Runequest Thursday #107 - The Clanking Ruin - New Heroes Arise!

A few weeks back, my regular Runequest group was down a player due to illness, and our regular group of heroes (You can read of their ongoing Clanking Ruin HERE, this is Part 1, but there are several sequels to it also on the site) was in the middle of something of great significance to that player's character. So we decided that we did not want to continue without him. Instead - since I had written up a LOT of Clanking Ruin material, and my players were getting a kick out of the location, AND since their time in the Clanking Ruin must be relatively brief because of other commitments (like a town they are building and protecting) - we decided to play another bunch of characters.

These characters would be based in or near to the Clanking Ruin and would be playable whenever we could not play the Brightwater heroes. SInce time was short, I got each player to give me a couple of ideas about the sort of character they might like to play, and then I worked out the PCs myself, presenting them to the players on the evening of the game.

We had a pretty good time with this group, so I thought I would present them to you here.

Alayda du Galion is an Esrolian noble from a disgraced House. Her family was disgraced by an as yet to be decided event, and Alayda was sent east to the Holy Country with her knight, the Humakti Runesword who has taken control of Deathray Bridge in the Clanking Ruin (if you have been reading To Tweak the Nose of the Red Goddess, you know about Deathray Bridge). Alayda is also devoted to Humakt, but also venerates an ancestral Sword-Saint of du Galion. From this devotion, she received knowledge of the Feat of Arms: Riposte.

I should mention that my Esrolia is based on a non-canon understanding of the area. Back in the early 80s I played in my first Gloranthan Runequest campaign. The GM made Esrolia a land of feudal knights and barons with peasants, etc. Each house of which was devoted to their own familial saint of a god. My PC at that time was Calahdor du Morragonne, an impoverished noble who worshipped Humakti. I imported him into this game as a (currently off-scree) NPC. In any event, for me, ever since that distant time, Esrolia was a feudal land and not the matriarchal land of Gloranthan canon.

Cotan is a barbarian from smoky, volcanic Caladra, the Witch is a lay member of Daka Fal, but her primary vocation is as a Witch, using the witchcraft rules I wrote up here. She is attractive and charismatic, and a smooth talker, all in a rather edgy, dark way. Her spells and possessions indicate that she has previously had pacts with one or more elven gods or spirits (the elf bow), A spirit lord of entropy or destruction (Curse of Brittle Bones and Unravelling), and possibly she spent some time among the Hsunchen or other shapechangers (Panther Shape). Although she has Alchemy as a skill, she does not have an Alchemist's Kit or Laboratory, so she cannot use the skill to make alchemicals. She can use it to identify potions, etc.

Kyrikos is from the Island of Kos, one of the Sea Isles south of the the Holy Country. Kos is not canon for Glorantha, but it is a terrific place of adventure, history and peril. And since I helped write some of it, I wanted to include it in my Glorantha. Koans are often great sea travellers and Kyrikos is no exception. When his father and brother were killed at sea, he inherited a hemiola, a small fast galley ideal for piracy, or pirate-hunting. When he is not ashore, he makes use of the Letter of Marque from Avorax, the Dragonewt Master of the Rotunda, in the Bay overlooked by the Clanking Ruin.

You can find their character sheets attached.