Cultures

The Guide to Glorantha contains copious background information on the most important and widespread Gloranthan cultures. These cultures are arranged by their predominant level of social organization: primitive, nomadic, chiefdom, civilized or elder races.

The eight human cultures are:

  • The primitive hunter-gatherers represented by the Hsunchen and the Doraddi cultures;
  • The nomadic pastoralists, represented by the Praxian culture;
  • The bronze-working tribal chiefdoms, represented by the Orlanthi culture; and
  • The urban civilizations, represented by the Pelorian, Fonritan, Western, and Kralorelan cultures.

The elder races of Glorantha are:

  • The elves or Aldryami – walking sentient plants that have a superficial resemblance to humans;
  • The dwarves or Mostali – immortal crafters that seek to repair the World Machine broken by the Gods War;
  • The trolls or Uz – creatures of darkness descended from underworld demons and cursed by the gods of Light;
  • The Dragonnewts  – the mystic dragon-men who endlessly reincarnate with all their memories from their countless past lives.

We’ve included the original art direction for representatives of each major culture, reference pictures and links, as well as preliminary sketches by Jeff Laubenstein, so that you can have access to the best information we have concerning the look of each Gloranthan culture.

Orlanthi
Fonritans

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