I was aware of the islamic/arabian conquerer feel, which is clear in the treatment in Enclosure, in some of the place names, in Men of the Sea, and I can see merit in that approach for modern Fonrit - using analogues from Egypt, Morocco, etc. but my feeling was that Fonrit in the 6th Century was not a active civilisation when Garangordos arrives, but rather the almost post-apocalyptic remnants of a civilisation. Therefore Garangordos does not arrive as a prophet with a new religion and devoted desert warriors taking over an existing civilisation, but as an adventurer who lucks out with some enslavement magic and takes over, reinvigorating society (if not actually improving it). I like the Aztec Mexico look as a basis for some of the ancient peoples, but feel that the Veldang at least, are more even more alien to Garangordos than the Aztecs were to the Conquistadors, and that their ruins have been ruins for a long time rather than something they actually built recently. Giant blue Easter Island statues spring to mind. Mondoro, in particular should have the unnatural remains of Bandako - traps, criminals, outcasts, monsters, evidence of Bolongo and Vovisibor. Obviously, Fonrit is not just an earth analog but it is easy to mix a few things together. My preference is more Shaka Zulu than Sinbad the Sailor, more Tarzan than Lawrence of Arabia, more John Carter of Mars than El Cid.
> > The band would start in Laskal, pass through the coastal towns of Goan and Bogani, enter the wilderlands of Mondoro, find Barueli and encounter the Temple fo the Hungry godess,
>
> I have the impression the Hungry Goddess is Krarsht.
Krarsht without Krarshtkids, at least that is the impression I get from Glorantha Bestiary. Still Krarsht, and perhaps still with the underground tunnels (of course! this is an RPG!), but without the kids. Perhaps Storm Bull didn't slice her up in Pamaltela so she's down there...complete.
>
> > then go to the Gargos valley, learn about Ompalam, Tentacule and Darleester at the Temple in Garguna and using the Noose gain control of the valley, then expand to the rest of Fonrilt.
> While one can learn about Darleester at Garguna, I seriously doubt that
> Tentacule is so worshipped there. Tentacule is more strongly associated
> with Kareeshtu and I tend to think of him as a cult of pyramid
> builders. The pyramids for the dead resemble the egyptian pyramids
> while those for the living are more like the hanging gardens of babylon.
>
The details of Ompalam, Tentacule, Darleester and even Jraktal confuse me. I was using p42 of Revealed Mythologies:
"When the time came to perform the annual Life Quest, Garangordos announced that he would not be performing the usual quest to defeat Vovisibor, Filth Which Walks, and release Kendalamar to be reborn as Varmama. Instead he and his followers would use the quest to liberate Ompalam from the shackles of Jracktal the Tap."
This looks to me like Garangordos, as Pamalt, doing experimental Heroquesting to release Ompalam rather than release Varama. He is twisting Pamaltelan/Doraddi mythology. Pamalt used his companions together to defeat Vovisibor, so Garangordos uses his companions to defeat Jraktal. I see this as Garangordos converting/initiating to Ompalam. I don't know anything much about Tentacule so would probably leave him out at this stage. Darleester the Noose would be either a ritual spell, or an actual magical item, that the Blues are using in the Artmali fashion - i.e. exactly how it was supposed to be used, striving for perfection but lacking understanding,- while Garangordos, being a more pragmatic Pamalt inspired team player, exploits it to take over the exisiting (but less effective/absolutist) Ompalam cult exisiting in Garguna.
> Likewise I think that Garangordos already worshipped Ompalam before he
> entered Fonrit. Where he excelled unlike previous conquerers was his
> ability to unite the magical traditions of the five lands. The mythical
> parallel here is the birth of Vovisibor at the hands of five evil
> magicians, which I believe to have been a perversion of an earlier
> Fonritan creation ritual.
My feeling is that he learns about Ompalam somewhere (in a mushroom drink vision in Goan, from the elves of Bogani, from a wily water spirit in Dumanaba, from the Hungry Goddess, from an incarnation of Bolongo in Mondoro) on his way to the Gorgos valley, uses Darleester the Noose to take over the Cult, does the Heroquest thing to become worshipped as Witnesses, uses the Cult to take over the rest of Fonrit. I agree that he excelled by uniting the magical traditions of the five lands, but I think he did it using the Cult of Ompalam and Darleester the Noose.
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