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The Gloranthan Calendar is just that, or rather the Theyalan calendar in particular. It is presented in a contemporary style with one season (five seasons, eight weeks, seven days) per double-page with a relevant image. The seasons are Sea (spring), Fire (summer), Earth (harvest, autumn), Dark (autumn-winter) and Storm (late winter) followed by the Sacred Time of fourteen days. The calendar also marks the holy days for various cults. It's both extremely cute and very useful.
In a similar manner, the What The Priests Say booklet is very useful and entertaining, especially for new players and those not familiar with Glorantha or with how different answers and mythic perspective can be given to meaningful and metaphysical questions can arise. Seven fundamental questions are answered by representatives of the Dwarf, Eastern, Elf, Lunar, Malkioni, Orlanthi, Pamaltealan, Praxian and Troll pantheons which pretty comprehensive in the Gloranthan scheme of things and convincingly supplements the outlooks already provided in the main rulebook. A few extra pages however should have been dedicated to the Hsunchen (primitives), the Mermen and Yelm (sun god) to give a comprehensive account for all pantheons.
The third book, the 20-page Prosopaedia, can be a little annoying. It is supposed to represent a brief "Who's Who" among Gloranthan deities, including name, pronunication, pantheon, deitie's role, representation and history and includes three times as many dieties as the main cults book which each given, on average a couple of paragraphs of detail. This is all fine, as the Cults Books is pretty hefty already and must be handled with care as the 82p booklet is prone to falling apart with naught by saddle-staples holding it together. However, with the inclusion of some information in the Cults book and some in the Prospaedia does leave the situation of jumping between the two. As a production method and for usability purposes, it would have been much better to combine the two into two, say, 52pp booklets.
The Cults book begins with the excellent Jrusteli monomyth which combines the various divergent mythologies of Glorantha into a sequence of "Godtime" events. It discusses the events that lead to creation, the creation of the world, plants and animals, the elder races (Dwarf, Elf, Troll, Dragonnewts, Mermen, Broos), early battles, the creation of humans, the age of golden harmony, the storm age of conflict, the great darkness and the challenges of survival and the compromise of the deities which established Time and the three Ages since then. Simply put, it is a beautiful and evocative potted history.
Following this is a description of the thirteen Gloranthan pantheons, the associated dieties, and maps of their distribution throughout the world. A chart describes the basic relationship (enemy, hostile, neutral, and friendly) between members of the different pantheons (e.g., everyone is an enemy of Chaos except for Lunars who are neutral). Before moving on to the cults themselves, a universal format is explained; name, runic affiliations, cult description, Initiate membership, spirit magic, Acolyte membership, Runelord and Priesthood, and High Priests. Supplementary notes also describe the acquisition of cultic spirit magic, the effect of iron and rune metals, rune lord ranks, the form and requirements for allied spirits, elemental identifications (colour, metal, weapon, phyla and elemental), membership in multiple cults and notes on creating additional cults.
The bulk of the booklet is the various cults, with each receiving roughly a page of text with the ocassional graphic. The detail is primarily practical; the spells the cult teaches, how to join, how to advance, benefits and limitations, however these invariably add to the descriptive detail in an appropriate manner. The Aldrya (Elves) for example learn the minor spirit magic spell "Food Song", which is cast when they eat plants so the plant-spirit is not offended and Waha teaches "The Peaceful Cut" for animal food. The war god Babester Gor, teaches spells which aid in combat abilities. Uleria, the goddess of love teaches the delightfully named "Erotocomatose Lucidity". New skills are likewise allocated; the dragon mystery cult teaches "Charismatic Wisdom" and Humakt teaches the gift-only "Sense Assassin". Associated cults also provide additional spells. The new skills and spells seem to be largely balanced with each other with perhaps a couple of exceptions ("Waste Lions" and "Sever Spirit" being the same divine cost for example).
Gods are not described as greater or lesser or anything like that. Their Power (capital intended) is dependent on their worshippers, which is sometimes stated quite explicitly: "If Aldrya were not worshipped, forests and woodlands would wither and die" - which gives a clear indication of the value of symbolic power in Glorantha and, as the name ahould indicate, in RuneQuest. Nor are gods provided a list of combatative or other abilities; the equivalent is represented by their runic affliations. Flamal has Infinity and Plant runes; it gives one good idea of what the Father of Seeds can do. Occassionally, dieties have double-runic affiliations which indications specialisation and power; Chalana Arroy, the Goddess of Healing, has two harmony runes and fertility.
Despite a couple of gaps this is indeed an epic document. It certainly does lack the focussed detail and storytelling style found in earlier publications (e.g., Cults of Prax, Cults of Terror) but makes up for it in scope. Whilst it is primarily and obviously a sourcebook for those using Glorantha and, in particularly Glorantha with RuneQuest, it is certainly worth a read for others who have an interest in how to express religion and mythology in their gaming. As is typical with most things RuneQuest in the AH peroid, it is the production standards that really hurt this supplement limiting what would otherwise be a better style rating. Nevertheless, it is very good product overall and an absolute necessity for any Gloranthaphile.
