Okay. Briefly, Umathela is so-named because it was partially conquered by brutish storm and darkness gods during the Gods War. Hence, it is more like a little corner of Genertela than it is like Pamaltela. It has snow in winter, etc.,
Umathela is subdivided into two sections. The eastern part is named Vralos, and is mainly deciduous forest intermixed with open hilly country. The western part is Enkloso, and is primarily coniferous forest (and green elves).
Going from north to south, the coastal regions of Umathela are comparatively civilized, with small city-states inhabited by Western-style sorcerers, lords, knights, etc. There are lots of trading posts run by the Vadeli here.
Further inland, you have the forests. In the river bottoms and clear areas, Orlanthi-style barbarians live. Well, they're not really much like the Genertelan Orlanthi, but they _do_ worship many of the same gods and they know about the Lightbringers' quest. Let's put it this way -- they're as much like the Sartarite Orlanthi as the Mohawks are like the Apaches. I know that they build huge organized temples to all the Nine Lightbringers. That's right. Nine. The barbarians are allies of the elves and in eastern Vralos have been fighting with invading Fonritians for sometime. Every summer the barbarians and elves push back the villainous Fonritians, and every winter, the Fonritians move back in.
Further south, you get the Tarmo Mountains, inhabited by trolls, trollkin, etc., I don't think that great trolls have been imported here yet, but they do have their own special variety of giant troll -- the mountain troll, sadly slightly tainted with chaos, like a cave troll.
The Umath Cult: it is primarily a shamanistic sect. Shamans of Umath do stuff like ride around in sylphs, climb high mountains, cavort naked in the snow. You get the picture.
I invent the spell:
> Suppress Paganism
>>I wonder why this is a Loskalmi thing. The Rokari seem to have
>>more contact with pagans
The Loskalmi pagans are more likely to be shamans, whereas the Rokari mostly face priestly-types. Hence, they teach, instead:
SUPPRESS PRIESTCRAFT
ranged, temporal
If the target fails to resist, he can cast no non-ritual Rune spells unless he expends 1 MP per Intensity of the Suppress Rune Magic spell during the casting. MPs that would normally be spent anyway (such as in a Heal Wound) can _not_ count towards the total needed. In addition, these MPs cannot be used to boost the spell.
That said, for some time I've been considering letting both the Hrestoli and the Rokari know both Suppress Paganism and Suppress Priestcraft. Cts?
> [Sartarite] Farmers with less-good land own goats instead.
Alex
>>Nope, mythicly impure.
I think all you guys are reading too much into this "mythically impure" crapola. I assure you that wherever cows and sheep can't be profitably cared for, the pragmatic Orlanthi are perfectly proud to herd goats. Not only that, but goats milk is better for ya than cows milk (say some), and I'm sure almost every large stead, except for real sticklers, includes a couple nanny goats.
Remember, the association with broos is no greater than the association with Satan that goats boasted in the middle ages.
> [Kralori Staple: rice
> Other: that's it, really. Just rice.
>>Presumably some pulses and root vegetables, also, otherwise
>>amino-acid shortages would be an acute danger.
Come on guys, can't there be _one_ place in all Glorantha where amino-acid shortages occur? I am proposing that, in fact, certain areas of Kralorela _do_ suffer from dietary deficiencies, at least among the poor.
Pam Carlson gives us all useful info on goats.
>Goats also give more milk per pound of mama than do cows.
And, more importantly, more milk per pound of fodder than cows. Goats are cost-efficient.
Harald Smith
>Danfive Xaron ... has been mentioned as possible [psychopomp]. Is he
>the guide of the soul, though?
Well, he sure was for Teelo Norri.
>Though Yelm could certainly be psychopomp for Dara Happa, I think of
>him as the judge of the dead
Yelm passes through the Gates of Dusk every night and through hell. He _obviously_ takes all his entourage with him to the afterlife. I strongly submit that he is the Solar psychopomp. In fact, in the East Isles, this is his primary function.
I believe that the Dara Happans consider you to be more "blessed" if you die just at dusk. Death at midnight is probably a bad omen.
One last vegetarian note.
My personal favorite vegetarian of all time was the (real world) guy who told me bare-faced, "I consider pepperoni to be a vegetable."
Martin Crim
>And I met a Mormon who said the folks who still practice polygamy
>are *vile* *heretics* and therefore not Mormons.
Hey, I'm a Mormon. Listen to me. I hereby declare that the folks who still practice polygamy _are_ vile heretics. Tragically, I suppose I must agree that they are technically "Mormons". But I admit I do so grudgingly. At least they aren't LDS -- which is the Mormon short-hand term for the biggest group of Mormons, which outnumbers all the rest put together by something like 50 to 1 -- the second biggest group are the RLDS, which comprises at least 90% of the remaining so-called Mormons. The RLDS don't practice polygamy at all, and never did. In fact, their main bone of contention with the LDS faith is that we _used_ to do so. The remaining itsy-bitsy sects are almost all polygamists.
Brian Pinch:
>Besides what about the CA settlement at Horn Gate?
It's not too far from the river, and is a quite settled spot at which they can get all the grain they can grow. Also there's Storm Bulls and such to protect 'em from bad guys.
End of Glorantha Digest V1 #171
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