Stars in Hell?

[hasevir]

6 hours ago, Ynneadwraith said:

That's an awfully evolutionary argument for a world that has no evidence of evolution taking place (at least, not in any way we understand it). Some morokanth have opposable thumbs, but that implies nothing about an arboreal natural history to Glorantha's tapirs.

I'd argue it's more likely that the Man rune has 'eyes' as part of its form, meaning anything with the Man rune has eyes of some sort. Glorantha operates under fundamental laws very different from our own.

Opposable thumbs are magic items or more exactly heroquest rewards. None are born with such magic, magic in general wont come at all until adulthood.

Man = eyes might have a point if eyes went away with losing the man rune. Civilization does for sure.

[Ynneadwraith]

2 hours ago, hasevir said:

Opposable thumbs are magic items or more exactly heroquest rewards. None are born with such magic, magic in general wont come at all until adulthood.

Man = eyes might have a point if eyes went away with losing the man rune. Civilization does for sure.

Have herdmen lost the Man rune entirely? Or just had it proportionally diminished? We know people can have more or less of a given rune, considering blue people are blue because of a greater amount of Water rune within them...

[g33k]

On 2/21/2024 at 4:38 AM, Malin said:

A Lhankhor Mhy delving deep into shamanism and ancestor worshipping instead of sorcery. I approve!

Not gonna lie, I need to introduce this guy in my campaign now.

Egads, yes!

[Joerg]

9 hours ago, Ynneadwraith said:

Have herdmen lost the Man rune entirely? Or just had it proportionally diminished? We know people can have more or less of a given rune, considering blue people are blue because of a greater amount of Water rune within them...

At the very least, herdmen are not eligible targets of the Thumb Quest.

Herdmen and Midget Slashers (troll descendants who lost their Man Rune) now seem to have the Beast Rune. (Which implies eyes, too.)

People are made up from all the runes, but they can express only three of those magically through their normal adulthood initiation under HeroQuest: Glorantha rules. They can acquire more through interaction with the Other Side, and they may lose them.

[Sir_Godspeed]

What if stars in Hell are primarily infrared? 

Incidentally, what do Lodril's volcanoes look like from below?

Edited February 29 by Sir_Godspeed

[French Desperate WindChild]

32 minutes ago, Sir_Godspeed said:

Incidentally, what do Lodril's volcanoes look like from below?

a trollkin after a climb fumble ...

I imagine tunnel / cave of lava (red and yellow depending on the power of the location). From a human perspective, I think it is not a strong light (human may not see very far from the source) except of course if you see directly the center of the power. From a trollish perspective, dark troll would see it as less unconfortable than day light (but hot hot hot) when less strong species would have the same expression than our so nice thief above.

I think it because Lodril was defeated by Argan Argar. So he may not be too violent against Darkness. Like a "domesticated" lion in some exhibit for tourist, dangerous if you approach it and are not (with) the master

 

 

[Ynneadwraith]

55 minutes ago, Sir_Godspeed said:

Incidentally, what do Lodril's volcanoes look like from below?

Is Lodril mooning upwards or downwards? Knowing his reputation, he's definitely mooning in one direction or other...

[Joerg]

Whichever caves open into an active volcano will be flooded by lava during eruptions, and may wash back into the main shaft if there is another exit or when the eruption recedes. Depending on the temperature, lava moves like honey, which may mean that hydraulic equilibrium may take its time and may be prevented by the outer tendrils cooling down enough to solidify, plugging that outlet. An active shaft may be surrounded by a multitude of plugged outlets whose plugs might not be built to hold indefinite pressure, allowing them to open and possibly wash free as hotter magma re-dissolves the plugging material. Since eruptions come hand in hand with tectonic activity, plugs may be shaken loose or the surrounding cavern walls may split, creating new conduits for lava past a plugged lead. Thus you may have underground lava-falls emptying into lakes which may receive or maintain enough heat to avoid "freezing over" for your James Bond or Fu Man Chu villain caves. Or surface structures, like the Sog City Citadel of Brass.

Lodrils dive (or Aether's ejaculation) implanted a renewing source of Heat into the womb of Gata, and the fiery seed still sloshes around (if slowly). Waertagi magics have exploded two main shafts (Mt. Ladaral and Mt. Turos). Other volcanoes have fallen dormant, like Solf's mountain in the southern Shan Shan, but still have some remaining heat below (for the smoke). Yet other chambers still have to open, a godling resting in that womb waiting to be awakened.

Brass Mostali (and possibly Lead and Copper Mostali too) may know ways to leech on those regions of buried heat.

Far from all underground environment needs to be bedrock. Gloranthan clay does not have to be sediment from erosion of exposed bedrock. Goddesses may have organs like the Faceless Statue had - I had a party entering a vein of Eiritha near Old, tracking back the source of a rubble runner molesting their camp site. The Womb of Gata may well have been a huge volume of clay, now partially turned into terracotta after fertilization by Aether. Gloranthan spelunkers down in the deep might be able to dig through fertile soil and approach pools or chambers of magma. Things getting unbearably hot is going to be a good indication what lies beyond.

Some of these chambers might still contain some of the pure celestial plasma that Lodril brought down, compressed and as eager to expand as Umath was. This might happen through fissures in case of tectonic activity, which may be a regular, possibly even cyclical event in parts of the Underground.