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Blood&Bones of the Gods


g33k

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So...  bronze & many other metals are the bones of fallen Gods; various crystals are their blood.

Is there any difference between the blood of gods dead & fallen, vs. e.g. blood shed by Orlanth or another still-living god?

Also:  does it matter WHICH god?  That is, do powers follow the powers/natures of the god whose blood you are using, e.g. Storm Bull's blood works best with Air magic, Berzerk, and anything anti-Chaos?  Or might there be limitations, e.g. a drop of Yelmalio''s blood couldn't be used with Darkness or Water magics?

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Blood shed by Deities generally falls as POW Crystals, Powered Crystals or rare magic items.

Some crystals have special properties, but I can't remember them offhand. Chaos Crystals might link to their deity's powers, for example.

It might be worth giving crystals from a deity some of the runes associated with the deity, so crystals from Storm Bull might give a bonus to Air/Storm and Beast.

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47 minutes ago, g33k said:

Is there any difference between the blood of gods dead & fallen, vs. e.g. blood shed by Orlanth or another still-living god?

Also:  does it matter WHICH god?  That is, do powers follow the powers/natures of the god whose blood you are using, e.g. Storm Bull's blood works best with Air magic, Berzerk, and anything anti-Chaos?  Or might there be limitations, e.g. a drop of Yelmalio''s blood couldn't be used with Darkness or Water magics?

I seem to remember that the blood of dead gods was un-powered MP storage crystals, whereas powered crystals were the blood of gods that didn't die. I don't know if that was ever official. It's probably possible to tell which god, Divination could almost certainly tell you if the blood was of your god, and maybe you could use it for something funky in a heroquest.

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I would imagine saying a ring set with rubies and emeralds would would far more Gloranthan if referred to as Moon drops surmounted by Ernalda's tears - and would immediately conjure probable magics in the minds of the PC. Remember that Runes have colour affinities, no reason not to carry this through to gemstones.

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3 hours ago, g33k said:

Is there any difference between the blood of gods dead & fallen, vs. e.g. blood shed by Orlanth or another still-living god?

Would you like there to be?! That's the real question. In the mundane world, both will manifest as magic crystals. If you HeroQuest, you could get the actual blood of either. The blood of a living god would likely be considered a holy relic that has value to your temple. I'd likely play it that if you drank the blood of the Living God, it would bring you closer to that god: might add Rune Points, or the ability to invoke a Rune magic without RP cost, or increase your Devotion or the Runes of that God.  Maybe your appearance would become more like that god.

I'm sure you could use the blood to Sanctify ground as well, probably an auto-success with that, and perhaps it aids in Summoning cult spirits associated with that god (a benefit which you could not get from a dead god).

3 hours ago, g33k said:

Also:  does it matter WHICH god?  That is, do powers follow the powers/natures of the god whose blood you are using, e.g. Storm Bull's blood works best with Air magic, Berzerk, and anything anti-Chaos? 

Of course! And if you try to use that blood to some nefarious purpose (as I'm sure certain sorcerers must) then that will taint you in some way that the cult will recognize.

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15 hours ago, g33k said:

Is there any difference between the blood of gods dead & fallen, vs. e.g. blood shed by Orlanth or another still-living god?

In the basic magic crystal sections of RQ2 & RQG (GM Screen Pack) there's no differentiation between which gods provide which powers, dead or not and powered and unpowered crystals. However see later.

Quote

Also:  does it matter WHICH god?  That is, do powers follow the powers/natures of the god whose blood you are using, e.g. Storm Bull's blood works best with Air magic, Berzerk, and anything anti-Chaos?  Or might there be limitations, e.g. a drop of Yelmalio''s blood couldn't be used with Darkness or Water magics?

RQ2 Plunder has crystals linked to specific gods:

Arroin's Blood - actual blood, not a crystal, but says his blood formed healing crystals.

Fire Crystals (or Sky Crystals) from Yelm and Yelmalio that have extra powers.

Sandy Petersen wrote of some Pamaltela crystals in the Glorantha Digest https://glorantha.steff.in/digests/GloranthaDigest/vol05/4709.html

Here he implies that gods that survived produce powered crystals.

Elder Secrets of Glorantha for RQ3 expanded Powered crystals much more with chaos crystals and associated the powered crystal with a range of gods, some known some not:

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Chaotic: Slime Stones, Evil Rocks, Thed Stones.

Healing Focussing: These come from healing deities, especially Arroin. who was so continually damaged by the wars. names: Arroin's Tears. Chalana's Blessings.

Sensitivity: These are usually believed to be from storm gods. names: Mhy Magic Is, Akim's Stone.

Power Enhancing: These are often believed to be from the gods of the storm pantheon. names: Nipple Stone. Selfdrill. uncut Esrolian Ruby.

Spell Reinforcing: Zorak Zoran and his Legions of Death are said to have supplied the blood. for these. names: Smoke Rocks, Snake Crystals, Pakbaks.

Spell Strengthening: Yelm the Archer is believed to have supplied these, and an otherwise unknown deity called Bamab, Damag, or Gargag. names: Arrow Points, Barnablood (or Darnagblood, Gargagblood, etc.), Bamabshoot (Darnagshoot, etc.)

Spell Resisting: These are believed to come from earth spirits. names: Gatasave, Emalda Tears.

Spirit Supporting: A curious belief holds that these are the fossilized souls of lonely widows. names: Ghost Shields, Grandpa's Aid.

Flawed: These are known to have come from Trickster, who certainly suffered his share of woundings. names: Joke stones, Choke Stones, Smoke Stones; or another name, with the adjective Twisted (ie Twisted Gatasave).

Unpowered: These seem to have come from many different gods, yet exhibit the same characteristics. names: Second Wind, Splinter Rock, Limbium, Gar Crystal, Ony's Rock, Energy Canteen. Maldanian Quarts Crystal, Star Tip.

 

It also contained a report from Nochet Knowledge Temple that said this:

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My tentative conclusion is that the Living crystals are from gods who still live, the majority from dead gods long forgotten in our world.

As RQG has currently not expanded Crystals, I'd likely associate the powered ones with a relevant rune, allowing an augment to tune it from the adventurers relevant runes. Some might give rune points from a relevant god or allow specific rune magic to be cast, or even a bonus to the adventurers rune.

 

 

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  • 1 month later...

I think they'd be more unique items now that you have to find on an adventure, not just something you can pick up in the market. Though if you do find crystals or other magic items for sale they'd probably be worth somewhere from 100-200L for empty ones, or 200-300L for powered crystals.

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10 minutes ago, Richard S. said:

I think they'd be more unique items now that you have to find on an adventure, not just something you can pick up in the market. Though if you do find crystals or other magic items for sale they'd probably be worth somewhere from 100-200L for empty ones, or 200-300L for powered crystals.

I would expect powered crystals to cost a lot more than that. Finding a high-price buyer for one, however, that might be tricky. They are probably one of the highest profit items for a trader, if they are patient enough to look for the right buyer, and able to defend their valuable merchandise for that amount of time. As we saw in the Biturian Varosh stories, there's a good chance that somone will come and claim back this kind of "stolen property".

If you want to buy a magic crystal, talk to the Issaries traders and get the word out that you have a pile of gold burning a hole in your purse. Someone might get in touch with an offer.

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43 minutes ago, PhilHibbs said:

I would expect powered crystals to cost a lot more than that. Finding a high-price buyer for one, however, that might be tricky. They are probably one of the highest profit items for a trader, if they are patient enough to look for the right buyer, and able to defend their valuable merchandise for that amount of time. As we saw in the Biturian Varosh stories, there's a good chance that somone will come and claim back this kind of "stolen property".

If you want to buy a magic crystal, talk to the Issaries traders and get the word out that you have a pile of gold burning a hole in your purse. Someone might get in touch with an offer.

Agreed here. I think the price for an unpowered dead crystal would be close to 30/40L per MP that can be stored within. It is coherent with the 200L/POW I guesstimate for matixes (200/5.5=36). Nobody spend any pow, but you have the spirit storing as a bonus.

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On 3/23/2019 at 11:17 AM, jajagappa said:

Would you like there to be?! That's the real question. In the mundane world, both will manifest as magic crystals. If you HeroQuest, you could get the actual blood of either. The blood of a living god would likely be considered a holy relic that has value to your temple. I'd likely play it that if you drank the blood of the Living God, it would bring you closer to that god: might add Rune Points, or the ability to invoke a Rune magic without RP cost, or increase your Devotion or the Runes of that God.  Maybe your appearance would become more like that god.

I'm sure you could use the blood to Sanctify ground as well, probably an auto-success with that, and perhaps it aids in Summoning cult spirits associated with that god (a benefit which you could not get from a dead god).

Of course! And if you try to use that blood to some nefarious purpose (as I'm sure certain sorcerers must) then that will taint you in some way that the cult will recognize.

We have played that special cult rituals could allow you to absorb the powers & become more godlike. 

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  • 1 year later...

We traveled to the Tunneled Hills and the Plateau above them. On the Plateau were giant statues of the Gods of Glorantha. Well at  least Stormbull. We saw Stormbull's statue and the others were at a distance. On the plateau, the Blood of the Gods ran as a liquid and was in pools. If you removed that blood from the Plateau, it solidified into adamant. I do not know if it was Truestone or not. Gorfang, a dwarf, created a form like a shield to hold some of the blood. When he filled the form and left the Plateau, the blood solidified into an adamant shield. 

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