Then it seems that in canonical Glorantha, they will have lots to do, because the Lunars are actively plotting to bring down Ernalda as well as Orlanth.
> 2. My Jansholm game -- Esrolian NPCs have already had an important
> part in this, as have Aeolian PCs. It's important to understand what
> effects the Windstop will have on them when it happens a few years on.
Assuming Esrolia is within the range of effect (which I believe it is) then it seems you can go with the canonical effect of all Ernaldan magic vanishing or with the idea that only those who worship Ernalda with Orlanth as primary husband-protector lose magic. In the canonical effect, there seem to be a few arguments supporting the effect:
The Lunars deliberately put her to sleep by making the "Death of Orlanth" actually the "Return of the Great Winter". Presumably, when they did this, they went for the Depth of the Great Winter. So Orlanth is already dead and Ernalda is already asleep. (Skipping over the point where he goes to the underworld and she does everything possible to protect her people.) Since the Esrolians presumably have this myth of the Great Winter (where Ernalda sleeps) then it doesn't matter who you think her husband protector is. All the stories end with Ernalda asleep in Winter. (The other possibility is that the Esrolians have the exact same story as the Sartarites... at the time of the Winter, she was married to Orlanth and thus bound to him or that the Esrolians do view -- mythically -- that Orlanth is the great husband, but politically they are drawing their ruling structure from the time of his exile.)
Regardless, all those end up with the idea that in the Great Winter, Ernalda sleeps. And THIS is what the Lunars did... create Fimbulwinter. Not as a side effect, but as a goal.
As for the Aeolians, they seem to draw their power from God as described in Karatch (which is not the same book as the Abiding Book). Their Saint Worlath is the Orlanth thing, and seems to be a religion of the nobility. But he and I presume there is a noble female equivalent that is Ernalda are the only two who would vanish.
> So it's not esoteric to me. I might choose to ignore the canonical
> view of the event (which seems absurdly Orlanth-centric, in my humble
> opinion), but the discussion will directly affect what goes on in play.
I agree, but as you can see above, I can talk myself into why the canonical effect makes sense. (Great Winter, not Killing Orlanth, is the goal.) Especially because this way, not only does Ernalda not help her husband, but it puts all of Esrolia in disarray and makes it ripe for the picking. (Strategy!)
LC
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