Re: tribes; Shargash; bug-riders; etc.

From: David Dunham <dunham_at_pensee.com>
Date: Tue, 11 Mar 1997 23:29:33 -0800


Hasni Mubarak wondered

> Which out of print/hard to get a hold of source has a listing of Tribes
> and Clans?

None, really. You can get a lot of clans (mostly of the Colymar tribe) from King of Sartar. The tribes are listed on a map in Tales #?, and as Peter points out, Questlines 1 [what ever happened to the second edition?]. For most of it, you'll have to piece it together from unofficial sources (like Tarsh War, which has only two clans).

Dave Pearton replies

> David Dunham makes some excellent points about Shargash being the god of
> slash and burn agriculture, however...
>
> Alkoth, the focal point of Shargash worship since the founding of the
> universe (ok, poetic licence...), is in the middle of a huge swamp.
> Hardly the place you'd expect slasn 'n burn agriculture to develope -
> he'd be more likely to be the god of chimpana (sp?) style agriculture.

Yes, and how long ago am I talking? Before the Floods, right? And you're also assuming that Shargash was first worshipped in Alkoth; it may simply be the only place that people clung to their no-longer-useful god (and changed him into something useful).

(So far as I know, the chinampa agriculture was in part intended to claim new lands for the geographically-circumscribed Tenochtitlan.)

Peter Metcalfe complained

> I don't see why fire should be particularly associated with him

He's red, isn't he? And I always figured each of the Dara Happan cities had a fire rune god associated with it.

> Technology in glorantha
> tends to be invented by heroes and dwarves rather than being divinely
> transmitted from above

True enough, though a god may spread with technology (e.g. Dormal, and probably Mastakos).

James Frusetta complained of my attack on troll cavalry (I knew I could get a Calvin & Hobbes style "bats aren't bugs" out of someone):

> Hey! Where were you when they handed out Trollpak! Who said anything
> about _bugs_?
>
> Go directly to page _Book of Uz_, page 42 (2nd edition), 2nd column, 3rd
> paragraph down. "Giant Spider, Tarantula." Note in cross reference _Into
> Uzdom_ page 27, stats, "Tarantula Mounts." Aranea, not Gorakiki, is the
> cult in question.

I don't have 2nd edition, but Into Uzdom p. 26 says "the lynx spiders try to govern the actions of the unintelligent wolf spiders." "The lynx spiders are not very smart." Hmm. TRY. Sounds like real effective cavalry, no? And Aranea's cult "is minute," (according to Troll Gods) so it's hardly going to form cavalry units. Also, my edition suggests that the tarantulas aren't sentient (INT 2d6, in RQ2 terms).

A troll on an intelligent tarantula *might* be better in a joust than a Grazer on an intelligent warhorse, but this is no more a cavalry encounter than two Humakti dueling. Show me where the trolls field cavalry units and I'll reconsider.

And don't forget to compare the trolls to other specialized mounted warriors, such as Maran Gor cultists on brontosaurus, or dragonewts on triceratops.

(I still think the Red Goddess on the Crimson Bat is the best cavalry in Glorantha. She could probably even take on Lord Death on a Horse.)

Nick Brooke wrote

> For my money, "Kalikos" (a female Lunar heroquester) took on the name and
> powers of the Nomad star-god (or -hero) Kalikos

Aha! This explains why I thought the Lunar cult was of a female (it may well have been written that way once, too).

Paolo Guccione wondered about the Light/Darkwall controversy

> But what if the guards had not charged?

In my games, at least, they would have been pincushioned with arrows. You're suddenly caught in the open, while your enemy is suddenly behind cover. If you run away, you get killed with missiles. If you advance, you get killed. And few people have a large enough Dispel to get rid of a Lightwall.

Joerg answered me

> >(Aram-ya-Udram is supposed to be around in the First Council, and dies
> >before the Broken Council. Did he really help found the EWF?)
>
> Yes, since the "EWF" in question was the First Council. This EWF reference
> is from the same old documents which treat 1st Age Dragon Pass as EWF and
> not the Theyalan Council. OOP-info (well, somewhat, being still available in
> French): it's in the history of Dragon Pass in the boardgame Dragon Pass.

My source was Elder Secrets.

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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