RE: Why life in Glorantha sucks

From: Sandy Petersen <SPetersen_at_ensemblestudios.com>
Date: Mon, 13 Apr 1998 13:13:30 -0500


Jeff Erwin
>Are there places in Glorantha that are more or less unmarred? Yes.

        Well, not very darn many. Basically everywhere in Glorantha has suffered at least one severe magical destruction in historical times. If we look at the Elder Secrets map, we can see the spots in which lots of humans live. These are the places where magical disruptions have generally been less severe and life is easier. But even in these places there have been problems. Look at the places:

        Kralorela: enormous catastrophic destruction at the end of the Second Age, when the inland sea was formed (imagine how many millions of people died during that), and in which basically all the priestly/magician class was eaten up by their own magic, which totally overturned the social order. Since then, they have experienced an occupation at the hands of Sheng Seleris, which would have been partly magic in nature.

        Loskalm: harmed in the early First Age anti-Rathori wars, the late First-Age Gbaji wars and again at the disasters at the end of the Second Age. The main restrictions they've had since are the Syndic's Ban and the Closing, which kept them from interacting with nearby peoples. Even so, they're probably one of the least-harmed folk by magic disasters, though they are also extremely insular as a result.

        Safelster: almost wiped out in the Basmoli Wars, then again in the Gbaji Wars, took less (but still significant) damage at the end of the Second Age. The Third Age has been a time of growth and relative safety for this region, which is why it is now so populous. The magic has evidently made a difference here, to the point that the folk of Safelster are probably about as prosperous and happy (possibly more so) than Renaissance earthlings. Of course, the upcoming Arkat Duels will put an end to that ...

        Fonrit: almost destroyed at the end of the Second Age, then the Closing ruined the economy of this naval-oriented society. They have begun to recover.

        Dara Happa: everyone knows the horrendous trials that this area gets to suffer just about every Age. But the land's so fertile it seems to recover in between times.

>How often do children see broos... i.e. the extremes range from Prax
(once or twice a season, if nomads
>to what's a broo? (possibly Brithos).

        A live broo? I suspect not very often, except just before the kid's murder at it's hands. The deleterious effect of chaos in Glorantha is normally a matter of immediate catastrophe, not a slow and steady decline, though it may lead to same.

        In other words, your typical child sees no chaos while growing up. But at age 9, your third cousin doesn't come to the reunion. You hear their entire homestead was raided, burnt, and wiped out by a broo raid. At age 13 your older sister can't marry because your Dad has no dowry, because your family had to give a third of their produce to your uncle to keep him from starving, because a gorp got into the barn and killed all his livestock. After a Storm Bull killed the gorp, you got your own family crop in late because you had to go and rebuild the barn (had big acid holes eaten in it, and you couldn't very well build the new barn on top of the acid pools, not for at least a year until the wind & rain dilute and cleanse it). You pray that chaos never comes to _your_ home, because the disasters it produces just hitting your friends and neighbors is bad enough to slow down your own progress. But your uncle is wiped out economically and your third cousin is dead.

>Can the average peasant find a safe place to live, or does chaos invade
too often?

        Depends on where you live, but the effects of chaos are felt in lands hundreds of miles away. When the scorpion folk ran rampant in Heortland, repercussions were felt in Esrolia.


End of The Glorantha Digest V5 #532


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