Now that people are wondering about scholastic research and excess in Glorantha, here is the translation of a letter my PC sent to his department head:
Sogolotha Membrola, Freezeday-Harmony-Sea-1594 ST
Respected and Sage Mauritius,
Department of Fronelan studies
Nochet City Library
Master,
After many sufferings and disasters I have finally made it to the
famed University. And using the rest of my Belintar's Grant I have managed
to get enrolled in the Gloranthographic studies! I have to do some tuitions
on the side to make ends meet, and one of the street judges forces me to
help him with menaces of bodily harm, but I would be almost happy if it
wasn't for the cold.
I have to recur to the written word, and to hope the Grey Lord keeps safe this letter, because the "long range communication experience" has failed. Mercon dropped the Mindtalk ritual before I even got to Pasos. Hartz did the same when we were in a dreadful storm by the Castle Coast. I know the ritual asks a lot of a young student's capacity, to reach the other corner of Genertela, but it is me who is dealing with the brithini, exploring the crumbling Ban, and gets sent to Dilis swamp in chaos-control expeditions.
The city has survived the isolation relatively intact, although 9 out of 10 houses are empty, and more or less ruined. Loskalm was unified through the sea, but Sog was inaccesible. The loskalmi explorers who got here after St. Dormal, may his ship be blessed, found only brithini and blues and greens. There are awful rumours about what happened to the normal humans in the years of the Ban, but the brithini punish harshly anyone who tells "lies". Many of the midgets and morons in Sog city have their origin in a bad tempered zzabur.
As soon as it is possible I will send an updated map. Things have changed a lot since the last maps of the 1400s. And many lands are not yet free of the Ban. My tutor here, a loskalmi exile, wants me to travel to the uncoling lands, to map the forests and see if all the beastmen tribes are still around. I am not sure if it is wise. We have heard Black Hralf the Weasel is back from the dead, and runs through the North. I am not sure if the risks are worth the results. Anyway, I am learning the basics of their language.
The reason I write is that the 3000 guilders of my grant have barely covered my university fees, and I need some financial help to continue my research. I am getting in debt with the department, and my limited income as criminology consultant goes into feeding me (and several bullies and street judges). The Dean has calculated I will have to work for four years to pay off the whole course. If I am to return with my acquired knowledge, I will need around five hundred gold wheels.
I expect you will find a reliable trader willing to come to trade. I can confirm there are many trading opportunities, specially with the rich kingdom of Loskalm. They have a strange new creed, but they are friendly to traders and foreigners. I have not had yet time to visit them, but as soon as I get some free time I will. They claim that King Siglat, son of the hero Snodal (who apparently brought about the ban), created the perfect state and the perfect religion. The exiles around here are bitter about that perfect state, however.
Your dedicated pupil,
Joel Fleshman
P.S. I have tried to confirm the prominent sage Metz Alfius theories about noon in different regions of Glorantha. As far as the water clocks and the sun clocks indicate, noon is at midday in Fronela, as it is back home. The brithini claim some strange stories about the size of the dome making this question irrelevant, but I don't know what to think.
Notes:
End of The Glorantha Digest V5 #500
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