Skip to content
The Well of Daliath
Menu
Menu

Elder Race Memories

Posted on December 22, 2021

Something to think about with the Elder Races – memory. The green and brown elves live 200 to 300 years, and dryads even longer. There are plenty of elderly elves who remember the Inhuman Occupation and when the Orlanthi settlers first returned to Dragon Pass. The political squabbles of human groups means little to them. Who can really distinguish between those humans that follow the Red Moon and those of Sartar Dwarffriend?

Although dark trolls only live a little longer than humans, Mistress Race Trolls are immortal. Most Mistress Race Trolls were born in Wonderhome, before the Dawn. The race was already diminishing in the First Age before the Curse of Kin. Arkat and his companions were the last MIstress Race Trolls born in Time, until recently.

That means the Mistress Race make the Antediluvians from Vampire games look like spring chickens. Some are many thousands of years old. They barely recognize the dark trolls as their descendants – the trollkin are hated mockeries. The Mistress Race remember Osentalka! They remember the Broken Council! They remember the betrayal of the dwarves and elves, the fickleness of the dragonewts.

But the prize goes to the dwarfs. They are all immortal, unless they deviate from their function. But most dwarfs have no interest at all in human society and cannot tell one human from another. If the price is right, they will work for whoever, but that price is always very high. And all of the remaining True Mostali (like The Dwarf) are from the Godtime and predate the dwarves. And the Mistress Race.

This personal recollection of history and mythic events makes the Elder Races societies quite different from humans. Some of the Mistress Race recall the Lesser Darkness and survived the Greater Darkness.Even the elves are far more longer lived than any human society ever (including our own). And some elves have been replanted or reseeded, and recall events from the Second or even First Age.But this memory also means that old feuds and betrayal are not forgotten. Humans are a secondary concern – the other Elder Races are existential threats.

Elves generally live 200 to 300 years.

A Mistress Race Troll should be a terrifying encounter – likely to occur only in the deepest Darkness of a troll stronghold. She is a dark, rumbling thing, constantly hungry, utterly without mercy, and those with Second Sight will wish they did not. Sure she has dozens of Rune points but most have also wrested strange powers from gods and spirits. Your human tribe, kingdom, or empire is irrelevant to her, unless she learns that it is tied to something she experienced and still cares about.

MOB – “Arkat and his companions were the last Mistress Race Trolls born in Time, until recently.” A lot to unpack in that sentence!

Jeff Richard

Next
Previous

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 Grasslands of Prax

    Something to keep in mind about Prax. The grasslands of …
  • Praxian Kinship Groups

    Praxian tribes are divided into smaller kinship groups or clans, …
  • Lunar Resettlement of Tarsh after 1460 ST

    After 1460, large sections of Peloria (especially east of the …
  • The Spread of the Lunar Way

    In the Lunar Provinces, about 26% of the total population …
  • Gods of Fire and Sky and the Lunar Way

    The Gods of Fire and Sky co-exist alongside the Lunar …
  • How Much Land is a Hide?

    So in RQ, a “hide” is a unit of accounting …
  • Agricultural Data for RuneQuest

    Back in the late 70s and early 80s, Greg‘s only …
  • Farming in Dara Happa

    In anticipation of the Fire/Sky Book, here’s a few notes …
  • Farming in the Big Rubble

    There are some 1600 humans in the Big Rubble, with …

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

  • A possible suggestion for sorcery
  • Out now on Jonstown Compendium: RuneQuest without a Gamemaster, a guide to playing RuneQuest solo or co-operatively with a group
  • Are there any official RQ scenarios regarding Mostali?
  • RuneQuest GM Screen Pack
  • Why does Orlanth have the Mastery Rune?
  • Cults books - state of completion, undocumented cults
  • Jeff Kyer's Blood Over Gold
  • Gagarth's steed
  • Does Issaries have a magical language?
  • How the Rebel Storm Set Me Free

Popular Tags

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 Tapatalk post Tarsh (homeland & Lunar province) Troll Pantheon Yelm Yelmalio Yelm Pantheon Youtube

Recently added or updated

  • Library of Londarios: The Kings of Seshnela, Part Two (1999)

  • Library of Londarios: The Kings of Seshnela, Part Three (1999)

  • Library of Londarios: Deneskerva the Great Sister

  • ISS1103 Anaxial’s Roster – Not Enough Room in the Ark (2004)

  • Introduction to Umathela (1997)

  • Heroes Magazine (1984-1986)

  • HeroQuest 1 – Rules FAQ (2005)

  • Spirit Magic by Cult and Associate Cult

  • Excerpt – Cosmology (1981)

  • Excerpt – History in Glorantha (1981)

  • Excerpt – Some Pamaltelan Creation Mythology (2003)

  • Famous Trolls of The Gbaji Wars (1999)

  • Excerpt – Ernalda’s Holy Days (2009)

  • Excerpt – Some Gods (2009)

  • Hero Wars FAQ (2000)

  • Excerpt – The Affairs At Dusk (2003)

  • Myth of the Month: The Orogeria Moon (1998)

  • Greg Sez: Ernaldan Initiation Rites (2005)

  • VASSAL

  • The Grasslands of Prax

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