The Empire of Land and Sea

[Joerg]

On 8/17/2023 at 1:07 PM, bronze said:

Chaos: How the God Learners and the Empire treated Chaos? Why they didn't put down the Chaos worship prevalent in Fonrit? It seems they successfully identified and linked Fonrit pantheon to the Chaos, but didn't take any action. There is even an implication that God Learners might have assisted the Fonritan to find their gods. The best course of action would be burn Fonrit to the ground and salt the earth. It should be also noted that takeover of Fonrit had taken unusually long time, despite the fact that the region had been under orbit of the Empire since almost the beginning. What kinds of difficulties may have plagued the God Learners?

Chaos is a side-effect of the Fifth Action, brought into the world by Malkion (if you are a little bit mischievous). Chaos lacks Rightness.

That said, the God Learners identified Ompalam as a face or facet of the Invisible God, condoning the Garangordite system of ethnicity-based slavery which they may have seen as a harsher implementation of their own (at times strict) caste system.

Chaos in Fonrit is of the subtle variety. Much like for Black Fang the Chaos cults and Chaos-adjacent cults in Fonrit are useful and grant powers.

On 8/17/2023 at 1:07 PM, bronze said:

Pamaltela: It is beyond my comprehension why the Empire had never been able to reconquer its Pamaltela territories. Kolar had been a net burden of their finance, so I could comprehend why they decided to cut the loss and withdraw from cesspit, though precisely how Hon Hoolbitku was able to defeat a vastly more powerful enemy is anyone's guess.

The initial success of the Sixlegged Empire was based on their cavalry, which at first was able to survive on the resources of the land. However, the weeds and clovers of the Veldt turned out to be bad for their horses in the longer run, and the extra mobility of their riders was equalized by use of masses of tireless Jmijie runners able to maintain their speed long after horses would foam and collapse.

 

On 8/17/2023 at 1:07 PM, bronze said:

Hon Hoolbitku

The gulf is infinitely greater than the Lunar-Orlanthi discrepancies. The Empire lost both Fonrit and Umathela at the height of its power, and it seems they had never made any serious attempt to reclaim the provinces, despite of their significance. The sole mentioned expediton was scared off and retreated without a fight. Of course, that might be retconned or expounded in time. AFAIF, nothing of Glorantha is set in stone... save the Third Age and its End.

Hon Hoolbiktu only bears responsibiity for the loss of Jolar. The God Learner ventures in Fonrit seem to have been counting on revenue from supplying the Six-legged Empire, and with that revenue missing, they ended up underfunded and over-stretched.

The God Learners had installed themselves as unassailable overlords over the slavocracy. When they weren't able to deal decisively with a slave revolt, all their street credit with the local mazarin aristocracy was lost, and they became easy targets for their long-established mutual assassination teams.

 

On 8/17/2023 at 1:07 PM, bronze said:

Of course, that might be retconned or expounded in time. AFAIF, nothing of Glorantha is set in stone... save the Third Age and its End.

Time has left a record that cannot be altered (but can of course be mis-reported by later in-world sources with an agenda). Godtime is more malleable, but has a resilience to bounce back, as the God Learners found out to their detriment.

Have you read the Stafford Library titles that deal with the Second Age? The Fortunate Succession is the least relevant for the God Learners (but teaches us a bit about the Carmanians), Revealed Mythologies tells us about some of the origins of Malkionism and the Abiding Book as well as the , The Middle Sea Empire tells us about the God Learner history (as chronicled by the deeds and ordeals of rulers), and the History of the Heortling Peoples gives a fairly detailed account of the Machine Wars.

 

 

 

On 8/17/2023 at 1:07 PM, bronze said:

Eldar Races: How the Empire had interacted with the Eldar Races? It seems relationship between experimental empires and the Eldar Races was turbelent. It is stated that in the Imperial Age, humanity regined supreme and the Eldar Races plotted out and actively participated in their downfall.

Interactions varied, but remember that the Malkioni have a humanist world-view, looking down on most elder races.

The Elder Races had started into the Second Age with conflicts among themselves, both internal and between the ancient enemies.

 

On 8/17/2023 at 1:07 PM, bronze said:

Dwarf: It is mentioned that the dwarfdom has started the Third Age on the weakest position due to widespread looting (and probably destruction) of Dwarf cities perpetrated by the God Learners, and both experiment empires were extremely adapt at deciphering Dwarven secrets with little material clues, so they went into hiding. I wonder whether the God Learners had learned the secret of gunpowder.

The dwarf misery wasn't entirely to be blamed on the God Learners.

Following the Gbaji Wars, Nida sent something like an inquisition to Greatway, recycling many a dissident dwarf, fostering resentmentamong many of the rest.

Early in the Second Age, a giant army led by Gonn Orta laid waste to much of surface Nida, liberating/abducting a great number of giant jolanti from their Nidan dwarf lords. While one group of these was given sentience by tricjsterous Aldryami in the woodlans of Aggar, most followed Gonn Orta's kin into the Rockwoods. In the struggles for Old Pavis, a majority of these followed Thog to conquer the city, and subsequently were used up to fuse the rock slabs left by Paragua's efforts into the smooth wall with only a few breaks we know today.

Problems with the God Learners or their offshoots troubled Iron Mountain in Seshnela (conquered by the humans), Gemborg (the high priests of Caladra and Aurelion inserting themselves between Martaler and the lowland Caladrans) and the northern mostali mountain in the Shan Shan (depopulated by the Kralori under Shang-Hsa).

The Mostali in the Mari Mountains and in Slon escaped God Learner intrusions.

 

On 8/17/2023 at 1:07 PM, bronze said:

Elf: How Errinoruela could fight off the Empire till the Closing? They might initially have been capable of battling the God Learner fleets on equal footing, but it was the early era, when the Empire used puny ships not different from later Age, and the Empire had no qualms about burning down entire jungels and forests via Sorcerous conflagration. They also could abuse Herequesting to vanquish quarrelsome Elves. Besides, I wonder Errinoru may have interacted with the Empire when he visited Genertela. The most curious is the cause behind the fall of Errinoruela and exterminated of all of Errinoru’s descendants. What might be the strange insect?

Traditionally, the Malkioni and the aldryami went along fairly well. While the marriage between the third of the Serpent Kings and a daughter of an Aldryami forest lord ended in tragedy for the bride and her people, another such princess founded a lineage which would later come to imperial power in the Middle Sea Empire, marrying the pagan Seshnegi hero Damol.

The main treasure the Malkioni claimed from the forests was lumber, for construction and fleet building, at lteast the ordinary navy.

The incineration of Vralos was the only major conflict with Aldryami in Malkioni territory. Removing the Woodland Judgements there allowed coastal Umathela to pursue a specific brand of heroquesting or rather looting expeditions into Godtime.

The God Learners found little high magic of interest to them in Maslo. The Mother of Monsters in Elamle or the way too bloody conflict in Onlaks served as deterrent against major investments there. That same Onlaks warfare loomed over any God Learner attempt to force their way into the jungle. Already the relatively elf-poor Mirelos jungle in Laskal proved to be catastrophic for their logisitics, for way too little enrichment.

Most of the expansion was directed by chartered companies rather than imperial decree. Chartered companies required profits to keep operating, and too slow profits would throw off even the more venturesome experimental heroquesters.

 

On 8/17/2023 at 1:07 PM, bronze said:

Troll: What use Ezkankekko had for both experimental empires? How Esrolia interacted with both empires?

About as much as he had use for a boil on his posterior. The Slontan invasion temporarily took his human supporters outside of the EWF away from him (except for the Hendriki who somehow managed to hide their presences), and while the EWF helped push the Slontans back again, the Kotor wars drained Shadow Plateau resources as much as they did the God Learners' or the EWF. The Machine Wars poisoned much of his recently liberated lands. The Closing almost came like a blessing.

Guhan was the other troll stronghold with direct exposure to the God Learners, and their sorcerers gave as good as the God Learners could deal out. When destroying the Autarchy, the God Learners failed to eradicate their troll allies.

The trolls being anchored in the Underworld shielded them from much of the God Learner explorations, as most of the Malkioni sorcerers required good access to the Source to create their magics. While there was one school of sorcery applying Malkioni sorcerous techniques to the conditions in the Underworld, the dispersion of Surface World ambient magic into the sink of the Underworld, while offering the same potential difference, is alien to Zzaburi teachings. To the troll sorcerers on the other hand this comes naturally.

 

Edited August 18, 2023 by Joerg

[Joerg]

On 8/17/2023 at 1:07 PM, bronze said:

Eastern Isles: How extensive was the Empire's holding in Eastern Isles? How they governed the diverse territories? It is mentioned that the Empire never truly ruled the isles. Perhaps they mostly indirectly ruled through tributary system?

  To my eyes, the Middle Sea Empire "ruled" in the East Isles quite similar to the Dutch East India trading company ruling the spice islands from their fleet stronghold Batavia (nowadays Jakarta). That is, there were Middle Sea Empire traders backed by moderate military and magical might establishing exclusive deals with the natives, at least as far as trade with Seshnela, Jrustela and satellites was concerned. Trade volume inside the East Isles (outside of their direct trade interests) was less relevant to them, but securing exclusive sales rights under the jurisdiction of the empire was what was profitable.

  The typical trade expedition might have had a few researcher wizards or monks, a small body of men-of-all and a supply of men-at-arms (Horali caste, or barbarian mercenaries), plus whatever local tribal mercenaries they could bribe to plague their rivals for pay and plunder.

  None of that was welcomed by Valkaro, who made a serious and heartfelt attempt to Malkionize his islanders, bringing them into the fold of the Abiding Book more than making them tax payers for the Empire. While aspects of his western ways still may have been exploitative to the islanders, Valkaro's venture was not driven by mundane profits or by bringing back magical plunder or the exotic vice of the day (such as the Angazabo pearl diet, a practice spiritually meaningful to the islanders but vapid and vain back in Seshnela).

  

   

  

On 8/17/2023 at 1:07 PM, bronze said:

Eastern Isles: I'm also curious about Golden Mokato. It seems their ships and sorcery were actually superior to the Empire, and their fleets were said to be invincible. Their ships might have been composed of pure magic.

While the modern ship type is called Haragalan Tallship, there is some indication that the magic for the sun lenses used as the main armament of the Tallships was inherited from the Mokatan navy. Galleys with ray guns - a hard enemy even for the Waertagi who could assault these ships from below. God Learner sorcery had to struggle to keep up with this specialized type of sorcerous applications, and to my knowledge they never managed to copy the method.

   The Mokatan commonwealth was a thalassocracy based on trading and control of the trade routes between the Isles, with some measure of assistance provided against shared foes (like antigod race pirates).

If the sorcerers crewing these sun-dials had to be active initiates of the island god, then their range of operations would have been limited by their need to attend the holy days of their deity. Something like that would explain the limitation of the Mokatan influence.

 

  

On 8/17/2023 at 1:07 PM, bronze said:

Another curiosity is Vormain. AFAIK, there is no mention whatsover how Vormain fared during the Imperial Age after the fall of Waertagi. Surely both the Middle Sea and Easten Sea Empires would have coveted the archipelago, and IIRC, Vormain was once a tributary of Kralorela. The God Learners could easily project their power from Kralorela and other colonies without the need to cross the Ocean. It is mentioned isolation of Vormain generated intense gratification. So perhaps they were a tributary of either empire?

Vormain differs from the East Isles in the importance of the island deities. While most East Isles get their identity from the island deity, in the Vormain archipelago these are a reverd group of entities, but worshiped along the Joserui, other deities (possibly also genius loci type) found on the Vormain islands (which includes the Hinter Isles).

Vormain is the direct successor of Imperial Abzered, a highland refuge from the lost struggle with the Sea Gods struggling to maintain some form of unbroken imperial tradition. A possible secret of this success is the prohibition for outsiders to enter the land.

  In a way, the Brithini purity drive by sending dissidents off to the Malkioni colonies is mirrored by the Vormain policy to treat people who left the core islands  as spiritually and culturally tainted.

There is a good chance that the empire as a whole had periods when it had to pay tribute to a more powerful outside force, but that was the price they paid for keeping that outside where it belonged: outside.

We know of one (Third Age) attempt to actually conquer the islands through a landing operation. The fleet (sent by Sheng Seleris) was driven off and partially destroyed by a seastorm sent by the spirits of the land, and possibly the guardians of the Closing whose objections to Sheng's disregard for their thing finally came through with Vormaini support.

In the Second Age, IIRC the Outside Vormaini cooperated with the Waertagi, providing native marines/occupation forces, in the struggle against Mokato and their allied thalassocratic island which the Waertagi sunk shortly before their loss in the West at Tanian's Victory.

  The Hinter Isles may have seen some outsider presence and pollution, but none of the mercantile cartels of the Middle Sea Empire had the financial means to take on the crazed Vormaini warriors who lived the "death before dishonor" mantra with hired mercenaries in sufficient numbers, or sufficient magical fire support.

 

 

 

 

On 8/17/2023 at 1:07 PM, bronze said:

Sorcerous weapon: How are Sorcerous weapons operating? I'm wondering about their mechanism and delivery methods. It seems they are distinct form the Sorcerous spells. And the Empire had developed Sorcerous superweapons, though it hasn't been known whether they had actually been deployed.

A few of the imperial super-weapons have been detailed, such as the fire-spewing turtle galleys used by the Slontans against the Mirrorsea Bay. These were quite likely dependent on supplies from the Cult of Caladra and Aurelion and would have been hard to maintain over longer supply lines.

Other "sorcery" may have been siege engines, whether original designs or re-engineered from Mostali originals (and regularly plagued by gremlins or gobblers).

MRQ's take on the Clanking City weirdly postulated enchanted monster skeleton apparati as weapons for land-based warfare - I found that rather counter-intuitive for the people who created the Flesh Machine. Just saying.

In the Kotor Wars, it looks like the EWF had air superiority with both their draconized cult of Orlanth and the flying dream dragons, wyrms and possibly wyverns, and the occasional Great Dragon. The Slontans quite likely had surface-to-air field artillery to neutralize that advantage somewhat.

 

 

 

On 8/17/2023 at 1:07 PM, bronze said:

It should be noted that after the Tanian's victory, there is absolutely no mention about strategic use of Sorcery, despite of the exponential advancement made in the Sorcerous knowledge and technique.

Part of the reason may have been the crackdown on the monastic wizard orders following the attempted coup of Pilif the Magus in Reconquista Seshnela. While Malkioni society is fine with Man-of-All rulers capable of some sorcery, rule by pure Zzabur caste sorcerers (who tend to be mightier than most Man-of-All spell wielders) is anathema to Malkioni Rightness. Administration and imperial order needs to rest with people trained in the Talar Caste (which includes Men-of-All and pure Talars, although those were rather rare in higher positions).

Also, the hype after the early successes of Abiding Book Sorcery was followed by some sobering when the consequences of Tanian's Victory began to disrupt the seas freed of the Waertagi domination. The Firebergs took a serious amount of attention from engaging in sorcery on battlefields.

And then the adoption of (badly understood) Arkati secrets in heroquesting sent most of the efforts of the sorcerous orders into exploring, mapping and most of all raiding Godtime for divine artifacts.

 

On 8/17/2023 at 1:07 PM, bronze said:

I suppose such lacuna is owing to paltry of the Imperial Age lore. It would be reasonable to assume that the Sea of Flame had become the standard tactics of the Imperial Navy, and their enemies somehow had been able to ignore or nullify the Burning Waters and similar maneuvers. Also it seems that the Empire worshipped Togaro along with Tanian. Togaro is called Ocean of Terror, the Burning Ocean. Apparently turning water to fire was among favourite tactics of the God Learners.

Not quite. True, burning waters were known to Godtime Artmali of southern Pamaltela, and possibly some of the islands first drowned in the Great Flood, but that knowledge was forgotten by anyone contacted by the God Learners.

Tanian's Victory was an unheard-of attack, utilizing an indirect approach ot an obscure celestial entity for which the stars had to be just right. Sure, apart from a few deviations in planetary motion, you would see the same night sky on the same day of the year again and again, but that might just mean that you don't offer naval battle on Fireday, Death Week, Sea Season (or whichever day the Battle of Tanian's Victory took place). The resulting Firebergs were massively inconvenient, too, disrupting profitable trade routes and communication channels. Especially when they started re-appearing out of Sramak's river after the last had gone down into Magasta's Pool.

I cannot recall seeing Togaro among the sea deities utilized by the God Learners. Their favorite sea helper was Wachaza.

 

 

On 8/17/2023 at 1:07 PM, bronze said:

Emperor: How magically powerful were the Emperors of Land and Sea? They were foci of worship around litearlly half the world.

They weren't worshiped. Their ancestors were venerated by those who shared them, which would have given them more oomph when calling upon said ancestors, but that's about the magical benefit the emperors would gain personally from their exalted position.

All Emperors seem to have been Men-of-All, allowing them some amount of personal magic beyond that of traditional talars, but that was not the source or focus of their power either. Their position at the top of the bureaucracy and trade gave them immense wealth, wealth which bought both military might and sorcerers hungry for funds for their research topics.

 

 

On 8/17/2023 at 1:07 PM, bronze said:

Considering how powerful are the Emperors of third age empires, they must have been walking, breathing living high gods. They are referred to as the Mortal Ruler, a mortal peer of immortal gods.

These are theist empires, with Living Worshiped Heroes doubling as High Priests at the top (Red Emperor, Belintar, Godunya, Sheng Seleris - and that's the complete list). The most powerful Malkioni king in the Third Age may have been Siglat, who re-created Loskalm inside the Syndics' Ban. He did not come close to any of the aforementioned Godkings. Neither do the highest rulers in Fonrit or the hardly aging ruler of Cerngoth, or some of the villains like Lord Death On A Horse, the King of Ramalia, or Argrath.

Svagad was the last adventurer-Man-of-All ascending to the throne. His cotery managed to deal with Pilif using tried methods of unenchanted iron and feats of combat, rather than taking the Magus on with spellcraft - much like his Dawn Age pagan demigod ancestor Damol.

 

On 8/17/2023 at 1:07 PM, bronze said:

Industry: How widespread was inventions and contraptions made in Zistor? Though secret of mass producing magical enchantment had never beyond its immediate vicinity, couldn't non-magical technology itself be propagated and reproduced? I believe I once saw primitive machine shops were widespread thanks to Zistor, but have yet found the source.

Quite a bit of mechanical engineering (coupled with pre-historic Kadeniti architectural magic) helped the God Learners creating their navies, and some of their special contraptions, from the early Zistorite communities outside of God Forgot as well as other experiments in natural philosophy.

But otherwise, this is a bit like asking how the results of the Manhattan Project spread through the USA of the Sixties.

 

On 8/17/2023 at 1:07 PM, bronze said:

Zistorites:

It is also mentioned that they consisted of a key component throughout the Empire's contention with EWF, which possessed the greatest and most powerful land force ever graced (or ravaged) Glorantha. They even developed submarines and hot air balloons, though these aren't mentioned in the Men of the West supplement.

The Zistorites leeched off the same magical feed as the pyramid scheme of the EWF, so naturally one would be a thorn in the side of the other. Not to mention the Zistorites tapping the deities of southern Heortland for their project, weakening Storm in the EWF as well (and there Storm was one of the carriers of worship).

Zistorela thrived on the special magical properties of that place that allowed the mass-produced items to work while under the influence. (The EWF had a similar localized benefit with its draconic-altered crops and livestock.) The threat of Zistorite activities was enough for the EWF to cooperate with the southern Traditionalists (at a time when they had crushed the northern ones), and with the Elder Races.

Submarines and hot air balloons sound more like Leonardo's unique inventions than like Zistorite mass production. Diving bells might be a possibilty, though.

 

On 8/17/2023 at 1:07 PM, bronze said:

Zistorites:

Had the wider Empire aided Zistor throughout machine war? Zistorite project was a major investment of the Empire, and it seems the movement had been widely famous. They held the Ingareens in high esteem. But AFAIK, there is no mention whatsover the Empire-wide intervention in conflict, aside from occasional supplies. 

That's because the Zistorite venture was not a high priority state endeavour, but rather a sectarian project among many others. It may have had some financial backers paid off with lesser by-products of the activities in the Clanking City, like e.g. lesser Flesh Machines for the Kotor Wars.

Famously, the emperor did not even comment on the fall of the Clanking City.

 

On 8/17/2023 at 1:07 PM, bronze said:

Closing: Why Zzabur decided to put the Empire to the closure? What would be his purpose? He had never deigned to intervene during Gbaji debacle after all, which is directly linked to Brithos via Arkat. Since the failed invasion attempt, the Empire had never antagonized Brithos. 

While Zzabur most likely contributed to the Closing, we are far from certain that the interruption of all sea traffic was his goal. Much like shattering the Earth Cube and the Spike to break apart Valind's glacier encroaching on Brithos had a greater collateral effect than just the targeted problem.

There were only very few years between the invasion attempt and the start of the Closing, less than what would have been needed to breed and train another generation of Horali warriors on Brithos. Given the absence of Brithos at the time Dormal investigated its old position, it is possible that Zzabur enacted a "remove Brithos from the surface of the world" ritual with the Closing as a side effect. And possibly an effect piled upon by various sea deities reclaiming sovereignty over the top of their realm.

 

On 8/17/2023 at 1:07 PM, bronze said:

Government and Logistics: Are there any discussion regarding the government and logistics of the Empire beyond sourcebook?

The best source I know is describing Belintar's application of God Learner administration in his Holy Country, in the Stafford Library volume History of the Heortling People.

 

 

On 8/17/2023 at 1:07 PM, bronze said:

Future Publication: Though the mention of humanists in the other gods section heightened my anticipations, in all likelihood we are never going to see the Malkioni supplement in the foreseeable future.

Given the snippets Jeff has leaked in the last 24 months or so, I don't think that will be the case. Although with the bottleneck of layout and art direction, even a finished manuscript by Jeff would remain unpublished for a few years.

On 8/17/2023 at 1:07 PM, bronze said:

Future Publication: Considering even the East has gotten a dedicated writer, it is kinda depressing.

The west got a dedicated Jeff Richard. What more do you ask for?

On 8/17/2023 at 1:07 PM, bronze said:

I wonder the Vithela and Teshnos will eventually get their own sourcebook. They are really an interesting and unexplored region.

For the time being, the Jonstown Compendium will be your go-to place for these stranger locales, and only if there are fan publishers caring more for getting their stuff published than for breaking even on art commissions and paying their copy editors.

And Chaosium takes note of the sale figures for exotic location campaigns or scenarios, too. While fan publications rarely match Chaosium sales figures (if at all), the sales ratio between stuff for the core region and exotic ones.

 

On 8/17/2023 at 1:07 PM, bronze said:

Campaigns: Has anyone played campagins centered on the West or the Imperial Age? 

The closest I have come was GMing (my version of) an Aeolian campaign in Heortland in the 1616-1618 period and playing an Arkati sailor in Kustria in a PBEM game using earlier editions of RQ.

 

 

 

Edited August 18, 2023 by Joerg

[bronze]

Wow. It is nearly overwhemlming! 😆 Not sure I could reply them all in time, though I would give a try once available 😁

Quote

The west got a dedicated Jeff Richard. What more do you ask for?

Is it a rhetorical question, I presume? Is Jeff truly dedicated to work on the West? 😃

Edited August 19, 2023 by bronze

[Darius West]

21 hours ago, mfbrandi said:

But that is why we love them. They might be jaded and cynical like Peggy Lee (apologies to Leiber & Stoller … and Thomas Mann):

    I remember when I was a very little GL
    Our lab caught on fire
    I’ll never forget the look on my tutor’s face
    As he gathered me up in his arms
    And raced through the burning building onto the pavement
    And I stood there shivering in my pyjamas
    And watched the whole world go up in flames
    And when it was all over I said to myself
    “Is that all there is to a fire?”

That quote is gold.  Kudos.

[alakoring]

On 8/18/2023 at 8:53 AM, Joerg said:

The Mother of Monsters in Elamle or the way too bloody conflict in Onlaks served as deterrent against major investments there.

I’m about to run an Imperial Age scenario in Maslo, and sadly the Mother of Monsters wasn’t there at the time. She’s a side effect of the Opening (see GtG p.604).

[mfbrandi]

1 hour ago, alakoring said:

Mother of Monsters wasn’t there at the time. She’s a side effect of the Opening

This being Glorantha, it is good to have options, right?

• The most significant event since the oceans’ Opening was the appearance of the Mother of Monsters.
  — GtG, p. 604
   
• The Mother of Monsters is the primary infestation of this pleasant place [the Maslo Coast] … It appeared during the Closing.
  — Introduction to the Hero Wars, p. 234
   
• I know they have labs and breeding pens and stuff [in the Nargan Desert] and they’re making bigger and bigger and better Chaos monsters. It’s also possible the Mother of Monsters, at least part of it, came from that source …
  
  It’s a legacy of the Third Age Communication Ban. It’s the Communication Ban for that area … It may have been spawned by the Six-Leggers or by a bungled Heroquest.
  — Sandy Petersen, Forgotten Secrets of Glorantha, pp. 8 & 33

[jajagappa]

2 hours ago, alakoring said:

I’m about to run an Imperial Age scenario in Maslo, and sadly the Mother of Monsters wasn’t there at the time. She’s a side effect of the Opening (see GtG p.604).

If you went by Sandy's The Gods War game, then the Mother of Monsters is one of the Chaos Monsters that can appear to terrorize areas. Which might suggest she was a God Time phenomenon who was banished and then later returned (perhaps simply out at sea or trudging around some isolated area during the Closing), and then came to Maslo with the Opening. 

But no reason you couldn't have her as a presence in the Imperial Age who the God Learners are trying to banish.

This would be similar to the Crimson Bat flying around in First Age Genertela, but without a cult to feed it.