I really do like the stuff on Teleos that has been contributed to the Digest lately. A strange little corner of Glorantha has been given colour and substance. Here are two things which stirred my own image when speculating on the subject. Use or abuse at will. Some may want to tune down the rock-carving in Cold Cliff Place, I suppose...
Looking at the Glorantha map I notice that the isle is almost as large as the entire Holy Country-Dragon Pass region. This is not just a little tropic holiday island. Makes room for a lot of unexplored wilderness - especially since Elder Secrets tells us that the population is _primarily_ human, the Yellow elf population being "small". Personally I like this. It avoids the problems with a dominant elf population.
The Cold Cliff Place
High in the mountainous interior of Teleos there is a forbidden and mysterious place known as the Cold Cliff. Among cold mists and eerie cries of forlorn birds a great bowl-like natural depression, 5 key-miles wide, can be found. A large lake takes up most of it. In the center of the lake a black, finger-like cliff juts 200 meters up in the air.
The only way out to the cliff is by flying or going there in a
boat. Both ways are fraught with danger due to the thousands of
Shadowbirds which make their home in the area. Some people
speculate that Shadowbirds are a remnant of birds from the Great
Cosmic Mountain, in some way frozen in time - halfway between
the material and mythical plane. Or, you could say, fluttering
in and out of Time. They look like completely black, very
stylized and simple birds with great swooping wings. They
"attack" with bedazzlement, stupefaction and befuddles,
mesmerizing the unwary or unprepared. Don't go there without
help from your holy folks!
The lake is also inhabited by a mischievous Trickster spirit.
Reaching the Cold Cliff, there is a secret pathway which leads to the top. The cliffs are also climbable, but this is hard due to the perpetual cold which seems to emanate from the rock itself - as if there were a gigantic heart of ice hidden in the center of the cliff.
A Guardian lives at the top. It is an old and wrinkled, gray-colored dragonewt with the letters "A" inscribed in his skin in every known alphabet of Glorantha (and a whole lot of unknown as well). He is absolutely mute, but can be communicated with in Old Wyrmish if mind-reading magic is used. The thing here is for the visitor to pose the right questions to the really query answers the Guardian issues first.
If the correct questions are posed, the Guardian will let the visitor descend into the five meter wide, 50 meter deep, Well (without water) that is situated here.
Since the Guardian can command the thousands of Shadowbirds, combat is not a vise option here. Undoubtedly the Guardian also has other strange magic at his disposal.
At the bottom of the Well it is dark, and the bones of people who have failed in the past litter the floor. An entire section of the walls is covered by a large symbolic rock-carving, inscribed with arcane signs. Cosmic secrets and hidden meanings can be glimpsed from this carving, or "map". For example, an abstract net and spider are interlaced with planetary symbols which a Buserian from Dara Happa would recognize as the "Doom Conjunction". There is a strange rendition of the Gloranthan continents, which if correctly deciphered, shows Teleos to be the center of the World! Blue streaks are painted everywhere, the color seems fresh even though no-one has been here for years. Numerical formulas is framing the whole engraving. A moon-symbol can be seen. It has variously been recorded as being black, red or white at different occasions. (Who knows what color Argrath saw?) A dragonewt rune is containing the six colors of Teleos, etc. etc. Past, present and future can be extrapolated from this rock-carving if the visitor has the right tools or knowledge to do it. Magic side-effects are likely.
Everyone who has seen the engraving at the bottom of the well is given a little bean by the Guardian as they leave. The purpose behind this is not known to me.
"The Riig"
In the ports and trading places of Teleos there are rumors and tellings of a strange "hunter" in the jungle and overgrown ruins of the interior. The "hunter" is only known as "the Riig".
Reportedly he is a formidable-looking magisaur of medium size with numerous magical enchantments. He dresses in a splendid cloak and wields a huge pole-axe with great skill. Miraculously, he is gifted with normal hands, in contrast with the standard magisaurs.
A small entourage of lesser magisaurs assists the Riig in his
hunting. Or, maybe his activities should be named "duels". His
lesser helpers act as beaters, forcing the animal to enter some
closed area (ruins) where the Riig awaits it, alone. With a
perfect, clean strike he kills the charging beast, in an almost
"matador-like" style. The animal is then left to rot. The
activities of the Riig is seemingly meaningless and without
purpose, revolting and shocking to the human hunters of Teleos.
The Riig does not make any difference between animal and human. Everything which moves and can be dubbed as "dangerous" is considered as prey. It has been suggested that the Riig is waiting for some as yet unknown opponent.
Other theories about the Riig include:
- -In fact, the current Riig is just the latest in a long line of
identical magisaurs. Even though the Riig is a formidable
combatant, eventually he will be defeated by a mirrorlike
opponent who will then supersede him as the Riig. What would
happen if a non-magisaur defeated the Riig this theory have no
satisfying answers to.
- -It has been whispered that the Riig is a failed dragonewt, who
degenerated because of his one-sided obsession with hunting and
thereby failed in the dragonewt cycle.
- -In fact, (this drunken person at the port is trying to tell
you) the Riig is fulfilling an ancient prophesy. Some time in
the near future he will have killed his specified number of
"opponents", and ascend to a higher state of consciousness. (Or
maybe turn into some horrible monster himself.)
Cheers,
Patrik Sandberg
kaselov.sandberg_at_swipnet.se
End of The Glorantha Digest V5 #149
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