David Dunham:
> Just to throw cold water on this, the valkyrie we know of is >Gunda's
mom. Chances are real good she's from somewhere
>like Ygg's Isle, where they don't worship Vinga.
Simon Hibbs (not Phipp)
>Ah, but Gunda's mother was raped by an evil sorcerer, a
>deed which resulted in Gunda's birth. How many sorcerers
>live up in the Yggs Isles?
Two groups to choose from, really: There are the Loskalmi wizards present at the trade post known as Cold Fort, who aren't friendly to the natives, and there are the one-time Yggling allies, the Vadeli, who turned upon their allies at one crucial point. In Cold Fort there also could be a visiting graduate from Sog City College. Pick your favourite...
If you want a Sartarite descent for Gunda, how did she come afoul of the Queen of the Kiss in Zoria? (The one in Fronela, I suppose, although there might be others elsewhere. Possibly even ruled by the same queen...)
>It seems more likely that the sorcerer either summoned up a
>Valkyra (why? because he could) or met her on a HeroQuest >(sorcerers
>perform HeroQuests as well as theists). Neither of these actions
>imply a definite geographical location.
No, but the HQ at least requires shared mythic territory.
>Also, Gunda was a well-travelled person in her own right
>and only met up with the Wolf Pirates after adventures of
>her own.
True, her presence at the Isles doesn't require her to be of Yggling stock. I suppose she met Harrek around the time of his sacking of Sog City and fell not in love, but in mutual need. I don't know if he already was a Wolf Pirate then. Despite persuasive arguments by Peter Metcalfe I still am not quite convinced that Harrek was behind the great Kethaelan raid of the Wolf Pirates in 1616 - too much a crutch to ferry him back to Fronela, gather Rathori and Pralori barbarians and then raid Sog City. (And wouldn't the Yggling-descended Wolf Pirates have preferred to plunder Southpoint and Northpoint, in order to get even?)
>Don't forget that the other two famous Wolf Pirates are
>Harrek (a Rathori from Fronela) and Argrath (a Sartarite) both
>of whom ended up with a group of people who began
>in the Yggs Isles but have since moved on and now are
>based many miles from their homeland.
You forgot my favourite villain, Sir Mularik Ironeye, of Rindland origin (IMG) who foully betrayed King Richard the Tigerhearted to the Lunars in 1620, then marched his company of mercenary knights and sorcerers off to Karse with the plunder of three years as sheriff and later Duke of Jansholm, buying a smallish fleet and setting off to the Threestep Isles. But for Harrek's presence, Mularik would have become their leader...
Jane Williams asked (sensibly) what Valkyries are, in Glorantha, anyway.
As far as I am concerned, valkyries is a similar term to einheriar - warrioresses tied to a death and war cult, probably using swords rather than axes (the axe being both tool and weapon whereas the sword has no peaceful use whatsoever). Lances or spears may come with the picture as well, winged helmets I'm a lot less sure about, whatever the cover of RQ2 showed, since they are inviting blows to the head.
Joerg Baumgartner (via Hotmail)
mailto:joe_at_toppoint.de
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