Skip to content
The Well of Daliath
Menu
Menu

Colonization in Glorantha

Posted on July 5, 2022

Many Gloranthan societies settle colonies, just as the Greeks, Chinese, Phoenicians, Romans, Aztecs, etc. Let’s think about this from the perspective of antiquity, as opposed to the early Modern Era. Cities or tribes would send out settlers to found new colonies, perhaps because of being defeated in war, to resolve internal social conflict, for imperial expansion, as garrisons, for trade opportunities, etc. In the Third Age, it isn’t just the Lunar Empire that does this (e.g., Saird, Oraya-Redlands, Furthest), but the Orlanthi (e.g., Sartar, Tarsh, Pavis, Risklands, etc.) and even the Holy Country (Doskayo on Melib).

We can think of Sartar being originally a colony of the Hendriki, established because of religious prophecy and military defeat. Tarsh had similar origins, but was founded by the Orlanthi of South Peloria in the wake of the Conquering Daughter.

Sometimes colonization took place in areas largely unsettled by humans (eg., Dragon Pass, Pavis County). Sometimes it took place in settled lands, where the vanquished were forced to give up land to the new settlers (e.g., Oraya-Redlands, Saird, Furthest). Note the use of term “largely unsettled” – there of course were bands of nomadic Pure Horse People in Dragon Pass when the Orlanthi settled there, and there were Praxians around Old Pavis when the Sartarites settled there. Admittedly those colonies were not founded on nearly as much blood as Saird or Oraya.

And if we define “empire” as: “an aggregate of many separate states or territories under a supreme ruler or oligarchy. This is in contrast to a federation, which is an extensive state voluntarily composed of autonomous states and peoples. An empire is a large polity which rules over territories outside of its original borders.”

Then we see there are plenty of “empires” – the Lunar Empire, Seshnela, Loskalm, and more. Sartar is a federation – at least until 1630. However, one can make a good argument that Argrath’s Kingdom of Dragon Pass is an empire, as Furthest is conquered, and Argrath is able to rule over all of Dragon Pass in a way that Moirades, Tarkalor, and Sartar could not.

But lets go back in time a little, to the Second and First Ages. Although the First Council was a federation, the Second Council could be said to be an empire, and the Broken Council, Empire of the Wyrms Friends, and Third Council were definitely empires. Weirdly, Dara Happa called itself an empire, but actually might be better thought of as a federation for much of its history!

Jeff Richard

Next
Previous
Doskayo, Furthest (large city), New Pavis (small city), Old Tarsh (homeland), Oraya (Lunar satrapy), Redlands, Risklands, Saird, Sartar (homeland)

Sections

  • Search Tips
  • Current RuneQuest Glorantha Publications
  • RuneQuest Glorantha Corrections and Q&A
  • Catalogue
  • References for Glorantha
    • Gloranthan Canon
  • Gloranthan Documents
  • RPG Systems & Versions
  • Gallery
  • About This Site
  • Get involved!

Latest Posts

  • The Nine Good Giant Mountains

    The Nine Good Giant Mountains are about 60 km or …
  • Why Most Sartarites Hate the Lunar Empire

    From time to time it is worth reminding people why …
  • Suntown and the Eiskolli

    Suntown has always been in the hands of the Sun …
  • A Few Notes on the Grantlands

    To the south of Sun County are the former Grantlands, …
  • Sartar Cities

    Sartar can be thought of a confederation of small cities …
  • Catalogue of the Gods revisited

    This piece from the Mythology book is among my absolute …
  • Thunderbolts in Art

    One of the things that really got me down the …
  • RuneQuest Art

    So let’s talk RQ art for a moment. For the …
  • Top Five RuneQuest Cults

    So it is absolutely no surprise to me that in …

Links

  • Chaosium
  • Chaosium’s RuneQuest RPG Wiki
  • Glorantha on BRP Central
  • RuneQuest on BRP Central
  • RuneQuest on Discord
  • Prince of Sartar Webcomic
  • Glorantha G+ Archives on Tapatalk
  • Search mailing list archive

Latest from BRP Central

  • Dine 'n Dash in Dragon Pass: A Culinary Tour of Geo's Inns
  • ENNIES 2025 Spotlight – Lands of RuneQuest: Dragon Pass is nominated for Best Setting
  • Odayla Initiation Heroquest
  • Did anyone get a good look at WB&RM?
  • Clearwine Assembly Hill and Orlanth's High Holy Day
  • Unnamed Kitori town?
  • Who is Rufelza?
  • Lodril in Dragon Pass
  • Do Animal Nomads eat awaken beasts ?
  • Jonstown Compendium: The Sorcerer's Laboratory

Popular Tags

1625 ST Boldhome (large city) Chaosium Colymar (Sartar tribe) Contents Cult demographics Cults of Runequest (preview) Ernalda Esrolia (homeland) FRA Furthest (large city) G+ post Gods Wall Greg Stafford Guide to Glorantha (preview) Humakt Jar-eel Lunar Empire Lunar Pantheon Magazine Malkioni pantheon Map Michael O’Brien Mongoose MRQ1 New Pavis (small city) Old Glorantha Q&A Orlanth Orlanthi pantheon Photo reference Population demographics Prax (homeland) RQ3 RQG Sandy Petersen Sartar (homeland) Spirit Cult Star Subcult Tarsh (homeland & Lunar province) Troll Pantheon Yelm Yelmalio Yelm Pantheon Youtube

Recently added or updated

  • Pavis: Gateway to Adventure Index

  • ISS2007 HeroQuest Glorantha (2015)

  • Moon Design Glorantha Classics (1999-2005)

  • ISS2003 Sartar Companion (2010, 2012)

  • CHA4016 Trollpak (1982, 2019)

  • CHA4015 Borderlands (1982, 2018)

  • Troll Types

  • Argan Argar in the Torkani Tribe

  • HeroQuest 1 – Rules FAQ (2005)

  • RuneQuest Glorantha Corrections and Q&A

  • CHA4046 The Glorantha Sourcebook – Q&A

  • CHA4047 The Gods of Fire and Sky – Q&A

  • CHA4045 The Lunar Way – Q&A

  • Gortania

  • Memenari

  • Path of Immanent Mastery

  • Grain Goddesses

  • Mwara

  • Wyrm’s Footnotes #08 (1980)

  • Manthi

©2025 The Well of Daliath | Design: Newspaperly WordPress Theme