King Pharandros took command of the remaining imperial troops in the provinces, and led them with the Tarsh army to conquer the disheartened Sartarites. Near where the Creek enters the Upland Marsh,…
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More Harmast Notes
The opening of Harmast’s Narrative is well-known to every Orlanthi, and is at the same time strange and troubling. Here’s is how it reads: “In the thirty‑third year of my life, because…
Gloranthan Literature
Of course the Harmast’s Narrative is not the only classic work of literature in circulation. In Nochet, the Draconic Secrets, a Second Age manuscript from the Shadowlands, is widely known and read….
Harmast’s Saga
Pilgrimage and Commentary: This is the most current version of the most influential text of the Orlanthi and a foundational text for Orlanthi literature (and influential far beyond). Harmast’s Narrative forms the core of the…
Noble Patronage in Sartar & Tarsh
The ruling dynasties of Sartar and Tarsh were both reknowned for their intellectual and scholarly pursuits, or at least their patronage of such activities. So for example, Sartar established Lhankor Mhy temples…
Current Tarsh Politics
To understand Tarsh in the current time, one needs to understand how important the last three generations of the Blacktooth family (the Orindori) have been. Vostor Blacktooth, Fazzur’s father, was a loyal…
World-Wide Deities
Most Gloranthan religions list hundreds, even thousands of gods. Some of these gods are clearly localized phenomena, deified rulers, or tribal ancestors. Others are alternative titles for gods already worshiped under a…
Notes on The Second Council
Once the decision had been made to form a Second Council to meet the challenges of a New Time there was a nomination of potential members by all the worshippers within the…
The First Council
I recently ran across one of the most ancient texts describing the First Council. This was dated to the Dawn Age, when Glorantha’s mythic structure was first being defined and explored: The…
On Evil and Chaos
Most creatures tainted by Chaos are simply evil. They tend to worship the gods of Chaos – the enemies of Creation – because no one else will take them. These entities are…
Notes on Seseine
A few notes on Seseine: GODDESS OF TEMPTATION An intense desire for some object, emotion, or state of being can lead a person to use evil or corrupt means to gain such….
The Entropy of Time
The Broken Council, God Learners, Empire of the Wyrms Friends, and the Lunar Empire all shared the same progression of endless new possibilities and optimistic enthusiasm that later becomes overtaken by ambitious…
Skyfall Lake
Skyfall Lake is remarkable place. The lake itself is at 1150 meters elevation and is about 17 km long and 10 km wide, nestled beneath 2200 meter high Black Dragon Mountain. To…
Uleria & Marriage
If a person is married can they “worship” at a temple of uleria, or is this seen as a breach of the marriage vows? Of course they can. In general, the legal/magical…
Notes on Dormal
Dormal is the Saint Anthony of sailors. He’s worshiped not just by whoever does the Opening Ritual but by the whole crew. Given that the Rightarm Islands provides the bulk of the…
Don’t Balance Your Games
James Coquillat interviews me about my thoughts regarding game balance.
Notes on Tradetalk
Tradetalk is the Issaries cult language. It is spoken throughout Glorantha and is the closest thing to a common tongue Glorantha has. It may be learned almost anywhere, including nonhuman areas, and…
Genertela line map
The northern continent of the Surface World is called Genertela, which means “Place of Genert”, the Earth King who once ruled the land. Genertela is about 5,000 km east to west and…
Gloranthan Distances
It is approximately 4250 kilometers from the Holy Country to Pamaltela, although most sailors travel clockwise around the Homeward Ocean, taking about 3 weeks to get to Maslo, give or take a…
Brithini Immortality
The Brithini have immortality because they haven’t changed since Death appeared. Here’s a Brithini story I heard: Why we live forever? When Zzabur asked his father, “How do we stay immortal?”the Prophet…
Glorantha Sourcebook source maps
I was going through some folders this morning and found my hand-drawn Lunar Wane maps that were the source material used in the Glorantha Sourcebook. Unlike Greg’s originals, these extended south to…
Malkionism – a detached and abstract philosophical approach
Malkionism provides us with a detached and abstract philosophical approach to Glorantha. It is easier for us Westerners than the raw personal experiences found in most rune cults. With Malkionism we can…
Malkionism demographics
When thinking about Malkionism, keep in mind that In Genertela, there are: Around 2.5 million Hrestoli (various schools) Around 1.5 million Rokari Around 750 k followers of the Stygian Heresy Around 250…
The Stygian heresy
This is a big tent, with some 700,000 followers. One way of thinking about the Stygian heresy is that it is tantric Malkionism. Transgressive, antinomian, esoteric, with secret initiation rites and interaction…
Notes on Rokarism
There are about a 1.5 million people or so who are initiated to the Invisible God and follow the Rokari rites. Of those maybe 3% are the “priestly caste”, called zzaburi. That…