Starting My First Game

[Anlúan]

Recently, I have left 5e (with only a few sessions left in my last game) due to a multitude of factions. AI art, WotC/Hasbro, etc.

So! I'm a new DM to this world. I have been reading through the lore in each R:RIG book + the Guide to Glorantha, so this doesn't really going to be a topic regarding lore questions for the most part. Instead I'd like to ask:

1. What resources would people point me to? My players have picked out their Homelands, Occupations and Cults, but their biggest irk at the moment is that they don't have access to the knowledge I do, as they're used to having a deep wiki to trawl through. Are there any good resources they can view?
2. What safety tool would be best to have in place? I use the X-card, but does anyone else have suggestions?
3. Are there any 'usually slipped up' mechanics that people may want to point out?
4. And most importantly: Oh by Orlanth, how do weapon skills work?
   For example, if a character gets +15 to Battleaxe, Battleaxe is a weapon that can be used in 1 or 2 hands. Do they get:
   a) +15 to "1h Axe" & "2h Axe"
   b) +15 to "1h Axe (Battleaxe)" & "2h Axe (Battleaxe)"
   c) +15 to "1h Axe" or "2h Axe"
   d) +15 to "1h Axe (Battleaxe)" or "2h Axe (Battleaxe)"
   e) Or something else entirely?!

Thanks for the help!

[Rob Darvall]

Start small and isolated.

• The setting and system are far grittier than 5e. Your PCs will struggle more.
• The Lore can be utterly overwhelming, so make it largely irrellevant at the start.
• Your PCs are MEANT to be ignorant of most of the world.

Don't be afraid to handwave. Deus ex Machina is part of the world.

If a PC deserves it, kill them.

Use the "Lore" skill check frequently, it lets you inform or misinform your players as needed.

 

The "Lore" is more what you'd call ‘guidelines’ than actual rules. It's there to provide plot hooks and GM justifications for outright lunacy (Cf Nick Brooke's 'Black Spear' on the Jonstown compendium for this style of thing)

• There is a Wiki https://glorantha.fandom.com/wiki/Main_Page  
• And the well https://wellofdaliath.chaosium.com/
• And this forum where (as my post may show) grognards will spout reams of advice.
• And a number of FB pages

The world is subjective. "Your Glorantha Will Vary" is baked into the setting from the earliest iterations (actually "Your Glorantha May Vary" is the quote). You (collectively) both create and prioritise what lore matters in your Glorantha. Frex I know next to nothing about anything west of Dragon Pass. One of my players knows some of the "canonical" details of Esrolia. The PCs know some battles happenned there within living memory and spectacular magic was involved.

This subjectivity allows you an extra safety mechanism at your table.

• Player metagaming to the point where it's spoiling the game? Their PC gets taken out by "The Gift Carriers of the Sending Gods", a nebulous organisation written expressly for that purpose (IOW GM fiat). 
• There's a tradition of (and argument about, this is Glorantha after all) rapists becoming Broo/gaining chaotic features/being hunted down by terrifying warrior women/bringing down a chaotic curse on their village/party
  Spoiler

  Cf Gaumata's Vision

Otherwise, I've used both X cards and Lines and Veils. There's extensive discussion of both and scenario use examples on these fora.

"Yes And" is very much your friend. You're co-creating this world with your players.

In fact the whole thing is a co-creation. Fans literally own the company. I see things in the rules that were hashed out BETWEEN FANS on the old Glorantha Digest. Please come and add your two bits.

The weapon use thing is also contextual.

• Is the buff from a spell cast on the specific weapon? Or something more general like Strength, which would add to all skills strength enhances? Or a Babeester Gor blessing that only increases axe attacks?
• What are the players training/attacking with? If they're consistently using 1 handed axe I (note the subjectivity again) would rule that this is what increases, 2 handed axe being a different skill set. Yet this means you wind up breaking out smaller and smaller skills, so you may want to just add to axes generally if that's your style.

Basically you get to choose depending on your story's and table's needs. And the choice does not have to be binding. You can use one for speed and ease in a session and rule another way in the next session. The gods are real in the world and capricious.

Hope this is useful.

[Anlúan]

Thank you for the big response!

First off, I’m not really a forums guy usually - but I’ve been struggling to keep up with Discord servers so I thought this may be a better medium. However that does mean I don’t understand a few abbreviations here! Cf, IOW GM fiat, specifically.

Then in regards to the axe, Old Tarsh’s cultural bonus.

[Jens]

14 minutes ago, Anlúan said:

Then in regards to the axe, Old Tarsh’s cultural bonus.

Each weapon has its own skill, even ones in the same family- you'd track 1H Battle Axe skill separately from 1H Small Axe, even though they are both classified as Axe, 1-Handed. In the case of Cultural or Occupational skills, if the same weapon has a 1H or 2H version, or a thrown version, you add the bonus to all of them, so for Old Tarsh your 1H Battle Axe would be at 25% (10 base + 15 cultural), while your 2H Battle Axe would be at 20% (5 Base + 15 Cultural). Your 1H Small Axe would be at 10% base.

The additional bonuses you add in step 7 need to go to a specific weapon- you'd need to chose to add it to either the 1H or 2H Battle Axe, not both (unless you use 2 bonuses).

Edited yesterday at 12:03 AM by Jens

[Anlúan]

Aaah that makes more sense. And then weapons with 1 characteristic similar get half skill if they don’t have higher? So if they picked up a weapon they don’t know, for example a 2hr sword, they could roll 1/2 2hr Axe (battle axe) or just the base statistic?

4 minutes ago, Jens said:

In the case of Cultural or Occupational skills, if the same weapon has a 1H or 2H version, or a thrown version, you add the bonus to all of them, so for Old Tarsh your 1H Battle Axe would be at 25% (10 base + 15 cultural), while your 2H Battle Axe would be at 20% (5 Base + 15 Cultural). Your 1H Small Axe would be at 10% base.

 

[Jens]

1 minute ago, Anlúan said:

weapons with 1 characteristic similar get half skill

The half skill bonus only applies within the same weapon category, so if you improved your 1H Battle Axe to 50%, you could use a 1H Small Axe at 25%. It would not have any benefit to a 1H Sword, Hammer, Mace, or Spear, or a 2H Axe.

[jajagappa]

1 hour ago, Anlúan said:

First off, I’m not really a forums guy usually - but I’ve been struggling to keep up with Discord servers so I thought this may be a better medium.

Welcome! And hopefully the forum will prove useful to you (I certainly find it easier to organize thoughts and find replies subsequently). 

3 hours ago, Anlúan said:

What resources would people point me to? My players have picked out their Homelands, Occupations and Cults, but their biggest irk at the moment is that they don't have access to the knowledge I do, as they're used to having a deep wiki to trawl through. Are there any good resources they can view?

One resource that might be a useful intro (without a deep crawl) is the Prince of Sartar comic. You get some basics on some key figures and fairly recent events (unfortunately the comic stopped somewhat mid-journey, but if your players go through the character background generation, they may then connect some of the events or figures together).

As noted above, the Well of Daliath is probably the best place online to explore. I'd recommend browsing the Latest Facebook Posts section as these are the posts by Jeff Richard (RQ Creative Director) and provide lots of relevant notes (and they are also searchable). 

And then if the players really want to explore more, I'd suggest the Cults of RuneQuest books as that's the mythic and cult background. 

 

[Techpriest]

If you have the Glorantha Sourcebook (recently on its second edition/printing) you have a pretty good companion to the Guide to Glorantha. View the Guide as a graduate level course, it has nearly everything Greg ever wrote about Glorantha in it. The Sourcebook is more focused on the 1625 ST time you start off RQG with and has information about the near future (Argrath’s rise to power in Sartar, etc) in it in a digestible format, plus legends about the god time and lore explained for most key things. It’s the Cliff Notes. King of Sartar is useful too for inspiration.

Otherwise, as for resources I recommend purchasing the Prosapedia (sic). It’s a quick and useful list of deities and heroes, their runes that they’re associated with, and what they do or did. Handy for if you want to throw in local flavor of a region they’re visiting with say, a spirit cult to Rainbow Girl or a shrine to a famous hero that needs help with a task. The other Cults of Runequest books are excellent too, with Mythology containing some myths (and handy genealogies of the gods) and a cult distribution table, Lightbringers containing a bunch of info on Orlanth and mechanics for your players to play with and explore, Earth Goddesses including some fun cults like Donandar, god of music and theater (for your 5e Bard fan) plus more bloodthirsty cults like Babeester Gor and info on the Elves and their magic and cults with Aldrya. Also Pamalt is there too in case you somehow end up in Pamaltela. The Lunar Way though is excellent in fleshing out the lunar pantheon in a way you can understand and use - anyone interested in the Seven Mothers from the main core will find a lot of interesting options in it to further define their characters. Also there’s the Crimson Bat cult if you hate your group and want to create a really memorable antagonist they have to get rid of before the thing comes to eat them all. 
 

Other than that, the Glorantha Classics provides some old school information about Pavis, Big Rubble, Prax and its borderlands, and Balazar. Dorastor, Land of Doom is also worth a read if only for Jojo the Bobo and his Clown Army and for a place to send a party you wish to die horribly. 

[Bill the barbarian]

4 hours ago, Anlúan said:

Recently, I have left 5e (with only a few sessions left in my last game) due to a multitude of factions. AI art, WotC/Hasbro, etc.

So! I'm a new DM to this world. I have been reading through the lore in each R:RIG book + the Guide to Glorantha, so this doesn't really going to be a topic regarding lore questions for the most part. Instead I'd like to ask:

1. What resources would people point me to? My players have picked out their Homelands, Occupations and Cults, but their biggest irk at the moment is that they don't have access to the knowledge I do, as they're used to having a deep wiki to trawl through. Are there any good resources they can view?
2. What safety tool would be best to have in place? I use the X-card, but does anyone else have suggestions?
3. Are there any 'usually slipped up' mechanics that people may want to point out?
4. And most importantly: Oh by Orlanth, how do weapon skills work?
   For example, if a character gets +15 to Battleaxe, Battleaxe is a weapon that can be used in 1 or 2 hands. Do they get:
   a) +15 to "1h Axe" & "2h Axe"
   b) +15 to "1h Axe (Battleaxe)" & "2h Axe (Battleaxe)"
   c) +15 to "1h Axe" or "2h Axe"
   d) +15 to "1h Axe (Battleaxe)" or "2h Axe (Battleaxe)"
   e) Or something else entirely?!

Thanks for the help!

welcome and I hope you find the BRP realms as much fun as I have for the past 40 years! 

1. Barring spending lots of loot, this free resource might be fine:
https://glorantha.fandom.com/wiki/Main_Page

2. I use x cards doors and shades and common sense. An episode zero and a preamble handout about expectations and triggers does not hurt. 

3. Trying to use the mechanics/rules as computer code and worrying about them too much is the best way to foul up. They look very comprehensive at first glance casing fold to think they could do more than they really can! Play a little fast and loose and it will be smoother and possibly more fun. 

4 and this looks well taken care of...

Cheers

[Nick Brooke]

“IOW GM fiat” = in other words the Game Master gets to do whatever they want.

[svensson]

7 hours ago, Anlúan said:

Recently, I have left 5e (with only a few sessions left in my last game) due to a multitude of factions. AI art, WotC/Hasbro, etc.

So! I'm a new DM to this world. I have been reading through the lore in each R:RIG book + the Guide to Glorantha, so this doesn't really going to be a topic regarding lore questions for the most part. Instead I'd like to ask:

1. What resources would people point me to? My players have picked out their Homelands, Occupations and Cults, but their biggest irk at the moment is that they don't have access to the knowledge I do, as they're used to having a deep wiki to trawl through. Are there any good resources they can view?
2. What safety tool would be best to have in place? I use the X-card, but does anyone else have suggestions?
3. Are there any 'usually slipped up' mechanics that people may want to point out?
4. And most importantly: Oh by Orlanth, how do weapon skills work?
   For example, if a character gets +15 to Battleaxe, Battleaxe is a weapon that can be used in 1 or 2 hands. Do they get:
   a) +15 to "1h Axe" & "2h Axe"
   b) +15 to "1h Axe (Battleaxe)" & "2h Axe (Battleaxe)"
   c) +15 to "1h Axe" or "2h Axe"
   d) +15 to "1h Axe (Battleaxe)" or "2h Axe (Battleaxe)"
   e) Or something else entirely?!

Thanks for the help!

Welcome to the wonderful world of d100! Plenty of room on the bus.

Answering your points in order:

1. Resources that would help are two fold. a] Create a document that details 'Vasana's Story' to give the players a sense of the setting. The second thing I would do is have them play through the 'Duel at Dangerford' solo adventure. That's available online for free at chaosium.com .

2. As for a safety tool: As the referee you are always catering to your audience. For example, if someone is an assault survivor you have to make allowances for that. I would explain that as-written Glorantha is a setting where nudity and sexuality are depicted, but not in a lewd or provocative way. It's presented in terms of adult relationships and religious worship. And I'm assuming you've got the typical no-go areas of no graphic torture, etc. Encourage and reinforce to the players that they have every right to put assert themselves if things get uncomfortable.

3. As to mechanics, everybody slips up on something. Don't worry about it. Make sure you read in on the odd tactics a player might use. If they're a dedicated horseman, read up on that. If they want to use shield walls, read up on that etc.

4. As to your Axe question, they get +15% when wielding a battle axe in melee. Not every axe, not when they try and throw it, but when they use a battle axe either 1- or 2-handed in melee combat. You'll find that most rules are written to be direct and literal that way. A lot of work went into eliminating as much of the 'yeah, but' in the rules as possible. But, of course, there are some questions only the referee can address in the situation at their table.

Lastly remember the two fundamental rules of RuneQuest: a] Maximum Game Fun and b] It's YOUR Glorantha now. What we mean by that is that whatever your table finds fun is alright. No milieu survives contact with a referee as written anyway. What we mean by YOUR Glorantha is that nobody will tell you 'You're doing it wrong!'. We may argue canon, non-canon, and apocrypha till the Storm Bulls come home, but what happens with at your table is just fine with everybody.

[Anlúan]

Thank you for all your responses! Especially the explanations on the axes, that was confusing me somewhat.

I've got 4 follow-up questions on where to find specific lore / rules at the moment.
 

1. is there a good R:RiG book that covers the Elder Wilds?
2. Same question for Holay.
3. Did a follow-up book for Sorcery come out as the core rulebook notes?
4. As my Pfp suggests, I love Minotaurs (which you may find me refering to as Moocows), so I was wondering which Gods they follow in canon.

 

[Brian Duguid]

I strongly recommend two things, one of which will pull you away from your current approach if you decide to follow it.

First: https://rqwiki.chaosium.com/. This is the best free introduction to the setting and its rules you can find. It follows the RQ Starter Set rather than the core book, so there are a few minor differences, but not many.

Second: the RQ Starter Set. Don't ignore it just because you have the core book. It's currently on sale. It contains a perfectly good (and easier to follow) version of the rule system, plus three very useable scenarios, a background book (parts of that are on the RQWiki), and a great set of pre-gen characters. I would recommend to anyone new to the game to use this as their tool to thrash out rules issues, understand what a "good" and "credible" character looks like etc. My group, mostly old RQ grognards, ran two scenarios out of this using the pre-gens before we went anywhere near proper character generation.

1 hour ago, Anlúan said:

is there a good R:RiG book that covers the Elder Wilds?

I think Griffin Mountain remains the place to go for this. Don't expect an RQG book for this area any time soon, although the fan-published Back to Balazar has some relevance, more on the Balazar side.

1 hour ago, Anlúan said:

Same question for Holay.

I don't think so. Personally, if I were starting out in RQG, I'd stick to Dragon Pass. That's where 90% of the existing and near-future content is.

1 hour ago, Anlúan said:

Did a follow-up book for Sorcery come out as the core rulebook notes?

No. Many people get on fine without having any sorcery-using PCs or NPCs in their games.

1 hour ago, Anlúan said:

As my Pfp suggests, I love Minotaurs (which you may find me refering to as Moocows), so I was wondering which Gods they follow in canon.

I don't think this is that clearly defined. In The Smoking Ruin there's a minotaur who follows Storm Bull, an obvious choice. There is another who worships Velhara, the Lady of the Wild, who in this instance is acting as something of a guardian goddess for some of the wilderness beast folk. There are also minotaurs who are devoted to no deity, but presumably just follow simple nature cults or local spirit cults. A minotaur who leaves their home community could choose to follow any appropriate deity, or none.

[Brian Duguid]

12 hours ago, Anlúan said:

What resources would people point me to? My players have picked out their Homelands, Occupations and Cults, but their biggest irk at the moment is that they don't have access to the knowledge I do, as they're used to having a deep wiki to trawl through. Are there any good resources they can view?

I'm coming back to this one, because the question suggests you are setting up quite a diverse party. If so, it's well worth thinking about the good explanation for why these adventurers are together, and where they are based. The pre-gens in the RQ Starter Set offer a few hints at this (and note that you can freely download just the pre-gens from the Starter Set page, if you decide you don't want to buy it): characters are in some cases blood relatives, and in others they have a shared history (explicit or implied) as veterans who have fought in battles together.

I started a little mini-campaign just a couple of nights ago. I limited the character choices to only humans and only one Homeland. I think that is a fairly common choice. But we did do something that perhaps you are also doing to provide some unity to the party. As we worked through the RQG family history process, we kept an eye out for coincidences, and used these to define both a shared history and also blood relationships. Even if you don't have adventurers who are that closely related, the family history is still a very good mechanism for bringing the group together and establishing common loyalties. You can even return to it via flashbacks later on, if you wish.

[jajagappa]

3 hours ago, Anlúan said:

1. is there a good R:RiG book that covers the Elder Wilds?
2. Same question for Holay.

1) As Brian noted, best work on the Elder Wilds is the RQ Classic Griffin Mountain. That area has not changed since then, so that book works well (and also covers Balazar). The Jonstown Compendium (JC) work Back to Balazar provides a great expansion and brings the timeline up-to-date.

2) Holay, no, but my JC work Edge of Empire covers the adjacent Kingdom of Imther and has everything you need to get started with a campaign there (including character background and clan generation). There are bits and pieces about Holay in this forum. Try starting here in the link noted as that includes my map for Filichet (my map of Mirin's Cross is somewhere else I think). 

 

[Anlúan]

3 hours ago, Brian Duguid said:

I'm coming back to this one, because the question suggests you are setting up quite a diverse party. If so, it's well worth thinking about the good explanation for why these adventurers are together, and where they are based.

A few people have pointed out the possible pitfalls with a new party, so I thought it may be an idea to write out who I am running for!
 

1. An Old Tarsh Humakti Warrior, who is honourbound to serve a (yet unnamed) nobleman from Alda-Chur.*
2. This nobleman and the Humakti found a Lunar Tarsh Philosopher (and Seven Mothers Cultist) evading assassination attempts, as she had thrown her lot in with Wideread and was being targetted during the retreat of Wideread's forces by Pharandros loyalists. The nobleman and Humakti saved her, and took her in, on the conditions that they don't do any damn Chaos magic. The Humakti is tasked with making sure she doesn't break that oath. The Seven Mothers player wanted to play a "Shadow-Weaver from She-Ra type of character", and the Humakti wanted to play her "jailer or something similar", so this seemed like a good way to fit it in. It's also a test of character for the Old Tarshite, as Humakti are meant to cut themselves from their old lives, so he's in a bit of a "I hate this Lunar Tarshite, but I'm now Humakti" situation.
3. A Lhankor Mhy scribe from Esrolia who is terrified of Dragons due to the Dragonrise, and turns that fear into a desire to know everything about them. He's going to end up tangled in it due to travelling to the Alda-Chur library as they have Dragonewt Lore in scrolls and tomes from past researchers who looked into the adjacent Dragonewt Wilds.
4. A Ernalda farmer from Esrolia (yet to bind this character to the group, but the player is happy that they go off and travel to help wherever they can. Simple.
5. A Sartarite Nobleman (Vingan) who worships Valind. I've had it that they are a chief of a village near Old Wind, the temple to Orlanth in the south of Sartar. Their village is a pit-stop for pilgrims to Old Wind. They're going to be related to the Alda-Chur noble (by blood, honour or friendship, yet undecided).

* - The nobleman is going to be Sartarite, and the primary questgiver to begin with. I'm running Alda-Chur as having mostly Lunar nobles, but the Lunar nobles are in a position where if they tried to promote the Lunar Way they'd be crushed by Sartar and Old Tarsh, or at least be a target. In the past, these Alda-Churi Lunar nobles were killed and 'trimmed down' due to their attempts to become independant from Sartar, so they're focusing more on being a trading hub at the moment. Due to this, Lunar religions are present (Etyries, Irrippi Ontor and the rest of the Seven Mothers), but the military training of Seven Mothers cultists has been harshly restricted (which I'll use as the motive for an inciting incident later).

The reason I want to know about Holay is that the Lunar Tarsh Philosopher had their Grandmother killed by 'a neighbouring homeland', and we picked Holay to explain why she distanced herself from the Empire and ended up on the assassin kill-list. [Edit: So I wanted to know what might have caused a skirmish between Lunar Tarsh and Holay]

Edited 9 hours ago by Anlúan
Typo

[jajagappa]

18 minutes ago, Anlúan said:

The reason I want to know about Holay is that the Lunar Tarsh Philosopher had their Grandmother killed by 'a neighbouring homeland', and we picked Holay to explain why she distanced herself from the Empire and ended up on the assassin kill-list. [Edit: So I wanted to know what might have caused a skirmish between Lunar Tarsh and Holay

Both Tarsh and Holay are Lunar Provincial kingdoms (and the center of the Lunar Provincial government is Mirin's Cross in the middle of Holay), so why would there be a skirmish? (Especially one that doesn't draw the reprisals of the Lunar Governor) 

• Could be a dispute over a boundary - so-and-so tried to move a boundary stone. (If you look at the boundary line between the two, the line is very straight - likely it is more hodge podge and there's disputes over who gets tribute from villages near the line.)
• Pursuit of bandits crossed from one to the other and resulted in a conflict.
• There are still Orlanthi in these uplands (just somewhat under the covers) and some old feud reerupted.
• Tarsh is ruled by the Eel-Ariash family, Holay effectively by the extended family of Appius Luxius. The conflict was a mini-Dart War between the families taking place through proxies, assassins, and the like.

 

[jajagappa]

One other possible conflict might be related to trade with Elkoi in Balazar. Both Tarsh and Holay provide ongoing "supply caravans" to Balazar and get trade goods in return. Someone decided to raid/hijack one of those caravans which resulted in blame ascribed to someone from the other kingdom.

[Techpriest]

27 minutes ago, Anlúan said:

A few people have pointed out the possible pitfalls with a new party, so I thought it may be an idea to write out who I am running for!
 

1. An Old Tarsh Humakti Warrior, who is honourbound to serve a (yet unnamed) nobleman from Alda-Chur.*
2. This nobleman and the Humakti found a Lunar Tarsh Philosopher (and Seven Mothers Cultist) evading assassination attempts, as she had thrown her lot in with Wideread and was being targetted during the retreat of Wideread's forces by Pharandros loyalists. The nobleman and Humakti saved her, and took her in, on the conditions that they don't do any damn Chaos magic. The Humakti is tasked with making sure she doesn't break that oath. The Seven Mothers player wanted to play a "Shadow-Weaver from She-Ra type of character", and the Humakti wanted to play her "jailer or something similar", so this seemed like a good way to fit it in. It's also a test of character for the Old Tarshite, as Humakti are meant to cut themselves from their old lives, so he's in a bit of a "I hate this Lunar Tarshite, but I'm now Humakti" situation.
3. A Lhankor Mhy scribe from Esrolia who is terrified of Dragons due to the Dragonrise, and turns that fear into a desire to know everything about them. He's going to end up tangled in it due to travelling to the Alda-Chur library as they have Dragonewt Lore in scrolls and tomes from past researchers who looked into the adjacent Dragonewt Wilds.
4. A Ernalda farmer from Esrolia (yet to bind this character to the group, but the player is happy that they go off and travel to help wherever they can. Simple.
5. A Sartarite Nobleman (Vingan) who worships Valind. I've had it that they are a chief of a village near Old Wind, the temple to Orlanth in the south of Sartar. Their village is a pit-stop for pilgrims to Old Wind. They're going to be related to the Alda-Chur noble (by blood, honour or friendship, yet undecided).

* - The nobleman is going to be Sartarite, and the primary questgiver to begin with. I'm running Alda-Chur as having mostly Lunar nobles, but the Lunar nobles are in a position where if they tried to promote the Lunar Way they'd be crushed by Sartar and Old Tarsh, or at least be a target. In the past, these Alda-Churi Lunar nobles were killed and 'trimmed down' due to their attempts to become independant from Sartar, so they're focusing more on being a trading hub at the moment. Due to this, Lunar religions are present (Etyries, Irrippi Ontor and the rest of the Seven Mothers), but the military training of Seven Mothers cultists has been harshly restricted (which I'll use as the motive for an inciting incident later).

The reason I want to know about Holay is that the Lunar Tarsh Philosopher had their Grandmother killed by 'a neighbouring homeland', and we picked Holay to explain why she distanced herself from the Empire and ended up on the assassin kill-list. [Edit: So I wanted to know what might have caused a skirmish between Lunar Tarsh and Holay]

OK - then you're probably going to want to look at the Lightbringer's book as it has more information on Humakti, Orlanth/Vinga, and Lhankor Mhy, and the Lunar Way book has information on the subcults of the Seven Mothers that handle their magic (Jakaleel the Witch and Irrippi Ontor). If everyone is from around Alda-Chur, or has connections to Alda-Chur, something to note right after the Dragonrise is that it's still technically in Lunar control but Lunar nobles are not running the place - instead, the Yelmalio cult has a lot of political power. The leader of Alda-Chur was killed in the Dragonrise too, so you could easily have there be a power struggle between the Orlanthi, Yelmalians, and Seven Mothers temples over who's actually in charge and if they should kick out their Lunar Garrisons or not (Seven Mothers say no, Orlanthi say yes, Yelmalians say no but want concessions from the Lunars and Orlanthi and could very quickly say yes if the situation changes). Your NPC noble from Alda-Chur could be someone from one of the tribes of Sartar that isn't native to Alda-Chur but was friendly enough with the Lunars that he found a position in Alda-Chur - he's probably either Humakti, Seven Mothers, or Issaries - they could be the head of the local market (which is the temple of Issaries). They could also be an officer in some 'Sartar Auxiliary Regiment' of the Empire, if they're Humakti or Seven Mothers.  

Why the Esrolian farmer is in Alda-Chur could be related to their backstory somehow, they have family that fled there after Belintar died and Esrolia became a target of a bunch of raiders, they could be Red Earth sympathizers worried about reprisals back home. 

[Anlúan]

1 minute ago, Techpriest said:

something to note right after the Dragonrise is that it's still technically in Lunar control but Lunar nobles are not running the place - instead, the Yelmalio cult has a lot of political power. The leader of Alda-Chur was killed in the Dragonrise too, so you could easily have there be a power struggle between the Orlanthi, Yelmalians, and Seven Mothers temples over who's actually in charge and if they should kick out their Lunar Garrisons or not (Seven Mothers say no, Orlanthi say yes, Yelmalians say no but want concessions from the Lunars and Orlanthi and could very quickly say yes if the situation changes).

Oooh where does it explain that? Because the husband-protector the Esrolian farmer picked for Ernalda was Yelmalio.

[Techpriest]

3 minutes ago, Anlúan said:

Oooh where does it explain that? Because the husband-protector the Esrolian farmer picked for Ernalda was Yelmalio.

Jeff mentioned it in talking about Alda-Chur. There’s this post here: https://wellofdaliath.chaosium.com/alda-chur/

And here: https://wellofdaliath.chaosium.com/the-far-place/

Where he goes over the cults and the area. Yelmalio has a lot of followers in Alda-Chur. It is not that surprising, as the Sun Dome Temple in Goldedge is nearby. Yelmalio is also neutral to the Orlanth cult and the Seven Mothers cult likes him and tries to be friendly to his cult where possible. 

[Anlúan]

Thank you for these links. In the Alda-Chur one, it mentions Polaris? What's that?

 

Also I may not use all this as I have something different in mind for Alda-Chur, but I this is all very useful information. I'll mull on it and post where I place Alda-Chur when I've settled on something - and after the Dragon Pass book drops next week!

[Techpriest]

Just now, Anlúan said:

Thank you for these links. In the Alda-Chur one, it mentions Polaris? What's that?

Also I may not use all this as I have something different in mind for Alda-Chur, but I this is all very useful information. I'll mull on it and post where I place Alda-Chur when I've settled on something - and after the Dragon Pass book drops next week!

Polaris is the Pole Star, also known as Rigsdal. He's a Solar/Sky god but he's known for helping Orlanth on occasion and Kallyr Starbrow is favored by him. 

I nearly forgot, there's also a map of Alda-Chur that Jeff sketched, and more information should come when the Dragon Pass book comes out next week (cross fingers on that one):  https://wellofdaliath.chaosium.com/alda-chur-sketch-map/

Jeff talks about who was in charge of Alda-Chur before the Dragonrise too, Harvar Ironfist, a Light Son of Yelmalio. 

[Anlúan]

Continuing from those links, who are the Vantaros tribe?

[jajagappa]

1 hour ago, Anlúan said:

who are the Vantaros tribe?

One of the six tribes in the Alda-Chur area. See: Tribes & Clans – The Well of Daliath (chaosium.com)