Peter M. says that the Vadeli of Umathela are:
>Exclusively Brown. The Red Vadeli are notorious pirates in the Red
Islands and nobody should know that they are Vadeli >as of now.
I do not agree. I believe that the only reason the Vadeli were
able to move out and take advantage of the Opening was because there
were now Red Vadeli in existence. Hence, I believe there are Red Vadeli
in Umathela, though not so many as the Brown, and they are unlikely to
engage in conversation or bargaining or politics.
Erik Sieurin wrote of useless magic
> The question is 'where do they come from; creating magic is time- and
resources-consuming.
Glorantha is not D&D. No one needs to "make" an object for it to
exist in Glorantha. In my opinion, the vast majority of magic objects in
Glorantha are naturally magic, no human input required. The classic
example are magic crystals -- these are petrified gods-blood, not
artifacts from some ancient civilization. Other examples of cheap
Gloranthan magic items:
- Chaos Slime -- it just naturally wells out of the ground at certain
places.
- Rhino Fat -- sure the rendering process isn't trivial, but you need
to render down your rhino after it dies anyway.
- Darkfoil -- a nightblooming flower that glows when near creatures of
chaos or darkness. Not only a good detection system, but also handy as a
lightsource, if you happen to be a creature of chaos or darkness.
- Balls of Tails -- only a spell is needed, plus a certain
ruthlessness.
- Elf Bows -- no doubt about their being magic.
- Jelmre Emotion crystals -- not free for the Jelmre, but not exactly
harmful for them to produce. Each Jelmre can make several dozen during
his lifetime. Most Jelmres die totally emotionless and stoic.
- Gold Wheels -- the kind that incorporate a Dancer.
- The bones, scales, feathers, and/or fur of some creatures naturally
incorporate magic powers.
- Some types of wood are automatically magic. Like the transparent wood
from the Forest of Glass in Teshnos.
Peter asks
>Has anyone done any work on heraldry in Western societies?
Why waste the enormous toil done on heraldry in European
societies? I recommend stealing late-medieval French & German heraldry
wholesale instead of trying to invent our own.
Sandy