Shallek-za-Kuza’an

When the Outsiders came to Ehlaar, they brought with them seedlings of Kuza’an-ne-Qarzenn, the “tree-that-is-the-sinews-of-the-Infinite.”  These seedlings grew into trees, heavily guarded in the courtyards that form the holy places of the church of the Infinite.  From branches of the trees are carved the Shallek-za-Kuza’an, which the Natives style “wands.”  Without a wand, a follower of the Infinite can use the Infinite’s power only in its raw form, as an immediate burst of power.  In game terms, a sorcerer cannot use the Manipulation skill without a wand in his or her hand.  This practically restricts the magician to the use of one-handed weapons if they wish to use magic in combat.

Wands range in size from the standard size of about a foot to great staffs wielded by the Zilaths and Pa-Zilaths of the cult/empire.  The Qarmezinn-Pa-Zilath, the “Grand Theosophist” of the Outsider Empire, bore one carved from the wood of the Kuza’an-ne-Qarzenn itself.  In game terms, larger wands give bonuses to the Manipulation skill.

A follower of the Infinite is traditionally given a wand at initiation.  However, the number of wands is decreasing since the fall of the Outsider Empire.  Sometimes a new initiate may be required to find a wand as a condition of initiation.  The Queendom of Gla and various other jurisdictions despise Outsiders so much that they ritually burn wands when they find them.  On the other hand, the Caravan Lords may have started stockpiling them, knowing that they can extract Outsider gold for them.

History of Ehlaar

Items in [Parentheses] are part of the Secret History – events that happened but are not general knowledge.  Some are known only to a very few researchers, historians and priests.  Highlight to read, unless you are possibly going to play in this world. (The observant may notice some elements taken from the excellent scenario Hammers of the God by James Raggi.  Don't read the Secret History if you intend to play this.  Here's the Grognardia review.)

Comments are welcome and may well be incorporated.

Cosmology

There are four worlds with four stars and four moons that revolve in complicated fashion around the Sun, or perhaps the Sun revolves around them (no-one is quite sure and astrologers and other wise men argue about this incessantly).  In one world, Kanosza, gods ruled – the gods of the celestial bodies and the Afterworld.  In another, Jaruusz, a seemingly omnipotent principle, The Infinite, governed the mundane world and the Ether.  On Ghildra, spirits roamed the world and the Guinee, the spirit’s home.  On Ehlaar, the goodess Ehla and her children were the creators, ruling both Ehlaar and the Dreaming, until her children rose up and imprisoned Ehla in the Dreaming, which became the Nightmare World.  [The Afterworld, the Ether, the Guinee and the Nightmare World all share characteristics, and otherworldly beings can seemingly operate through all these planes, even if they do not interact with each other.]

Kanosza is a world of continents, Jaruusz a water world with a giant archipelago, Ehlaar is a Pangaea, with just one continent, while Ghildra is a desert world with no seas, few lakes and many oases.

On each world existed a major species of humans and another intelligent species: on Kanosza, dwarfs, on Jaruusz elves, on Ghildra dragonmen and on Ehlaar trolls.

Questworld 2.0

If I'd written this post a few days ago, it would have been very different.  Like James from Grognardia, I'm fascinated by the road not taken for Runequest, to wit, the project called Questworld.  This project aimed to provide an alternate world for Runequest adventures other than Glorantha, where everything had to go through Greg Stafford's approval process.  Developers were free, however, to use Gloranthan gods.  In a particularly interesting idea, the Chaosium took one continent to develop (Kanos, pictured) but allocated others to the big players in the Runequest industry at the time like Judges Guild.  Another was to go to Britain's own Games Workshop, several years before that group became obsessed with Warhammer.