I’ve been posting a few previews of art for the forthcoming Cults of Glorantha books, but there’s another beautiful book already in art production – the Sartar boxed set. And here’s just a little preview of a piece by the outstanding Ossi Hiekkala.
Our mercenary here has been a bandit/rebel for pretty much her entire life. She might have been young, gorgeous, and wholesome back when she was a young woman who flocked to Starbrow’s Rebellion in 1613, but since then, she has become hard, cynical, and ruthless. She started as a Colymar woman from Apple Lane – Raveena Dronlon’s Daughter of the Varmandi Clan (her father was Dronlan Swordsharp – the Thane of Apple Lane. But she flocked to Starbrow’s banner in 1613, joined a mercenary company and was exiled when the rebellion failed. She fled to Balazar and joined the mercenary company of Pay Surney but was traded by Pay Surney to another Rune Lord for two horses and a broadsword. Raveena eventually returned to Dragon Pass where she became a bandit attacking caravans along Trader’s Valley. In 1622 she was one of those who fought for King Broyan in the Auroch Hills and spent the next three years leading a band of bandits/rebels in South Sartar and Hendrikiland. When Starbrow became Prince, Raveena continued as a bandit.
Now it is 1627, and Raveena has accepted the amnesty of the new Prince Argrath, and has entered his service as one of the mercenaries in the Thieves Band. She is in her mid-30s and has seen and experienced a lot – mostly all bad. She’s a senior initiate of the Orlanth Adventurous (Vinga-subcult), but lacks the Honor to become a Wind Lord. She has plenty of spirit magic focii (tattoos, bone jewelry, piercings, etc), and wears a green stone (a spell resisting crystal) around her neck (a gift from a long-gone lover). She’s got a lot of scars, and is even missing an eye. She likes to keep the socket uncovered, as she finds it intimidates plenty of people.
And since this is RuneQuest, here are her stats: STR 13 CON 16 SIZ 13 INT 14 POW 17 DEX 14 CHA 14
Why only one greave? In this case, it is just that Raveena only looted one greave off the battlefield.
Having pieces like this for RuneQuest is like a dream come true – one of my favorite books on ancient military history as a youth was John Warry’s “Warfare in the Classical World” and Jeff Burn’s artwork in that very much defined the ancient world for me.
Raveena is a mere mortal. A RuneQuest character instead of a cult figure.
There’s a long tradition of tough barefoot soldiers in both Glorantha and the real world. And especially with the Orlanthi, with heroes such as Harmast Barefoot.
Why she haven’t cure her eye with magic? The Healer Temple doesn’t consider it a priority.
I also suspect that Ernaldan healing magics are much easier to access? but that Ernalda priestess has a lot of demand for other spells as well. Rune spells (and Rune points) are not an infinite resource.