RE: [HeroQuest-RPG] Some Questions About Non-Genertelian Glorantha

From: Nick Brooke <nick_at_etyries.com>
Date: Sun, 27 Apr 2003 13:32:43 +0100


Herb asked (on HeroQuest-RPG):

> 1. What were the corresponding crises to Gbaji in the South and East=20
> (especially the East)?=20

Sandy Petersen wrote an excellent story about disastrous events in the = reign
of Shang-Hsa (May His Name Be Cursed) coinciding with the Sunstop in the East. It's available at Oliver Bernuetz' Mything Links:

http://www.geocities.com/bernuetz/mything/shang.html

For the South, I don't recall anything other than the brief bit you get = in
the Glorantha paperback's history chapter (formerly the "Cults of = Terror"
history) about the jungle elves revitalising themselves:

http://www.glorantha.com/library/history/cot-history.html#sunstop

> But how was the First Age Ended everywhere?

By the ramifications of the Sunstop, not those of Gbaji.

> 2. Do the 600 year events have a unifing theme (the Gods War and=20
> Second Age end seem to...don't know enough about the Dawn Age)?=20

The Second Age had various ends, depending where and when you look. Two common themes are the downfall of the God Learners (sunken lands and = closed
oceans, freeing Kralorela and Pamaltela) and the decapitation of the EWF (leading to the Dragonkill War and near-collapse of Pelorian empires), = but
I'd hate to come up with any "unifying theme" other than "several great magical empires collapsed for various reasons, not all of which were related". Especially as that could also be the "unifying theme" for the = end
of the Third Age...

> 3. Anything about the Eastern Isles beyond the roughly ten pages in =20
> Issaries' Glorantha book?

Definitely!

OFFICIAL STUFF: You should get "Missing Lands" (a prefinished work): http://www.glorantha.com/products/8804.html

and "Revealed Mythologies" (another prefinished work): http://www.glorantha.com/products/8805.html

Maps of the Mythical Ages of Vithela at Issaries' site: http://www.glorantha.com/new/mythmapvithela.html

Vithelan "Myths of the Month" available to GTA initiates: http://www.glorantha.com/gta/gta_material.html#Initiates

FAN PRODUCED STUFF: There's some good fiction at Mything Links: http://www.geocities.com/bernuetz/mything/mything-regions.html#EastIsles

I'd also recommend issue #17 of "Tales of the Reaching Moon", which had = some
*great* fan-written material for games set in that part of the world.

Plus try googling (www.google.com) for "Vithela" or "East Isles"... you never know what you might stumble across.

> If I was looking for real world models for campaign info, what would
> fit? It seems that Indian and Southeast Asia with just a touch of
> China...

I'd add Polynesia to the mix, myself, but those are certainly a good = start.
The nearby cultural analogues are Chinese (Kralorela), Japanese = (Vormain)
and Indian (Teshnos), so you're in the right part of the world.

Cheers, Nick

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