Concerning Sandy's spectres, it certainly sounds as if they need to be ganged up on. Boy, could they be mean! I had a brave (but unfortunately ignorant) character that tried to take a largish shade on by himself, and ended up lying fear-shocked and freezing right down in it. All of these big elementals or spirit creatures need to be ganged up against, in my experience.
Michael Raaterova believes that there is more use for Issaries as Poet, Skald and Messenger than as Merchant in areas of low population. I have some disagreements with this, as a professional poet, messenger or herald is probably of less use than a merchant to most people.
Very, very few people are completely self-sufficient. There are always things that need to be brought in by travelling merchants and pedlars. As a matter of course, any such merchant would bring all the news they had. Amongst each other, there is always the need for bartering, which is the gift of Harst Spare Grain.
It can also be impossible to support a dedicated resident skald in a lowly populated area. Professional skalds and messengers tend to be more associated with courts or more densely populated areas, if I am remembering correctly. (I admit that I haven't chased upstairs to grab books, this time.) Certainly my impression of Far Point is that it is a reasonably populous area. It has enough surplus production to support nobles and other useless, I mean extra, people.
I am also accustomed to thinking of Issaries as associated with Orlanth, but not a close relative of any sort. For one thing, he completely lacks any association with any elemental. If he were the gentle wind that blows everywhere and spreads all news, he would certainly merit one. He has had no reason to deny affiliation to air, unlike Humakt. Issaries also possesses a scarce rune for which he must be the originator.
Issaries is the Psychopomp for Lightbringers, though I am not used to thinking of him as this. The Prosopaedia specifically lists him as this. Even if it is a GL document, it still has some reasonably truthful ideas in it!
There now, you've got some comments not related to stinky fish! Sandy is right, if you want the subject changed, you generally have to do it yourself. Otherwise, those who are interested in the ongoing subjects will happily continue. Welcome to the digest, by the way.
Please go ahead and post some stuff on ceremonies of the Orlanthi. Our campaign is running in Sartar, and we are gearing up to the election of a new king for the Cinsina. We're going to try it as a live-action roleplaying session two weeks from now, if we can get everyone together. By that time, if there's anything that would fit in nicely with the concluding ceremonies, I'm sure you'll have posted it, and others will have had the fun of commenting. It could be helpful. New takes on the other gods would also interest me.
End of Glorantha Digest V1 #86
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