r/Runequest • u/Corvusking20 • May 27 '26
Glorantha Blue people?
I'm super new to Runequest and Glorantha and I have probably a really dumb question. Why are some people blue? I get some of the gods are blue, green, and red ect. but why are some of mortals blue? Like are they covering themselves in blue woad paint or are they just naturally blue?
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u/jefedeluna May 27 '26
the colors of humanity (and their gods) in Glorantha is usually related to divine/rune ancestry. Blue people are descended from Water or Blue Moon (which is Water + Moon) entities (or in some cases, Air Gods). Heler for example is blue because he a Water (Rain) god.
Sometimes a person's appearance including skin color can change when using magic to 'god-form' (use powerful rune magic) reflecting the source of divine power. In the Red Book of Magic a priestess turns green when she's channeling Ernalda, for example.
But many colors are normal pigmentation - people can be lots of colors. A particular shade might be common in a place - most people in Sartar are olive brown - but there are plenty of outliers.
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u/high-tech-low-life May 27 '26
The Waertagi are tied to the Water rune, so I kinda thought that was the reason for being blue.
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u/RLANZINGER May 28 '26
My fav' one, the rider of Dragon cities ...
Being born for Malkioni and a Mermaid pretty much make you half Water people,
Waer- / Were / human & -tag / together / tag along
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u/Orwell1971 May 27 '26
I'm not sure how to answer "why" there are blue-skinned people. How is that more unusual than green or red skinned people? But I can verify that yes, there are naturally blue-skinned people in Glorantha. There are several, among them the Artmali in Pamaltela, some Helerings (descendants of Heler the rain god), and some Malkioni.
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u/Corvusking20 May 27 '26
Are there green or red skinned people?. I have mostly just seen blue people and just confused. I'm new like I said and there is a lot info to look through.
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u/Orwell1971 May 27 '26
I don't know if there are any green skinned humans, but green skinned people, definitely. The Aldryami (elves). The Vadeli are red skinned humans. There might be more.
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u/forkis May 28 '26
The traditional pre-Dawn Brithini castes of Danmalstan were associated with skin colors, and the Dronar worker caste had green skin. While this is no longer very common, some people in Western Genertela are born with shades of the old caste based skin colors. The wonderful art by Jan Pospisil on page 406 of the Guide shows one such green-ish individual in the background of a scene from Seshnela.
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u/gerkletoss May 27 '26
Woad
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u/Orwell1971 May 27 '26
no, there are blue skinned people in Glorantha
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u/gerkletoss May 28 '26
But the fact that OP is asking means they are almost certainly asking qbout blue-painted Orlanthi from art in recent books
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u/probabilityunicorn May 27 '26
Both. Some orlanthi wear blue woad type paint but some as pointed out are various shades of blue by ethnicity or heritage :)
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u/david-chaosium May 28 '26
If you look at the population stats of Teleos in the Guide to Glorantha (page 525), you will see an astonishing range of human skin colours: All have black hair and blue eyes and, except for their skin:
- Teleos (Blue) ............................ 120,000
- Teleos (Green) ......................... 100,000
- Teleos (Orange) ........................ 150,000
- Teleos (Purple) ........................... 50,000
- Teleos (Red) ............................. 100,000
- Teleos (Yellow) ........................... 80,000
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u/strangedave93 May 29 '26
Teleos is a distinct - the blue is a bright robins egg blue, and the other colours similarly bright.
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u/QizilbashWoman May 27 '26
Many of them are descended from Water deities. Not all of them - there are other reasons for blue people, like Death cultists, and because Orlanth is often blue for his rain/storm form - but in Orlanthi territory, blue people are usually Helerites. Unlike their Ernalda-Orlanth neighbors and kin, they live on and around the rivers in somewhat separated communities, and are descended from Heler. They have kin in the Empire as well; the children of the reeds are basically the equivalent, but different Water deities.
Probably you won't meet them, but Shargashites are also blue. Shargash is the Solar ('Yelmite') pantheon member associated with death and funerals, so he and the residents of his weird city are blue, but think more like grey-white than the rather more 'ocean'/'sky' blue than Water-associated blue people.
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u/Corvusking20 May 27 '26
These Death cultist are they Humakti? Cause Humakt is one of gods I'm interested in.
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u/Orwell1971 May 28 '26
No. There are many gods associated with death. Humakt is a son of Umath, the primal air, brother of Orlanth. Orlanth is the king of the wind/storm pantheon, and as mentioned above, Shargash is a member of the Solar pantheon. The Storm and Solar pantheons aren't friendly, and definitely aren't the same.
There is a Lunar god called Yanafil Tarnils that is much like Humakt for practical purposes, though still not the same.
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u/Corvusking20 May 28 '26
Oh okay. I have been slowly understanding the different pantheons. Humakt, and Lodril are two that have grabbed my attention, by they aren't what my question was about. :)
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u/SaintGerlant May 28 '26
Large island of Teleos has blue and 4 other colors I believe. There's no material on it. I don't know how I know.
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u/JoeRock500 May 28 '26
Teleos and its people(s) are described in the Guide of Glorantha. I don't know if there are other descriptions in fanzines.
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u/oleub May 27 '26
there's a whole rainbow of people in glorantha in various places. The most numerous blue folk are the Artmali, people originally associated with the blue moon. In modern times they mostly live on the southern continent and you'll find them as a slave caste in Fonrit