This page will contain information that mostly isn't "game mechanics": history, prices, culture notes, etc.
Quick Setting Description
Most of this is from the first couple of chapters of RQG.
Glorantha is a Bronze Age world (although the use of iron is starting to creep in),
Glorantha’s main theme is religion and the magical relation of intelligent beings to gods. In Glorantha, the gods and goddesses are real, and through their followers and cults they play an active and important part in most major events. The Sun, Earth, Air, Water, Darkness, and Moon have powerful deities associated with them, as do powers such as Death, Fertility, Change, Stasis, Illusion, Truth, Disorder, and Harmony. There are lesser deities associated with things as diverse as cats, cows, boats, vengeance, and volcanoes.
Each RuneQuest adventurer is tied to several Runes, the cosmic powers that define Glorantha and are manifested by the gods. Adventurers join the cults of their gods, from which they get magic and aid. As an adventurer progresses in their cult, they strengthen their connection to the Runes.
Gloranthan religion and magic are basic to existence, and accepted by everyone. The gods are acknowledged, experienced, and exert powerful influence upon the world. The most prevalent religious practice in Glorantha is polytheism.
An individual worshiper may have a special relationship with a chosen deity, but acknowledges and often worships other gods. Other religious practices exist as well, such as shamanism, philosophical materialism, and mystical illumination. The omnipresence of magic in Glorantha means that day-to-day life is different in many ways from that which we experience. Life centers around a person’s cult or religion. Magic is a source of both increased safety and ease of life, but is also a source of conflict and terror.
In Glorantha, magic plays a decisive, even primary, role in warfare. Priests cast bolts of lightning or call down flames from the heavens; shamans unleash spirits like the all-consuming Oakfed; Rune Masters of war or storm gods shatter regiments; and the Lunar Empire has units like the Field School of Magic, the Crater Makers, or the awesome Crimson Bat that devastates entire armies. In Glorantha, victory is often not on the side with the biggest battalions, but the side with the mightiest gods and spirits! This can have surprising results; for example, a band of hunter-gatherers, backed up by powerful shamans, can overwhelm a superior civilized phalanx lacking magical support.
In melee combat, magic is similarly decisive. When two equally-skilled weapon masters fight, the one with the better magic usually wins. If you plan on having a combat-oriented adventurer, it is wise to have that adventurer join the cult of a war god!
Cults
An adventurer’s cult is often their most important resource, providing communication between mortals and the cosmic entities known as gods. A cult is a community as well as a religion, and provides for the many needs of mortal beings. Membership in a cult gives access to a fraction of its deity’s power, manifested in the form of Rune magic. An adventurer must have a strong affinity with one or more Runes shared with a deity to join its cult. A cult also teaches less powerful—but more ubiquitous—magic called spirit magic to its members. In exchange, the member supports the cult with sacrifices, worship, and loyalty.
In short, the cult provides support for the adventurer’s way of life. By advancing within a cult, an adventurer gains magical power and important temporal resources.
Most Gloranthan societies are polytheistic, and recognize multitudes of gods. Religions rarely proselytize. An adventurer belongs to the cult of their people by birth, social position, or occupation: the notion of “conversion” makes little sense to most Gloranthans. One can leave one’s cult or join another, but one rarely completely abandons old gods for new; far more common is to add a new god to the existing multitude.
For specific Cults see Deities and Cults.
Kinship
In the violent world of Glorantha, an adventurer without kin is a lonely and isolated person. Adventurers have their immediate family — their parents, siblings, children, and spouse — and a larger kinship group such as a clan. An adventurer’s kin support them against enemies, ransoms them when captured, and avenges them when injured. All these functions are important during play, not just considerations for roleplaying.
For example, a blood feud is a threat to adventurers that could injure others when carried out by the relatives of their victims. A hapless herder might be avenged by their Rune Lord kinsman.
Heroes and Heroquesting
A heroquest is a magical act where mortals directly interact with Gloranthan mythology. The participants endeavor to reenact mythological events to bring some of that magic into the Mundane World.
More information here.
Runes
Runes are intrinsic to Glorantha. They are the cosmic powers that define the universe and are manifested by the gods. Known from the earliest prehistory, Runes suffuse everything in and about the world. Some have even changed over time!
The earliest gods are associated with Runes. Some philosophers hold that the gods themselves are merely personifications of Runic forces. The real relationship between gods and Runes is likewise unclear: the very question uttered aloud in the wrong context has caused blood to be shed. Even the gods of knowledge are cryptic on this subject; the relationship may simply be beyond human comprehension.
To the pragmatic, it doesn’t matter. Runes are symbols with latent power. People mark their possessions and even their bodies with Runes. Runes not only characterize reality, but can be used to manipulate the world. Looking at or writing a Rune isn’t enough: these powers can only be unlocked by those with extensive training and preparation, such as shamans, priests, or sorcerers.
Clans
Within Sartar, primary allegiance is to the family, followed by the clan, the tribe, your cult(s), and personal loyalty to some important nobles.
Sartarites prefer not to marry outside of their tribe; but marriage within a clan is a violation of a minor incest taboo. Clans number between 300 and 3,000 people. The Taraling clan, historically important in Sartar politics, has 1,300 members, and can be looked at in the following way:
< 10 years: 33% = 429 people
10-20 years: 23% = 299 people
20-30 years: 18% = 234 people
30-40 years: 11% = 143 people
40-50 years: 7% = 91 people
50-60 years: 4% = 52 people
60-70 years: 3% = 39 people
70-80 years: 1% = 13 people
80 or more: 0.0034 x pop = 4 people
The largest town of the Taraliings, Runegate, has 900 residents:
297 up to 10 years of age
207 10-20 years old
162 20-30 years old
99 30-40 years old
63 40-50 years old
36 50-60 years old
27 60-70 years old
9 70-80 years old
3 over 80 years old
A single village has 100 people:
33 up to 10 years of age
23 10-20 years old
18 20-30 years old
11 30-40 years old
7 40-50 years old
4 50-60 years old
3 60-70 years old
1 70-80 years old
none over 80 years old
Thus 50 or so various steads and other "solitary" locations are home to:
99 up to 10 years of age
69 10-20 years old
54 20-30 years old
33 30-40 years old
21 40-50 years old
12 50-60 years old
9 60-70 years old
3 70-80 years old
1 over 80 years old
Languages
font examples for our campaign (not canonical, just "available computer fonts")
Old Brithini is often the language in which sorcery is written, at least in Dragon Pass.
Swordspeech is an incomplete language, suited to violence and military matters. It has a lot of "gestural" components. For people in central Genertela, your skill in Swordspeech is the same as your Battle skill (you don't have a separate skill). It includes some stuff such as, "I accept your challenge to a duel", etc. not found in "tactical" signals. Understanding horn or drum signals will usually be either at your Swordspeech or your Battle skill level -- whichever is higher.
It's hard to "say" personal names in Swordspeech.
The "written" form of Swordspeech is even more basic -- think of scout blazes, minefield warnings, and the like. "Enemy this way", "Need healers", "All well", and other messages.
Think of all the hand and arm signals used by scuba divers, cowboys, soldiers, aircraft ground crew, etc.
Writing Methods And Materials
Written texts are found as ink or paint on leather, parchment (preferably calfskin) or other animal material, fabric (such as linen), papyrus, leaves, thin wood sheets, bark or other vegetable material, in the forms of sheets, bound pages, or scrolls (rarely over 6 meters in length); stylus markings on clay tablets or shapes (afterwards perhaps fired); scratchings, carvings or incisions on ostraca (pottery fragments), tablets of waxed wood, metal (copper or especially lead) or stone; knots on cords ... Sometimes tablets are joined together by cords or chains, ending up somewhat book-shaped.
Encryption
The most common method of encryption in Dragon Pass and the Lunar Empire is the scytale, a set of wooden rods of a particular diameter. Each person using the specific encoding would wrap a leather strip around the rod, and then write their message on the strip -- by re-wrapping the strip around another rod of the same diameter, the message could be read.
Format and Punctuation
A particular culture and writing system will usually have a particular punctuation mark for separating phrases (used like a comma) and another for a sentence end (used like a period). For example, Lhankor Mhy sages of Dragon Pass use "." for a pause, and ":" for the end of a sentence. Most writers don't make any visual distinction between the constituent parts (i.e., salutation or greeting, body, signature, etc.) of a letter or text, though columns are used (they're useful when writing on scrolls, for example). New Pelorian is an exception, having developed fairly "modern" concepts of layout for texts and letters, especially for chancery or bureaucratic documents; and also includes several "stock" closing farewell statements (i.e., "May the Red Moon's Light Shine On You"). An Imperial edict, for example, might have a separate line at the top saying, "The Emperor commands."
Dara Happan and Esrolian writers place the date at the bottom of a letter; this style is becoming common in adjacent regions, such as Sartar. A proper or official Lunar document will use the "wanes" dating system; Heortling writers tend to use runes for the day of the week, and the season.
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