> Sorana Tor (who or what was she? An
> oread? A kinswoman of the Vendref already in the Pass? A primitive woman
> from the upper slopes of the Wintertop, sitting out the Inhuman Occupation
> above the land claimed by the Dragons - much like the Cannon Cult humans did
> below?
I'm not sure, but how about a member of the primitive culture whose mother was an oread?
I think there were a very limited number of vendref in the Pass at that time, and it seems unlikely one of the First Wave people got that far north. I do think there were primitive Kerofini, who survived the Inhuman Occupation by "hiding under Kero Fin's skirts," i.e. never leaving the mountain.
It's possible that there were people who went to Tarsh before Arim; I think it's far more likely that Sorana Tor would be from them (if they exist) than Esrolia.
> Anyone have any ideas on what the Shaker Temple looks
> like. The Dragon Pass game symbol for the temple and the illustration in
>Wyrms
> Footprints show the temple as looking like the parthenon.
I think it shares architectural features with Esrolian temples (due to Second Age influences, not because it was created by an Esrolian Sorana Tor). I can't remember if this is based on a published source...
> What about clothing for the Tarshites? Tarsh War pictures the Lunar
>Tarshites
> in middle-eastern inspired clothing, while the Exiles look like typical
> Orlanthi. What was their clothing like before the coming of Hon Eel?
In my game: "Classically-influenced landlocked vikings." They have a subtle Lunar (classical Roman/Greek/Persian) look. I think Dan Barker's art is a good place to start.
Unlike Heortlanders of the same time period, women don't wear over-dresses. Decorations are very different -- they tend to decorate the hems and cuffs of their clothes with repeating geometric designs (squares and circles rather than the spirals or curves of the Heortlanders). It's also common to have two decorated stripes running down the front of a garment (like the Celtiberians).
Robes/capes are fastened in the middle. Fur caps are common; men's caps often include the head of the animal.
Men tend to have shorter hair than Heortlanders. Thus they don't braid it. Most men shave their beards and grow mustaches. A few (including lawspeakers) grow beards.
Like clothing decoration, tattoos also follow a more geometric motif. A few more primitive clans (certainly any Kerofini remnants) still put their clan designs on their faces.
Weapons include Frankish-style curved axes, spears, swords (swords more for nobles and Humakti)
Martin Laurie gives us a dichotomy I think is false. Gods are independently real, but can be changed (for all intents and purposes) by human worship. One of Greg's heroquest talks mentioned discovering a new aspect of a deity.
The Compromise may or may not be real, but everyone agrees that things are different after the Dawn. (This sort of widespread agreement constitutes Monomyth, by the way.)
> David Dunhams Brolian character always rambles on about the need to destory
> Lokamayadon - in 1350, though all the Sairdite Orlanthi with him keep telling
> him that Lokamayon was crushed by Harmast in the first age - Davids character
> doesn't believe them because the Shamans told him otherwise and these
>people he
> is with are obviously sadly misinformed about their supposed knowledge of LMs
> demise. Its all a trick!
Just because Lokamayadon is dead doesn't mean he's powerless! Look at all those Basmoli in Prax, worshipping a dead god. Anyway, they other characters are obviously too decadent to see that Lokamayadon is partly a metaphor. Thing important thing is: kings are bad.
(BTW, we don't really know what happend to Lokamayadon.)
Paolo Guccione doesn't like mixing divine magic and sorcery. To me it's a cheap way to differentiate the Naskori religion from the Delelan. And the Naskori would no doubt tell you that learning sorcery through the church is the only safe, non-soul-destroying way to do so. Note that if you use a sorcery system (like RQ4's) which has Low Magic, the average person (Farmer caste) learns only this.
He errs in saying Naskorion is a highland. It's pretty clearly limited to the lowlands around the Doskior River when I look at the map. Thus I think it supports grain agriculture far more productively than the highlands of the East Wilds. Its agricultural productivity relative to the rest of Safelster probably depends more on weather patterns, and those might be a bit different since it's somewhat more sheltered by the Mislari Mountains and the range near Zorakarkat.
David Dunham <mailto:dunham_at_pensee.com> Glorantha/RQ page: <http://www.pensee.com/dunham/glorantha.html> Imagination is more important than knowledge. -- Albert Einstein
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