Some 150,000 Orlanthi live in the foothills north of the Western Rockwoods, in Brolia and Anadikki. The population density here is about 6 people per square km, a little more than half…
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Gloranthan Underworld art preview
As part of a piece that Katrin Dirim is working on for us, here’s a depiction of the Gloranthan Underworld. Trolls, demons, dead gods, monsters, bats, and more. It is the doom…
Apotheosis of the Red Goddess
In 1247 the Red Goddess performed her final dance some 50 km to the northwest of Raibanth. A huge crimson sphere, some 40 km in diameter, rose from earth and continued to…
Closing Temples
Part of the reason I post demographic and economic information is it gives a sense of the resources various temples, rulers, and other groups might have. Hopefully it is clear that the…
The Seventh Soul
Before the Red Goddess, people had only six souls. These had been placed in them by the gods when they made the first people. The six soul-parts, and the deity which contributed…
Cults of the Lunar Provinces
Vanch, Imther, Aggar, Holay, and Tarsh are a collection of Theyalan lands ruled by client kings supported by (and responsible to) the Red Emperor. For the last few generations, that was handled…
The Malkioni And The Red Moon
In 1247 the whole world saw the Red Moon rise into the Middle Air. At first it could only be seen at night, but after 1275 or so, it could be seen…
The Evolution of Malkionism
All Malkionism begins with the teachings of Malkion, where questions pertaining to laws of nature, the origin of the universe and the place of man in it are asked. These are incredibly…
A Sense of Scale I
The Lunar Empire rules somewhere around 410,000 square km, including the Heartlands, West Reaches, and Provinces. That’s about the same size as Iraq or a little larger than the state of California….
Worshiping Heroes
As a general rule, heroes (or superheroes) that are active doing stuff in the mundane world are rarely able to provide their worshipers with Rune magic (although they might be closely linked…
Thoughts on The Lightbringers Quest
The Lightbringers Quest can be thought of as the monomyth of heroquests. It contains within it many quests – the Westfaring, the Descent into the Underworld, the Tests of Proof, etc. In…
Harmast’s “Lightbringers’ Quest”
I personally think it a little ironic that we still refer to Harmast’s “Lightbringers’ Quest” when after all it turned out to be a “Darknessbringer’s Quest”. Those Lightbringers were pretty shocked when…
Sartarite communities
One way of thinking about Gloranthan communities is as confederations of local temples. So for example, most Sartarite communities can be viewed as a tight alliance of the Orlanth and Ernalda temples,…
Broken Empires, Gods, and Ideas
Arkat was the most terrifying mortal to walk the world. He built no new empires, ruled nothing but his companions, and built little. Instead, Arkat broke empires, gods, and even ideas. Think…
The Sea Gods
We tend to underestimate the Sea Gods. In Dragon Pass, the main water cults are Heler the Rain God (practically a subcult of Orlanth Thunderous), Engizi/Sky River Titan (because of the Skyfall…
The Red Moon from Sartar
The Red Moon hangs some 3000 km directly above the Crater, which is about 800 km from the Quivin Mountains. If I were standing atop Quivin Mountain, the Red Moon would be…
Prehistoric Moons
In the God Time, Glorantha had a moon or moons, sometimes described as blue, red, or even purple. Most give a celestial origin for this Lunar Goddess, calling her the daughter of…
The Loper
One of my favorite Gloranthan critters is the fabled Loper, the mount of the Loper People, who once caused havoc from Slontos to Teshnos. They have the ability to teleport to any…
The Origin of Belintar
Greg and I both agreed never to publish a definitive answer as to the origin of Belintar. If the Only Old One couldn’t learn his origins, your player characters sure as heck…
Top Five favorite Elder Races
My personal Top Five favorite Elder Races: 5. Black elves. The Dark Plant People are fungi – they are concerned about the recycling of death into life. Everyone ignores them, or assumes…
Origin of Rune traits
As you all know, the Runequest character sheet sets the various Power Runes against each other as opposed polarities, e.g., Death-Life, Movement-Stasis, etc. It also sets up Man against Beast. The use…
Machine City and God Forgot
As we all know, magic is the result of drawing upon the timeless and eternal “God Time” to affect the material world of Time. And so sorcery as a magic system is…
The Kingdom of Sartar is hardly paradise
So after pointing out some of the horrors the Lunar Empire is built upon, I think it is also worth pointing out that living in the Kingdom of Sartar is hardly paradise….
The Moonburn
Of all the many crimes of the Third Age perhaps the worst was the Moonburn. As we all know, back in the First Wane, Dara-Ni was refuge for the River People and…
The Dragon Pass
Dragon Pass is the name often applied to the broad 180 km wide pass between the Rockwoods and the Skyreach Mountains (which are a subrange of the Western Rockwoods). Those ranges have…