> Rainbows
> ========
> RQ : I'm very surprised that there isn't a rainbow myth already in
> Glorantha write-ups, one suspects that there should be some thing
> about it being a sign of the Compromise i.e. Strom and Light working
> together.
There's Rainbow Girl, a Praxian spirit (counted among the air spirits), generally seen as benevolent, the messenger between the Sea Gods and the Storm Gods and between the gods and the mortals. As a peace envoy of the early Gods War, Light isn't involved as much as is Water.
> Alternatively, the Pure Light of Yelm is being sullied by
> the scummy Storm Gods.
Solars might celebrate/remember the victory over the Blue Dragon by (whoever in their local version took the role of the victor - Murharzarm in Raibanth, likely Shargash in Alkoth, Yelem in Imther, Vadrus in Saird - - oops.)
> Secondary rainbows:
> RQ: These quite rare events are definitely protents, usually that Chaos
> is breaking through, threatening the compromise, the reversed inner bow
> indicating Chaos of course.
Since these ocur (in real world) when the sun is really low, they might be connected to illumination and recognizing one's opposite/shadow. At least to Solars...
> Moonbows
> ========
> A silvery "rainbow" is seen at night.
> RQ: Well I'm not sure that the red light from the Red Moon could be
> split into any of it's components
I don't think so either. To quote Nick Brooke, the Lunar glow is not light, but absence of Darkness. Might well be monochrome, or close to that. Thus the Moonbow would be a reddish arched line, visible only where the moon appears to be low in the sky - Pamaltela, or from high mountains in Genertela. Alternatively, the Glowline might emit such a phenomenon outside its border.
(Remember that the moon casts a silver shadow - refracted moonlight would be the opposite of silver aka blueish white.)
> or that the light from the moon is
> bright enought to form one anyway - perhaps it is in the heartlands.
> Perhaps Moonbows are red in the Lunar Empire.
Within the Glowline, they might be invisible due to the rosy haze of the Goddess' influence. Might be a popular phenomenon among the Arrolians and Redlanders, though.
> Mock Suns
> =========
> There appears to be up to 3 suns in the sky at once!
> RQ: Three Suns! Two of which a false!
Nope - all of them are true! Only Storm (actually its ice crystals high above) allows you to see the true suns, or at least part of them. At least that's the message young princeling Tarkalor and his companions claimed when they explained themselves out of a fix in Teshnos, read the RQ-Con 94 booklet or Convulsion 94 booklet for Greg's Yelmalio apology/explanation.
> Aurorae
> =======
I wondered about these. Having lived north of the arctic circle for more than a year, I can tell you that it needs more than a clear night to make them visible - the upper air layers must be freezing cold.
They come in two varieties, or rather intensities - monochrome (quite frequent), or greenish with a red tinge on the edges (I saw these only in my second winter in Norway). They require Cold with capital C, thus would be most likely above Valind's Glacier.
I don't know whether Glorantha has a magnetic pole, though I seem to recall that compass needles point to Magasta's Pool (where the Spike once was). No idea what the compass needles would be made of, though...
> RQ: These are sylphs and minor wind spirits moving the air around -
> they can be seen from any sufficiently high ground and in areas where
> storm worship is strong.
If it's red-and-green, that's Kalikos fighting the forces of cold, far in the north. Monochrome might be what you said.
> The Green Flash
> ===============
> RQ: this is the splash made when Yelm hits the Oceans.
He doesn't (any more since he bounced off the Nargan? ;-)>), he uses his "daughters"' portals to hell instead.
This could be related to Flamal, who (as far as I recall) awoke when Sky covered Sea.
> St Elmo's Fire:
> ===============
> There is sometimes a glow from the tip of a ship's mast or the wings of
> an aeroplane.
In Glorantha, I'd propose either to write up the myth of Elmo, or rename it after some other mythical figure. My first thought for a candidate for a Malkioni saintly figure related to air would be Aerlit, father of the Prophet (according to some Stygian, Aeolian and ancient documents, dunno what the God Learner final position was on this, or whether they had one).
> RQ: Spirits are taking an interest in the Ship (good or bad omen
> depending an the circumstances) the glow is the mundane manifestation
> of the spirits.
Which spirits?
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