> > For these people, the darkness might never have ended.
>
> Well, it became lighter after a while, but the conditions of the
> Greater Darkness certainly remained unchanged.
Or the only light comes from the lava pools ? Or Elmal/Whatever Magic ?
> I'm still trying to puzzle out what kind of people would sit down
> there. I'm fairly certain that they are the survivors of a once great
> culture ground to dust below the Ice. There are bound to be some very
> few heirlooms from this time.
IIRC, the Malkioni have had quite a hard time with the Great Winter, so there may be heirs of Danmalastan, trapped under the ice as insects in amber. so, sorcery users,in this case.
Or else, there is of course the Dara Happan myths with the great ice wall coming from the north and crushing cities. IIRC, an emperor put his hands on a iron ram head and used it to protect the cities (the tripolis ?) in the GRoY. The ram head come from... the Ram People I think, some kind of warmongering Helerite tribe. There were other DH cities farther north, but they were destroyed by the ice and the ice demons. So your people could also be descendant of Sun Lords... With fire of heat magic, from Lodril or some fire god.
(or an awful mix of Danamalastan(i), Vadrudi and Dara Happans, all trapped under the ice and forced into an uneasy truce, as the Elder Races in Jrustela. No, don't even think about it).
> They may well think of themselves as the only humans left in a world
> of demons, with Uzhim and Hollri as neighbours. As far as they are
> concerned, the sky above them has frozen.
>
> Great idea about the "things trapped in the ice". Reminds me of Heort
> and Ivarne as much as of Pandora's box. (Any similarities to the
> movie "Ice Age" are fairly welcome, too. Giant sloths down there?)
And vadrudi animals, thought extinct eleswhere : mammoth, ice sabertooth tiger (Sakkars ?), the wooly rhino from Anaxial's Roster. And this awful pentian worm from AR also. And Uzhim...
> > in magical terms call it some sort of spirit), so even if they
> > can make fire, it is very dangerous because you never know when
> > the very air around it will ignite (this probably happens over
> > the lava beds sometimes too).
>
> Sure. That's probably one of the major means of augury down there.
Patterns in lava flows ? Etching on the ice walls ? Objects or bodies found embedded in ice ?
> These people have liquid rock at their perusal for creating items.
> Just carve a somewhat oversized mold of what you want out of ice, and
> bring it into contact with the stuff. This might even work to create
> rock canoes (perhaps better catamarans).
Ah, that's quite big cavern you're imagining, then. A sea ? But anyway, I suppose people there would have lava- or ice-sculpting magic
[Ui]
> Philippe Sigaud suggested a glacier somewhere in the Caladraland
> chain, but I fear the climate there plus the excessive earth heat
> haven't left any sizeable glaciers there. There might be up among the
> Skyreach Mountains, though, or in the upper reaches of the Rockwoods.
Not in Caladraland, but somewhere in the north-west from Caladraland IIRC. Ui is a god of cold who almost killed Heler by turning him into a big ice cube (the Heler cult write-up in ST is full of good ideas) I think there is still a mountain there, quite cold and full of frost demons. Maybe Helerites still have to go there for some HeroQuests. But it's not powerful enough to freeze more than a valley, I suppose. Anyway, it was just a way to put your idea not far from 'home' (Maniria), so that I could use it :)
> The inhabitants surely have no idea where on Glorantha they are, or
> rather, where all the rest of Glorantha is.
Reminds me a bit of Charg or other parts of Fronela trapped under the Ban. Ah, no one mentionned Charg as a possibility for a 'new setting'.
cheers,
Philippe
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