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Creatures

Human Cultures

Hsunchen

Action Girl: When a fight erupts everyone grabs weapons of some sort: Hsunchen women are skilled at combat and do not wait for help.
Barbarian Tribe: Hsunchen are tribal Stone Age peoples who live without permanent habitation, migrating seasonally to find food. They are technologically primitive; they make everything they need and some of them religiously avoid all metals. The few Hsunchen political entities to have existed, such as the White Bear Empire, have been exceptional and never long-lasting.
Dying Race: In earlier times, the Hogari mammoth people ranged as far north as Valind's Glacier, but the fierce snow trolls and Hollri have driven them from their ancestral lands. Only a few clans still exist, scattered among the northern reaches of Rathorela.
Fed to the Beast: The Ngwena frequently hunt other humans to feed to their crocodiles.
I'm a Humanitarian: The Rachami vulture people are carrion eaters and have entered into a symbiotic relationship with some civilised peoples. They perform funerary rites and then consume the corpse.
Our Werebeasts Are Different: Hsunchen live together with their beast brothers—the animals of their totem—whom they claim as their ancestors and kinfolk. The Telmori regard themselves and their wolf brothers as respectively two-legged and four-legged members of the Wolf People. The Uncoling believe that they are reindeer who just happen to be able to turn into humans. The Flari take the opposite approach – they are humans who can turn into owls. All adult Hsunchen are able to take at least some physical features of their associated beast, and their heroes can usually transform themselves fully.
Nemean Skinning: The clothing of most Hsunchen is of whatever rawhide is most common locally. All generally also own a costume made of the pelts (or other body parts, such as turtle shells for the Sofali) of their totem animal.
The Pig-Pen: The Kloisari badger people commonly daub themselves with musk and animal urine.

Telmori

Canine Companion: All Wolfbrothers have a wolf that accompanies them everywhere. This wolf is of greater intelligence and size than normal wolves. They consider the wolf a brother, not a work-animal, and will protect it with their lives. If the wolf dies for any reason, another normally cannot be gained.
Our Werewolves Are Different: The Telmori are divided into two groups by a magical curse levied against them in the First Age by Talor the Laughing Warrior. The Cursed Ones, former followers of Gbaji, involuntarily shift into wolf shape every Wildday. The Pure Ones are similar to other Hsunchen, and do not involuntarily turn into wolves but can assume wolf form through divine magic.

Doraddi

Amazing Technicolor Population: A generally despised minority of Doraddi have blue skin (ranging from a bluish tint to actual slate blue skin).

Praxian

Fantastic Racism: The Pol-Joni are hated because they ride horses (a taboo animal amongst Praxians), and feared because they are strong enough to force themselves onto the plains despite the enmity of all other tribes.
Horse of a Different Color: Members of each Praxian tribe ride the animal that their tribe is associated with.
Secret Circle of Secrets: A number of magical secret societies are independent of the tribes and provide an outlet for individuals of great power whose progress has been blocked along clan or tribal lines. Each society has its own secrets, which are jealously guarded from non-members.
Slave Collar: Praxian slaves usually wear leather thongs about their necks as a mark of their status.
Teeth-Clenched Teamwork: The Sable Tribe, due to its alliance with the Lunar Empire, considers itself the final victor in the wars for dominance of Prax. Most of its leaders have become vainglorious and arrogant, and are already unbearable even to their Lunar allies.
We Have Reserves: Impala people make up their lack of stature with numbers, being the most populous tribe in Prax.

Orlanthi

Fantastic Caste System: The Orlanthi system recognises different levels of status within the clan, each with its own qualities of life: nobles, thanes, carls, cottars and thralls. This status is conferred by the clan, and not determined primarily by the personal property that an individual or his family/bloodline has (though such things are influential).
Got Volunteered: Membership in an Orlanthi tribe is always voluntary, though enforced 'volunteering' through conquest is not unknown.
Women Are Wiser: Orlanthi men are feisty, unpredictable, and passionate while women are calm, calculating, and possessed. (Unless they're sworn to Vinga.)

Pelorian

Fantastic Caste System: Pelorian society is extremely stratified and divided into Noble, Witnesses and Officers, Headmen, Workers, and Slaves.
My Master, Right or Wrong: Obedience is considered the most important virtue of the Pelorian culture. Rebellion against authority is viewed as the most terrible of crimes. Dara Happans consider it sacrilegious to disobey or even criticise the Red Emperor.

Fonritian

Amazing Technicolor Population: The people of Fonrit have blue, black, or white skin, as well as any possible mixture thereof.
The Caligula: Fonritian rulers are notorious for being lawless despots who look to their own advantage rather than that of their subjects, and use extreme and cruel tactics against their own people as well as others.
Citadel City: To prevent enemies from entering (and slaves from escaping), Fonritian cities are surrounded by formidable stone walls, with access through great bronze gates.
God-Emperor: In some cities the ruler is worshipped as a living god.
Human Sacrifice: Fonritian slaves are often used for sacrifices in funeral ceremonies, to certain gods, and sometimes to increase the magical power of the ruler.
Land of One City: Fonritians live in city-states that fight incessantly with each other.
Slave Mooks: Slave soldiers form an entrenched military caste in Fonritian society.

Western

Fantastic Caste System: Western society (except in Loskalm) is divided into hereditary castes, each with its own taboos, secrets, clothing, marriage laws and other regulations. Society is logically divided into four castes: Wizard, Noble, Soldier, Worker.
Vestigial Empire: Seshnela is the last remnant of the mighty Jrusteli Empire that ruled much of the world in the Second Age.
Vow of Celibacy: The zzaburi of the Rokari School must remain celibate and seek to free themselves of all worldly interference so that they can concentrate on mental and magical exploration. As a result, unlike the other castes, new zzaburi are chosen from the promising children of the other castes.

Kralori

Fantastic Caste System: Kralorelans live in a highly structured, orderly society, in which each person knows his station. Four occupations are recognised: mandarins, farmers, artisans and merchants. A man or woman born to a farmer expects to be a farmer to the end of his or her days, to receive a farmer's recompense, to marry a farmer, to raise his or her children as farmers, and to receive a farmer's reward in the complex Kralorelan afterlife.
Hidden Elf Village: Kralori rulers strive to perfect an isolationist policy which was broken only twice, once by the God Learners and later by Sheng Seleris. As a result of these incursions, they consider all outsiders to be God Learners and deal severely with any intrusions into their realm. Since the Opening, they have kept almost everyone away.

Elder Races

Aldryami (Elves)

Scientific name: Dendro sapiens

The descendants of the plant goddess Aldrya, the elves are humanoid plants who reside in the world's forests and are living embodiments of various tree species. They're highly reclusive as a rule, and their cultures mostly focus on protecting their homelands and, when they can, attempting to expand their forests' borders.

Bizarre Alien Reproduction: Green, brown and yellow elves mate like humans (or, at least, human scholars are reasonably sure they do). After this, however, the female elf gives birth to a coconut-sized seed, which is then planted and grows into a plant that bears a single fleshy fruit. After two years of maturation, the fruit is split open to reveal an elf child equivalent to a four-to-six-years-old human infant.
Cold Iron: Aldryami are vulnerable to iron and cannot handle it.
Elves Versus Dwarves: Aldryami view dwarves as enemies because of old God Time wrongs.
Ethnic Goddess: Worship of Aldrya is near-universal among dryads and green, brown, and yellow elves. Blue elves worship Murthdrya, red elves worship Slor, and black elves worship Mee Vorala.
Forest Ranger: Elves view themselves as caretakers of the forest, and their activities are directed to that end, ever ready to clear up an outbreak of giant aphids, an incursion of trollkin, or land-clearing farmers.
Garden Garment: Elves typically wear clothing made of plant materials like bark or leaves.
In Harmony with Nature: Among their trees, elves are supreme, living in complete harmony with their environment.
Living Ship: Elf galleasses were grown (rather than built) by master growers so that their hulls, decks and superstructure are a single piece of wood.
Living Weapon: Elf warriors carry elf bows, living plants that they wield with deadly accuracy.
Long-Lived: Yellow elves typically live to 200 years before dying of old age, brown elves to 250, green elves to 300. Certain very rare types of brown and green elves linked to unusual trees might live for up to 500 and 1000 years respectively.
Magical Species Transformation: After a non-elf candidate for initiation into Aldrya's cult proves themselves to the Council of Elders and performs an unspeakable criminal act to their own species, they're stripped and nailed to a holy tree with copper stakes, their thigh and upper arm bones are replaced with wooden sticks, their inner organs and genitals are removed, plants, seeds and soil are inserted in the hollow cavities, and a dried root is stuck in the brain. The corpse is then encased in a tree before the person awakens as an elf.
Our Elves Are Different: Aldryami refers to several mostly humanoid races. The many types of Aldryami, identified as colours by humans, differ as much from each other as humans do from trolls and newtlings. The green elves are native to coniferous trees, the brown to deciduous temperate forests, the yellow to tropical jungle, and the red to primitive plants. All elves are coupled to trees, and quite shy outside of their protective forests.
Plant Person: Although they appear humanoid, Aldryami belong to the plant kingdom and in appearance can resemble anything from fantasy elves with hair and clothes made out of plants to humanoid figures made out of branches and foliage to walking trees with gaping knotholes for eyes and mouths and twisting, knotty branches for limbs.

Brown Elves (Mreli)

Scientific name: Dendro sapiens mrelum

The embodiments and protectors of deciduous trees, who mostly inhabit low elevations in temperate climes.

Green Elves (Vronkali)

Scientific name: Dendro sapiens vronkalum

The embodiments and protectors of coniferous trees, who mostly inhabit cold lands and high elevations in temperate climes.

Shrouded in Myth: The most ancient green elves are rarely if ever encountered but their existence has created many legends of elf immortality.

Yellow Elves (Embyli)

Scientific name: Dendro sapiens embylum

The embodiments and protectors of tropical evergreens, who mostly inhabit jungles.

One-Gender Race: All yellow elves are male and mate with dryads for procreation.

Black Elves (Voralans)

Scientific name: Mycota troglodytes

The embodiments and protectors of fungi, Voralans aren't true Aldryami but share a cultural kinship with them.

Mushroom Man: Black elves are related to fungi rather than true plants.
Telepathy: Black elves have an innate telepathic link with their brood-siblings and can communicate with them across any distance.

Blue Elves (Murthoi)

Scientific name: Murthalgus sp.

The embodiments and protectors of algae and marine plants, the Murthoi are purely aquatic and cannot survive on land.

Bizarre Alien Sexes: Two blue elvish species have four sexes apiece.

Dryads

Scientific name: Lucas virae

Green Thumb: A dryad can control all trees and plant life in her grove.
Mage Species: Dryads specialise in magic, and are capable of almost any plant magics.
One-Gender Race: All dryads are female and breed with elves for continuance.
Our Nymphs Are Different: Dryads are a lithe and feminine race of protective spirits of the woods and all within their forests; they are generally incapable of harming anything except those that would harm that forest.
Synchronization: Dryads are always tied to their tree of birth, and any affliction suffered by the tree is felt by them, and vice versa.

Pixies

Scientific name: Dendro silvestris

Our Pixies Are Different: Pixies are the spirits of flowers and sweet-smelling herbs, filled with joy and innocent mischief, that can take material form when they wish.
Winged Humanoid: Pixies appear as diminutive elves or dryads with translucent gossamer wings.

Red Elves (Slorifings)

The elves of spore-bearing plants like ferns.

Bizarre Alien Reproduction: Slorifings are all male, and reproduce by worshipping a type of love spirits. After a successful worship session, the supplicant buries himself and goes into eternal sleep. Afterwards, a spore-bearing plant such as a fern sprouts over his grave and produces a crop of miniature Slorifings, which are called imps and treated as adults from birth.
Our Goblins Are Different: Many types of red elves are not even humanoid, so red elves are often referred to as goblins.

Runners

Scientific name: Dendro pygmaeus

Carry a Big Stick: Runners wield club-like weapons called whipsticks, that, in their hands, can be made to curl around and bind an enemy.

Baboons

Scientific name: Papio sapiens

Talking Animal: Baboons are a race of intelligent quadrupeds that believe themselves to be the remnants of an elder age when men and animals had not yet separated from each other.

Beast Men

Scientific name: Homo bestia

Beast Man: The Beast Men of Glorantha are a varied group of beings with a combination of human and animal characteristics. Their category defies logical definition, including beings with normal intelligence and beings that are not sapient, and including one combination of human and animal while excluding another, similar combination (satyrs are included, for example, but the similar broos are not). The only unifying factor seems to be that Beast Men are all related to natural forces.

Centaurs

Scientific name: Homo bestia centaurus

Fossil Revival: Centaurs are mentioned in several old myths but were extinct when History began. Modern centaurs originated when the Empire of the Wyrms Friends performed grotesque medical experiments, grafting parts of creatures together to reform extinct species that were believed to be necessary to populate the mythic era sought by the EWF.
In Harmony with Nature: Centaur culture centres around the preservation of the natural environment and shamanic nature worship.
The Leader: Centaurs are almost always accepted as leaders of the many types of Beast Men in times of emergency.
Our Centaurs Are Different: Centaurs, the most important Beast Men, are horses with the upper body of a human in place of the horse's neck and head.

Fox Women

Scientific name: Homo bestia vulpes

Asian Fox Spirit: Fox women are magical shape-changers, spend most of their time in their animal forms and occasionally change into their human forms. As humans, fox women are legendary for their beauty and lust, and they often seduce human males.

Manticores

Scientific name: Homo bestia rapax

Our Manticores Are Spinier: Manticores are lion-bodied Beast Men with scorpion tails and human heads. They are surly and independent, and have little to do with their fellow beasts.

Minotaurs

Scientific name: Homo bestia taurus

Does Not Like Magic: Minotaurs normally disdain magic, except for Healing or Fertility spells.

Satyrs

Scientific name: Homo bestia hircus

Fauns and Satyrs: A satyr has the upper torso and head of a large gnarled man, and the lower parts of either a horse or goat. They have long curled horns like either a goat or a ram.

Dragonewts (Eravssarr)

Scientific name: Draco sapiens

Bizarrchitecture: The alienness of the architecture of Dragon's Eye often defies logic or belief, and cannot be fully captured in depictions.
Draconic Humanoid: Dragonewts are the descendants of neotenic dragons.
Metamorphosis: Dragonewts have five distinct stages of growth. When the mind and current body have acquired sufficient development, the next hatching will be of the next body stage. Each stage has distinct shapes and responsibilities. Not surprisingly, their shape suits their normal occupations.
Our Dragons Are Different: They are young True Dragons who gradually grow into their adult form through spiritual growth.
Resurrective Immortality: When a dragonewt dies, its body is discarded and its soul instantly returns to the egg from which it originally hatched. After some days, the reborn dragonewt emerges from the unchanging egg, personality and memory intact, more-or-less ready to continue its life.
Starfish Language: Dragonewts speak Auld Wyrmish, which includes visual, auditory, olfactory and empathic components. They are unconscious of their own language and cannot teach it to others.
Winged Humanoid: Dragonewt full priests and the Inhuman King have wings that grow larger with age.

Ducks (Durulz)

Scientific name: Anatanthropos havardus

Bird People: Ducks are feathered humanoids with the heads, bills and webbed feet of ducks.
Mysterious Past: The origin of the ducks is a mystery to outsiders. They claim to have once been the rulers of the world until their own sins and errors forced them into subservience to lesser races. Others tell of them as an avian folk who forswore their allegiance to Yelm to follow Orlanth and were denied the sky as punishment.
Whale Egg: Inverted. Unlike normal birds, ducks bear live young.

Keets

Bird People: Keets are a race of avian people that are widespread in the East Isles. Most have arms and hands, but only one branch has wings. Scholars believe that they are closely related to the ducks of southern Genertela.

Giants

Scientific name: Homo colossus

Our Giants Are Bigger: Giants are an extremely surly and untrustworthy race, tied to the Disorder rune, that can grow up to fifteen meters in height.
To Serve Man: Giants have a fondness for human flesh.

Luatha

Mage Species: Luatha are inherently magical, performing some things without casting a spell as required by humans.
Semi-Divine: The Luatha are descendants of greater gods, diminished in power but still superior to mortals.

Maidstone Archers

Scientific name: Trimanus sagittarius

Eyes Do Not Belong There: An extremely sharp-sighted eye is on each hand of a Maidstone Archer.
Multi-Armed and Dangerous: Maidstone Archers have no heads. Instead, an arm sprouts from where a human neck sits.
Worthless Yellow Rocks: Maidstone Archers do not value material culture except for an extremely rare bone bead made from the extinct sabre-tooth mountain mammoth.

Morokanth

Scientific name: Morocanthus anthropophagus

Ascended to Carnivorism: Morokanth, like real tapirs, are primarily vegetarians but do eat herd-men as part of their religious practice.
Funny Animal: Morokanth are intelligent tapirs that can stand or walk on their hind legs to slash with their claws or use tools.
To Serve Man: Downplayed. Morokanth are often said to herd humans, but this is incorrect. Their herd-men are unintelligent animals in human form; outlanders often fail to realise that Praxian humans also eat and otherwise use herd-men.

Mostali (Dwarves)

Scientific name: Mostali lithanthropus

The descendants of a worker race created the god Mostal, the dwarves are dedicated to returning the world to the perfection of the Golden Age before Time began and Storm arrived and don't care very much about what other races have to say about that.

The Ageless: Dwarves that stay with the way of Mostal, even if heretical, never age nor die naturally, since they are not descendants of Grandfather Mortal.
Beneath the Earth: Dwarves live in huge underground artificial hollowed out cavern complexes, connected by tunnels that can be hundreds of kilometres long.
Bizarre Alien Reproduction: Dwarves aren't born as such; in fact, they find sexual reproduction repulsive. Instead, they're essentially manufactured. The process requires a male-female pair to spend a few weeks using their respective "mortar" and "pestle" to create the blank template of a dwarf (the dwarves find this process horrific, and usually suppress their memories of the event). This is then placed in a caste-specific container to brew for a number of years, before being decanted as a young dwarf ready for labor.
Creating Life: Mostali are are perhaps the species most adept at creating new forms of life. Many diverse and unusual creatures have emerged from Mostali workshops.
Dying Race: Dwarves aren't doing too well in general terms but, while dwarves as a whole aren't going extinct, the Mostali are. While it can be used to refer to the dwarven race as a whole, "Mostali" strictly refers to the original dwarves made by Mostal himself, who benefited from the greater skill and knowledge of their maker and are thus more talented, cunning and skillful than lesser dwarves. Since Mostal is dead, no new Mostali can be made — Mostali and dwarves can manufacture new dwarves, but lack the skill to create true Mostali. Almost all Mostali perished during the Great Darkness, and the few who made it through have slowly but steadily died out through the ages.
Elite Army: Dwarf armies are always superbly trained and disciplined, and equipped with superior iron wargear. Many of them have centuries of experience, even remembering battles fought before the Gods War.
Elves Versus Dwarves: According to the dwarves, elves personify the wrongness which began the ruin of the cosmos. All elvish existence is based on Growing, a corrupt and false version of the dwarfs' own linchpin of reality. Elvish malignance has often stymied dwarf plans, as when they slew Mostal or assassinated the dwarf rulers of Dorastor in the First Age.
Fantastic Caste System: When first made, a dwarf is assigned to a specific caste. Each caste has certain types of dwarfish tasks associated with it. A dwarf performs only those tasks, except during Sacred Time, when special tasks must be fulfilled. These castes are not ranks and form no hierarchy, but most closely resemble professions.
Fantastic Racism: Dwarves hate all other races, for various reasons. They hate elves because the elves killed their god, and treacherously attacked them and slaughtered many dwarves during the Gods Time; this hatred is so deep that it's purely instinctive and not learned. They fear and loathe trolls because trolls compete with them for living space and also consider dwarves to be a great delicacy. They despise humans because they see humans as inconstant, treacherous, short-sighted pests who steal from them, have no vision or self-respect, and get in the way of the dwarves' attempt to fix the world's broken state.
Fantasy Gun Control: Dwarves have been known to use guns, a weapon undreamed of by other races, and very carefully guard the secret of their making. Note that the rest of Glorantha is still in the bronze age.
The Federation: Each dwarf city is ruled by a Conclave, with members representing each of the Ten Minerals. All Conclaves must answer to an overall ruling council called the Decamony, which claims sovereignty over all dwarves.
His Name Really Is "Barkeep": Some dwarves call themselves by a descriptive title referring to their occupation.
Human Resources: Dwarfs know that after death, their essence returns, mindless and void, back to the cosmic energy fields of Ty Kora Tek. They have no respect for the clay left behind when a dwarf has died, and efficiently deal with corpses.
No Biological Sex: Sexuality is unknown to dwarves, even though other races discern apparent genders among them. The very thought of biological reproduction is violently repulsive to dwarves.
Our Dwarves Are All the Same: Dwarves are short, stocky humanoids who claim to be descendants of Mostal, a primeval deity said to have created the World. They have a long and ancient history, most of which is unknown to humanity. They are pragmatic and stoic, happy with practical matters and unafraid of hard work, and are conservative and secretive to an extreme. Many, but not all, dwarves are bearded.

Newtlings

Scientific name: Triturus sapiens

Frog Men: Newtling young are like giant tadpoles, requiring submersion in water to survive. Bachelors and adults are bipedal, tailed humanoids, with bulging eyes and faces like a frog.
Made a Slave: Newtlings are sometimes used as slaves by dragonewts, which they do not seem to mind.

Slarges

Domesticated Dinosaurs: Slarges know to domesticate some dinosaurs.
Lizard Folk: Slarges are intelligent, bipedal reptiles of western Pamaltela.
Truly Single Parent: Giant slarges are parthenogenetic, laying eggs which hatch into lesser slarges.

Triolini (Merfolk)

Our Mermaids Are Different: Triolini are water-dwelling creatures, whose lower bodies are finned, but who have arms and hands. The six types of mermen are divided into two main groups: the Piscoi and the Cetoi, which are differentiated in a number of ways. Cetoi are mammalian, with dolphin- or seal-like hindparts. Piscoi are fish-like, with scaly tails and sometimes bodies. Zabdamar, the last of the kin, are neither Piscoi nor Cetoi. All merfolk can stay underwater for about an hour at a time, but must then surface to breathe for a time, except the Gnydron, who still breathe water.

Gnydron

Scientific name: Piscanthropus gnydronus

Sea Monster: Gnydron are enormous and considered by most sailors to be sea monsters, not merfolk.

Ludoch

Scientific name: Cetanthropus ludoch

Unscaled Merfolk: Ludoch have the smooth, slick tail of a dolphin or whale, and their flukes project sideways.

Malasp

Scientific name: Piscanthropus malasp

Asskicking Leads to Leadership: Malasp believe that might makes right. The leader is always the toughest and smartest, commanding those who have been beaten or bullied to obey.
Boomerang Bigot: Malasp hate all things which breathe air, perhaps hating themselves the most of all.

Ouori

Scientific name: Cetanthropus ouori

Beware the Nice Ones: Although Ouori are friendly, shy and avoid combat, they can defend themselves with their great strength.

Ysabbau

Scientific name: Piscanthropus ysabbau

Fantastic Racism: Ysabbau hate humans more than any kind of mermen. Sailors all across Glorantha curse them and blame them for numerous calamities, often truthfully.

Zabdamar

Scientific name: Piscanthropus zabdamar

Sexy Dimorphism: Zabdamar females look like beautiful human women from the waist upward, with glitteringly scaled tails. Males appear like toothless, ugly walruses.

Tusk Riders

Scientific name: Homo hybridus

Klingon Promotion: Leaders of tusk rider warbands rule until killed by a rival.
Our Orcs Are Different: Tusk riders are a loathsome, bestial, ugly race which is, at best, disliked by everyone. They hunt, raid anyone for treasure and food, and regularly intimidate everyone for tribute or rob them. Brutal, treacherous, violent and cruel, tusk riders are often hired as mercenaries capable of carrying out any military order.
Private Military Contractors: Tusk riders hire as mercenaries to any who meet their price of cash and blood.

Trolls (Uz)

Scientific name: Styganthropus

All Trolls Are Different: Trolls are sometimes known as Men of Darkness, or darkmen, and can eat anything. Only rarely is a troll concerned with more than the most basic types of satisfaction: food, shelter and comfort. They're matriarchal, cannibalistic, and Extreme Omnivores that can eat literally anything (although they like dwarf and elf best), and can't tolerate bright light — they originated in the dark underworld, and only came to the "hurtplace" when the sun god Yelm died and went into their realm. Since their advent on the Surface World, trolls have evolved or mutated into a bewildering variety of forms.
Cold Iron: All trolls have an aversion to iron, the poison metal, refusing to handle it and taking poisonous damage from weapons forged of it.
Extreme Omnivore: Trolls can eat anything: pine cones, gravel, moss, flesh, trees, other trolls; anything they can bite or chop into pieces small enough to swallow. They do have preferences, however — their favorite foods of all are dwarf and elf, and their least favorite are hair and feces. In fact, this is what makes them so good at fighting Chaos, as they can eat Chaotic things without being corrupted or being poisoned; they regard the Lesser Darkness as their golden age, as the disorganized hordes of Chaos before Wakboth was born meant that food and land was abundant.
Gender-Blender Name: Trolls do not find the distinction between male and female names as important as do humans, and many troll names can be used by both sexes.
Healing Factor: Sea trolls and cave trolls are touched by Chaos and can regenerate from damage. Damage taken under sunlight or by fire will not regenerate.
Invading Refugees: During the Lesser Darkness, trolls and other creatures of night swarmed over the Surface World. This was viewed as an invasion by the surface inhabitants, but the trolls had actually been driven forth from Hell by Yelm, whose death had sent him there, and whose bright light was unendurable to the hordes of Hell.
Picky People Eater: Trolls are habitual cannibals and sapient-eaters, and are highly opinionated about the quality of the other races' flesh. Elves are the best and most flavorful, and highly valued as food. Dwarves aren't as tasty, but are also greatly sought after because a quirk of the two species' biochemistries makes dwarf meat pleasantly intoxicating. Humans are fine if unremarkable, but young ones are preferred. Dragonewts have an unpleasant ashy taste, but are still sufficient as food when available.
Sapient Eat Sapient: Far as the trolls care, a dead person is just more meat.

Mistress Race

Scientific name: Styganthropus vorax

Dying Race: Mistress Race trolls are so rare that they are largely believed extinct by men. Due to the Great Curse, their numbers have steadily dwindled, and only a few thousand are left in all Glorantha.
Multi Boobage: Female Mistress Race trolls are multi-breasted and usually have multiple births each pregnancy.

Dark Troll

Scientific name: Styganthropus uzko

Carry a Big Stick: Dark trolls tend to fight with heavy clubs and maces after performing an ambush from the shadows with slings.
Genius Bruiser: Dark trolls are, apart from Mistress Race trolls, the Uz who are least corrupted by non-Darkness influences. As a result, not only are they giant and hale, they also have the least mental problems and the most functional brains, and they are quite cunning warriors.

Great Troll

Scientific name: Styganthropus uzko var. uzdo

Dumb Muscle: Great trolls are larger than dark trolls but have lost somewhat in intellect and fertility.
One-Gender Race: All great trolls are male.

Trollkin

Scientific name: Styganthropus uzko var. enlo

Mooks: Because they are numerous and none too bright, dark trolls use them as infantry to protect the members of the troll castes it's harder to replace, like themselves. Trollkin are mostly fine with thus, as distinction can result in a dark troll shaman doing a complex ritual to elevate them into true dark trolls themselves.

Snow Troll

Scientific name: Styganthropus uzhim

Waertagi

Beast of Battle: Waertagi fastships are often crewed for battle by sea monsters, such as giant crabs or devil shrimp, who are far more dangerous in a sea fight than the ships themselves.
Born Under the Sail: The Waertagi have never willingly lived anyplace else except on their immense ships.
City on the Water: The Waertagi are legendary for their mind-bogglingly immense city ships made from the bodies of True Dragons. These ships were often more than a mile long and a quarter-mile wide, and could support as many as five thousand inhabitants. Atop and within the dragon's body was the Waertagi city.
Non-Human Humanoid Hybrid: Waertagi can interbreed with mermen to produce a gilled, aquatic subtype which patrolled the waters around their vast ships. This breed is apparently extinct, or at least very rare, now.

Wind Children

Scientific name: Homo anthropterus

Innocent Fanservice Girl: Wind Children typically wear nothing more than a fur or leather harness to carry tools and weapons.
Winged Humanoid: Wind Children fly with a pair of magnificent feathered wings.

Monsters

Big Creepy-Crawlies: Gigantic arthropods are not uncommon in Glorantha, especially in the areas dominated by trolls.

Andin

Our Demons Are Different: Andins are a demonic race of Vithelan antigods which inhabit many of the East Isles. Vicious and foul, they enjoy manifesting themselves as evil, demonic, rapacious spirits to prey on the living.

Brollachan

Scientific name: Anus creatus ineffigiata

Blob Monster: A brollachan is a formless lump of tissue, and their only features are two eyes and a wide, grinning mouth.

Cliff Toad

Scientific name: Megabufo hippovorax

Animals Not to Scale: Cliff toads are gigantic amphibians that grow throughout their lives; ancient cliff toads can be larger than a mammoth.

Demi-Bird

Scientific name: Brontornis draconis

Horse of a Different Color: Demi-birds serve dragonewts as mounts, are in perpetual mental link with their riders and follow their every order.

Dinosaur

Ascended to Carnivorism: Original dinosaurs, which are mutated from failed dragonewts, are always carnivorous, even if their normal descendants are not.
Dinosaurs Are Dragons: Dinosaurs are a neotenic species descended from failed dragonewts who became entrapped in material flesh.

Dragons

Ancient beings of great power.

Dragon Variety Pack: "Dragon" refers to a diverse family of beings that includes the True Dragons, who when sleeping become features of the landscape; the lesser but still vast dream dragons born from their dreams; legless, winged wyrms; and bestial wyverns. The sapient dragonewts are also neotenic dragons, and ultimately seek to mature into true dragons themselves.
Lazy Dragon: True Dragons spend the majority of their everlasting lives in deep sleep, allowing soil and plants to accumulate on their bodies and eventually making them indistinguishable from inanimate landscape features. This is a very good thing for other species, since True Dragons are the size of mountains. As they sleep, their dreams bleed over into reality in the form of Dream Dragons.
Our Dragons Are Different: Dragons are incredibly ancient and powerful beings, and played important roles in the world's creation myths. In the modern day, most of the true, great dragons are in deep slumber, and the ones still active are either their animate dreams or their lesser descendants.
That's No Moon: True Dragons are very, very, very large, and their tendency to sleep the ages away and not move much even when awake usually leads them to become covered in soil and plant life until they become indistinguishable from the landscape. The result is that, while they're not actually especially rare, few people know precisely which rocky ridges, hills and small mountain ranges are actually sleeping dragons. During the legendary Dragonkill Battle, the ill-fated human army only fully realized how badly they'd miscalculated things when a considerable part of the mountains surrounding the battlefield stood up, shook off their coverings of soil and rock, and attacked.

Dream Dragon

Scientific name: Draco spp.

The living dreams of the True Dragons.

Breath Weapon: Dream dragons often have a fiery, freezing, or poisonous breath.
Dragon Hoard: Dream dragons may manifest all unfortunate subconscious traits of their creator, like greed, and are usually found alone, sitting on a heap of money and gems.
Living Dream: Since True Dragons are generally unable to separate dream from reality, their dreams manifest in the world, bringing about dream dragons, whose physical forms are created by the True Dragon's sleeping subconscious.
No Biological Sex: Most dream dragons do not reproduce and appear genderless.

Water Wyrm

Scientific name: Vermidraco inhydra

Sea Serpents: Water wyrms are great legless serpents that breathe water as well as air. They are excellent swimmers and often simply dump boats over by rising beneath them.

Wyrm

Scientific name: Vermidraco tarbus

Legless, winged serpents who split off from other dragons in ancient times.

Wyvern

Scientific name: Dracopterus pelorus

The animalistic offspring of Dream Dragons born from lustful dreams.

Beware My Stinger Tail: Wyverns have a long tail equipped with a venomous sting.
Our Wyverns Are Different: Occasionally, True Dragons dream of lust, and their lustful dreams take on a life of their own and produce offspring, which are wyverns. Wyverns often have a family characteristic derived from their ancestor's whims and dreams. A wyvern has two legs, two wings, no forelimbs and a long tail.

Gargoyle

Scientific name: Lapicutis spp.

Our Gargoyles Rock: Gargoyles are creatures seemingly made of stone. When resting, they are like statues, but when active they are very deadly. All gargoyles have hideous faces, rock-hard flesh, and crudely humanoid bodies. All are stupid, and most are winged. Beyond that there is tremendous variety in the shape and form of gargoyles.

Griffin

Scientific name: Gryphus gryphus

Our Gryphons Are Different: Griffins have the heads, wings and forelegs of eagles, and the body and hind legs of a lion. They are an ancient and powerful race, know basic magic and sometimes join their equivalent of Fire/Sky Rune cults. They rarely mixing in the affairs of men, and leave others alone unless they try to take the griffin's hoard of gold.

Hippogriff

Scientific name: Hippoi gryphus

Call a Pegasus a "Hippogriff": In a literal version of this, hippogriffs resemble pegasi with bird claws instead of front hooves more than anything else
Our Gryphons Are Different: Pure descendants of Hippogriff from before the Great Darkness, hippogriffs have a horse's body with the wings and foreclaws of eagles.

Revenant

Our Liches Are Different: Some cultists or sorcerers become so twisted by hate or fear that upon death they employ dark magic to bind their intellect into their dead corpse, becoming a revenant.
Weak to Fire: When a revenant is made, the viscera and brain of the corpse are eviscerated and then the corpse is preserved with various minerals and oils. Because of this, revenants are vulnerable to fire.

Skeleton

Dem Bones: These skeletons are animated by Rune magic or sorcery.
Removing the Head or Destroying the Brain: A blow to the head will deprogram a skeleton and cause it to fall apart immediately.

Unicorn

Scientific name: Unicornus sylvanus

Healing Hands: A unicorn can heal by touch of its horn.
One-Gender Race: All living unicorns are male.
Unicorn: Unicorns are white, horse-like animals that live in forests across Glorantha and the plains of Prax, distinguished by a prominent horn jutting from the skull.
Unicorns Prefer Virgins: Unicorns will obey only a virgin female.

Chaos Monsters

Healing Factor: Regeneration is one of the most common Chaotic features.
Lovecraftian Superpower: A Chaos feature is much more than just a cool power—it is something that warps and mutates the recipient. Often it results in mutated horrors, but even when beneficial the results can be inhuman.

Broo

Scientific name: Capricephalus chaos

Absolute Xenophobe: Broo relationships with other races, including other Chaotic races, are always ones of hatred and hunger. An extremely strong member of another Chaotic race will be respected, but in most cases not obeyed.
Always Chaotic Evil: While most Chaotic beings aren't friendly, broos are Chaos at its most spiteful; living embodiments of Thed's rage at the world. Deconstructed, as broos hate themselves just as much, since they know they are the result of their mother being raped — part of the reason for their brutality is to make others hurt as much as they do.
Beast Man: Broos usually show traits similar to the most common animal (or very rarely, plant or mineral) forms of the region. The typical broo type is based upon hardy wild animals, such as antelope or goats, or upon domestic animals such as sheep. Few broos based on carnivores exist, as host carnivores are scarce, and impregnation is usually challenging. One hermit of the Elder Wilds claimed to have seen an allosaurus broo, but this horror was never confirmed.
Child by Rape: The mythological source of the broos is Thed's rape by Ragnaglar, and their evil is her rage at realizing the other gods declared her Defiled Forever.
Face Full of Alien Wing-Wong: A broo can mate with any other organism of suitable size (regardless of sex) and produce broo offspring (unless the target animal is already pregnant). Each birth gives rise to a single larval broo, capable of movement at birth, and already possessing teeth. The larval broo will grow as a parasite in the viscera of the victim, and burst out of their abdomen at full term.
Horned Humanoid: Most broos that survive are vaguely humanoid and have horns.
Ideal Illness Immunity: Broos are immune to all poisons and diseases.
Monstrous Cannibalism: Like most creatures of Chaos, broos will kill and eat other sapient life, including members of their own race.
Swamps Are Evil: Swamp broos live in bogs and fens all over Genertela, and make it difficult for any other race to inhabit the wetlands of Genertela in numbers. Partly due to the broos, swamps have a bad reputation on Glorantha.

Bullsitch

Scientific name: Bovivorax chaos

Animal Stampede: A creature bitten by a bullsitch goes mad with pain and runs in a random direction. If it is a herd beast, this may cause the whole herd to stampede.

Charnjibber

Scientific name: Metamorphosum ephemesus

You Are Who You Eat: The charnjibber always takes the form of whichever creature it last swallowed, plus tentacles. At the beginning of the dry season, charnjibbers are small, then grow larger across the season. If killed, the charnjibber devolves into a previous form.

Dancer in Darkness

Scientific name: Homo inanitas delectii

Charm Person: A Dancer in Darkness may enthrall enemies, causing them to stand helplessly, unable to react to the outside world.
One-Gender Race: All Dancers in Darkness are female.
Our Vampires Are Different: Dancers in Darkness are pale-skinned vampiric women and the chosen of Delecti the Necromancer. They lack POW and must drain the magic points of sapient living beings to continue their undying existence. They fear the Death Rune and are greatly affected by the determined presentation of the Death Rune by one consecrated (initiate or higher) to a Death cult.

Dragon Snail

Scientific name: Spirulem biceps

Chaos Gaggle

The Dividual: The Chaos Gaggle is the name given to a certain type of Chaos gathering consisting of several types of Chaos monsters typically found within proximity of each other. According to Parantablaum of Irenstos, a God Learner, they are a single entity whose body includes the open space between.
Terrestrial Sea Life: On land, the zeech (the slithering whale) slithers along and moves on its ponderous flippers.

Ghoul

Scientific name: Homo inanitas esurientem

Our Ghouls Are Creepier: Ghouls are half-dead creatures that maintain their status by eating the dead. They are formed when malign spirits possess a corpse. The corpse is thereby transfigured and animated, becoming a parody of life. Ghouls look as if they have stepped from a week-old grave.
Poisonous Person: With its rotten fangs, a ghoul can inject a magical venom that paralyses the victim until counteracted by an antidote.

Gorp

Scientific name: Chaos amorphous

Blob Monster: Gorps are shapeless blobs of putrid tissue, dripping acid and corrosive enzymes.

Harpy

Scientific name: Gynaves vexans

Dirty Coward: Harpies are cowardly and will fly away if attacked unless they outnumber their foe.
Harping on About Harpies: Harpies are filthy creatures whose heads and breasts are that of human females, while the rest of their body resembles that of a vulture.
The Pig-Pen: Harpies are notoriously filthy and delight in befouling the food and bodies of others. Any article of food struck by harpy dung is disease-carrying and completely inedible (except by harpies).

Huan To

Scientific name: Corruptagens foedus

Arch-Enemy: The primary motivation of the Huan To is to overthrow the ancient government of the Kralorelan humans, who have listed them in the Imperial Catalogues of Foes dating back to the Golden Age. They have been known to ally with and assist Praxian Animal Nomads, Hsunchen, trolls, elves, merfolk, and even foreign invaders from overseas to encompass this aim.
Zombify the Living: The bite of the Huan To injects a magic venom which, if not purged, turns the victim into a ghoul.

Hydra

Scientific name: Hydra polycephalus

Multiple Head Case: Hydrae have multiple heads: from 2 to 12 for lesser hydrae, and up to 72 for greater hydrae. Spells such as Fear and Madness affect only one head, as does spirit combat.
Our Hydras Are Different: Hydrae are Chaos monsters with multiple heads and reptilian bodies. They are divided into lesser hydrae, which usually weigh more than 200 kilograms and cannot regrow their lost heads, and greater hydrae, which can be as large as small cities and have many magical powers. Most scholars agree that only 13 greater hydrae exist across the entirety of Glorantha.

Jack o'Bear

Scientific name: Joannursus paralysis

Charm Person: Jack o'bears have the exotic talent to control victims, freezing them in place until the jack o'bear dies or the effect is dispelled.
Pumpkin Person: The jack o'bear has what seems to be a pumpkin for a head.

Krarshtkid

Scientific name: Krarsht minutem

Eat Dirt, Cheap: Krarshtkids can eat anything, preferably loam, clay, sand, and limestone.
The Paralyzer: Krarshtkids have a paralytic bite.

Nightrider

Scientific name: Eques ater

Charm Person: Nightriders can transmit emotions and suggestions to their mounts. Non-intelligent mounts always obey; sapient ones can resist.
Horse of a Different Color: Nightriders are always found riding on another creature's back, commonly crocodiles, grampuses, panthers, other Chaos monsters, and in some cases even humans and elves.

Ogre

Scientific name: Homo anthropophagus

Our Ogres Are Hungrier: Ogres are thought to have originated as a human tribe which took the side of Chaos during the Great Darkness. At least one Western sect holds that they are part of the original race of humans, who disagreed with the Brithini about the role of 'true' men in the world, and later followed the Devil. They look very human, and can only be recognised by their Chaotic taint.
To Serve Man: Ogres are known to be fond of human flesh, and it is said that the act of cannibalism will turn one into an ogre.

Scorpion Man

Scientific name: Hominiscorpio devourens

Bee People: Each scorpion man contains a single Scorpion Queen who continuously spawns masses of glutinous eggs. Females live a subservient, secluded life until the Queen dies, or a new village is founded. At that time, one of the females begins to grow fantastically, eventually becoming the new Queen.
Beware My Stinger Tail: Scorpion men fight with human weapons and their tail stinger at the same time.
Big Bad: Gagix Two-Barb, a notorious Scorpion Queen who has rebuilt a full Chaos Kingdom, making her the Big Bad of the race as a whole and a stiff competitor for main mortal antagonist of the setting.
Big Eater: Scorpion men are extremely rapacious, and in times of extreme food shortage they may devour all animal and most plant life over many square kilometres.
Cannibalism Superpower: Their defining ability is to take the Runes of people they eat.
Sapient Eat Sapient: Scorpion men are cannibalistic omnivores, eating both their own kind and members of other sapient races.
Scorpion People: These creatures are a sort of man-scorpion centaur, with the upper body of a man, and the abdomen, tail and rear six legs of a scorpion.
Was Once a Man: In a roundabout way — creatures eaten by a Scorpion Queen will have their features and elements of their personality recycled into one of her children, though the soul is gone.

Stoorworm

Scientific name: Dracovermis insidiens

Dragons corrupted by Chaos into poison-breathing abominations.

Healing Factor: All stoorworms possess the Chaotic feature of regeneration. If cut in two, they can rejoin. Fire prevents regeneration, as do some magical attacks.
Poisonous Person: Stoorworms defend themselves by spewing forth toxic fumes.

Vampire

Scientific name: Homo inanitas vivamortii

Blessed with Suck: Vampires are immortal and possess some frightening abilities, but are also severely handicapped by the various elemental curses placed on them by the gods due to their treachery (being fervently hated both by Humakt as undead and by Urox as Chaos isn't a good place to be either). Sunlight doesn't destroy them, but does take away their powers; to sleep, they require the desecrated soil of their own graves, as regular earth has rejected them. Their mist form is scattered by winds, but their greatest weakness is probably running water (a fact eagerly exploited by duck undead-fighters, of course...) A drop from the river Styx would destroy a vampire in an instant. In some versions, they're also extra vulnerable to swords — as they are the image of the Death rune that they seek to escape from.
Burn the Undead: Fire damages a vampire terribly, in a way unregeneratable until the next vampire holy night.
Cannot Cross Running Water: No vampire may cross running water except by bridge, boat, on the back of another, etc. Immersion in running water kills the vampire.
Charm Person: A vampire may enthrall without loss of magic points anyone whose glance it catches. The victim will stand or slouch helplessly, unable to react to the outside world.
Our Vampires Are Different: Vampires are the nobility of the Undead, the Rune Masters of the Vivamort cult. A vampire can be created only on the holy night of the Vivamort cult, the final stage in the ordination of a Rune Master of that cult. A vampire may drink the blood of any intelligent being, but not from non-sapients.
Voluntary Shapeshifting: Vampires can take the form of bats and wolves.
Weakened by the Light: Vampires lose their powers when in sunlight, due to having been cursed and rejected by the fire gods.

Walktapus

Scientific name: Malapsyche hybridus

Asteroids Monster: Every portion of their body which is severed from the parent will grow into a new walktapus.
Breath Weapon: A walktapus can squirt out a poison gas cloud equivalent to the effect of an octopus squirting ink.
Combat Tentacles: Walktapi can attack with all eight tentacles, using the human arms for balance, permitting them to fight as many as four foes at once.
Cthulhumanoid: Walktapi have a man-like body and the head of a large octopus.
Healing Factor: Walktapi have a Chaotic ability to regenerate. Not even fire will permanently affect this, though it will slow down the growth rate by several days. Walktapi may be permanently destroyed only by powerful magic, or complete destruction such as dissolution in acid.

Spirits

Our Spirits Are Different: A life form is composed of a corporeal body and a spirit, but there are also disembodied spirits in addition to the more obvious living beings. They practically swarm around sacred ground (any place where sacrifices have been made to gods), while a barren stretch of rock or desert is extremely unlikely to have even one.

Disembodied Spirits

Beauty Equals Goodness: Nymphs usually take the form of a beautiful and desirable female of whatever species they are speaking to. Malevolent nymphs reflect a deep sense of rejection and are correspondingly hideous.
Departure Means Death: Nymphs are tied to their homes and cannot leave without suffering.
Interspecies Romance: Voughs breed with undines, river horses, and even captured humans, and then give birth to brollachans.
Our Demons Are Different: The term demon encompasses a wide array of Underworld spirits. They usually have Darkness and Death Runes, and possess Rune magic from Darkness or Chaos cults.
Our Ghosts Are Different: Ghosts are the spirits of the restless dead. Ghosts found on the Middle World are always tied to a specific site or object, and either cannot leave or must return if they do leave. Ghosts come in many forms. Some types of ghosts are passive or even pleasant, but most are insane, malign and hate the living.
Our Nymphs Are Different: Nymphs are feminine manifestations of the consciousness of various places of nature. At will, a nymph can form (or dissipate) a human-like body from the substance of her home. Nymphs manifest the primal magic of fertility and desire, and so most nymphs appear sexually attractive to sapient beings.
Plague Master: Spirits of disease are spirits specifically bound to the service of the Mother of Disease, and can infect their enemies with any of the diseases which they are carrying.
Voluntary Shapeshifting: Some ghosts can change shape, and the most common form is a dark cloud, especially in daylight. Others can take multiple human forms, assume beast shapes, change gender, or even remove body parts and send them roaming about.

Embodied Spirits

Beast with a Human Face: Thunder Brothers can manifest as huge winged bulls with the head of a bearded man and paws of a gigantic cat.
Elemental Embodiment: Elementals are spirits of one of the Elemental Runes (Air, Darkness, Earth, Fire/Sky, Moon, and Water) that have been embodied in the local environment. There are also Lunar elementals, but they require a moon rock from the surface of the Red Moon to be summoned. Most elementals are not truly sapient. They are capable of being controlled by spells, but when left on their own they will simply do whatever is natural: fire elementals burn flammable materials within reach, water elementals flee to the lowest possible spot, earth elementals sink into the soil, darkness elementals flee light, and air elementals breeze around.
Hell Hound: The offspring of the Hound of Sir Ethilrist and a female hound is a Hell Hound. These are demonic creatures that can be controlled by Ethilrist's magic. They are rare and much coveted by the Commanders of the Troop. A Hell Hound is pitch black, with glowing yellow eyes.
Hellish Horse: The Black Horses of the Black Horse Troop were taken from the herds started when the Sun was a resident of Hell. The conditions of Hell made for a very different breed of horse: they are carnivorous, heavily armoured naturally, and capable of fighting with claws like a cat's. They can also see in the dark, like Trolls.
Our Banshees Are Louder: Banshees are air elementals who howl terribly, demoralising those who hear it. Either a bad omen and deathbringer or a helpful warning, depending on how you look at it.

Gods

In General

God Needs Prayer Badly: Gods pay attention to worshippers because they make sacrifices, which add to the god's power.
I Have Many Names: Many gods have different names and some different stories known to different cultures. Orlanth is called Rebellus Terminus in old Dara Happan writings, but no Third Age Lunar thinks that is a different deity from the Orlanth of the hill barbarians. Yelm is called Yu-Kargzant by the Pentans, but every good Lunar knows the Pentans worship Yelm. Yelmalio used to be called Elmal by the Hendriki, but we now know that Elmal is another name for Yelmalio. Lhankor Mhy was called Buserian by the Dara Happans, but even in Raibanth, the scribes recognise that there is one God of Knowledge, not an Orlanthi one and a Dara Happan one. Sometimes these names identify a local manifestation of a god: Lodril is sometimes called Veskarthan the Volcano God to identify him as the Lodril of the Vent.
Our Gods Are Different: In Glorantha, the gods and their manifestations are real. The presence of many (often opposed) deities means that one individual can worship many gods if they wish. Gods are neither omnipotent nor omniscient: they are limited by their own capabilities and, more severely, by their binding outside of Time. They have lost almost all their capacity to act independently or to create. They are essentially incapable of anything new, bound eternally to their God Time deeds by the Great Compromise. Anything from greater gods down to tribal ancestors, spirits and ancient chieftains may be the object of a cult, though a powerful god can lend far more power to worshippers than a weak one can.

Celestial Court

The Old Gods: The deities of the Celestial Court are said to have made the world, and initially ruled it before handing leadership to Yelm. With the possible exception of Uleria, they're all dead, having been destroyed alongside the Spike by Chaos when the Great Darkness began.

Arachne Solara

Hot God: In her light aspect she is tall, slender, and radiantly beautiful. In her dark aspect, her face is beautiful, although her teeth are sharp, and her head is haloed in a gleaming white fire.
Spider People: In her dark aspect, Arachne Solara has a woman's upper body, mounted upon the thorax and bloated abdomen of a huge spider.
Top God: Arachne Solara may be the Goddess of Nature in Glorantha, and the greatest of the greater gods. There are strong indications that she is the ghost of Glorantha, the Mother of the Universe. Few worship Arachne Solara, for her spells are beyond mortal ken.

Uleria

All-Loving Hero: According to the philosophy of Uleria, everyone and everything is a lay member of Uleria, and anyone can become an initiate as long as they are not Chaotic. Aa a result, Uleria doesn't have associated cults—everyone is associated because everyone needs and has the potential of love.
Hot God: Uleria is always depicted as a handsome, sexually mature man or woman.
Love Goddess: Uleria represents Love in all its forms: eros, agape, lust, platonic, etc. She commands those powers which bring things or people together.
Sole Survivor: She may be the only deity of the Celestial Court to survive the Great Darkness, though some believe that that being which is worshipped in her name is only a small portion of the whole of Uleria, or is actually another goddess with identical powers, attributes and appearance.

Deities of Darkness

Dark Is Not Evil: Though normally possessed of ill will toward humanity, the entities of Darkness are not evil; they bore the brunt of the Chaos Wars, for instance.

Kyger Litor

Ethnic Goddess: Kyger Litor is the ancestress of all the troll races of the world and is almost universally worshiped by them. Her cult forms the very fabric of troll society, permeating everything they do. Every adult troll is initiated into the cult of Kyger Litor; non-trolls who pass the difficult initiation ceremony are also called trolls by other cult members. Sometimes other Darkness entities rise to importance, and Kyger Litor is sometimes over-shadowed, though never forgotten.

Annilla

Colony Drop: The Blue Moon Plateau is reputedly formed by the remnants of the Blue Moon which crashed to earth.
Divided Deity: When violence enveloped the cosmos, Annilla was shattered and cast down from heaven. The Blue Moon Plateau is the single largest piece of her body that struck the Surface World. Part of the Blue Moon remained in the sky.
God of the Moon: Annilla is the mystic goddess of the Blue Moon, and is responsible for the ocean tides of Glorantha.
I Have Many Names: She is called Annilla by the Blue Moon Trolls or Veldara by the humans of Pamaltela.

Aranea

Ethnic God: Aranea's is the ancestral cult of spiders, both unintelligent and intelligent. The former instinctively worship her; the latter are automatically initiated into her cult upon maturity.

Black Sun

Ethnic God: The Black Sun is the spiritual Darkness of the Kingdom of Ignorance. After Yelm died and all shadows grew, the Black Sun led the trolls to the surface world, where they became overlords of the Kingdom of Ignorance. Even though mandarins originally from Kralorela now rule the Kingdom of Ignorance, a plurality of the populace remains loyal to the Black Sun.
Human Sacrifice: The Black Sun is worshipped with blood sacrifices, offered by its worshippers, and by blood feasts of organs.
Sinister Sentient Sun: The Black Sun is Yelm's spiritual shadow, the blind spot that he can never see.

Gorakiki

Big Creepy-Crawlies: Humans depict Gorakiki as an enormous, terrifying version of the insect that wreaks the most havoc in their land.
Ethnic God: Gorakiki is the goddess of all insects. All insects, intelligent or not, worship one of her spirit children.

Mee Vorala

Ethnic God: Mee Vorala is universally worshipped by black elves. Otherwise, she is not considered a major goddess and rarely worshipped.
Fungi Are Plants: Mee Vorala, goddess of fungi, is the daughter of Flamal, god of plants, and has the Plant rune.
Mother of a Thousand Young: From Mee Vorala's body grew all the kinds of fungi which embellish the world.

Moorgarki

Enemy Mine: Moorgarki was responsible for striking a deal with the children of Aldrya, who also hated Pamalt. Though their ancient oaths and fears would never allow any other troll friendship with elves, Moorgarki promised the Spirit of the Jungle that she will always help him against Pamalt, and even carry their mutual hostility against Pamalt's people dwelling in the savannah. Thus the jungle trolls are seen as servants of the Jungle.
Ethnic God: Moorgarki is the ancestress of all jungle trolls, but despite her importance, her cult is still secondary to Kyger Litor's. Outside of some dark trolls who venerate her as an important Pamaltelan troll spirit, she is only known as an enemy or legendary figure to non-trolls.

Subere

God of Darkness: Subere is the source of the Darkness Rune and goddess of First Darkness. When Yelm came to the Underworld, while other entities of Darkness fled his presence, Subere remained, unchanged and unilluminated by the sun's light. Except in lands with strong darkness-worshipping history, Subere's cult is almost nonexistent.

Xentha

God of Darkness: Xentha is the goddess of night, who protects the trolls from the sun's dangers. Every night is sacred to her, as it exists within her presence.

Xiola Umbar

Healer God: Xiola Umbar fulfils an important place in troll social structure by healing anyone who needs it, and caring for the helpless.
Polar Opposite Twins: She's the twin sister of Zorak Zoran, and is everything he is not.
Token Good Teammate: Xiola Umbar is a goddess of kindness and, as such, a stranger among the trolls.

Zorak Zoran

Blood Knight: Zorak Zoran's greatest fondness is for bloodshed and slaughter, and his cultists like to fight, cause trouble, intimidate and pillage.
Polar Opposite Twins: He's the twin brother of Xiola Umbar, and is as hateful and violent as she is kind and merciful.
Teeth-Clenched Teamwork: As much as the rest of the world might regret it, Zorak Zoran is one which helped save the world and whose powers may be needed again.
War God: Zorak Zoran is the primary war god for trolls, the mindless explosion of fear and frenzy against both Order and Chaos, which finds its only justification and satisfaction in unlimited violence. In troll areas, all war leaders likely belong to his cult. Even elsewhere, some war leaders are likely to be at least initiates.

Argan Argar

The Almighty Dollar: He's the troll god of trade, as well as their peaceful dealings with other races. As such, he's one of the few troll gods worshipped by humans.
Settle for Sibling: Depending on the myth, he may have courted Esrola after his relationship with her sister Ernalda ended.

Deities of Water

Brother–Sister Incest: Each of Zaramaka's children interbred with the others.

Daliath

Keeper of Forbidden Knowledge: Daliath is the keeper of the Well of Wisdom, and only he regularly imbibes of its potent wisdom. He creates and arranges the defensive obstacles which discourage questers, and doles out the precious fluid to those few who succeed.

Tholaina

Mother of a Thousand Young: Tholaina is mother of all aquatic animals. By a Darkness god she begat the invertebrates of the waters. With a lover from the earth she begat the sea reptiles. With a conquered sky spirit, she bore a flock of sea birds. With an arrogant Air God, she begat those sea creatures which breathe air. With Golod, who is Fish Father, she begat all fish.

Triolina

Monster Progenitor: Triolina is called Mother Ocean, and all beings which live in the sea and now know natural mortality can trace their ancestry to her, making her one of the greatest deities in the sea.
Multiple-Tailed Beast: In Waertagi idols Triolina is shown as a breastless, fish-scaled woman with two tails, one piscine and one cetacean.

Magasta

Lord of the Ocean: Magasta is the Lord of the Sea, god of the elemental Water, and leader of the Water pantheon.
Sea Monster: Magasta is described in old Brithini records as a 'hideous monster rising from the sea, whose glance destroyed ranks of soldiers, and whose tentacled maws dragged the solid earth into its wicked toothed abyss'.

Robber

God of the Dead: Robber is Magasta's Invisible Net of the Sea, which drags all eventually into death. Robber rules over the lost souls, which live in the sea but are not in its flow.

Wachaza

War God: Wachaza is the sea god of death and war. He is the war god for the majority of Gloranthan mermen and for a few seafaring human cultures.

Dormal

Deity of Human Origin: Dormal, god of sailors and sailing, was originally a great hero who broke the Closing, an evil curse blocking all sea travel. Since he was the only person actually capable of protecting a ship from the Closing (no one who tried to replicate the rites succeeded), Dormal taught everyone to pray to him. The prayer ceremony, or worship, has been infallible when done correctly, and is proof that Dormal has been accepted into the realm of gods.

Deities of the Earth

Gata

Mother Nature: This goddess is the forbidding, formless, primal personification of the broad and bountiful earth. Myths reveal that the goddesses of old called upon her in their prayers. No human today can reach this being.

Genert

Fisher King: A great patch of land on Genertela used to be connected with Genert's personal life forces. When he still lived, Genert's Garden was a land of plenty where people knew no hunger or want, wandered where they pleased, and were friends to all. Since his death, this area has been the harsh, barren Wastelands, since Genert's life forces were irrevocably lost. For the same reason, Pamaltela recovered better from Chaos than Genertela because Pamalt, the King of the South, survived.
The Good King: Genert was the Earth King of the Northern Continent, a benign ruler who oversaw the upkeep of all the surface of his mother, the Earth.
Posthumous Character: During the Great Darkness, Genert was slain by Chaos monsters. Since his body and soul were eaten, he was not resurrected when the Dawn came.
Snake People: Genert is often depicted with the lower body of a serpent and the upper body of a bearded man.

Ernalda

Hot God: Ernalda is usually depicted as a beautiful and voluptuous woman.
Love Goddess: She's specifically mentioned as being the goddess of sex, among other things.
Man Behind the Man: She's the goddess behind Orlanth, among others. Ernalda rarely rules in her own right, but often plays a pivotal role in establishing divine kings and advises them afterwards.
Really Gets Around: Many suitors vied for Ernalda, and she gave them freely. With Flamal, she conceived Aldrya. With Hykim, she conceived Eiritha. With Orlanth, she conceived many children, including Barntar, Voria, Voriof, and many others. With a myriad of lovers and magical activities Ernalda was responsible for most of the life on Earth.
Trickster Girlfriend: She subtly taught Orlanth about the joys of civilization and the value of peace, among other things.
Walking Shirtless Scene: Ernalda is usually depicted bare-breasted or nude, wearing an ornate necklace of gems.
Women Are Wiser: Personifies this idea — Orlanth may think he's in charge, but Ernalda cultists know better.

Aldrya

Enchanted Forest: In the Green Age, Aldrya and the elves ruled all the world. She is now bitter about the loss of her preeminence, which explains why woods are intrinsically creepy to mankind.
Ethnic Goddess: Aldrya is the ancestral goddess for all Aldryami races. All elves, dryads, runners and pixies are automatically members of her cult upon birth.

Asrelia

The Almighty Dollar: Asrelia is the Goddess of Wealth, keeper and distributor of all that is good and desired.
The Hecate Sisters: The earth system recognises three generations of goddesses, each incarnating aspects of the Goddess. One aspect is the Daughter, young and valuable; the Mother, rich and bounteous; and the Crone, dark and greedy. A common use of the myths is to make the youth of the elder generations the same as the myths of the younger generations. Thus, when Asrelia was young she was called Spring's Handmaiden; when she matured, she became Ernalda; and in the Darkness, she was Asrelia. Although this seemingly contradicts those myths where all three goddesses appear together, it is certainly possible within the realm of mythology and its non-temporal reality.

Babeester Gor

Ax-Crazy: Babeester Gor is the merciless and cruel Avenging Daughter of the Earth, who once slew so many defenceless residents of Healing Valley that she waded breast-deep in the gore, drinking the blood of victory and slaughter.
Full-Frontal Assault: Babeester Gor is naked except for her garlands of grisly trophies.
Red Eyes, Take Warning: When depicted as a goddess, Babeester Gor is always depicted as having eyes red with intoxication and absolute rage.
Roaring Rampage of Revenge: Babeester Gor violently avenges the earth and forests against those who have harmed it.
War God: Babeester Gor has been the main war goddess of the Earth deities since Time began, so Earth cultists seek her out when battle seems imminent. Faithful members of the cult are expected to die in combat; any other death stinks of dishonour.
Weapon Specialization: Babeester Gor is the Axe Goddess and is one with her axe. All cultists fight with the axe, and decorate their axes with the grisly trophies of their victims.

Barntar

Food God: Barntar is the god of farmers, the honest carls who work hard to feed the people of their clan and bloodline.

Donandar

Sacred Hospitality: Everyone is careful to welcome and be hospitable to all entertainers in hopes that they may someday host Donandar himself, bringing good luck forever after to their house.
Wandering Minstrel: Donandar wanders the world incognito as an ordinary wayfaring songster, bringing warmth and cheer to the folk he meets.

Eiritha

Food God: Eiritha is the mother of cattle, most notably the Praxian beasts, and the source of fecundity and rich milk for all hooved and horned creatures. Praxian nomads are utterly dependent upon Eiritha for their daily existence.
Non-Human Head: Sometimes, especially among the Praxians, Eiritha is shown as a beast-headed woman.

Flamal

Mother of a Thousand Young: Flamal, god of seeds and plants, is the parent of all plant life in the world, from the lowliest greenscum on a puddle's surface to the lordliest redwood.
Truly Single Parent: With no assistance, Flamal gave rise to Slor, God of the Swamps.

Grain Goddesses

Food God: Each Grain Goddess is associated with a particular grain or legume.
Hot God: Esrola and Pelora are depicted as voluptuous naked goddesses with exaggerated sexual features.
Snake People: Seshna Likita is depicted with the body of a great serpent beneath her torso.

Kero Fin

Divine Right of Kings: Kero Fin is the source of life and sovereignty in Dragon Pass, and all those who draw life from it or try to rule it must have her blessing.
Genius Loci: Kero Fin's greatest manifestation is the mountain of Kero Fin itself, the highest peak in Dragon Pass.
Walking Shirtless Scene: Kero Fin is depicted as a tall needle-shaped mountain or as a bare-breasted goddess.

Maran Gor

Destroyer Deity: Maran Gor is the goddess of the destructive Earth, worshipped by those that enjoy the carnage which is her most precious gift.

Ty Kora Tek

Dark Is Not Evil: While most people avoid thinking too much about the grim goddess of death except when death is near, Ty Kora Tek is an integral part of the cosmic structure. She approves of the living who properly pay respect to the dead. She's neutral towards everything else (except Chaos and unnatural undead), demanding only that they obey her laws of Silence and Subservience while they are in her realm.
God of the Dead: Ty Kora Tek is the Goddess of the Underworld, who rules the dead and is worshipped by those who prepare the dead for burial and the sick and dying for death. She keeps the dead in their proper place and prevents them from troubling the living.
Skull for a Head: Ty Kora Tek is sometimes shown with a skull's face.

Voria

Actual Pacifist: She is capable of discerning the least offence against her, and relies on her sister Babeester Gor to defend her.
Earthy Barefoot Character: Voria, the Spring's Handmaiden who alerts the crop goddesses to awake at the new year, is always portrayed as a youthful, barefooted human or elf woman.

Deities of Sky and Fire

Stay in the Kitchen: The absence of women among the children of Aether reveals the social status of its female worshippers. The few goddesses of Light are mostly female counterparts of male gods. Ourania, for instance, is clearly the inferior female counterpart of Dayzatar. Most other functions are performed by inferior concubines of Yelm taken from other pantheons. Dendara is a vacant and hollow Ernalda, stripped of interest and power by her husband's oppression.

Aether

God of Light: Aether is the god of the bright and fiery ether, source of light and heat, who fashioned the Light rune.
Ouroboros: TarnGatHa, whom the God Learners identify with Aether, is depicted as a dragon forming the Infinity Rune and devouring its own tail.

Yelm

Back from the Dead: He was slain by Orlanth during the Gods Time, but was later resurrected by him to bring an end to the Darkness.
Divine Right of Kings: The political mythology instituted by the reign of Yelm is apparent in the many dynasties that were founded by him. The rulers passed on an inherited Right of Kingship and were usually worshipped as Divine Kings or God Kings.
The Emperor: He was the undisputed ruler of the world for a hundred thousand years.
God of Light: He's the god and mover of the sun, the most prominent of the gods of fire, and was once the ruler of the universe. All human life owes its existence to him. Even in lands where he is not worshipped, he is known and respected.
God of Order: Yelm is the god of chieftains and rulers, and brings a divine social order; those that do not accept it bring their own condemnation. His higher aspects can only be attained by the ruling nobility in any culture.
Light Is Good: At least as far as his worshipers are concerned, and even those who don't worship him will begrudgingly admit that they need him.
The Power of the Sun: Even those who don't worship him recognize that Yelm is the sun.
Rescued from the Underworld: The Lightbringers Quest involved the Seven Lightbringers descending into the Underworld to liberate Yelm, who has stayed there since he was killed by Orlanth, in an act that put an end to the Darkness. Since then, Yelm has spent half of his time in the sky and half in the Underworld.
The Rival: Orlanth and Yelm claim the kingship of the universe and exercise some part of that sovereignty. Both rule parts of the world and part of the races of mortals. Both are jealous rivals who claim the only legitimate ruler's rights. They have spent all their existence, before Time in mythos and after Time in history, in defending or advancing their claims. They are doomed to a reality of eternal conflict over which one of them is right.
Stern Sun Worshippers: One overwhelming aspect of Yelm's cult is its demand for absolute submission from followers. This institutes a strict aristocracy with great command over the followers. This benevolent dictatorship was splendid during the Golden Age when Yelm ruled everything with easy harmony and simple truths. Later, when the Empire of the Sun broke into quarrelling warlords unable to act together without their supreme leader, the situation worsened, leading to many tragic tales of the Gods War. Later humanists gleefully point out that Yelm's mythical Golden Age was founded on the habit of human slavery.
Top God: When he ruled the world, Yelm is said to have been the Emperor of the Universe. His rulership encompassed many diverse elements under its rule. Yelm the Fire God was Emperor over the Earth deities and Fire deities, some Water deities, and even a few Darkness deities. Even those who did not openly enter into a compact with Yelm were manipulated indirectly by the sheer overwhelming power of his Divine Order.
Try to Fit That on a Business Card: Among Yelm's many titles are the One, the Light, the Lord of Day, the Enthroned One, the Give of Life and Death, and Lord of the Four Quarters, and the All-seeing Eye.

Dayzatar

The Hermit: Dayzatar has always been an aloof god. In the sacrosanct isolation of the sky, Dayzatar shuns contact with lesser beings except to teach them. Due to his lofty position, he is always hard to reach, even by his most devout worshippers. Since most people have no interest in a god who has no interest in them, Dayzatar's cult is not particularly popular.
Sibling Yin-Yang: Dayzatar and his youngest brother Lodril are opposite in their desires and essence. Dayzatar sought isolation and meditation; Lodril exulted in participation and indulgence with the other gods and spheres of the world.
Truly Single Parent: During the period of his isolation and discipline, Dayzatar managed to shed most of his own mundane aspects to purify himself. These aspects are called his children, though he never touched a wife.

Dendara

Proper Lady: Dendara is the faithful wife of Yelm and a paragon of uxorial virtue. With magnificent pride and skill she commands her servants to prepare for the Emperor's needs.

Gorgorma

Vagina Dentata: Gorgorma of the Two Mouths has wicked teeth in both mouth and vagina.

Lodril

Flaming Hair: Lodril as Veskarthan is depicted as a man with flaming hair and beard.
God of Fire: Lodril is the Volcano God, the Fire that violently erupts from beneath the Earth. He is sometimes thought of as the source of heat without light.
The Hedonist: At his worst Lodril personifies carnal gratification, totally unhindered by civilised mores.
I Have Many Names: Lodril has many names including Balumbasta, Lodik, Solf, Turos, Veskarthan, and Vietlor. In compiling the stories about him, we can see that he was many places at once, in many different forms: an Old God of the Doraddi; the Minister of Fire among the Kralori; the great volcanic Vent in Caladraland; and the Fire God enslaved by the Brithini of Sog City.
Sibling Yin-Yang: Lodril and his eldest brother Dayzatar are opposite in their desires and essence. Dayzatar sought isolation and meditation; Lodril exulted in participation and indulgence with the other gods and spheres of the world.

Lokarnos

Deity of Human Origin: This god began his mortal existence as a simple worker in the Solar Empire. Through perseverance and hard work, he earned a superior and rewarding position in life.

Lowfires

Destroyer Deity: When unchecked, Oakfed is called Wildfire, famous for destroying forests and reputed to burn even stone.
God of Fire: The three Lowfires are the known fires of the earth: Mahome, the hearthfire; Gustbran, the workfire; and Oakfed, the wildfire. These three deities are commonly worshipped all over the world where people use fire, regardless of the other divinities worshipped.

Polaris

War God: Polaris led the armies of the Upper World in the Gods War. Worshipped as the General of Heaven, commanding officers of many armies sacrifice to him for aid in battle.

Yelmalio

God of Light: The cult of Yelmalio is also called the Sun Dome Temple because it popularly includes worship of both Sun and sky in one. Among mountain people, it is the cult of the sun, which is praised more for light than for heat. In lowland cultures, it is normally the sky, a source of light without heat.
It's Personal: Yelmalio's cult holds a particular hatred for Zorak Zoran, who stole his fire powers in the Gods War.

Yelorna

Celibate Hero: Yelorna was courted by several gods, but refused all, and remained free from all ties.
War God: Yelorna's cult is for female warriors, providing them with a place in a predominantly male field.

Deities of Air

Umath

Establishing Character Moment: After his birth, Umath's first recorded activity was to demand a realm of his own to be equal to those of his parents. When none was available, Umath made one for himself by ripping asunder his father and mother. Thus, the sky was separated from the earth forever. This perennial violence set the pattern for the children of Umath as well.

Orlanth

Character Development: A major recurring theme of Orlanth's myths is that while he makes many mistakes, he always learns from them.
Fertility God: Orlanth Thunderous, the aspect of Orlanth that is most concerned with storm and weather, is more fertility oriented and worshipped by those dependent on the life-giving and life-taking powers of weather, like farmers or herders.
Fiery Redhead: Vinga, Orlanth's female incarnation, is depicted as a red-haired woman and is one of the most warlike Thunder Brothers.
Gender Bender: Vinga is an aspect of Orlanth, the warrior goddess for women who take upon themselves the violent tasks usually done by men. In some stories, she is Orlanth in female form.
God of Thunder: Orlanth Thunderous is Orlanth's aspect as the weather god and Lord of the Middle Air. His attributes are primarily atmospheric phenomena such as cloud, wind and the thunderbolt.
The Good King: As Orlanth Rex he is praised as the supreme King, and his followers strive to emulate his regal skills. He knows justice and leadership, fine rhetoric, and other skills needed to rule.
Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Arguably his defining character trait. Orlanth tends to do a lot of really ill-advised things out of either recklessness or pettiness, but his heart is ultimately in the right place.
Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: He has a habit of this, with the single biggest case being the murder of Yelm, which plunged the world into the (Lesser) Darkness, or Storm Age.
The Rival: Orlanth and Yelm claim the kingship of the universe and exercise some part of that sovereignty. Both rule parts of the world and part of the races of mortals. Both are jealous rivals who claim the only legitimate ruler's rights. They have spent all their existence, before Time in mythos and after Time in history, in defending or advancing their claims. They are doomed to a reality of eternal conflict over which one of them is right.
Top God: Orlanth is at the center of a large pantheon of deities. He is the single most important of them all and his wife, Ernalda, is second. This divine pair is surrounded by lesser deities, associated deities, and nameless spirits who have their places in the cosmic scheme. Their combined cult is called the Religion of Orlanth and Ernalda. Orlanth claims, by right of his deeds, overlordship of the universe.

Elmal

Defector from Decadence: Elmal was one of the Fire Tribe, until Chalana Arroy healed his sight, so that his own brightness no longer blinded him. Seeing the true nature of the Fire Tribe, which held the rest of the world as slaves, Elmal left his brothers, saying:
Light is important, but it is not the only important thing. I must find and learn these other things now.
God of Light: Amongst the Heortlings of Dragon Pass, the Sun Disk is identified with Elmal.
Undying Loyalty: His defining characteristic is his loyalty to Orlanth.

Gagarth

Black Sheep: Gagarth was no friend to his kin, especially after Vadrus was killed and broken into pieces. In the Lesser Darkness, he fought Orlanth many times. Orlanth was always victorious, and finally caught his nephew and stripped him of many powers and sent him to haunt the unwanted places of the air.
Blood Knight: Gagarth is the deity of senseless violence. When his crackling attacks laced the air, there was sure to be suffering.
Enemy Mine: Gagarth's cult, whose members have usually been expelled from other cults, has no true friends. When grievous calamity threatens the Wastes, however, alliances of convenience are formed with them, or they may be hired to perform foul deeds that would sully the hands of a noble khan or chief.
Rape, Pillage, and Burn: Gagarth's raiders ravage nomad camps and settled villages, plunder herds, steal valuables, and hunt down and brutally kill travellers.

Heler

Arch-Enemy: Daga, god of drought, is Heler's eternal foe, ever defeated by their magic waters. When offended, Heler withdraws their protection against Daga so that the apostate's clan suffers a drought until he repents or finds some means of driving Daga away.
Defeat Means Friendship: Heler is a Water God who was defeated by Orlanth and became his loyal, if subordinate, friend.
Gender Bender: Heler, whose gender ebbs and flows like the tides, is sometimes depicted as a god with the right half male and the left half female. Heler's cultists are often considered to belong to a third gender. In Cults of RuneQuest, Heler is referred to through gender-neutral pronouns to represent their constant changeability.
Interservice Rivalry: Heler and Elmal are rivals, although both are loyal to Orlanth. Their fiercest competition is over the affection of Esrola. Heler's cultists must treat Elmal's as rivals, to show everyone that the rain is closer to the heart of the Storm than is the aloof and distant Sun.
Undying Loyalty: His name is a watchword for loyalty among Orlanth worshippers, and to be staunch as Heler is a high compliment.

Kolat

Arch-Enemy: Kolat's main foe is Karjakan the Spirit Lord, a monster shaman who oversees a large demesne from which he launches attacks against the Orlanthi.
Sibling Rivalry: Among Kolat's hostile spirits are his own brother Storm Bull, whose rampages Kolat prevented.

Storm Bull

Ax-Crazy: Socially, Storm Bull worshippers are unacceptable. They characteristically act with total disregard for any tribal taboos or manners, even to the extent of occasional murders, which will go unavenged. Normal people correctly consider them to be mindless brutes, barely human, certainly deranged, and absolutely dangerous.
Blood Knight: The most wild and bestial of the storm gods, Storm Bull is violence and raw unthinking strength, guided by instinct and the sensitivities of a god.
Brutish Bulls: Storm Bull is popular where sudden fury and uncontrollable rage are respected or simply unable to be suppressed. He often went on a rampage and destroyed great tracts of life, such as the time his followers devoured all the vegetation of the earth to prove how powerful they were.
Detect Evil: Cultists of Storm Bull are the only mortals who can sense the presence of Chaotic taint.
Ear Ache: When fighting Wakboth, Storm Bull lost a ear, which became a spirit that will harass any follower of Storm Bull who leaves the cult or threatens it in any way.
Horns of Barbarism: Storm Bull worshippers like to wear the horns of their native beast upon their helmets.
Sibling Rivalry: Storm Bull hates his brother Kolat, who prevented his rampages during the Gods War.
Teeth-Clenched Teamwork: Ever since Orlanth defeated Storm Bull soundly using only a lariat and a sharp stick, the latter's worshippers have disliked the Orlanthi, but they will usually submit to their orders when pressed.

Vadrus

Arch-Enemy: Vadrus was infamous among the Yelm cultists because he was such a determined enemy of the Sky Gods.
Black Sheep: Vadrus and his sons fought alongside his brother Orlanth against the powers of Sky and Water, but also against Orlanth's friends and allies. Orlanth defeated Vadrus, forced them to accept him as their chief and sent them to the edges of the world where they could fight the enemies of the Storm gods without troubling Orlanth's friends and kin. The Vadrudi can be helpful, as they swore to come whenever Orlanth summoned them to war and strife, but when left to their own devices, they are brutal and cruel.
Destroyer Deity: Vadrus was a storm god of unrestrained violence and its attendant destruction.
Posthumous Character: Vadrus was destroyed during the Gods War by the forces of Chaos, broken into pieces which did not reknit. His fame was so great, though, that he is still remembered, and there are still some of his great magical tools and weapons found among the gods and heroes.

Valind

Child by Rape: Valind is a son of Vadrus and a slave goddess.
Friendly Rivalry: There is little love lost between Orlanth and Valind. However, their annual brawl in the high, chill air each Storm Season rejuvenates the stratosphere and keeps those gods strong, so their cults are associated and friendly.
Grim Up North: Valind is a cruel and destructive god who makes his home in the far north, and created the Great Glacier that grew larger and colder until it conquered much of the world in the later Storm Age.
An Ice Person: Valind is the source of the winter powers that sweep over the earth from the north.

Waha

Founder of the Kingdom: Waha the Founder is the culture hero who determined the way of life appropriate for Praxians. He freed the herd beasts and women from the Darkness, tamed fire, taught men how to kill and dress beasts, established customs, and first learned the songs of power which banish evil and call the spirits to help.

Ygg

God of Thunder: Ygg is a destructive and terrifying Storm god that sends raging winds and icebergs to test his worshippers and destroy his enemies.
Seadog Beard: Ygg is depicted as an old warrior with a long white beard who runs across the stormy waves.
War God: Ygg represents the physical and untamed part of war: overwhelming, insatiable in battle and destructive.

Yinkin

Cat/Dog Dichotomy: Yinkin, god of alynxes, and his followers hate and fear dogs and wolves, a feud that started when Narangros the Bad Dog killed Yinkin's children and murdered his lovers. The Orlanthi dislike dogs, since alynxes are their sacred kin animal.
Cat Folk: Yinkin is depicted either as an alynx, a man with alynx features, or a man with an alynx head. No matter what form he takes, Yinkin always has the long tail of an alynx.
Really Gets Around: Yinkin seduced and loved numerous goddesses, and each bore a different litter after he left.
Sibling Rivalry: Yinkin's relationship with Telmor was always hostile. Telmor demanded that Yinkin be loyal only to the ways of their father Fralar, but Yinkin was loyal only to Orlanth.
Undying Loyalty: The brotherly loyalty between Yinkin and Orlanth is legendary.

Lunar Pantheon

Deity of Human Origin: A characteristic of the Lunar religion is that it works to help people acquire divine status. The Red Goddess did it, and so did several other important figures.

The Red Goddess

All-Loving Hero: The Red Goddess believes there's a place for everyone and everything — even Chaos.
Divided Deity: Sedenya was dismembered during the Gods' War, her parts hidden by the shadowy rebels who sought to prevent their future illumination. The pieces of Sedenya were so well hidden that she was not reborn at the Dawn. Only through the efforts of the Seven Mothers were her buried parts found and reassembled.
God in Human Form: The Red Goddess was born in the Gods Age but was broken and scattered during the Gods War, not quite dead but not quite alive either. When first reborn, she had the body of a mortal human before finding herself and attaining immortality.
God of the Moon: The Red Goddess is the deity who rules over the Red Moon, a celestial body which appeared in the sky in 1202.
Lunacy: Lunar magic is a weird combination of sorcery and spirit magic which was created by the Red Goddess and cannot be usedby any one but her initiates. The changes in the moon's phases affect the magical power of the Red Goddess upon the world.
Navel-Deep Neckline: In the Prosopaedia, the Red Goddess is said to usually wear a white gown with a neckline which plunges in a V to her navel, though this isn't the case in actual art, which tends to depict her topless.
The Unfettered: Being Illuminated makes her this, and even aside from that, she openly violates the Compromise that prevents the gods from directly interfering in the mortal world.

Danfive Xaron

Heel–Face Turn: Danfive Xaron was a bloodthirsty outlaw before he volunteered for the most dangerous task in the ritual of recreating the Red Goddess. His grim cult presents a last chance for society's most desperate dregs to rehabilitate themselves. Criminals of any sort can find refuge within his temples, but the cult sets harsh standards.
Human Sacrifice: A key component of the ritual to bring back the Red Goddess was a human victim. Thus, Danfive Xaron is one of the Seven Mothers.

Deezola

Healer God: Deezola was a famed healer in life, and is worshipped as a patron of healing and healers.

Teelo Norri

Street Urchin: Teelo Norri was a barely pubescent urchin chosen at random from the streets of Torang to serve as the one participant who was ignorant of the intent of the ritual to restore the Red Goddess.

Yanafal Tarnils

War God: Yanafal Tarnils is a former worshipper of Humakt, and serves as the major war god in the Lunar Empire—his cult still resembles Humakt's in many aspects. The High Command of the Imperial Army is nearly entirely drawn from worshippers of Yanafal Tarnils.

Etyries

The Almighty Dollar: Etyries is the Lunar goddess of trade, worshipped by Lunar merchants, especially those who must travel into foreign lands in search of rare goods and fine merchandise.

Yara Aranis

Genius Loci: Yara Aranis circles the Moon, a gigantic entity who patrols for approaching foes. She is the size of a small planet and worshippers can walk upon her as if visiting a foreign world.
Half-Human Hybrid: Yara Aranis is the daughter of the Red Emperor and Gorgorma, the spider-like spiritual Goddess of the Tormented Death.
Human Sacrifice: In the Temples of the Reaching Moon, criminals and rebels are sacrificed to feed Yara Aranis and maintain the Glowline. Their tortured souls are bound forever to the temple as slaves and guardians.
Multi-Armed and Dangerous: Yara Aranis has four arms, each of which holds a weapon or makes a gesture to destroy her foes.

Hon-eel

Food God: Hon-eel discovered maize in the Sky and introduced it to the Lunar Empire, and counts strong worship wherever maize is counted as a blessing.
Founder of the Kingdom: Tarsh is ruled by a dynasty descended from Hon-eel, and she is worshipped by Tarshite kings as their ancestress and protector.
Sex God: Hon-eel was famously sexual. She freed Doblian from barbarians by using her beauty and dance to instigate fighting between the warlords. While conquering Oraya, she married the Sun and bore him twins. In Tarsh, she seduced the king and left him an heir. She even seduced her father, the Red Emperor. She is worshipped by courtesans for her seductive beauty and entrancing dance.
Walking Shirtless Scene: Frescoes and statues almost always depict her topless.

Eastern Pantheon

Ethnic God: Every East Isles native's most important deity is their island deity or deities, and every adult native of that island regularly worships that deity. Membership in these cults is determined entirely by being a native of that island. Converts are highly unusual and entirely unexpected. Even permanent immigrants to an island don't bother to join the native faith.
God-Emperor: All adult Kralorelans worship the Dragon Emperor as a matter of state policy.

Metsyla

Extra Eyes: When rendered in a human form, Metsyla has three eyes; two closed, the third upper eye open.

Shavaya

Founder of the Kingdom: Shavaya was the first human ruler of Kralorela; his predecessors were all philosophical entities or universal deities.
The Good King: Shavaya is regarded as the ideal ruler, both by his own people and by some foreign cultures.

Mikaday

King Incognito: Emperor Mikaday was well known for disguising himself and wandering among the peoples, occasionally even venturing outside of his own flock.

Godunya

Amazing Technicolor Population: For the last 160 years, the Emperor's skin has acquired an increasingly golden hue until now he appears to be carved out of gold. According to his subjects this is a sign of approaching enlightenment.
King Incognito: Godunya lived in Hsin Yin for almost a century, unrecognised as Emperor in his disguise as a belt buckle salesman.
Requisite Royal Regalia: The Emperor wears hundreds of yards of cloth-of-gold, satin, and glorious silken robes.

Pamaltelan Pantheon

Pamalt

Fisher King: Pamalt maintains the stability of Pamaltela. Wise Pamaltelans contrast the destructive wars and disasters of Genertela with the comparative prosperity and happiness of Pamaltela, giving credit for this to the fact that Genert was killed during the Great Darkness while Pamalt survived.
Snake People: Like his counterpart Genert, Pamalt is often depicted with the lower body of a serpent and the upper body of a man.
Staff of Authority: In wood carvings, Pamalt is always depicted holding a staff topped by a chieftain's insignia.
Top God: Pamalt is the Sovereign of the South and king of all Pamaltelan gods. Other deities are his allies, subjects, or foes, but never his peers.

Artmal

Founder of the Kingdom: Artmal was the founder of the mythical Artmali Empire. His blue-skinned descendants, called the Veldang, still remember the glorious days when Artmal himself walked the earth.

Bolongo

Evil Mentor: Bolongo pretends to teach secret wisdom behind his fooleries and mad actions, but there is nothing behind his mask. Those enthralled by him expend their lives in meaningless waste.

Other Gods

Arkat

Arch-Enemy: Arkat's life is defined by a long and successful war against the cult of Nysalor.
Deity of Human Origin: Before his apotheosis in 500 ST, Arkat was once a mortal.
Destroyer Deity: Worshippers of Arkat the Destroyer, a monstrous incarnation of destruction, believe that he came, and is coming back, to destroy the world.
Founder of the Kingdom: As Great Arkat, he is worshipped as the founder of the ancient Empire of Peace.
Irony: Arkat was Illuminated while still a youth under the tutelage of the elves of Brithos — which is to say, had the same Enlightenment Superpower that Nysalor spread to the world, and that is also the influence of Gbaji to become completely amoral.
King in the Mountain: The halcyon days of Arkat's Empire of Peace, nine centuries in the past, are still idealised. His return is prophesied by omens, stories, and rumours; Safelstran rulers often invoke Arkat's memory and his imminent return in their efforts to unite Safelster under their leadership.
Magical Species Transformation: As might be indicated by his other title, Arkat Kingtroll, before fighting Gbaji he underwent a ritual to become a dark troll (or if you ask the trolls, correct the cosmic glitch that made a troll look human).
Renaissance Man: Within a year as one of the Hrestoli Men-of-All in the household of King Blastring of Seshnela, Arkat mastered all crafts, demonstrated his mastery of soldierly sciences, and studied the sorcerous arts as he campaigned.
Rescued from the Underworld: In 420, two years after Arkat was killed by Palangio the Iron Vrok, Harmast Barefoot undertook the first human Lightbringers' Quest. Harmast succeeded, and in 422 he returned from the Underworld with Arkat.
Salt the Earth: Dorastor was once the bright and bustling capital of the Empire of Light until razed by Arkat the Destroyer. After Arkat defeated Gbaji, he turned to the destruction of Dorastor. His anger and hatred knew no bounds. Arkat salted the land, poisoned the waters, and then called upon the Curse of Cleansing and invoked the gods to scourge and curse the land forever. The fertile bowl of Dorastor was filled with mud and ash.

Chalana Arroy

Actual Pacifist: Worshipers of Chalana Arroy practice total non-violence and take an oath never to harm a living creature. Cult members are vegetarians and do not sacrifice animals to the gods. Some sweep the ground of small animals before they tread.
All-Loving Hero: Chalana Arroy is dedicated to non-violence and to helping any who needs her assistance. Noted for her kindness and purity, she aided Orlanth, Issaries, Yelm, Humakt, Ernalda, and others in several tales. Her cult promises to heal any who need it, regardless of cult, status or wealth.
Healer God: Chalana Arroy is the deity of healing and comfort, and is worshipped by surgeons, nurses, doctors, chirurgeons, and dedicated healers of all types.

Daka Fal

Ancestor Veneration: Daka Fal's cult is equated with ancestor worship. He taught burial rites to keep the dead from harassing the living, rituals of communication with the Other Side, and how to respect and honour the dead.
Arch-Enemy: Daka Fal and Vivamort specially hate each other, as the former (as Grandfather Mortal) was the first to die, the first to come to Vivamort, and the first to understand Vivamort's soul-greedy treachery.
God of the Dead: Daka Fal is the Lord of the Dead for most mortal races.
Judgement of the Dead: Daka Fal, the Judge of the Dead, knows all mortals' crimes and righteous deeds. He greets the dead who have been guided or hounded to him, then along with the Council of Gods reviews each soul and decides its future.
Original Man: Grandfather Mortal, as this being was known in life, was the first man, made through the cooperation of the gods. He fathered many races, built some more, and provided the form for others that were created during the Gods Age. Most intelligent humanoid species trace their descent from him, including humans, elves, trolls and mermen.

Eurmal

Cheshire Cat Grin: Eurmal, god of tricksters, is often shown impishly grinning, often with sharp teeth.
Gonk: Where Eurmal is shown, he is always stunted and twisted, misshapen and grotesque.
Hated by All: Everyone hates Eurmal. In return, Eurmal is dangerous to all beings, gods and mortals alike, including himself. The highest sacred laws of Orlanth require that people acknowledge Eurmal, but the social laws do this by imprisoning and abusing him.
Trickster God: Eurmal goes by many names and many shapes. He is a liar, a shapeshifter, a joker, a murderer, an innocent victim, a ravenous glutton, usually insatiably selfish but occasionally touchingly generous.

Foundchild

Food God: Foundchild taught his followers how to use the weapons of war to bring life by killing animals to eat, and is worshipped by nomads, hunter-gatherers and agriculturalists who supplement their regular diet with game.

Humakt

God of the Dead: Humakt is the God of Death, whose sword represents the inevitable fate of all living creatures, both mortal and divine.
The Grim Reaper: Humakt was responsible for bringing forth the power called Death.
I Have No Son!: Humakt was the fourth son of Umath, before he severed all his kinship ties with the Air Gods and with most of those he named in his prayers. Nothing could ever change such a pronouncement from Humakt, and so the severance was made. Humakt was no longer a kinsman of the Air Gods, though he usually remained their friend. There was no enmity between the kin, and they often fought side by side. Those who join Humakt also erase all ties with their family; their former kin are not responsible for their crimes, nor can they collect wergild for crimes done to them. They neither help pay clan fines, nor collect anything when the family receives gifts.
Master Swordsman: Humakt is the Sword God and the greatest warrior in Glorantha. His sword always strikes true and always kills those who cannot avoid his strike. He can cut anything, even that which cannot be seen or touched, and his sword destroys lesser weapons that dare be used against him or to block him.
Reluctant Warrior: He kills many, but not because he enjoys killing (unlike Urox). In his origin story, he takes the Sword of Death from Eurmal not because he wants it but because Eurmal definitely can't be trusted with it. Later on, he exiles himself so his family will not be blamed for the "heinous acts" he is going to commit with the Sword.
War God: Humakt is the god of mercenaries and soldiers, and can be found on all sides in any conflict. His worshippers are holy killers, ordained to carry out their sacred tasks within a circumscribed role. In peaceful regions, Humakt's cult is relatively minor. In areas of constant conflict, Humakt is well-respected.
Weapon Tombstone: A deceased Humakti's favourite fighting sword is stuck into the grave, and these ancient blades stand amidst the fields of many Orlanthi cemeteries. No one touches them, for anyone who does so is cursed.

Issaries

The Almighty Dollar: Issaries, the Lord of Trade, established the Equal Exchange, showing people how to profit from strangers instead of just fighting them. His initiates generally attempt to set up trade networks wherever they go.
Psychopomp: Issaries is the psychopomp of the Orlanthi religion, who escorts the Dead to the Court of Silence.

Lanbril

Deity of Human Origin: Lanbril was a near-human resident of the Spike during God Time, who robbed the gods and is now himself worshipped by lowlifes in most large cities of south-central Genertela.

Lhankor Mhy

God of Knowledge: Lhankor Mhy is the god of the sages of Glorantha. He invented writing to allow others access to his thoughts and wrote the Eternal Book that contains the foundations of all knowledge.
Knowledge Broker: Sages (as Lhankor Mhy's priests are called) provide information to all who pay for it, whether in money or service, and constantly seek after new information.
No-Sell: Tien's skull could not affect Lhankor Mhy with his mind-stealing abilities, for he had learned to protect himself from that power. His ability to resist the Consume Mind spell was passed on to all Priests and Rune Lords of Lhankor Mhy. It is an inner secret of the cult and may not be taught to outsiders, lay members, or even Initiates.
Seeker Archetype: Lhankor Mhy is the god of Knowledge, who remembers everything he ever saw or learned. While mortals cannot embrace all Knowledge and have found ever since that, because mortal knowledge is always incomplete, what they know does not always apply to the problems at hand, Lhankor Mhy's cultists constantly quest for truth, for the thirst for knowledge remains.

Magra

Ethnic God: Magra is the ancestress of the harpies, and all worship her to some degree.

Mastakos

Small Role, Big Impact: The cult of Mastakos has remained minor throughout history. Always associated with other, stronger gods, Mastakos is often only worshipped as a subcult of another god. Despite this, due to his status as owner of the Movement rune, Mastakos is a Greater God, of great cosmological importance.
Undying Loyalty: After Mastakos was captured by Orlanth at Daliath's Well of Wisdom, the two gods swore eternal fealty: Orlanth as liege lord and Mastakos as faithful companion. Mastakos wanders forever at will, but when his liege needs him, he is always there.
Walking the Earth: Mastakos continually wanders through the Gods World on his chariot, never staying long in the same place or Age.

Mostal

Anthropomorphic Personification: Most modern dwarves believe that Mostal is a personification of the creative force of Construction. Mostal is the World Machine, the system by which the world works, the complex of natural laws and slow evolution. This personification is useful for dwarves as they attempt to understand and control the forces of the world.
Ethnic God: Mostal, God of the Dwarfs, is worshipped by all dwarfs outside of some apostate sects.
Save Your Deity: In the God Time, Mostal and his brother Stone were slain by elves. Now, dwarfs work steadfastly to repair Mostal's machine, so that the world will work right again.

Telmor

Ethnic God: All wolves instinctively worship Telmor as their ancestor, and adult wolves are considered initiates of the cult. Non-Telmori who wish to join the cult must first be adopted through a ritual that transforms their spirit into that of a wolf, though their form remains human.

Invisible God

God: In Malkionism, the Invisible God is Infinite and Perfect, the Creator of the world, a transcendent and ultimate power. The Invisible God is unity, undivided, infinite, and the single binding truth behind diversity in the universe. Other spirits and divinities are seen as apparitions caused by a defective understanding of the Cosmos. Use of proper reason reveals that the Invisible God is the True Source, and sacrifice and worship to anything else is a waste at best, an aid to evil beings at worst.
Grandpa God: The Aeolian school of Malkionism sometimes depicts the Invisible God as an elderly man.

Deities of Chaos

Evil Versus Oblivion: During the Great Darkness, the gods of Terror were led by Wakboth (the moral evil of the world) and Kajabor (entropy), who eventually began to devour each other. Wakboth is usually seen as the worse of the two, since he acted out of genuine, sadistic malice, while Kajabor was utterly impersonal and, some say, as natural as the forces of creation.

Primal Chaos

God of Chaos: Primal Chaos is the untainted power of random change, the source and mother of all later Chaos things. All Chaos cults are based upon Primal Chaos' cult, and all have it as an associate cult.

Wakboth

Divided Deity: Wakboth was crushed by Storm Bull and smeared across the Wastelands. Later, Waha successfully led others in dispersing the remaining parts of the Devil's body. Thus, the Devil was destroyed by spreading it everywhere.
God of Evil: Wakboth the Devil is the moral evil of the world, and supports continuous brutal destruction.
Patricide: Wakboth's first act in the world was to kill his father, so no one could be born to rival him.

Kajabor

Eaten Alive: The Great Darkness ended when Arachne Solara enmeshed Kajabor, wrapped him in her legs and devoured him alive.
Ret-Gone: Kajabor destroys all vestiges of matter or energy, annihilating all possibilities of individuality or unity. Entities slain by Kajabor have never returned to the world, and even their names, and memories of them, have been lost after their bodies and souls were eliminated from the universe. It's why all kill counts in the Great Darkness are attributed to Wakboth, as none would remember that Kajabor killed someone.

Ragnaglar

Posthumous Character: In recent times Ragnaglar survives as only a nursery tale, for he was slain by Storm Bull.

Thed

Monster Progenitor: Thed is the ancestor of all broos, who still honour and revere Thed and obey her wishes.
Villainous Friendship: Mallia and Thed were great friends in the Darkness, and they often work together to further the spread of misery and suffering.

Mallia

Cruel and Unusual Death: Mallia is associated with unclean and vile deaths, often full of needless suffering which cannot be abated except by magic.
God of the Dead: Under the terms of the Great Compromise, Mallia is the necessary bane of mortals, who will lead them to Hell even if they avoid every other fate. She is thus despised as evil, but (according to some) not inherently a thing of Chaos.
Plague Master: Priests of Mallia, called Disease Masters, are the prime source of disease in Glorantha. Their duty is to spread infection throughout the world, and do so by binding and controlling spirits of disease.
Villainous Friendship: Mallia and Thed were great friends in the Darkness, and they often work together to further the spread of misery and suffering.

Bagog

Ethnic God: Bagog is the mother of the scorpion folk, and accept worship from them only. Beings of other races who wish to join her cult must undergo the Ritual of Rebirth and become a scorpion man.
God-Emperor: Each Scorpion Queen is also High Priestess of Bagog, and rules her people both temporally and spiritually.
Klingon Promotion: Advancement within Bagog's cult requires an ambitious scorpion man to defeat and eat a scorpion man of higher cult standing.
Mother of a Thousand Young: During the Greater Darkness, Bagog invaded the world and birthed millions of hideous hybrid monsters by hapless fathers (ie, creatures she ate): scorpion baboons, scorpion elves, and so on.

Crimson Bat

Acid Attack: Flying above its foes, the Crimson Bat belches forth a vast cloud of acid that can kill a man and melt bronze.
Bat Out of Hell: The Crimson Bat is an awesome Chaos demon bound to the service of the Red Goddess.
Brown Note: The Bat can emit a horrible, madly Chaotic keening affecting all creatures within 4 kilometres, except for Initiates, Rune Lords and Rune Priests of its cult.
Eyes Do Not Belong There: The Bat's body boils with eyes, as a result it never can be surprised. The Bat can see into both the Spirit plane and the Hero plane.
Giant Flyer: The Crimson Bat measures twenty metres long, with a 90-metre wingspan, and weighs almost exactly 1,000 tons. When sent into war, it grows far larger.
Human Sacrifice: The Crimson Bat must be fed approximately 25 people or 220 living sentients each week, on Black and Dying days. If a feeding day is missed, the Lunar Empire pays the price of Chaos. The Bat's requirements double each day that passes. Worse yet, its hunger can only be satiated by feeding upon initiates of Lunar cults. If still not fed its new requirement, the Bat will fade and disappear from the mundane plane on the following Godsday. The Bat, therefore, must be fed regularly and on time.
Proportionately Ponderous Parasites: Dog-sized, bloated Chaos lice live in and on the Bat, feed on its blood, and attack anyone that tries to ride it except initiates of its cult.
Soul Eating: Anything eaten by the Bat is divided into constituent parts—mortal meat, spirit, essence, soul, etc. Each part is digested individually, and the being disappears from the world.
Super-Empowering: The Bat exerts a force which acts in all ways as the Lunar Glowline for Lunar magicians. All Lunar magicians within the Glowspot of the Bat act as if the Red Moon is Full.

Gloomshark

Bad Boss: A few beings worship the Gloomshark for the power it can give, though if they call upon it too often, it might feed on them instead of their enemies or sacrifices.
Fiendish Fish: The Gloomshark is a great armoured fish with multiple fins and a gaping maw filled with multiple rows of teeth and surrounded by tentacles. It prowls the oceans of Glorantha, and is a special terror of the Triolini.
Hungry Menace: The Gloomshark is the source of Hunger; anything that it eats is lost forever. It threatens to even devour Magasta, when the Great Turner even stops turning, even for a moment.

Krarsht

Blob Monster: Krarsht is often pictured as a pool of Chaos ooze, formless except for fangs and claws.
Gameplay and Story Integration: She's an in-universe explanation for a stereotypical Dungeon Crawl, and why a basic criminal organization may have them — cults of Krarsht are organized criminals who can summon krarshtkids to eat out a base for them, and since traps are sacred to her, they refuse to skimp on security no matter how secure they feel.
The Mafia: Her cult is basically a fantasy version of organized crime.
Monster Progenitor: While she was hacked into pieces, they survived and became the krarshtkids.
Resignations Not Accepted: Once accepted into Krarsht's cult, an applicant must vow complete secrecy about the cult's existence and all matters concerning it, and is warned (once) that he will never be allowed to leave the cult alive.
Trap Master: The goddess of traps — her followers regard making them as a sacred duty.
Yin-Yang Bomb: In a roundabout sense — her runes are Chaos and Stasis, so her cultists often manifest both chaotic mutation and rigid organization, along with a desire to stop social change.

Krjalk

Card-Carrying Villain: Krjalk's cultists flaunt their Chaotic status openly, and proudly display loathsome Chaotic features, making incursions easy to detect and eradicate.
Forced Transformation: At the height of his power, merely conceiving Krjalk's name can transform the thinker into a Chaos horror, slave to Krjalk.

Nysalor

Deity of Mortal Creation: Osentalka (Nysalor) was the result of the Second Council's project to restore the glory of the Gods Age by creating a new god.
Divided Deity: After his defeat by Arkat, Nysalor was dismembered, and his parts were buried in different places beneath many tons of rock and much powerful magic.
Engineered Heroics: In Arolanit, the cult of Nysalor gained wide acceptance by curing previously unknown diseases for free. The Brithini wizards discovered, though, that the cult actually had planted the diseases in the first place. Such treachery earned Nysalor the new name Gbaji the Deceiver.
Enlightenment Superpowers: Illumination, the sudden wordless understanding of the world, Chaos, and the oneness of all — and with it, utter immunity to the sight of spirits of retribution and the cleansing of all corruptive elements Chaos has on the mind. Deconstructed, in that it often comes with Occlusion, the belief that, since All is One, then All is Me. Gbaji is the god of that particular aspect of Illumination.
Token Good Teammate: He's the only Chaotic god where there is even a debate about him being possibly positive towards the world at all. He's certainly the most civil.

Ompalam

Fat Bastard: Ompalam, the Chaotic god of slavery, is usually shown as an obscenely obese, hairless figure.

Pocharngo

The Corrupter: Pocharngo possesses a power which changes all that is good into that which is bad; nothing which it touches is safe from degeneration.
Maker of Monsters: In the Darkness, Pocharngo spawned many types of creatures, most famously the gorp.

Seseine

Hot God: Seseine is illustrated as a beautiful man or woman, seductively dressed and posed.
Love Goddess: In the earliest stories, Seseine brought desire, pleasure and excess, and aided the unions of elements and powers that gave birth to the burtae that populated the cosmos. After submitting to Chaos, she now incites intense desire to lead people to evil and corrupt.

Thanatar

Losing Your Head: Tien was decapitated by a son of Storm Bull and turned into two stunted gods, Than and Atyar. While their worshippers later reunited the two parts, this did not reform Tien. Since each part had developed separately, the two could not make one whole again. Instead, the Severed God was formed, and each piece retained its individuality.
Worthless Yellow Rocks: Thanatari never use gold for anything, and will go out of their way to spit on this Sun-related metal.

Urain

Hostile Weather: The Urain, who represents the evil, rough, raw wind capable of scrubbing flesh from bone, is usually pictured as a black cloud with monsters or red lightning pouring out of it.

Vivamort

Deal with the Devil: When the Devil attacked and wounded him, Vivamort faced not just death, but annihilation. Since he wished above all to preserve himself and his vile deeds, he begged help from his foes. The Devil allowed him a hollow existence: Vivamort would need to drain life from others and to embrace chaos. Faced with complete annihilation or acting as an agent of entropy, he chose the latter out of pride and fear.
It's Personal: Vivamort especially hates Humakt and Eurmal, due to the dealings they had with him in the God Time.

People

Dragon Pass

Born in the Saddle: The Pure Horse People worship their horses, and raise mighty herds of superior creatures which they sell and which carry goods across Dragon Pass.
Fantastic Caste System: The society of the Pure Horse People is rigid, with everyone in his place, which is largely determined by age and birth.
Foreign Ruling Class: The Pure Horse People originally hailed from Prax, before being driven from their homes by the Beast Riders and settled in the then-deserted Dragon Pass. As the Grazelands' native Orlanthi population returned home, they were enslaved by the Pure Horse People and put to work growing grain for their horses. They make up the majority of the population in the Grazelands and many clans have distant kin in Esrolia or Sartar.
Fungus Humongous: There are immense varieties of fungi in the Sporewood, including a huge toadstool which annually spawns the Spore of Immortality, which even the gods covet.
Illegal Religion: The Lunar Empire seeks to end the cult of Orlanth in Sartar, but despite the prohibition, the native Orlanthi pantheon is universally acknowledged.
Mordor: The Upland Marsh used to be solid earth, until ensorcelled by Delecti the Necromancer. He did it to save himself and his followers from the Great Golden Horde and the Dragonkill. It succeeded, and he 'lives' there still, an immortal and powerful vampire. Within the treacherous bogs, streams and sandbars are many undead strongholds.
Puppet State: The Kingdom of Tarsh is tributary to the Lunar Empire, paying money, goods, slaves and obedience to the Lunar Empire in the person of the Provincial Governor.
The Remnant: The Tarsh Exiles are a harsh, ruthless group of mercenaries, raiders and bandits who refuse to submit to the Red Moon and its Lunar kings.
La Résistance: Rebellion continues smouldering among the Sartar tribes. Although most young men have never known anything except the Lunar Occupation, the spirit of freedom burns brightly, awaiting only fuel to rise and scorch away the oppressors.
Sealed Evil in a Can: In ancient wars against Chaos, deep in the Darkness time, the earth collapsed to trap Chaos in the Snakepipe Hollow, so a conquering army could charge down from one end and destroy all they met. Some evil burrowed away, and although the conquerors pursued it deep into the tunnels, some still escaped. That Chaos is there still, sometimes erupts, and always poses a menace.
The Theocracy: The Sun Dome County is a theocracy controlled by the Yelmalio cult.

Cragspider

Deity of Human Origin: Cragspider began as a dark troll in the spider cult of Aranea and worked her way to demigodhood.

Sartar

Deity of Human Origin: Sartar's greatest metamorphosis was to change himself into a god.
Founder of the Kingdom: In twenty years, he united the tribes and transformed them from quarrelsome robbers into the Principality of Sartar.
King Incognito: Sartar often went disguised among the common people and searched for those worthy and just enough to help convey the kingdom towards a good future.
Non-Action Guy: Unusually, Sartar refused to fight and, even when challenged, was never seen to raise weapon or magic offensively against another person.
Ridiculously Fast Construction: Sartar was a master builder. He founded his capital, the famous mountain city of Boldhome, by erecting the outer walls overnight, thus fulfilling an ancient prophecy.

Delecti the Necromancer

Possessing a Dead Body: By his arts, Delecti has achieved a gruesome sort of immortality: he can transfer his spirit into a freshly slain corpse and live through it until the rotting flesh can no longer sustain him, at which time he seeks out another corpse.

Ethilrist

Private Military Contractors: Ethilrist is an ageless mercenary who rents out his supernatural cavalry which ride upon demonic steeds.

Fazzur Wideread

Four-Star Badass: Fazzur is a skilled fighter and genius military commander. He has never been defeated in battle, earning fame first at Grizzly Peak, and later as the architect of the Imperial victories in Sartar, Prax, and Heortland.

Jarkanita Ab

Shadow Dictator: Jarkanita Ab rarely shows herself, preferring to leave most matters to her dark troll descendants.

Temertain

Puppet King: In 1602, Boldhome, capital of Sartar, fell to the Lunar Empire. Now Prince Temertain, a puppet installed and controlled by the Provincial Governor, sits in Boldhome and pretends to command the loyalty of the tribal kings.

Elder Wilds

Beast of Battle: The Balazarings are known as the Dog People because of their intimate friendship with their dogs: a medium-sized tawny hunting dog and a large fighting dog used to guard their hunting camps.
Horse of a Different Color: A few elite Balazaring warriors in the citadel of Dykene ride great hawks.
Non-Indicative Name: The Elf Sea is actually an extremely large fresh water lake.
Sea Monster: Recently, the Elf Sea has become infested with a plentiful supply of exotic and dangerous creatures, becoming all but impassable.
Taken for Granite: The Eleven Big Giant Mountains are ancient giants who rebelled against the gods and were turned to stone.

Blueface

The Archmage: There are many shamans in Balazar but there is only one Blueface. Balazarings say he is centuries old and approaching godhood.

Glyptus

Puppet King: Glyptus is a weak-willed Lunar puppet allowed to rule as he wishes because the Lunar Provincial Government has no interest in directly administering the local barbarians.

Gonn Orta

Gentle Giant: A great, ancient, benevolent giant, Gonn Orta is friendly to all strangers who come in peace and will trade with almost anybody.

Granny Keeneye

Demonic Possession: Granny Keeneye is an immortal Chaos spirit that has possessed an unbroken string of bodies for centuries on end, each incarnation passing on the same spirit and intelligence to her successor.
Transformation of the Possessed: As Granny Keeneye wears a body, it slowly warps and metamorphoses into her true, entirely non-human form. Eventually she takes a new host, passing the victim's spirit into her used monstrous body.

Fronela

The Ageless: The Brithini are immortal as long as they maintain their ancient strictures, but if they violate caste restrictions, mortality ensues.
Cargo Cult: The inhabitants of Olatha worship a large stone that fell from the Sky Dome during the Gods War.
Citadel City:
- Northpoint is famous for its incredibly extensive and elaborate fortifications; each gate has double doors made of bronze.
- Baralor, which is surrounded by a high wall topped by tall and strong defensive towers, is the fortified capital of the Karstall principality.
- The Fortress of Timms, capital of the principality of Timms, is surrounded by vast and formidable walls of brick and stone.
City in a Bottle: Under the Syndics Ban, many local cults claimed the end of the world had come: another Great Darkness had destroyed all the evil of the outside world, and would destroy the survivors too if they did not resort to the most stringent religious observations.
Egopolis: The city of Thanmor was founded by Thanmor Jonatsson, the second king of Jonatela, as his royal capital.
Elite Army: The Loskalmi army is one of the best in the world. It is professional, motivated, well-equipped and magically powerful.
The Empire: The Kingdom of War is home to a cruel and oppressive people whose armies range far afield for plunder. Their borders expand rapidly as people surrender to them to pay harsh tribute rather than suffer brutal raids. They claim to worship one hundred different gods of war.
Ghost City: The evil ruins of Old Vadel are all that is left of an ancient Vadeli city from the Ice Age. It is inhabited by ghosts, horrors and inhuman beasts.
The Good Kingdom: During the Syndics Ban, the miraculous King Siglat radically transformed Loskalmi society, overcoming the caste restrictions and establishing a successful idealistic commonwealth where each citizen performs the role best suited for them in harmony and justice.
Grim Up North: A wall of ice between 500 and 2000 feet high runs along the northern edge of Fronela. Beyond is Valind's Glacier, a vast, bleak region of unrelenting ice and snow from whence blow cold winds even in summer. Trolls hide there, and raid into Porent for food.
Hidden Elf Village: There is very little contact between the elves of Erontree and the Winterwood, and the Western humans that dominate Fronela.
Land of One City: The lands of Akem, Junora and the Janube River are divided into many petty states and cities. Not since the Middle Sea Empire has central Fronela been politically unified.
Living Lie Detector: The Huntwood's magical customs are enforced by a mighty Unicorn King with the power to know if a person is lying or guilty with a glance. If a person lies in its presence, it leaps and impales the perjurer through the heart with its horn.
Mage Tower: Nenanduft is best known for the Tower of Rilan, named after a powerful Second Age God Learner who holed up here when the Middle Sea Empire collapsed. His magic made assault impossible, but his many enemies made leaving the tower equally impossible. Locals fear he is still inside, along with all his treasures and blasphemous secrets, although he has not been seen on the balcony in several centuries.
Magical Society: The City of Wizards, Kerantos is a Malkioni cenobitic school founded in the late Second Age by Seshnegi wizards in the service of Jonat Big Bear. Only wizards, their students, servants and slaves are permitted to cross the Bronze Gates into the city.
Merchant City: Loara is a market city ruled by wealthy merchants who maintain strict religious and political neutrality.
Military Mage: Wizards with martial prowess are enrolled in one of the military orders of the First Brothers of Hrestol.
Ominous Fog: Borders between lands under the Syndics Ban were usually visible as a foggy bank which quickly grew too dense for any perceptions to penetrate, and then reacted to the intrusion with some magical effect. The effects varied from place to place and time to time, but travel was always impossible.
Praetorian Guard: The queen-priestess of Parach is guarded by Axe Maidens devoted to the bloodthirsty aspect of the Great Earth Mother.
Shadow Archetype: The Kingdom of War is the shadow of Loskalm. It is everything which they deny and fear. Hate is an emotional cancer which grows wildly and without logic, and the dominant peoples of Fronela pride themselves in their staunch dependency upon Malkioni logic. Thus whenever the Loskalmi see something fearful they think it hates them.
Shining City: The Jewel of the North, Hingrili is considered one of the most beautiful cities in all of Loskalm, with its many delicate spires and its magical Winter Garden.
Succession Crisis: When the Ban struck, King Wilot II was lost, throwing the Kingdom of Jonatela into ten years of confusion with seven kings in rapid succession. Thanagern ended the confusion by holding the throne for 12 years and began the process of imposing royal authority throughout Jonatela.
Swamps Are Evil: The Dilis Swamp is an evil place, full of Chaos monsters. It has haunted western Fronela for centuries, and many a brave hero has herein met his doom.
Urban Segregation: The innermost part of Sog City (called the City of Brass) is an islet surrounded by a red-hot brass wall and connected to the rest of Sog City by a stone bridge. Only pure Brithini by blood are permitted therein, so no one knows anything about its residents. Fearing the taint of alien philosophies, the Brithini segregate themselves from the rest of humanity.
Warrior Monk: The Men-of-All are a mystical order of warrior monks who take vows to serve and defend the community, study magical grimoires, and act as judges and leaders for the rest of the populace. They are required on admission to full membership to surrender all their property to the Hrestoli community, and are governed by strict rules established by Hrestol for his companions.

Harrek

Ax-Crazy: Harrek is a savage, half-mad demigod of death and destruction. Chroniclers across the world wrote of the misfortunes he visited upon their lands.
Defeat Equals Friendship: In 1609, Harrek slew the White Bear god and bound it within its skin, gaining the bound god as an ally.
King of Thieves: Harrek is supreme at the Three Step Islands and more or less leads the Wolf Pirates.
Nemean Skinning: Harrek always wears an oversized white bear cloak, the skin of the White Bear God he slew and skinned.

Gaiseron

The Archmage: He is the most powerful wizard in Loskalm and is very ancient.
The Good Chancellor: Gaiseron was the counsellor to Prince Snodal and King Siglat; he continues to serve as the absolute spiritual authority within Loskalm. He is peace-loving, selfless, intelligent and ascetic, and personally instructs students within the Tower of Day and Night.

Lord Death on a Horse

Battle Trophy: An avid headhunter, Lord Death on a Horse often has the heads of vanquished foes draped around the neck of his pale horse.
For the Evulz: Lord Death on a Horse seeks to create as much destruction as he can, simply because he can.
God-Emperor: Lord Death on a Horse is the demigod ruler of the Kingdom of War.
Red Baron: Lord Death on a Horse is only known by this title.

Holy Country

Deus est Machina: Going beyond even the hubris of the God Learners, Ingareen sorcerers constructed the God Machine Zistor that would purify the world.
Elective Monarchy: Caladraland's High King is selected by the clan leaders from among their number. The priesthood and the populace must approve the choice of High King after the clan leaders have decided.
Ghost City: Prior to Belintar's disappearance in 1616, the City of Wonders had a population of over 50000 people; since then it has been nearly vacant.
Iron Lady: The Grandmothers, the real rulers of Esrolia, are stern old women who constantly scheme and plot to protect and advance the wealth, status and power of their clans.
King in the Mountain: In Esrolian legend, the violent, turbulent, cruel Vingkotlings were destroyed when the Grandmothers seized power for their own protection, but it has long been feared that Vingkot's heir would return to reclaim his lands, bringing Darkness and doom in his wake.
Physical God: When Belintar was still around to keep the Divine Realm in close proximity to the Holy Country, gods often manifested in the Holy Country, visiting their followers even outside of the worship ceremonies.
Pirate: From outposts on the Three Step Islands and elsewhere, the Wolf Pirates plague the coasts of Glorantha.
La Résistance: In 1620, Heortland was successfully invaded and occupied by the Lunar Army. Only the city of Whitewall, where King Broyan maintains a heroic resistance, remains free, having defeated every Lunar assault and, most impressively, repelled the Crimson Bat in 1620.

Only Old One

An Arm and a Leg: In 1318, Belintar defeated the Only Old One in combat and cut him into pieces. After Belintar's disappearance, there are rumours that the Argan Argar cult seeks to reassemble his pieces so that he may return to the world, but nobody else thinks that would be a good idea.
Divine Parentage: The Only Old One was the offspring of Argan Argar and Esrola, but also at some means a mortal or demigod rather than a full god subject to the constraints of the Compromise, and regularly acted in Time.

Belintar

An Arm and a Leg: In 1616, when Belintar was travelling the paths of the Underworld, seeking to defend the Holy Country against barbarians and Wolf Pirates, he was ambushed by Jar-eel and dismembered. His pieces were placed under magic wards and curses, and hidden in Lunar Hells. When the Tournament of the Masters of Luck and Death was held in 1616, there was no Belintar to join with.
Benevolent Mage Ruler: For three centuries, the God-King blessed the Holy Country with unity, peace and prosperity. His wisdom ensured justice and magical rituals ensured fertility and prosperity.
Body Surf: When Belintar's mortal body expires, the next day select individuals, chosen by a means known only to the God-King, awake to participate in the Tournament of the Masters of Luck and Death. The winner is overtaken by Belintar's divine essence and becomes a living god—Belintar the God-King. The great magical energy inexorably overtakes the mortal body, and after a number of years the God-King requires a new body. Since 1616, the Tournament of the Masters of Luck and Death has failed to provide a winner, so Kethaela has been leaderless.
Fusion Dance: The winner of the Tournament of Masters of Luck and Death unites with the divine essence of Belintar and his body is overtaken by this immortal element, which flows through his whole being and dwells in it. This is not possession; the winner gains access to Belintar's soul, and adds their experiences, personality and knowledge. Upon death they become Belintar in the God World, each incarnation adding to the god.
God-Emperor: The God-King Belintar ruled Kethaela for three centuries as a living god. Sacrifices were offered to him by temples throughout the Holy Country, and his cult was associated with most gods of the Holy Country. Belintar's cult had many thousands of lay members, but only two initiates: himself and the winner of the Tournament of the Masters of Luck and Death.
Legacy Character: Belintar had many incarnations, each with their own personalities and appearances, but the same powerful soul. Each new winner of the Tournament of the Masters of Luck and Death is capable of calling upon all their prior selves, but is also their own self.
Mysterious Past: Nobody knows who Belintar was or where he came from. Some claim that he was the Golden Age ruler of Kethaela, from before the Vingkotlings and the Only Old One, returned to his land. Others claim that he was the destroyer of the Middle Sea Empire and came to protect the people of Kethaela. Still others claim he was a simple sailor who magically survived the Closing.
Physical God: Belintar was a living god in the material world. He had a divine self that existed from 1318 to 1616, and is recognised by all the gods of the Holy Country. He also has a mortal self that lives, ages and dies.
Plot-Triggering Death: Some philosophers hold that the Hero Wars are the result of Jar-eel killing Belintar. Each time the Tournament of Masters of Luck and Death has been attempted since, the magical energies were summoned and released but could not be held in suspension, and are instead released outside of the framework of the Tournament, powering things like new gods, strange spirits, the White Bull and the White Bear.
Posthumous Character: Belintar is gone with the commencement of the Hero Wars.

Broyan

Did You Just Punch Out Cthulhu?: In 1620, King Broyan repelled and defeated the awesome Crimson Bat at Whitewall. The Cult of the Crimson Bat is currently performing long and arduous rituals to resummon the Bat.
Rebel Leader: Between 1619 and 1625 he was the leader of the Orlanthi rebels against the Lunar Empire.

Leonardo

Gadgeteer Genius: Leonardo the Scientist's colourful and unique inventions include a battle wagon, a kite-shaped parachute glider, and a pedalcopter with which he often paddles his way across the sky.

Kralorela

Beast of Battle: Cavalry is rare because the Kralori do not know the secrets of raising great war horses. Instead, magic flying creatures are sent as reserves or pursuit forces where other nations would use cavalry.
Dragon Knight: The Five Dragon Warriors are so called because each can summon or turn into a dragon at least five times.
The Emperor: All of Kralorela is ruled by an Emperor with legendary benevolence, assisted by appointed officials called exarchs and mandarins.
Grim Up North: North of Kralorela proper lies the Kingdom of Ignorance, more properly titled Bliss of Ignorance. A bitter and wasted land of rolling hills and twisted woods, it is dotted by many inhuman ruins, ignored until some secret cult of perverse magic meets there and populates it with adulating crowds, mobs of sacrificial victims, and flocks of lost and hungry dead.
To Serve Man: Before the Dragon Emperor came, deceased worshipers of the Black Sun were eaten by the ruling trolls. Nowadays, the mandarins promulgate the practice of cremation. However, despite the hefty fine, many natives of Ignorance still have their dead eaten, though now the devourers are trollkin, dragons or pigs.
Undead Laborers: Some Kralori war barges use animated corpses as their oarsmen, with more oars for the foot soldiers to use in case of emergency.
Were Dragon: The Path of Immanent Mastery is a secret organisation whose members can transform themselves into dragons.

Lunar Empire

Circle of Standing Stones: The shamans of the Thrice Blessed people know the secrets of using prehistoric stone arrangements. They draw power from the stones to aid in the casting of their magics.
Deadly Euphemism: Dart Competitions are struggles waged by assassination, sabotage, disinformation and economic warfare between noble houses.
Military Mage: A prominent superiority of the Lunar Army is their unique use of sorcerers, shamans and priests organised into permanent military units. Most magical units are assigned to the College of Magic, including, among others, the Field School of Magic, the Crater Makers and the Crimson Bat. Throughout Glorantha, every army is accompanied by its priests, shamans or sorcerers, but no other army has yet duplicated the Lunar tactic of combining all three.
Ornamental Weapon: Rumour has it that the dancers of the Sister's Army are forbidden from spilling blood and their weapons must never strike their foes.
Police State: The Empire maintains multiple internal security and spy networks, including the Emperor's Spoken Word, the Imperial Bodyguard, the Blue Moon Assassins, and various ad hoc groups that report directly to the Emperor's household.
Puppet State: Five kingdoms in Upper Peloria have special status as tributary provinces. Native rulers collect taxes, pay special tribute, support temples, and coordinate their operations under the commands of a Provincial Governor.
Sibling Yin-Yang: The masculine Red Emperor and feminine Great Sister are twins, counter-balances and mirrors to each other. He has mundane armies, while she does not, but her magical power is far greater than his. He works with rulers, she with people; he makes war, she builds peace; he overtly displays what he has, while she appears humble. He commands from the top, she is a lowly participant in the Deneron Council, rarely speaking and yet always supporting the consensus.
The Theocracy: The Lunar Empire is a theocratic empire ruled by the divine Red Emperor, blessed by his mother, the Red Goddess.

Red Emperor

Adipose Rex: In 1522, the Red Emperor proclaimed himself sated with higher pursuits and now needed to familiarise himself with gross matter. In his mystical pursuit of material indulgence, the Red Emperor grew corpulent and obese until an assassin from the Jenet-aror family forced him to evacuate his gross form in 1527.
A Form You Are Comfortable With: It is the custom of the Emperor to change his form to suit the needs of the time and place.
God-Emperor: In the Lunar Empire, almost every free person is a lay member of the Red Emperor's cult. In fact, many Pelorian cults include worship of the Red Emperor simply as a matter of routine.
High Priest: The Red Emperor is the Highest Priest of both the cult of the Red Goddess as well as his own cult. Within the Lunar Empire, all Lunar cults report to the Red Emperor and the leading priests of all Lunar cults are appointed (or at least confirmed) by him. The Red Emperor is also the supreme leader of the Yelm Imperator cult in the Lunar Empire, and performs the Yelmic rites necessary for cosmic survival. Among the non-Lunar population of the Empire, he is still entitled to deference and obedience as the avatar of Yelm.
No Need for Names: The Red Emperor has no name, only titles.
Offered the Crown: In 1248, Emperor Yelmgatha of Dara Happa, a supporter of the Red Goddess, appointed Moonson as his heir, had Moonson undertake the Ten Tests of the Emperor, and invited the demigod to rule jointly with him as the Red Emperor. When Yelmgatha died in 1250, the Red Emperor was then enthroned upon Yelm's Footstool.
Physical God: The Red Emperor is a minor deity in his own right, and much more powerful than any human being, even most heroes. He has a mortal element and an immortal element; the former regularly dies and a new mortal incarnation is chosen.
Resurrective Immortality: Although the Red Emperor can be slain, no death can claim him for long. Whenever he is killed, the priests in Glamour begin the rituals that will allow them to aid the Red Emperor in regaining himself and the parts of his soul that may have been damaged by his death.
Try to Fit That on a Business Card: He is the Moonson, Lord of the Four Quarters, Staff and Pillar to God, Leader of the Egi, Shah of Shahs, and the Bright and Illustrious Emperor of Dara Happa.

Great Sister

Almighty Janitor: Although she is but a normal member of the Deneron Council, everyone knows that Great Sister wields enough invisible power to overtake and destroy the Emperor if necessary.
The Archmage: The Great Sister's magical power is said to be as limitless as the light of the moon.

Glamour

Genius Loci: Glamour is the goddess of the capital city of the Lunar Empire.
Undying Loyalty: Despite her transgressive actions and many deceptions, Glamour is an obedient daughter of Moonson, and never directly disobeys a command from the Red Emperor (although she is known to cheerfully ignore his servants and proxies).

Ralzakark

Affably Evil: In stark contrast to most broos, Ralzakark carries himself as a just king, and even his more hostile scorpion-armed self is willing to talk civilly with others. This makes everyone who knows him very nervous, because as evil as he is, he does not seem very much like a broo, implying he might be something far worse.
Evil Is Not a Toy: After his death, Ralzakark was brought back to life by God Learners who did not believe the tales of his evil, and who are now his abused slaves.
Monster Lord: Ralzakark commands a tightly controlled band of beings, mostly other broos, augmented by whatever other Chaos creatures can understand and abide by his rules. Through force, terror and predation Ralzakark dominates Dorastor.
Non-Human Head: Ralzakark most often appears in a form which has the body of a well-formed albino man and a white unicorn's head.
The Pretty Guys Are Stronger: While he is a broo, Ralzakark is well-groomed and generally either appears as a well-formed albino man with a unicorn head or a human warrior with a scorpion tale for an arm. He is also the most cunning and powerful of his armies by an order of magnitude.
Voluntary Shapeshifting: While nobody has seen him do it, there are multiple monsters with quite different faces who all call themselves Ralzakark and have similar personalities and positions running around, so people suppose they are all the same one in different forms. Played With, however, in that the scorpion-armed Ralzakark claims the unicorn-headed one stole his identity, but given how tricky that Ralzakark is, it might just be that he is making a double bluff.

Maniria

Corrupt Church: In Ramalia, the ancient religion of Hrestol and Malkion has become a tool of government. Everyone is forced to worship, but only the greedy and corrupt sorcerers benefit. Most commoners do not believe in the religion, instead revering the barbaric ancestral cults of Mralot and Zorak Zoran.
The Dictatorship: Confined by natural barriers on all sides, Ramalia has become suspicious of even its citizens and is among the most oppressive in the world, exploiting the peasants with ruthless and sadistic savagery.
Going Native: The Trader Princes, descended from adventurers from Ralios, adopted the languages and many customs of the surrounding tribes, but keeping their veneration of the Invisible God.
Interfaith Smoothie: The Trader Princes practice a henotheist variant of Malkionism that worships the Invisible God alongside the Orlanthi gods.
Knightly Lance: The Trader Princes maintain small units of heavy cavalry, recruited from the elite of the clans or from the Pralori elk people, who use a long, two-handed spear.
Merchant Prince: The rulers of the small cities in Maniria are called Trader Princes. They are judges, priests, and most importantly merchants who facilitate trade between the Holy Country and Ralios. Their wealth comes from their control of the trade along the Manirian Road.

Pent

Born in the Saddle: Pentans are horse nomads who disdain farmers and sedentary people, calling them half-men or walkers.
Elective Monarchy: The solar nomads' difficult lifestyle didn't allow them the luxury of allowing any idiot first son of someone to become the next king. Instead, they were descended from Divine Founders who began clans from whom the kings and nobles must be chosen.
Grim Up North: The northernmost parts of Pent are uninhabitable most of the year due to the incessant winters. Many trolls prowl the region as well, making it a place of danger.
Undying Loyalty: Pentans are noted for their loyalty to their ancestral leaders, and sworn to follow them unto death.

Sheng Seleris

Rape, Pillage, and Burn: Sheng Seleris thought nothing of destroying anything which got in his way. The many years of his reign gave him a chance to plunder almost every city and town in Dara Happa, and most were pillaged many times. Destruction was widespread, and many sacred places were destroyed.

Ralios

Authority in Name Only: The Count of Tiskos styles himself the Prince of East Seshnela, a spurious title based on a falsified claim laid by Hangalor the Pretender.
Bandit Clan: The feuding clans of sheep-herding pastoralists who inhabit the hills of Lalia are feared as bandits and as mercenaries.
Decadent Court: The Safelstrans are notorious for their penchant for intrigue, plots and assassinations, and the overall unstable political state of affairs. Even heroes learn to fear daggers in the night or an assassin's poison. Outsiders portray the Safelstrans as cunning, corrupt, perfidious, servile, effeminate and treacherous.
Decapitated Army: The Inhuman King of the dragonewts living in Ormsland was killed by Alakoring in the Second Age, so they tend to behave more erratically and irrationally than 'true' dragonewts.
Interfaith Smoothie: One of the most widespread religious sects in Safelster is the Chariot of Lightning, a henotheistic cult synthesising traditional Orlanthi religion with Malkioni philosophical materialism. Orlanth, by his actions in the Lightbringers' Quest, is regarded as the Supreme Deity by this sect.
Land of One City: Safelster is a complex of independent city-states and principalities which are variously conquered and liberated by ruling families, each other, and their own citizens. Hundreds of urban groups fanatically claim their own independence.
Resurrect the Villain: The Summer White Society seeks to resurrect Gbaji. For centuries, they have been gathering the scattered pieces of Gbaji and believe they are close to being able to reassemble the Chaos God. The place where the pieces are stored is their best kept secret.

Teshnos

Divine Date: The Amazons of Trowjang chose the god Tolat as husband because mortal men had failed them so miserably and so consistently. Once per year, the Wedding Vows are taken by the residents and by Tolat, who then beds down with every citizen of the nation that night.
Lady Land: In Trowjang, there are no free men, but the women need no men for anything. The tasks which are so haughtily claimed by men in other lands are done without problem here by women. All men who come there must be killed or enslaved, or receive the Visitor's Collar which both demeans and protects them at once.
Puppet King: The king of Teshnos is a sacred figurehead, secluded from profane society to perform the magical rituals necessary to preserve the universe, and largely devoid of worldly power.
The Theocracy: Teshnos culture is dominated by Fire-worship. The land is ruled by a king, whose every move is dictated by a council of the high priests of five sky gods.
War Elephants: Elephants are domesticated and used for work, war, ceremonies, and as mounts. War elephants are used as mobile platforms for archery and magic, and as mounts for the noble-priests.

Wastelands

Pavis

Deity of Human Origin: Pavis, founder of the city named after himself, apotheosised and became subject of a city cult. Citizens worship Pavis to keep his magic strong and healthy, for he is the soul of the city.
Egopolis: After defeating the cult of Waha, Pavis established a city named after himself.
Half-Human Hybrid: Pavis was a singular half-human, half-Aldryami being.

Zola Fel

Arch-Enemy: Zola Fel has the special hate for Waha, who degraded and polluted his sister, forcing her to wash away the remains of the Devil.

Cwim

Body of Bodies: Cwim has three bodies (named Tom, Dick and Harry), attached at the neck to a single huge head.
Cast from Hit Points: Picking off flesh from his body to throw a gorp costs Cwim hit points from the location the flesh was picked from.
Enemy Summoner: Cwim can drop fully-formed Chaos monsters (miniature Cwims) from an opening in his head, and pick off wads of his flesh, which turn into gorps to be thrown at foes.
Non-Health Damage: Tom's, Dick's and Harry's claws, in addition to dealing damage, causes the target to permanently lose SIZ, POW and INT.

Kumanku Islands

Evil Colonialist: The Kareeshtans have enslaved the native Kumankans and force them to work for their oppressive masters, herding goats, growing food, and building roads and fortifications. Rebellions are brutally crushed by the Slave Regiment of Quarash.
Foreign Ruling Class: The Kumanku Islands are now ruled by Kareeshtu as occupied territory. The foreign rule is stern and oppressive. Natives cannot own armour or any weapons longer than their right forearm.

Loral Island

Isle of Giant Horrors: Loral is mainly inhabited by several unique and huge monsters, such as the Green Pyrohydra, which breathes fire from its 72 heads, and is one of only two hydrae with legs. Reports include sightings of a giant chimpanzee, a giant butterfly, a flying turtle, a giant lizard, and other monsters.

Slon

Domesticated Dinosaurs: The Friendly humans, who live inside the Wall as slaves to the dwarfs, herd small dinosaurs, such as Archaeoceratops and Protoceratops.
Immortality Seeker: Humans belonging to the Eleventh, who seek a human seat on the Decamony, hope to prepare themselves for joining the Way of Mostal. So far, no human has managed to attain immortality in dwarf fashion, but the Eleventh believe it is only a matter of time.

Teleos

Amazing Technicolor Population: Teleos is inhabited by six human tribes, each with a different skin colour: blue, green, orange, purple, red, and yellow.

Vadeli Isles

Fantastic Caste System: The Vadeli are divided into castes: Brown Vadeli (commoners), Red Vadeli (warriors), Blue Vadeli (wizards, extinct) and Yellow Vadeli (another extinct caste).
Immortality Inducer: The Vadeli do not age beyond adulthood as long as they strictly adhere to their caste duties and responsibilities.
Resurrect the Villain: The Blue Vadeli are extinct, but the other Vadeli are said to be working a great spell, reputedly called the Ritual Return of the Blue Vadeli, intended to bring them back.
Vestigial Empire: After Zzabur sank the lands of the Vadeli, the Vadeli Isles, formerly mountaintops, were all that remained of the once vast Vadeli Empire.

Vormain

Fantastic Caste System: Vormaino society is divided into three castes: peasants, warriors, and the Imperial aristocracy. Children belong to the parents' lower caste, with the exception that the Emperor's children and grandchildren are always aristocrats.
Foreign Ruling Class: The East Islanders native to the Hinter Isles have been ruled over by Vormain warriors for centuries.
Hidden Elf Village: Vormain is a closed, extremely ethnocentric society which has forbidden foreign visits for centuries. No outsiders really know what its natives are like except through second and third hand experiences in its Hinter Isles.
Pirate: Vormain is notorious for pirates who raid the East Isles, and the coastlines of Kralorela and Teshnos. They worship Tsankth, a god of rapacity and piracy who leads his worshippers to plunder and kill travellers on the seas.

Emperor of Vormain

God-Emperor: The Emperor of Vormain is the embodiment of the divine Emperor God and reigns over the universe from the Phoenix Throne.
Puppet King: The Emperor spends his days in religious rituals and artistic pursuits, and rarely exerts worldly power, which is for the most part wielded by the aristocracy.

Fonrit

Born-Again Immortality: Upon his death, the Horned Snake King is reborn, usually as a child in Formstosi, but sometimes as an adult. The current Horned Snake King is an elderly man, his 14th incarnation.
The Necrocracy: The Slavelord of Arawan is the nominal ruler of this city, but the true rulers are the Immortals—the undying corpses of all previous Slavelords.
No Woman's Land: No female of any type species is permitted into Fanjosi, the City of Men, on pain of death. This is enforced by magic. If a female bird flies overhead, it falls down dead. One good point about the place is that no one is ever bitten by mosquitoes.
The Theocracy: Dopstaku's ruler is a divine priest-king (called the Horned Snake King) who is worshipped as a living manifestation of the Creator.
Undead Laborers: The temple of Gark in Shun Mun is served by tens of thousands of animated corpses (in various states of decay) from all over Fonrit, until the cult decides to send them elsewhere, usually the gold mines of Salonmanad.
Vestigial Empire: From 1150 to 1350, the Wemma Empire ruled the interior of Baruling and parts of western Banamba. It collapsed during the civil war between Emperor Beraba the Sot and his son Baruba the Usurper. The city of Wemma still sports monuments of its long-lost imperial glory.

Astamanyx

The Starscream: Once simply the ruler of the small city of Teshvashoros, Astamanyx was supported in his rebellion by Kareeshtan money and, at the critical juncture, ships. Once victorious, Astamanyx rewarded his Kareeshtu allies with betrayal and war.

Gabaryanga

Rebel Leader: Gabaryanga led the Benestros Uprising in 1613, a slave rebellion that was put down only with great bloodshed by the Jann. When his rebellion was crushed, Gabaryanga escaped to Jokotu, where he has dedicated himself to Serartamal the Blue Moon.

Jolar

The Federation: The Arbennan Confederation is a gathering of clans and families whose primary objective is to halt the intrusion of Kresh wagons into their lands.
The Savage South: South of Jolar lies the huge and lifeless Nargan Desert. Its soil is ashes and poison, the land absorbs the rivers which flow into it, and no natural life can exist. Parts of the Nargan are infested with horrible Chaos monsters, such as solitary monster broos, far larger and more twisted than the breed found elsewhere.
Vertebrate with Extra Limbs: In Szech Mun Baru (Six-Legged Plain) reside an entire range of creatures that are found nowhere else in the world. No matter their appearance or habit, they all have six limbs, although in other ways they are no more alike than insects are to birds. Even the birds have six limbs, usually with two pair of wings.

Kothar

Base on Wheels: The Kresh live and travel in huge, ornate wagons, each dragged on solid wheels over the plains by dozens or hundreds of men. Bands of Kresh form mobile towns of hundreds or thousands of people constantly on the move. The wagons never stay in one place longer than five to thirty days.
Cannibal Tribe: Torva Island is home to a fierce tribe of cannibals that have a legendary appetite for human flesh and often send out raiding parties in search of victims.
City in a Bottle: Three different human kingdoms exist on isolated islands of firm ground within the vast Sozganjio marsh. All believe that they are the only surviving humans in the world and that all other human life was destroyed when the Great Swamp came. Occasionally, a person decides to leave and learn about the outside world. Those who head south die in the steaming, endless bog. Those heading east find only the Togaro Ocean. Those heading north find only more dangerous fens for hundreds of miles. Only those heading west find their way to Kothar or Zamokil.
Unwitting Pawn: When the Hero Wars begin, the yellow elves give the Kresh exotic plants from the Errinoru Jungle. The Kresh irregularly draw their wagons into a circle to conceal themselves from outsiders, while raising a little jungle overnight and harvesting everything by sunrise. If one of the new jungles gets out of Kresh control, this could establish a foreign ecosystem on the plains of Pamaltela. In truth, the Kresh have been manipulated by the Embyli, who plot to sneak a jungle deep into the plains as a modern counterattack in the ancient War of the Trees.

Maslo

An Arm and a Leg: The Oath of Elamle requires every person who sets foot in Bayahote for the first time to sever one of his arms and legs and deliver it to the Limmer, a unique elvish functionary, who must regenerate the severed limb with elvish magic.
Exotic Extended Marriage: In Nukalofa, when a man and a woman marry, she becomes the wife to all of his friends, and he becomes husband to all of her friends.
Fantastic Caste System: The Elamle Aroin have an unusual four-tiered caste system. The children of each class are automatically members of the next higher class, except those of aristocrats, who become members of the lowest class. Hence, upward mobility is assured, and the rulers and kings always try to ensure prosperity for the underprivileged.
Forever War: For centuries, Flanch has been in a state of constant warfare between the human settlers and the yellow elves.
Immortality Inducer: Each full citizen of Olyn has access to a magic secret which prolongs life, but restricts movement. After attaining citizenship, one lives out one's life in a 3-foot-diameter chalk circle, tended to and fed by elementals, runners, awakened animals, and people who are working to obtain citizenship.

Mother of Monsters

Kaiju: The Mother of Monsters is a colossal 100-metre tall creature that wanders the coastal littoral of the Maslo Sea and blithely devours everything in her path. All human cities have been moved several hundred yards back from the high tide line to keep the Mother of Monsters from eating or stepping on their houses, and all ship docks are made to be quickly reconstructed after her periodic visits.
Mother of a Thousand Young: Each day, the Mother of Monsters lays a single egg which hatches into an adult Chaos creature, whose type varies with the height of the tide at the time of birth, wreaking havoc in her wake.
One-Steve Limit: There are two distinct beings, both called Mother of Monsters. The other Mother of Monsters is Varchulanga, a vast, featureless immortal living below the bottom of the sea.
Threatening Shark: The Mother of Monsters has the head of a shark, which can efficiently scoop up prey.

Characters / RuneQuest

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