Guide to Glorantha Group Read Week 13 - First Blessed

[David Scott]

First Blessed section discussion here!

Don't forget Colin Driver's epic maps and the artwork.

https://basicroleplaying.org/topic/6783-guide-to-glorantha-group-read-week-13-lunar-empire/

https://basicroleplaying.org/topic/6784-guide-to-glorantha-group-read-week-13-deep-discussion/

https://basicroleplaying.org/topic/6745-guide-to-glorantha-group-read-week-13-errors/

[jajagappa]

First Blessed of all the provinces, and not a comment yet on it!  Have to give it some honor.

What caught my eye first was Flower Poem, the spirit founder of the Taran-il.  One of the Egi and a Lunar Immortal.  Hasn't been seen in two generations.  Her direct line seems to be nearing extinction.  Seems like a good opportunity for a Lunar (or Rinliddi) opportunist to venture to the Moon, court her, and bring her back to First Blessed.  Of course, the rise of the new Pentan threat might create problems, or perhaps is a motivation to bring her back.  And other clan members might not be too happy either.  The fact that the "Taran-il are known as fey magicians, often mad" is intriguing.

Yuthuppan Star Towers - intriguing that they have no floors, but may have stairs winding around the inside of the walls.  "The upper reaches of these towers reach the Sky World, not by virtue of their great height, but through magical means inherent in their design."  I could easily picture these appearing in some dream sequence (or HeroQuest) where you are trying to uncover the mystery of a certain tower or find the truth to some unexplained story as written in the stars, and then you're drawn upward and find yourself in the Sky, and then all these angry Sky folk come because you're impure and cast you out....

Karvisti - who is Basekora, whose husbands are Lodril and Shidan? 

Torang - I picture the long line of pilgrims waiting to enter the holy room of the Renativity.  "Renativity?" "Yes" "Good. Out of the door, line on the left, one lunar each." [somewhat paraphrasing an old scene]

Elz Ast - the Duluth (or perhaps Helsinki or Archangel for those of European bent) of the Lunar Empire.  Bustling river boat harbor by Fireseason, ice-laden and bitter cold waste by Darkseason.  Tough crowd there, I think.  Great place to send that Etyries merchant you don't like.

And so close to the Blue Moon Plateau.  What strange emanations come down from there to plague the valleys?

 

[davecake]

Yuthupan Star Tower - compare the Round Tower (Rundetaarn) in Copenhagen. It's 17th, so the comparison is a loose one, but it's a tower built as an astronomical observatory, with a helical internal path up inside the tower, wide enough for horses. 

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rundetaarn

[davecake]

The Taran-il would make a fun house for PCs to be a part of. 

[Joerg]

 

 

3 hours ago, jajagappa said:

Yuthuppan Star Towers - intriguing that they have no floors, but may have stairs winding around the inside of the walls.  "The upper reaches of these towers reach the Sky World, not by virtue of their great height, but through magical means inherent in their design."  I could easily picture these appearing in some dream sequence (or HeroQuest) where you are trying to uncover the mystery of a certain tower or find the truth to some unexplained story as written in the stars, and then you're drawn upward and find yourself in the Sky, and then all these angry Sky folk come because you're impure and cast you out....

I wonder how these towers appear from the outside. I expect the inside to capture the yurt frame of the horse nomads, which would fit well into structures resembling the golden domes of the Sun Dome temples. But these domes don't make good towers.

The yurt frame doesn't have to be an exact hemisphere on the inside, but could be stretched higher. If there are stairways and ramps in this structure, they should be towards the outside.

If we have such domes, I think that the Pantheon in Rome or the Hagia Sophia in Constantinople would be a better real world parallel than e.g. the Peter's Dome in Rome or St. Paul's in London. But such towers would be different in appearance from the ziggurats that are the normal Dara Happan expression of "towers". (Not the gate towers produced by Martin Helsdon, but the tall buildings in the city centers.)

 

3 hours ago, jajagappa said:

Karvisti - who is Basekora, whose husbands are Lodril and Shidan? 

I thought that I'd find Basekora on the Gods Wall, but that was Shafesora, the Dara Happan rain goddess. You will have to dig out your copy of Enclosure for more info.

Personally, when I see "Shidan" I can't help associating "sheitan", the (German) transcription of the Arabic word for devil. And there were goats involved IIRC.

 

3 hours ago, jajagappa said:

Elz Ast - the Duluth (or perhaps Helsinki or Archangel for those of European bent) of the Lunar Empire.  Bustling river boat harbor by Fireseason, ice-laden and bitter cold waste by Darkseason.  Tough crowd there, I think.  Great place to send that Etyries merchant you don't like.

You are aware that for most of our Finnish friends over here, Helsinki lies to the south from where they are living? (Although I think that many will agree about the tough crowd remark...)

 

3 hours ago, jajagappa said:

And so close to the Blue Moon Plateau.  What strange emanations come down from there to plague the valleys?

I think that non-Lunar bird worshipers in Rindliddi associate the Blue Moon Plateau with its Bat Goddess and Death. Wherever these emanations reach will be shunned by most sane people, or the emanation drive those who remain within reach insane.

 

[jajagappa]

28 minutes ago, Joerg said:

You are aware that for most of our Finnish friends over here, Helsinki lies to the south from where they are living? (Although I think that many will agree about the tough crowd remark...)

Yes.  And I've even been in Helsinki (twice, though not during mid-winter)!  There was definitely a feel for being a far northern port on a large open sea/lake, which is why I noted it.

32 minutes ago, Joerg said:

You will have to dig out your copy of Enclosure for more info.

Now I just have to decide whether to pick Enclosure #1 or Enclosure #2 (hmm, is that part of some Alkothi game?).

36 minutes ago, Joerg said:

I wonder how these towers appear from the outside.

Something like this tall domed tower from Yemen might fit: