Michael R:
> Yelm and Ernalda are dead half the time.
> Genert is dead and Ernalda is half dead - shouldn't it make gnomes harder
to summon than sylphs, who were never touched by death, or at least not in
the same extent?
Yelm and Ernalda are not dead - they are alive in the underworld, doing important things there. Yelm judges, protects, and renews the dead. Ernalda prepares to renew the year. (Seeds crack and absorb water, nutrients dissolve into the soil, etc.) IMO, they are still contactable, if the worshippers know the proper mysteries. After all, Lodril lives in the underworld all the time, but his powers and creations are ubiquitous across the surface world.
Perhaps those who know fewer cult mysteries, like sorcerers or shamans, cannot contact gnomes in the winter, while earth priestesses can. It depends on how complex or mystical you want to make your Glorantha.
I see Genert as more of a local manifestation of Ernaldan/Earth fertility than a true elemental power.
My Riskland PC's used their own gnome to drive off the enemy gnome which tunnled under their ward and into their stead. Unfortunately, the Battle of the Gnomes took place in their lovely dirt-floor living room. They are rebuilding.
Sandy:
There might be a couple places here and there scattered around the world where there is a little pocket of true martial arts, but they are small and rare.
I just started to play around with the Zola Fel river folk and the Oasis people. I gave the river folk a rudimentary martial arts form, as they tend to be the classic weapon-poor oppressed types. Perhaps the oasis folk use some too.
Erik:
>LDoaH doesn't drink coffee.
Actually, I would guess he's had one cup too many. Perhaps the PC's could change the world by helping him switch to decaff.
Pam
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