glorantha

[glorantha]

hey I've been wondering

how the fuck did yelm kill umath if death hadn't been invented yet

thank you for being the first one out of a dozen people to ask this question on my main blog instead of just trying to hit up the glorantha blog despite the multiple posts at the top explaining that it's no longer updating.

this is a complicated question and it's one of those things where you gotta take a step back and look at the meta narrative of glorantha, which much like real world mythology is full of inconsistencies and translation errors (maybe???). there was something like death in the universe before Death was discovered (key point there: discovered, not invented), because death isn't chaotic and people and things died all the time. what we know from the book of heortling mythology is that jagekriand the red god smashed umath's body into dust with an 'unknown weapon'. maybe jagekriand independently discovered Death? the other thing that's suggested is that umath was torn apart but never actually killed and that his body became the middle air that holds the sky above the earth.

the other interesting thing in the book of heortling mythology is the description of yelm's death. orlanth slays him with Death and it says that he dies and goes to hell instead of immediately springing back to life - which suggests that that was the anticipated outcome, which means that maybe the gods were dying all the time but they could just come back.

regardless, i think the main takeaway here should be that there's a difference between death and Death, and whatever death was it may have been a very different state of being to the thing that eurmal brought out of hell.

[glorantha]

Would you then be willing to give the blog or perhaps share the blog with others who are currently very much enjoying Glorantha and like to take the mantle of being lawspeakers?

oh wow that's crazy. i appreciate the interest but i'm afraid i can't do that. this blog was ultimately a personal project for me and i'd like to keep it as it is. of course just because i managed to snag the glorantha url before anyone else doesn't mean you can't also start up a glorantha blog and hell, if you want to do the same shit i used to do then tell me when you've set up your blog and i'll promote it here. i keep getting followers on this blog for some fucking reason so there's definitely people out there who want this shit.

[glorantha]

With the advent of Runequest: Roleplaying in Glorantha, I feel this page should have a revival. It has been a wonderful repository of Glorantha knowledge for me to turn to for years, and i would love to see it live again.

hey thanks glad you like it

i didn’t stop updating it for any particular reason, there was just a stretch where i got behind on questions and then i think something else caught my interest. this blog was a product of when my passion for the glorantha setting was at its peak and even if i started updating the blog again i would never be able to devote myself like i did before.

my opinion about the game these days has dramatically cooled down. i was very interested at the time in getting more people into the game but i think it’s hard to do that when there’s such a ballachingly long development cycle for every product, to the extent that we’re probably never going to get any kind of updated information on places like fonrit that first drew me into the setting. i love orlanthi, i love dragon pass and i never ever wanna fucking hear about them again. there are so many books about fucking orlanth it drives me up the wall.

i also just feel like none of the systems that have glorantha material ready for them appeal to me. the game that gets closest to what i want out of glorantha is heroquest and i don’t like that one either. this is definitely more of a personal preference thing.

i could probably sit here and keep running down a list of things that irritate me about the setting but don’t get me wrong, i love it. glorantha is such a fascinating universe that i regularly look at shit in other settings and think ‘glorantha did this better’. like i’m about to run WFRP and the big four chaos gods? fucking terrible. tzeentch wants what sedenya has.

i also had a lot of fun writing this blog and kind of playing around with people as the law/lorespeaker, which as you might have gathered from the rest of this post is a character entirely distinct from my actual personality. if i got anyone interested in the setting from my posting than that’s mission accomplished. otherwise i’m happy to hear that this is a resource that people are still using, which was the other thing i wanted to do with this. my only regrets are the 52 unanswered questions in my inbox and all the uncredited art, which was a real cunt move from me however you look at it.

i’m probably not gonna fire up this blog again unless something happens that makes glorantha a special interest for me again. consider this the last post. this blog isn’t dead; much like the gods themselves it is outside of time, always there when you need it most or until something happens to this website.

if you wanna talk about glorantha or other rpgs with me i post about that on my main blog. also i have a twitter. feel free to come shoot the shit with me.

also read this

We Are All Us

[glorantha]

With the advent of Runequest: Roleplaying in Glorantha, I feel this page should have a revival. It has been a wonderful repository of Glorantha knowledge for me to turn to for years, and i would love to see it live again.

hey thanks glad you like it

i didn’t stop updating it for any particular reason, there was just a stretch where i got behind on questions and then i think something else caught my interest. this blog was a product of when my passion for the glorantha setting was at its peak and even if i started updating the blog again i would never be able to devote myself like i did before.

my opinion about the game these days has dramatically cooled down. i was very interested at the time in getting more people into the game but i think it’s hard to do that when there’s such a ballachingly long development cycle for every product, to the extent that we’re probably never going to get any kind of updated information on places like fonrit that first drew me into the setting. i love orlanthi, i love dragon pass and i never ever wanna fucking hear about them again. there are so many books about fucking orlanth it drives me up the wall.

i also just feel like none of the systems that have glorantha material ready for them appeal to me. the game that gets closest to what i want out of glorantha is heroquest and i don’t like that one either. this is definitely more of a personal preference thing.

i could probably sit here and keep running down a list of things that irritate me about the setting but don’t get me wrong, i love it. glorantha is such a fascinating universe that i regularly look at shit in other settings and think ‘glorantha did this better’. like i’m about to run WFRP and the big four chaos gods? fucking terrible. tzeentch wants what sedenya has.

i also had a lot of fun writing this blog and kind of playing around with people as the law/lorespeaker, which as you might have gathered from the rest of this post is a character entirely distinct from my actual personality. if i got anyone interested in the setting from my posting than that’s mission accomplished. otherwise i’m happy to hear that this is a resource that people are still using, which was the other thing i wanted to do with this. my only regrets are the 52 unanswered questions in my inbox and all the uncredited art, which was a real cunt move from me however you look at it.

i’m probably not gonna fire up this blog again unless something happens that makes glorantha a special interest for me again. consider this the last post. this blog isn’t dead; much like the gods themselves it is outside of time, always there when you need it most or until something happens to this website.

if you wanna talk about glorantha or other rpgs with me i post about that on my main blog. also i have a twitter. feel free to come shoot the shit with me.

also read this

We Are All Us

[glorantha]

That was when She realized her plight, and She stopped. She sat still, did nothing, save for being where and what She was. That was when the greatest monster of all came to Her and threatened Her. It is called Blaskarth by the Empire now, and others called it Wakboth, Kajabor, Invendith, Sekeveragata, or simply just Cosmic Death. Utter annihilation. Loss of self. It stalked Her, slowly, to drag out Her agony and fear. She was afraid, and then so afraid that the fear could not exist within Her and burned itself out. So She was brave, but so brave that the courage too burned itself out. And so She cried until She could cry no more, and then She laughed in its face. She laughed until She could laugh no more, and so on through every possible feeling and thought until She was at last devoid of thought and emotion, entirely calm. Blaskarth hovered over her, the shadow of nonexistence, and neither with nor without knowledge She offered Her throat and womb to it. It struck, sinking hollow iron fangs deep within Her soul. She died. All died. Everything. She failed to exist. She was not Her. She was. Not Her. Not. Her.

The Life of Sedenya

[glorantha]

What can you tell us of Umath, lorespeaker?

Umath was the Storm King, the Beater and the Shaker, the Destroyer, the Primal Air, the woe of the world and the saviour of the cosmos. He was the last of the Elder Gods, the child of Aether and Gata. He embodied all the strength and violence of the Storm, and his birth preceded the end of the Golden Age.

Umath's first thought was that Violence Is Always An Option. His first act was to cut his way out of the womb of the Earth. His arrival in the Emperor's court was totally unexpected. When he came before the Emperor, he made his demand for a realm of his own, as had been given to his parents and to all the gods before him. But he was denied, since every place in the universe now belonged to someone else. So Umath tore the Sky from the Earth to create the Middle World, which would be his realm.

The world eventually healed from this act of violence, and the universe slowly began to grind into Stasis under the Emperor's rule. But Umath and his hundreds of children were rebellious. They seized their own realms and ruled in their own way. The Emperor answered with force, sending an army led by Jagrekriand the Red God to slay Umath. Umath was slain, and the Celestial Court rejoiced, believing that order would now rule without the Storm King.

Of course, that's not what happened at all.

[glorantha]

Oh wise one! You have told us of the urothtrorol, of which I never heard before in my long travels. ¿Can you tell us from other such exotic spirits born from other elements, such as fire?. ¿Is there a compendium or bestiary of such beings?

There are a wide range of Malkioni texts describing elementals and similar spirits. The best and most powerful ones were written by the God Learners during the Second Age, but many of those have been totally lost. An example of a popular recent text describing elementals are the Xeotam Dialogues, a series of dialogues between the wizard Xeotam and his apprentice Aanor. In one of the Dialogues, Xeotam describes the Elements and the various srvuali they spawned. Of course, barbarians would see the Dialogues as wrong or even blasphemous, and have their own understanding of the world that they don't necessarily commit to paper.

Here are some common elementals, organised by elemental affinity:

The most revered gods of fire are the Lowfires. These three spirits are the friends of humans and embody the three flames used by people. They are Mahome, the flame of the hearth; Gustbran, the flame of the forge; and Oakfed, the wildfire. They are known to every human culture in Glorantha, worshipped by barbarians but despised by civilised peoples such as the Pelorians. However, there are no companions more reliable than the spirits of the Lowfires.

Darkness: The Underworld creatures called dehori are the most well known and feared Darkness elementals. They are not quite god or spirit, but something else entirely. They are kin to trolls, and wherever there are trolls they will have dehori among them. Some dehori even have status in troll society. All dehori are the children of Dehore, the King of Below, one of the three children of Father of Demons and Mother of Space.

Dehori are shapeless creatures of living shadow. They are freezing cold, and the touch of a dehori can cause supernatural terror in its victims. They can extinguish any flame or light source that they take within their bodies. People who are engulfed by a dehori's Darkness are cut off from all of their senses.

Earth: The serpent-like talosi can swim through soil as if it were water. They can consume things above the soil by opening up the ground like a mouth. Since they can move totally undetected, they are valued by Earth-worshippers for their ability to transport and safeguard holy items. They can even carry people, giving them enough air to stay alive while moving underground.

Moon: The Red Moon has its own spirits, the Lunes, the most beloved spirits of Sedenya. They are strange entities whose forms shift and change with the light of the Moon. Their nature means they can only be summoned when the Moon's light is strong enough or inside the Glowline. Their are Lunar grimoires that teach glamours to summon and control lunes, as well as spirit societies such as the Hell Witches, the Red School of Masks, the Young Elementals and the Jakaleel cult of the Seven Mothers.

[glorantha]

Sketch of the day - Mularik Ironeye, half-crazed Arkati Sorcerer and companion to Prince Argrath.

[glorantha]

Belintar and Jar-eel have an honest talk. Maybe they should have done this before she killed him.

http://www.princeofsartar.com/

[glorantha]

Well now, I guess Harrek was watching the whole time. I am sure he will react to this in a sane and rational manner. 

http://www.princeofsartar.com/

[glorantha]

The Red Goddess, mistress of Chaos, Changer, Balancer and Exposition Deliverer. Hey, it’s a job, and someone has to do it! http://www.princeofsartar.com/

[glorantha]

And here’s the next page of the comic, that should have been up last week. I am not happy with it, at all. http://www.princeofsartar.com/

[glorantha]

Greetings Glorantha Lore, I must ask the question: Why is it that certain Orlanthi groups/cultures can get away and keep going on while having foreigners and foreign gods rule over them? Surely Orlanth and his storm tribe despise such injustices? Or at the very least the clans'/tribes' ancestors are greatly displeased? Shouldn't their clan magic be weakened greatly? I'm speaking of the Heortland, Esrolia, Tarsh, Jonatela, Caladraland, but if you can think of any others please talk about them.

For most of them, they just don't worship Orlanth any more. Orlanth's magic is the magic of sovereignty, rebellion and violence, so any outside power that wants to rule the Orlanthi takes that away from them first. People like the vendref, the Jonatelans and the Tarshites are only allowed to approach Orlanth through Barntar, his most peaceful aspect. Barntar is the god of plowing, wrestling and good times; he can't make you a great king or a sword-fighter, but he'll help you plow the best fields in Glorantha. Since Orlanth is the main source of battle magic for the Orlanthi, this absolutely weakens them and makes them dependent on their rulers for protection.

But does the clan's overall magic suffer for this? I don't think so. The gods are fair and just. They don't punish people for being dicked over by foreigners. It's not the vendrefs' or the Jonatelans' fault they were enslaved. So they adapt to their situation, restructuring their society around the absence of Orlanth. And they get by just fine. As Ernalda says, There's Always Another Way.

Also, the gods haven't been able to personally deal with crimes against their people since the God Time; even if the Storm King wants his people to be free, it doesn't violate the Great Compromise to take Orlanthi slaves, so he can't do anything about it. And ancestors have even less power than the gods in these matters.

You present a few interesting examples there, so I'll go into them with more detail:

The Jonatelan Orlanthi are an oppressed people. The Jonating nobles rule over them with an iron fist, with the Orlanthi reduced to the status of property. Their clan assemblies never make a ruling against the nobles, and clans that rebel are wiped out. All of that is set to change in the Hero Wars.

The Heortland Orlanthi keep getting conquered. They haven't been able to rule themselves since the time of Hendrik the Free. When Belintar slew Ezkankekko, many of the Hendrikings refused to submit to the God-King and abandoned Kethaela entirely. The remaining tribes became loyal subjects of Belintar, just in time for the Lunars to kill him and invade the Holy Country. Now Whitewall is the last free city of the Orlanthi.

The Esrolians aren't really Orlanthi any more. There's similarities, but their ways of living are entirely different to orthodox Orlanthi traditions. They don't really care about Orlanth, and most Ernaldan men worship Barntar anyway. They are currently suffering under the Lunar yoke, with their nobility split between the Red Earth Alliance that supports Queen Hendira and the Old Earth Alliance that opposes the Lunar occupation.

It's the same deal with the Caladralanders. Veskarthan is their most important god, not Orlanth. With Belintar's disappearance, Galeros Highpeak has seized the Diamond Diadem and plans to make himself the king of an independent Caladraland. The Lunars won't stand for that, but their attention is entirely focused on Heortland right now. Besides, fighting the Caladralanders on their own turf is a recipe for disaster.

The Tarshites are unique. They are fully part of the Lunar Way now, and have prospered for it. They live as traditional Orlanthi, but much of the populace are initiated to Lunar cults, particularly the Seven Mothers. The city of Furthest is one of the greatest in the Provinces, possibly in all the Empire. They are the great Lunar success story. They have won the war against themselves. They love the Red Goddess.

[glorantha]

When and how have humans and trolls become friends in Glorantha?

The first time humans and trolls worked together was back in the First Age with the creation of the Unity Council. This was when all the races – humans, trolls, dragonewts, Gold Wheel Dancers and more – were able to put aside their differences and work together. This was the last time trolls were able to cooperate with dwarves and elves. The trolls and Theyalans both left the Council and later found a common foe in the Bright Empire.

Today, there's a lot of places where trolls and humans are allies or at least willing to cooperate with each other. The best example is the Holy Country, where humans and trolls have maintained a strong alliance ever since Argan Argar wed Esrola. The Holy Country is also the home of the Kitori, humans who learned the secrets of Darkness from Only Old One. The cult of Argan Argar is strong in the Holy Country, as it is in all places where trolls and other races coexist.

There's the Kingdom of Ignorance near Kralorela, the centre of the cult of Basko the Black Sun. It was first ruled by humans, then trolls, then humans again. The modern Ignorant worship many Darkness gods and behave in incredibly trollish ways.

There's the Blue Moon Plateau in the Lunar Empire. Most trolls hate the Lunars for their ties to Chaos, but the Blue Moon trolls are allies with the Lunars. The Blue Moon trolls have aided the Lunars in numerous battles, and troll caravans travel freely across the Empire.

Otherwise, trolls and humans mainly leave each other alone. Humans are tasty, but there's too many of them to fight. So the trolls stay in the wildernesses, in the places too dangerous or arid for humans to live. For their part, humans are happy to stay away from those places, and normally only interact with trolls when they need mercenaries or when the night caravan passes through.

[glorantha]

You’re right. Harrek is most likely the warlord and Argrath most likely the dragon lord. Kitchen-boy and poetess are definitely Aelwrin and Jar-Eel. The three-pronged king is most likely the Red Emperor, who wears a crown with three prongs. The lost soul is either Gunda the Guilty or Androgeus.

[glorantha]

RuneQuest: River of Cradles ~ Avalon Hill (1992)

[glorantha]

Tell us about the Puppeteer Troupe. Who are they, what do they do and so on.

ThePuppeteer Troupe is a travelling caravan of entertainers and the mostfamous entertainment troupe in Genertela. People from miles awayflock to their performances. Nobility will pay exorbitant amounts tohave the troupe perform for them, but the Troupers prefer toentertain common folk. Even the haughtiest kings and queens are stillwilling to sit in the dirt like peasants for a chance to see aTrouper show.ThePuppeteer Troupe seems to be nothing more than a travellingfreakshow, but the Troupers have a complex culture. They areextremely loyal to teach other but distrustful of strangers. They aredisdainful towards commoners and nobility alike, but particularly thelatter. They keep their interactions with outsiders strictlybusiness-related and never put on a performance for free. Theyworship strange and obscure gods, all of them related to art andentertainment.Theone thing each Trouper has in common is a desire for something more.The Puppeteer Troupe is dismissive towards all matters of mythos andmorality, but each one of their number was driven to leave theirhomes and embrace the life of a vagabond, even if it was simply tosatisfy a powerful wanderlust. Most Troupers were common folk intheir old lives, but powerful magicians and noble scions have alsojoined the Troupe.Someof the most famous Troupers include:Delasta,a troll shadow dancer from Dagori Inkarth. She uses Darkness magic toproject shadow puppets on a blank wall. She performs the hilariousTen Lessons Of Morality.Tozbodthe Strong Woman,who arm wrestles for money.'YouDo',a married pair of puppeteers. He lies on the ground and uses handpuppets while she stands above him with string puppets.Marlestathe Dancer, who was a member of the Royal House of Sartar. Her father wasSarotar, son of Prince Saronil. She came to the Troupe after escapingfrom her mother, who had kidnapped her to lure Sarotar to his death.The Puppeteer Troupe abhors violence, but there are persistent rumours that the they are actually a trained band of warriors. Legends abound of soldiersand mercenaries who dared to fight the Troupe and lost. The Troupehas even performed some of these stories, taking the opportunity to mock the variousmilitary forces featured. In their performances, the stories alwaysend with the Troupers shouting, “Troop? We're a troupe!”