Androgeus?

[Tony]

In the old White Bear Red Moon board game there re three superheroes Harrek, Jar Eel and Androgeus.. Now since then I have plenty on both Harek and Jar Eel but Androgeus has been ignored and outside the boardgame I don’t know if anything else have ever been written about her/him.. Was wondering if I might have missed something or if there any plans in the future to flesh him/her out?

[Harald Smith]

Yes, she’s in the Guide and you can find him on p. 642.
Here’s part of the reference:

Androgeus is a complex and intriguing figure. She has claimed that the masculine Sky was his mother and the feminine Earth is her father. Others claim Androgeus is such a liar that he would lie to herself. His physique upholds her bizarre claim, for he is sometimes a man and sometimes a woman, but never quite content with either. As a result of her history, nearly everyone distrusts him, and Androgeus in turn trusts almost no one and causes trouble wherever she goes.
His actions resulted in her baneful attachment to this world by a web of grievances, vengeance, debts, and a mystic link
between Time and the God Time. As a result, he has become the eternal servant of suffering people. During Time, Androgeus has appeared in almost every region of the Middle World. She has died many times, but he has always been reborn. She appears without warning, and he departs without farewells. Androgeus is destined to play a role in the forthcoming Hero Wars.

[Tony]

That prtty much what it say in white Bear Red Moon.. Was just wondering if anything else has ever been added or expanded on.
For example it say her children are the unclean race. Who are the unclean race and where do they live. The only one I can think of are the Vadeli , but there no mention of Adrogeus in the writing about the Vadeli and it would be more in line for the unclean race to be like the untouchable of India or maybe similar to Gypsies .

[Harald Smith]

I didn’t copy the whole box text above, but the following may answer some of those questions:
“Androgeus came to Glorantha during the Great Darkness when the world was turned upside down and he did her best to turn the world from Darkness, using methods of war and love to achieve her ends. His travels covered three continents, and she even
walked the upper slopes of the Spike before it crumbled into sand and pearls. During the God Time, he mothered five children and fathered four, and managed to save thousands of mortals from Death.”

Some of the children are noted: “Her children are too many to name, but five are well-known: The Preserver, the Twisted Horse, Goldtooth, Wily Joker, and Yellow Bear. The agonies which they inflicted upon mortals since the Dawn are hideous and innumerable.”

Some slight contradictions as to whether there are nine children or ‘too many to name’, but I don’t think ‘unclean’ here means untouchables. I think it’s more like horrors unleashed upon the world, as the children’s names suggest. The Vadeli have different origin and are noted in the Revealed Mythologies work. I think largely they are left to the minds of the GM to create at this point in whatever form suits their needs. Maybe they are horrible yellow furred bears with a taste for human flesh? Maybe gold-toothed ‘demons’?

Where do they exist? I’d say you can find descendants in Genertela, Pamaltela, and either Jrustela or the East Isles (remnant of Vithela). Probably drawn to places of corruption and horror like Dorastor or the Forest of Disease in Laskal or they mix in with the Andins of the East Isles.

An old email thread at https://groups.yahoo.com/neo/groups/WorldofGlorantha/conversations/topics/18387 written by Sandy Peterson years ago commented:
“She has existed since the Godtime and wanders about Glorantha. In a private conversation with Greg, he said that in his opinion Androgeus only wandered through Dragon Pass once during the Hero Wars (there is a 3-player scenario in which
Androgeus takes part). Most of Androgeus’s important activities take place in Fronela, which doesn’t mean that’s where he originated. It’s possible that she was trapped by the Ban, and only escaped recently when it was lifted. Thus the world got to have a few centuries free from this particular superhero.”

Hope those notes help.

[Author]

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