Question from Terra Incognita on one of the mailing lists, answer by Greg Stafford, edited by David Dunham. Published 13thAug 2009
Q: The Mother of Monsters roams the coast of Pamaltela, spawning a Chaos monster every day (Men of the Sea p.65). Varchulanga is also called “Mother of Monsters” (Men of the Sea p.54). Are these two the same?
A: People have mistakenly thought they were the same, because of the title, and conflated them. But there are two distinct beings, both with the same title. One is a vast, featureless immortal living below the bottom of the sea. She spawns monsters of the deep, including the huge sea dragons used by the Waertagi. The other is a colossal creature who wanders the coastline of the Maslo Sea. She’s about 100 m high and 70 m wide, shaped like a gigantic grub with pillar-like legs and a shark-like mouth that devours everything in her path. Each night she lays a clutch of one or more eggs. If they’re covered by the tide they become swimmers. If they hatch while damp they become hoppers, but if they’re dry they hatch into flyers. The monsters are different each time, but invariably large adults, tainted by Chaos.
Related Pages
- Accessing Eternity (2006)
- Belintar’s Book: The Blue Dragon Sshorga (1999)
- Belintar’s Book: Aldrya’s Own Story (1998)
- Belintar’s Book: Mountain Stories (1999)
- Clarifying the Primal Worlds (2003)
- Dragons Past #1 – Gloranthan Military Experience (1983)
- Greg Sez Guest: Does the Emperor party or not? (Jan 1999)
- Greg Sez Guest: Dragon Slayers and Dragons of Saird (Feb 1999)
- Greg Sez Guest: East Isles: United or not? (Jan 1999)
- Greg Sez Guest: The Mighty Janube (Nov 1998)
- Greg Sez Guests: Five Troll Questions (Sep 1999)
- Greg Sez: Barbarians – Heortlings, Vingkotlings, and Orlanthi (Jan 1998)
- Greg Sez: Between the Devil and the Dawn Age (Aug 1998)
- Greg Sez: Chaos Taints Q&A (2007)
- Greg Sez: Divinity and Gender (2009)
- Greg Sez: Ducks and Eggs (Dec 1997)
- Greg Sez: Enemy Gods (2009)
- Greg Sez: Ernaldan Initiation Rites
- Greg Sez: Esrolian Q&A (2001)
- Greg Sez: Heroes & Immortals (2005)
- Greg Sez: How Big Is My God? (Oct 1998)
- Greg Sez: How Does the Red Emperor Rule? (Feb 1999)
- Greg Sez: How Many Humakti?
- Greg Sez: Humakt Illuminated? (Apr 1998)
- Greg Sez: Illusion (2002)
- Greg Sez: Information about Elves (Jan 2000)
- Greg Sez: Malkioni Literacy (May 1999)
- Greg Sez: Metals In Prax (Feb 1998)
- Greg Sez: Mistress Race Trolls
- Greg Sez: Moon Names (2008)
- Greg Sez: Orlanthi Groups Q&A (2008)
- Greg Sez: Orlanthi Initiation Rites
- Greg Sez: Rathori Creation Myth
- Greg Sez: Second Age Peloria and Carmania (2007)
- Greg Sez: Sheng Seleris in Hell (May 1998)
- Greg Sez: Tada’s High Tumulus (Feb 2000)
- Greg Sez: The Kingdom of War (Jul 1998)
- Greg Sez: The Nature of Harmony and Fertility (Jun 1999)
- Greg Sez: The Red Emperor (Sep 1998)
- Greg Sez: The Sky World (Aug 2009)
- Greg Sez: The Southpath Gods (Jul 1999)
- Greg Sez: Troll Ancestors and Rebirth (2011)
- Greg Sez: Understanding Windstop and Esrolia (2005)
- Greg Sez: What is it with the Underworld? (Apr 2007)
- Greg Sez: Who Are the Blue Peoples? (Mar 1998)
- Greg Sez: Who are the Dog Fathers? (May 1999)
- Greg Sez: Who was Baroshi? (Jun 1998)
- Greg Sez: Why do the Giants use the River of Cradles (May 1999)
- Greg Sez: Yelmalio (Mar 2000)
- Hero Wars: Beyond Humanity (2000)
- Hero Wars: Wyters Q&A (2002)
- HeroQuest 1: Embodied & Disembodied Spirits Q&A (2004)
- HeroQuest 1: Heroquesting (2003)
- HeroQuest 1: Landscape Bands Q&A (2004)
- HeroQuest 1: Types of Heroquests (2006)
- Hsunchen Peoples of Genertela (2003)
- Introduction to Umathela (1997)
- Javern Spithorn and the Sunset Leap (2001)
- Library of Londarios: Ancestors of the Lenshi Kings (1998)
- Library of Londarios: Clarifying the Primal Worlds (Feb 2003)
- Library of Londarios: Danmalastan (1999)
- Library of Londarios: Deneskerva the Great Sister
- Library of Londarios: Postcards From Glorantha (Mar 2004)
- Library of Londarios: Stellar FAQ (Dec 1999)
- Library of Londarios: The Abiding Book (1999)
- Library of Londarios: The Birth of Elmal (1993)
- Library of Londarios: The Kings of Seshnela, Part One (1999)
- Library of Londarios: The Kings of Seshnela, Part Three (1999)
- Library of Londarios: The Kings of Seshnela, Part Two (1999)
- Library of Londarios: What the Mystic Taught Me (1998)
- Lives of Sedenya (2006)
- Myth of the Month: Aedin’s Wall (2000)
- Myth of the Month: Chariots and Chariot Gods (2003)
- Myth of the Month: Clouds (2000)
- Myth of the Month: Enemy Gods of the Orlanthi (2001)
- Myth of the Month: History of the Race of Trolls (1998)
- Myth of the Month: How Argan Argar Courted Esrola (2002)
- Myth of the Month: How Orlanth Met Ernalda (1998)
- Myth of the Month: How the Islands Came Apart (1998)
- Myth of the Month: Hrelar Amali (2011)
- Myth of the Month: Lightnight (2010)
- Myth of the Month: Malkioni Otherworld (2001)
- Myth of the Month: Morden Defends the Camp (1999)
- Myth of the Month: Orlanth makes a Ring (1998)
- Myth of the Month: ShangHsa (1998)
- Myth of the Month: Shargash the Destroyer (1998)
- Myth of the Month: The Birth of the Minotaur (1981)
- Myth of the Month: The Drinking Giant’s Cauldron
- Myth of the Month: The Missionaries (2005)
- Myth of the Month: The Orogeria Moon (1998)
- Myth of the Month: The Vithelan Creation of the World (1998)
- Myth of the Month: Three Documents, One Event (2005)
- Pelandan Cosmology
- Praxian Spirit Tradition (2000)
- Safelster in the First Age (2013)
- Sites at the Dawn (2006)
- Summoning Korgatsu (2001)
- The Enerali circa 130 ST
- The Gloranthan Cosmos (2008)
- The Gloranthan Sky (1997)
- The Origins of Writing
- The Perfect Sky, revised (1999)
- Types of Heroquests (2008)
- What is the Third Age History of the Sun Dome Temple in Sartar (2008)
Page Last updated: 2020-07-08 14:18:27