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History of the Telmori

Posted on December 13, 2024

Hated and feared, the Telmori are werewolves cursed by Chaos. They are unlike other humans, for they have joined with their beast-brothers into a strange and, to some, unnatural relationship of dependence and integration. All Gloranthans, including most Telmori, know that the Telmori are cursed by Chaos and must become unreasoning, savage beasts under the Full Moon, to dash about the countryside slaughtering man and beast alike in frenzied bloodlust. When in their savage wolf form, they cannot be harmed by normal weapons.

Their origin stems from their alliance with the Chaos god Gbaji at the end of the Dawn Age. The advance of civilization has forced them into a secondary role in most lands, often to the point of extinction or permanent outlawry, but they have forced a place for themselves in the world. As such, they are one of the most powerful Hsunchen tribes in Glorantha. In Dragon Pass, the Telmori are recognized as one of the tribes of Sartar. Before the Lunar Conquest, the Telmori served the Sartarite princes as mercenaries and bodyguards, and accounts of the Sartarite armies included stories of frenzied berserker Telmori shock troops.

Some Lunar apologists claim the Sartarite connection with the Telmori displays Orlanthi hypocrisy on Chaos. Some Storm Bull cultists agree. But the full story, as so-often the case with Glorantha, is more complicated.

——

The following are excerpts from Greg’s notes from Sartar

Although many Telmori remained in Dorastor, others continued their migration, and over the next few centuries, they instituted a reign of terror in southern Peloria. In Sylila, the Lunar demigoddess Hon-eel the Artess ended the Telmori menace; when aided by three spirits, she turned the creatures into full wolves incapable of ever again taking human form.

Around the same time, the Telmori entered Dragon Pass. In 1455, they crossed the Creek, destroyed the Sanchali Tribe, and then forced the Torkani out of Torkan’s Vale. Hauberk Jon led a tribal alliance against the Telmori. In 1477, werewolf bands crossed over the Dragonspine, but their retreat was blocked by King Tastinim of Tarsh, who fought them in Sikithi Land. The Telmori killed the Tarshite king but were forced back to the borders of Prax. There the Telmori took council and determined to take the lightly wooded regions between the Indigo Mountains and the Six Sisters as their own territory.

The local Orlanthi fought against the Telmori, led by a priest of Orlanth named Hauberk Jon. He was from the Malani tribe. Hauberk Jon led a daring raid against the Telmori Tribe and killed their human pack leader, his family, and his household guards. Jon used magics of Orlanth and his allies to withstand the wolf powers, but the cost was great among the elite warriors of all the tribes who had assisted. Jon was busy trying to consolidate the lesser chieftains when Sartar approached in 1480 and offered to make peace with the Telmori leaders if Jon and his followers would aid him in making a city afterwards.

Sartar made peace with the Telmori by boldly approaching their mourning ceremonies. They promised to kill him for this intrusion, but he spoke kindly in his particular way, and after he was finished, they agreed to befriend him instead if he could solve a problem which they set before him. The problem was to revive their slain chieftain.

Sartar, in his usual way, did not perform what they wanted but did something else instead that was far greater—he produced a new chief for them. No one had seen the man before, but there was no doubt he was a Telmori chief. He was called Ostling Four‑wolf, which was a miracle because no one could ever have more than one beast brother at a time, but Ostling had four. Moreover, Ostling only changed into a wolf when he chose to and did not involuntarily become a wolf on Wildday. Ostling also showed the Telmori chiefs some secrets of their changing and offered hope of their curse being broken. Ostling passed the leadership tests and so ruled the Telmori afterwards and was a good friend to Sartar. From that time, the tribe was always friendly with the rulers of the Sartar dynasty, though they still mistrusted everyone else as they always had.

For many generations, the Telmori loyally served the House of Sartar, and their elite warriors formed the feared Royal Guard of the Prince of Sartar. They were given a settlement inside the sacred city of Boldhome and both Telmori and wolves were given gifts of meat from the Prince, enough to keep them from needing to raid the livestock of other tribes. The Telmori feature prominently in the ballads and songs of the House of Sartar, most famously Kostajor Wolf-Champion, who was the son of Ostling Four-Wolf and Oneselin the daughter of Saronil. Prince Salinarg married a Telmori woman, a daughter of Kostajor Wolf-Champion, and their three children—a son named Harsaltar, and two daughters, named Enothea and Beneva—were considered full Telmori by the law of the Wolf People.

[Note: none of the children had so much as a Chaos taint]

See also

The Telmori
Sartar Telmori
Telmori Chaos Taint
Werewolves in Sartar

Now the tragedy of the Telmori gets worse. In 1620 Kostajor Wolf Champion was murdered by a vengeful Telmori shaman. In retaliation, the Lunar captain Jomes Wulf and his tribal allies waged a second Wolf Hunt. The line of Ostling is no more and the Telmori are leaderless.

Note that the Gifts of meat didn’t make them “pets”, it meant that the Telmori and their brothers did not need to kill livestock. It is similar to the “gifts of food” given to the trolls by the dynasty.


Jeff Richard

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1455 ST, 1477 ST, 1480 ST, 1620 ST, First Age, Gbaji, Greg Stafford, Hauberk Jon, Hsunchen, Jomes Wulf, Kostajor Wolf-Champion, Malani (Sartar tribe), Oneselin, Ostling Four‑wolf, Sanchali (Sartar Tribe), Sartar (King), Telmori (Sartar tribe), Torkani (Sartar tribe)

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