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"For a long time I have wished to do a picture of a female warrior, who actually looks like one." RUNEQUEST GLORANTHA art by Ossi Hiekkala


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6 minutes ago, Bill the barbarian said:

bad g33k, bad, go to your dungeon, right now!

:(

<whiny tone> :   But Biiiiillll !!!   It isn't even a puuuuun.  I used the words correctly, and grammatically, and everything!   You're just being mean to me!

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3 minutes ago, g33k said:

<whiny tone> :   But Biiiiillll !!!   It isn't even a puuuuun.  I used the words correctly, and grammatically, and everything!   You're just being mean to me!

Then  why were you making that silly face?

And while the feather may be sharper than the sword at times, most death drakes prefer to wield blades rather than their integumen.

I have yet to see a barbarian succumb to points of grammar or expression, but many a barbarian succumbed to spear, arrow or horn points.

 

That said, bad Bill. Pot, kettle, dark coloration...

Telling how it is excessive verbis

 

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38 minutes ago, Joerg said:

That said, bad Bill. Pot, kettle, dark coloration...

I fail to see what you might be implying my good sir, now can we return to the topic at hand...

GREAT PIC, wouldn't you say?

Edited by Bill the barbarian

... remember, with a TARDIS, one is never late for breakfast!

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17 hours ago, Julian Lord said:

So a method that keeps the spear/javelin free from that load then.

In the Roman instance: yes, but doubtless spears were used in the same way in other times and places.

Examining the picture: her shield appears to be protected by a leather covering, so not immediately combat ready, she has other weapons readily to hand; the location is relatively safe in that the farmer is 'armed' only with a hoe and is accompanied by a young child. Given these factors, the use of the spear isn't unrealistic or inappropriate.

Conclusion: an excellent piece of art.

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24 minutes ago, M Helsdon said:

... she has other weapons readily to hand...

Yes.  Looking at the details again...  RH completely free & unencumbered, with the axe to hand (and the knife fastened for RH-draw; so she's right handed).  This puts her only 1 second or so away from being fully armed (LH: drop load; RH: draw axe).

Granted, she'd like her shield strapped on, but evidently she judges things as peaceable enough that she isn't likely to need it that quickly.

 

Edited by g33k
explicit agreement

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1 minute ago, g33k said:

Granted, she'd like her shield strapped on, but evidently she judges things as peaceable enough that she isn't likely to need it that quickly.

 

Sounds about right, put a good warrior in a position of having to fight with only one weapon of a set, one would hope they might be able to parry and  attack with it with some competency. Possibly catching the opponent off guard by the rapidity of being ready,  even if less deadly than if he or she had more time to break out the real and obviously military grade weapons.

This possibly might be enhanced by having a perfectly good secondary weapon that one is qualified in near at hand (but not in hand:) while the better weapon and more feared is harder to get to. To explain a bit further, I am thinking a lightly armoured warrior with but an axe carrying what is only obviously a weapon but one that is being used for a much more peaceful means is much less threatienig (not non threatening, just less threatening) than one with and axe and a shield near at hand (again not in hand)  (for that matter a spear and a shield) , and not obviously encumbered, might be.

... remember, with a TARDIS, one is never late for breakfast!

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4 hours ago, Sir_Godspeed said:

Same for her gut. Obviously the plate is hiding the interior, but the impression that we get across is of a fairly bulky waist, that of someone with a lot of core strength, and the kind of muscle mass built up from, again, working muscles rather than idealized "amazonian" narrow waists.

Look at the true 'Strongest' competitions...like those Icelandic guys lugging rocks in circles.  None of them look like bodybuilders, more like massive potatoes.

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31 minutes ago, styopa said:

Look at the true 'Strongest' competitions...like those Icelandic guys lugging rocks in circles.  None of them look like bodybuilders, more like massive potatoes.

As @Ian Absentia pointed out, different forms of exercise (and diet) creates different kinds of musculative, but overall you're right of course. The body is usually best off being well-hydrated and having a layer of fat both for energy reserves as well as to use for dampening, as it reduced tissue damage (bruising, etc.).

Keep in mind that sustaining such enormous bulk is very costly, calorie-wise, so a professional soldier or adventurer of some kind of likely to go through periods of relative glut and emaciation.

For comparation, people can look up pictures of say, native Amazonian or Papua-New Guinean hunter-gatherers, who sometimes appear to have rounded bellies, but rather spindly arms and legs. Then, when using said arms and legs, you suddenly see surprisingly toned and bulky muscles appearing. Those are shaped by a lifetime of navigating difficulties in many different forms, including getting enough food, so the body settles in shapes we might not immediately associate with power. I've seen some shapes like this in old photographs of European farmers too. Strength hides in a wide variety of forms.

Which, to end this little ramble, is why it's so good to have those different shapes represented in our art, such as here. :D

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Really nice picture!

I wonder how the helmet fits on her head with the haircut she has? Would the helmet have a hole on the top, or would it just crush her braid?

Also, that's totally not how I pictured the type of armor Orlanthi warriors would wear -- this is more like what I figured Lunars would wear (especially that helmet style... is she a Lunar collaborator or something? :)). Is there any good weapon/armor visual reference for the major Gloranthan factions so I can fix my mental images?

Edited by lordabdul
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Ludovic aka Lordabdul -- read and listen to  The God Learners , the Gloranthan podcast, newsletter, & blog !

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23 minutes ago, lordabdul said:

Is there any good weapon/armor visual reference for the major Gloranthan factions so I can fix my mental images?

Try the second post down on this page: 

 

[Well really the whole thread with all the detail images. This should give you plenty beyond the RQG book itself.]

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12 hours ago, JonL said:

To my formerly-a-professional-printer's eye, the helms, the Duck's sword, the shovel head, and the axe-head all have a lot more red in them than the spear-head does.

Backing that up: here are some color samples taken  from highlights in the spear-head vs highlights on the Duck's sword, both of which are facing the Sun in their respective frames: 

gvb.PNG

Bronze alloy v natural bronze (Gods bones)???

 

I have a question about said Vingan - was she drawn to be a representation of a Vingan? Or was a warrior woman drawing taken to be a representation of a Vingan?

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19 hours ago, Shiningbrow said:

...

I have a question about said Vingan - was she drawn to be a representation of a Vingan? Or was a warrior woman drawing taken to be a representation of a Vingan?

I think "red-headed female 'Orlanthi' warrior" is usually presumed to be Vingan.

Jeff is usually pretty spot-on in his art direction; I doubt it's accidental!  I suppose the artist could have been working on-spec, but it's just stunningly apt for Glorantha if done by someone not informed!   Occam's razor...

===

EDIT:  Or we could go consult the artist's own page...

Quote

In the picture, a young Vingan runelord has stopped to ask the way from a settler of Sartarian heritage from Zola Fel valley.

 

Edited by g33k

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Seems like Orlanth Adventurous initiates would be on the elite side, more fighters than farmers... so she should have a sword.  Particularly with the new rules and fluff.  I wonder why she doesn't.

Edit: and the caption says she is in fact a rune lord.  So yeah, what's up with that.

Edited by Roko Joko
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What really happened?  The only way to discover that is to experience it yourself.

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27 minutes ago, Roko Joko said:

Seems like Orlanth Adventurous initiates would be on the elite side, more fighters than farmers... so she should have a sword.  Particularly with the new rules and fluff.  I wonder why she doesn't.

Edit: and the caption says she is in fact a rune lord.  So yeah, what's up with that.

She couldn't have lost it, because as far as I understand nobody uses disarm.

.

.

...I kid, I kid.

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49 minutes ago, Roko Joko said:

Seems like Orlanth Adventurous initiates would be on the elite side, more fighters than farmers... so she should have a sword.  Particularly with the new rules and fluff.  I wonder why she doesn't.

Edit: and the caption says she is in fact a rune lord.  So yeah, what's up with that.

Axe Orlanthi (spear and axe are their preferred weapons)?  Ernaldori-gone-Vingan?

Or just unusual... "not in the usual model" IS the usual model for PC's after all...

 

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3 hours ago, Roko Joko said:

Seems like Orlanth Adventurous initiates would be on the elite side, more fighters than farmers... so she should have a sword.  Particularly with the new rules and fluff.  I wonder why she doesn't.

Edit: and the caption says she is in fact a rune lord.  So yeah, what's up with that.

She might prefer an axe.

The world is messier than rulebook implications indicate.

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21 hours ago, g33k said:

 

===

EDIT:  Or we could go consult the artist's own page...

 

I did see that. I didn't *presume* it was 100% commissioned.

(This is because I've seen descriptions in official books which don't always match the picture... Ie, details missing, hard to see, or descriptions of colour on B&W images)

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