The players wanted to explore some of the different cultures of Glorantha, as opposed to simply playing Heortlings, which was the campaign I had originally intended. As an old, old RQ player, I had to fall back on that most excellent of campaign settings... Prax and Pavis.
After hours of discussion with my players, I so far have as a group the following charactes...
A Fisher from the Zola Fel river, who's renowned for his shrewdness and who's greatest asset is the strong relationship with his son (He took relationship:son at 5W! His two other best abilities are Shrewd and Relationship:Community at 1W, as well as Lame (a flaw) at 17. During his manhood rite he had to wrestle with a disease spirit who was a giant black alligator, that took part of his leg! The player asked for this flaw.) He is Horvath, son of Geran, son of Tashi, son of Horvath.
The second character (who is as of yet unnamed) is a young Carmanian Vizier who had the fortune to meet a Rumi-Esque sorcerer and prophet from Fonrit, who was visiting the Lunar Empire and exploring the Carmanian provinces (I know, a DAMN long way from home.) This Fonritian sorcerer-mystic opens the young apprentices eyes to the wonder and glory of the Invisible God via poetry and meditation. Then, he disappears. The young Vizier's father did not take kindly to some madman from the south, even if he was a guest of the Lunar government. The PC suspects that Dad had him knifed in the back in a dark alley. He has fled, to explore the world and try to find the truth that his teacher opened his eyes to. I as GM have to devise Keywords for Carmanian Vizier magic based on the scant clues in the HW book, and online sources.
Finally, the one Orlanthi PC was found as a human babe sucking off the teat of a mother Alynx, deep in the woods, by a band of Yinkin-worshipping hunters. Obviously a child of the god or a powerful Alynx spirit, the child is adoped by the band and brough to the nearby Clan Tula and raised as a Heortling child, initiated into Yinkin when he becomes an adult. This PC has Relationship: Yinkin at 5W, and two of the Yinkin affinities at 1W. Highly favored by the King of Cats, this PC (who's name I don't have in front of me) is ironically the best magician in the group. I also have the not entirely unpleasant task of devising some Yinkin mythology... I plan on making use of some of the fan written "Yinking and Brother Dog" myths, and have a title for my own, "How Yinkin became King of the Cats", showing his superiority over the other Durbadath of Dara Happa (this is obviously a Bright Empire Orlanthi-Dara Happan crossover myth.) My player wants to emphasize Yinkin's trickster and seducer nature, and I'm considering writing some Yinkin-Eurmal and Yinkin-Uleria myths ("How Yinkin got fur", "Why cats purr and dogs bark" for the Uleria myth.) Anyone else have any myths they'd like to share?
HW is making me so damned eager to fill in areas of Glorantha that haven't been published yet. I want to do Spolite witches (after reading about Spol in Entekosiad and Fortunate Succession), continue developing the Zola Fel River Folk (I now have a Zola Fel Cultural Keyword, Zola Fel Fisher Keyword, and a Zola Fel Animist Tradition Magic Keyword.) I treat Zola Fel worship as Animist in nature, bordering on Theistic worship, with Zola Fel as a great river spirit.
HINT - For the Hero Wars Prax/Pavis project, I WANT IN. :)
It's exciting to be a Glorantha fan during the time of the Hero Wars.
Chris Bell
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