Skip to content
The Well of Daliath
Menu
Menu

Personalities of Glorantha – Ruric Runespear (1998)

originally published in Wyrms Footnotes #13

illustration by Rick Becker

Human male, Rune Lord of the Pavis Sun Dome Temple

This write-up made shortly before that fateful journey into the Rubble in the summer of 1612.

Rurik’s father was an innkeeper who followed the Sartar colonials in the fruitless immigration to Pavis. As Rurik grew up he became totally enraptured by the storiues of the adventurers who frequented his father’s tavern. In particular, he admired the shining armor and deadly spears of the Yelmalio initiates who would come by after serving guard duty.

Rurik ran with the street gangs which are rife throughout New Pavis, a holdover from the bad old days when humans had to share the Rubble with the trolls. He made the transition from street-tough to adventurer (and incidentally, was disinherited by his father) when he killed the bully Herkan Quicksword in Gimpy’s Tavern.

Despite his later accomplishments, Rurik could never shake his sproblem with trolls. It wqas as if the gods had set him up to be caught, pounded on, and, alas, finally slain by them. His long-standing hatred for the Darkness Men probably had much to do with his ill luck.

When faced by the Giant of the Garden once, Rurik killed him with a single arrow. When faced by a priestess of Kyger Litor, in contrast, Rurik led his friends into an ambush by trolls hidden by invisibility. Half of the party was slaughtered and the other half were beggared by the ransom that the trolls demanded.

Finally, on a quest to regain Power lost in a previous call for Divine Intervention, deep in the Pavis ruin known as the Devil’s Playground, Rurik and long-time rival Jonathan Trollsbane led the party into another ambush, this time of well-prepared trollkin. [This was in the summer of 1612.] One of the enemy unleashed a shade that drove Rurik’s spirit from his body. Yelmalio heard his prayers and sent it back. Before he could rise, a lucky trollkin had plunged a spear into his leg. The shock was too much, and Rurik died again. This time, though, he didn’t have the Power to plead to Yelmalio again. Some priests think that Rurik now fights at the side of his god. Stories of a trader named Biturian Varosh, though, state that Rurik walks once again among the living, but how much trust can you hold in the word of a Goldentongue?

Related Pages

  • Personalities of Glorantha – Blueface the Shaman (1999)
  • Personalities of Glorantha – Count Julan (1999)
  • Personalities of Glorantha – Cragspider the Firewitch (1999)
  • Personalities of Glorantha – Fazzur Wideread (1998)
  • Personalities of Glorantha – Gondo Holst (1999)
  • Personalities of Glorantha – Joh Mith (1999)
  • Personalities of Glorantha – Londra of Londros (1998)
  • Personality of the Month – Granny Keeneye (1998)


Page Last updated: 2022-02-15 10:26:49

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

  • creating a spirit cult of Fralar
  • Thoughts on running an Animal Nomad/Praxian game
  • Fillable excel RQG character sheets?
  • Where is there a list of temples in Dragon Pass?
  • New on the Jonstown Compendium: Many Suns
  • Subcults vs Associated Cults
  • Gorgorma and Dendara's Chess Game
  • Merged deities
  • Elf plant ships and dwarf stone ships
  • Do Dwarves have souls?

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

  • Spirit Magic by Cult and Associate Cult

  • ISS1102 Glorantha: Introduction to the Hero Wars (2000)

  • Dragon Pass – A brief outline (2013)

  • Some Fronelan Population And Cultural Details

  • Notes on Fronela III

  • Notes on Fronela II

  • Notes on Fronela I

  • Hon-eel Temples and Shrine

  • Seven Mothers Temples and Shrines

  • Ernalda Temples and Shrines

  • Barntar Temples and Shrines

  • Babeester Gor Temple and Shrines

  • Voria Shrines

  • Ty Kora Tek Temples and Shrines

  • Asrelia Temples and Shrines

  • Maran Gor Temple, Shrines and Site

  • Odayla Shrines

  • Humakt Temples, Shrines and Sites

  • Orlanth Rex Temples, Shrines and Sites

  • Hippoi Shrines

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