non-RQ Glorantha and Shifty Stars

From: Stephen P Martin <ilium_at_juno.com>
Date: Sat, 10 May 1997 03:59:35 EDT


To All:

Didn't the Tekumel game system have a run in Glorantha at Convulsions awhile back? Or, was it the other way around, with Tekumel being played using RQ rules?

Shifty Stars
I have been picking Greg's brains on star lore recently, and trying to force him to make some firm decisions. While all data is not yet fixed, a few comments on this subject, as it relates to navigation.

Remember that Kalikos is not due north, it is NNW.

All of the Sunpath planets rise in the exact east, and set due west. However, they cross the sky to north or south of the Pole Star, north in summer, a bit farther south in winter. However, they ALWAYS cross the Pole Star.

Theya and Rausa's directions in the sky are always constant, since they always jump (straight up) from due east and due west, respectively. Between the _three_ of them (including Kalikos), who needs a compass at all?

A very good measure of both location and time is Mastakos/Uleria, which crosses the sky in exactly eight hours. Thus, you can always get a pretty good bearing on your direction simply by watching it for a couple of hours. I am fairly certain that it is the planet used by most Gloranthan sailors for navigation. Certainly more useful than the former Boat Planet, which took 4 days to cross the sky, then was gone for another 4.

Zenith and the Red Moon are the only truly Fixed Bodies -- Stormgate does not rotate, but does rock north and south with the Sky Dome. Also, it appears that Stormgate is usually only visible a couple of nights each week, right before Orlanth's Ring emerges. The rest of the time, it is not visible, even to the star seers of Yuthuppa.

Ice Palace and a select few other constellations (none yet named in print) do NOT rotate along with the other stars, though they do rock with the Dome. Thus, Ice Palace is always visible directly in the north, and cannot be seen at all in summer. Its stars can thus be used for navigation, when they are visible.

One Night Wish is visible due south, though it is of limited use for navigation, since it appears only one night of the year, and for a short time even then. Lonely Cry is visible in the east, though only for 1 to 5 nights at midwinter, so it too is not very useful.

The distance to the Red Moon cannot be accurately determined, as its location is more magical than physical. I myself am of the opinion that most physics in Glorantha will give results as if the stars were infinitely distant, i.e., they would have no parallax. I don't know what Greg would say to this. However, it seems to be his opinion that even the greatest sorcerers of the West cannot accurately and/or consistently measure the height of the Red Moon.

As for the Red Moon's location and size, this has been a subject of debate for a number of years, as the two descriptions we have, in Elder Secrets and Cults of Prax, seem to disagree:

Cults of Prax, pg 46: "As I journeyed north through Dragon Pass there did appear a thin pinkish hue in the distance, laid like a thread on the horizon. When I had reached Glasswall, overlooking Dwarf Run, that light in the north was a sunset of blood.

"Once across the Bush Range, the glow becomes full and rich and
warm, rising higher and higher into the sky. Bagnot marks the end of the Glowline, and there appears a thin arching sliver of crimson on the horizon. The glow surrounding it is less, as if the light gathered to become the moon itself.

"Riding further north causes the moon to seem to rise into the
air, also significantly reducing the actual size which it appears to be on the horizon. Thus the closer one goes to the orb, the smaller it grows, and the higher and higher it appears in the sky. It is a most remarkable sight, and surely would alarm anyone not prepared for it beforehand."

Elder Secrets, Secrets Book, pg 46 (damn, ain't _that_ a coincidence!): "The red moon is unique beause it never moves, day or night, from its place in the northwestern sky....Day and night the visible face of the moon is either bright red, black, or both....However, this change of phases is not the same across all Glorantha: while one place is experiencing a Crescent, another sees a Black Phase."

That's funny -- nowhere does it say the Red Moon is visible outside of the Glowline, though King of Sartar implies this in the Colymar Book (pg 200).

Anyways, when working on Heroes of the King, Greg made a decision that the Red Moon was visible throughout Glorantha, not just within the Glowline. He said at that time that the description in Cults of Prax was most likely the result of using some form of magical vision to view the Red Moon, since his vision is to have it visible outside of the Glowline, such as from Pavis (implied in The Big Rubble), Pamaltela, etc.

Most recently, he made the following interpretation of the Red Moon, which is sort of a compromise between Cults of Prax and Elder Secrets:

Outside of the Glowline, the Red Moon is visible throughout all of Glorantha. It appears to be fairly large, and is always a short distance above the horizon. This size and distance above the horizon do not change, regardless of distance within the Inner World. Depending on how high above the horizon it ends up being, mountains and other geographic features _can_ block it from view. As Joerg Baumgartner recently remarked to me, it is appropriate that _mountains_ can block out the Moon, as Orlanth is the god of the Mountain Storm.

As you enter the Glowline, the Red Moon appears to rise into the Sky, and becomes somewhat smaller (even as the RW Moon appears larger on the horizon than it does in the sky). When you are fully within the Glowline, the Red Moon appears to be right at the boundary of the Middle and Upper skies.

Take it for what it's worth, as no one can swear it won't change. Note, however, that World Lore includes basic astronomical information, and so would give all of the data given above, plus more. So, if you are lost, all you really need to do is wait until after Dark, and finding your way should be a piece of cake. Assuming there is no cloud cover, of course. :)

I have been working on correcting the Night Sky article in Elder Secrets, both to provide clarifications and corrections, and to make it wholly Theyalan/Orlanthi in its information. This is just about done, and it is possible the final result will appear on the Chaosium Glorantha page, whenever that gets up.

The Book of Drastic Resolutions, Volume Prax, will have a page of clarifications and corrections to the star information presented in Elder Secrets, The Glorious ReAscent of Yelm, and The Dara Happan Book of Emperors.

Stephen Martin
ilium_at_juno.com

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The Book of Drastic Resolutions
drastic_at_juno.com

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