little bit too hard for me

thanks a lot !

 

 

 

 

[AndreJarosch]

Everything we know of the Fourth Age is what "King of Sartar" tells us. 

We don´t know who Harshax is, and where the realm of Harshax is, and how big this realm is. 

Maybe Harshax is a Belintar or Red Emperor like figure, ruling a vast Empire in Central Genertela, and what it is written in "King of Sartar" is true for all/most of whole Glorantha. 
But maybe Harshax is only a Ethilrist or Solanthos Ironpike like figure, ruling a small isolated pocket in some minor region of Glorantha, and all that is written about in "King of Sartar" is only true for this small unimortant region. 

The Fourth Age is what YOUR HEROES change the Third Age into. 

[Eff]

King of Sartar doesn't really offer us anywhere near enough information to tell. What we know is that there is still some kind of magic, that the gods still have some kind of detectable influence ("So they say. But it's still here, and it's invisible instead!") and that there's some continuity of knowledge in Tarsh and Esrolia but nothing near complete knowledge. 

Greg Stafford, reportedly, would point out the nearest window when asked what the Fourth Age was like. So really, it may just be that Fourth Age Glorantha is as magical as you believe the real world to be, and if you think that trolls and elves are simply a matter of fiction, then they have been banished from materiality, and if you think that they are, perhaps, a metaphorical embodiment of a material thing, then they may well still be around, and if you think that there really are huldre-folk living just outside our perception... well, you may well be chatting with aldryami every day. Would you even know? 

So it really is up to you how you want to define things, whether Fourth Age Glorantha is a dead world or a rejuvenated one, a magical or a mundane place, a dystopia or a place of joy. 

[jajagappa]

7 hours ago, Eff said:

King of Sartar doesn't really offer us anywhere near enough information to tell. What we know is that there is still some kind of magic, that the gods still have some kind of detectable influence ("So they say. But it's still here, and it's invisible instead!") and that there's some continuity of knowledge in Tarsh and Esrolia but nothing near complete knowledge. 

Although I am sure I will never get to running/playing a 4th Age game, what I would change is that Rune magic for most gods is no longer available or accessible (i.e. "the gods have moved far from us now").  Perhaps with the loss of knowledge, sorcery, too, might be lost (unless you've stolen dwarf secrets such as blacksmithing). 

Folk can still Worship, perhaps they can contact their Ancestors (who say how much better it once was), and through their ancestors gain weak Spirit Magic or embrace the Runes of the gods to augment their skills, but that's it. 

7 hours ago, French Desperate WindChild said:

same question about the trolls , aldryami, and any sentient no humans people

Rare or hidden - largely consumed in the Twilight of the Gods, and now unable to contact their deities for the magics that kept them empowered. 

[Akhôrahil]

19 hours ago, AndreJarosch said:

The Fourth Age is what YOUR HEROES change the Third Age into. 

I completely agree about this. The "official" Fourth Age may be what results from the "official" HeroWars outcome, but you don't have to play that out. Y4AWV.

Edited February 5, 2022 by Akhôrahil

[Joerg]

57 minutes ago, Akhôrahil said:

I completely agree about this. The "official" Fourth Age may be what results from the "official" HeroWars outcome, but you don't have to play that out. Y4AWV.

Your heroes will (doubtlessly/hopefully) contribute to the outcome, but they cannot be everywhere. Heroes and demigods from all over the world participate and impose drastic changes.

The fragment in question is about a stage in the Lightbringers' Quest - one that Argrath doesn't exactly visit in his quest for Sheng Seleris, as he departs from the Lightbringers' path at the Court of the Dead to go into a deeper Underworld to find and release Sheng Seleris, and possibly using a different exit, too.

Otherwise, the death of the gods would be in effect in 1643 already, with drastic consequences.