What is life like as a mushroom?
That’s the basic question posed by Brian Duguid’s most recent Jonstown Compendium release, The Voralans. Considering how much I loved his previous release—Children of Hykim—naturally I was much anticipating this new work. And, I’m delighted to say that I loved it.
What’s Inside?
The ground covered is similar to that of other non-human species “splatbooks” for RuneQuest. Duguid begins with the physical fundamentals, exploring what it means to be fungus, rather than plant or animal. Throughout, his account feels cleverly enlightened by real-world mycology, without being stodgily fixated on scientific fact. This approach allows us to play with “fungi that feel broadly familiar” while retaining the mythic verve of Glorantha.
Black elves—voralans—are a non-human species of sentient and ambulatory fungus. They get the name “elves” through their association with the Aldryami, who are living trees. As is the case in many pre-modern societies, most people in Glorantha don’t draw a biological distinction between plants and fungus. They’re wrong, but that’s because their creation comes from different myths, rather than evolutionary circumstances.
My favorite way this medley of science and fantasy plays out is through enmeshing the voralans into the “group mind” of their fungal community. This entity is more spiritual than physical, known sometimes by the title “Mee Vorala, Goddess of Fungi.” The whole process explains what the Glorantha Bestiary describes as black elf telepathy, and also places the voralans into an interesting space in between the Spirit World and the Middle World. This further leads to consequences on cognition. The typical voralan only sort of has an individual consciousness and existence. They’re neither wholly subsumed into the “hive mind,” but they’re also not likely to come into conflict with it. It’s basically a very strong subconscious, or conscience, as I read it.
Like the anatomical descriptions in DuckPac or Trollpak, Duguid’s physical detailing helps make these moving mushrooms feel real in a way that I think a lot of fantasy worldbuilding struggles with. It’s one thing for a setting to say “our elves are plant-people, not humans with pointy ears!” but providing a compelling explanation of such a species’ biology, culture, and place within the world is another task entirely.
This section also includes useful descriptions of voralan occupations, including rules for playing a voralan adventurer. Duguid notes that it’s not recommended for most campaigns due to the strange nature of the species, but wisely recognizes that players enjoy diversity of species selection. These options add to the supplement’s usefulness at the table.
After culture comes religion. Duguid provides a general overview of the voralan perspective on Glorantha’s mythology. This is probably my personal favorite section of the book due to how it deviates from Chaosium’s “standard” depiction, while remaining recognizable. After all, it’s perfectly natural that the children of Mee Vorala would perceive her as the most important entity in the universe. In addition to just enjoying the mythology as fiction, I think most gamemasters could generate interesting adventures using some of the concepts and stories presented.
I also enjoy the extensive relationships laid out in the Mee Vorala cult. Subservient cults and associated cults are an awesome way to stretch out a Rune cult’s list of magic, skills, and other benefits, while remaining connected to the setting. While The Voralans is mostly aimed at gamemasters, I do think the cult of Mee Vorala is detailed enough to provide players with an interesting game option.
Looking for more new cults for your Glorantha? Check out my book To Hunt a God, also available on the Jonstown Compendium. It includes a monkey-shaman cult suitable for players, and also a complete adventure for gamemasters! Plus, picking it up really helps me keep making free content over here on the site. Thanks!
The final major section is a bestiary filled with fungal fun to inflict on players. This ranges from variations on the generic black elf, to giant fighting fungi, to fungal diseases and alchemical products. As a gamemaster, this section’s filled with delightful ways to torment your players. I’m pretty sure we fought against one or two of these new monsters recently in a RuneQuest campaign I play in, and it was a tough encounter!
Another nice touch throughout the text is a series of sidebar perspectives on what various individuals believe about the voralans. This ranges from a Lunar coder, to a dwarf, to a Praxian khan, and an Earth priestess. It’s a great snapshot outside the book’s main point of view, and most of these sidebars include useful anecdotes for brainstorming adventures.
Overall, Duguid’s done an excellent job packing The Voralans with interesting material. As an added bonus, the text is really polished, with well-wrought prose and clear descriptions of potentially confusing material. If you’re someone like me who may be hyper-aware of errors, you’re in the clear, here. In my opinion the textual quality of The Voralans holds up to any of Chaosium’s official releases.
The only real criticism I can find for The Voralans is that I want more—and as frequent readers will know, that’s my internal cue that a book was great. It’s only kind of a critique. I do think the book’s very usable for a gamemaster, but some explicit adventure seeds could also help bring the material to the table. Or, a full adventure! That’s obviously way outside the work’s scope, but I would love to read and play an adventure full of mushroom mayhem based on Duguid’s creation.
Illustrations
The Voralans is heavily illustrated with bespoke art by a number of frequent RuneQuest community members, such as Dario Corallo, Lee O’Connor, and Ludovic Chabant (of God Learner infamy). The art is routinely fascinating, weird as hell and I love it. Zombie mushrooms controlling corpses, the Queen of the Underworld on her fungal throne, and a shimmering shaman are some of the highlights. My favorite piece is probably the full-page illustration of the sisters Mee Vorala, Kyger Litor, and Sokazub (an insect goddess) in the mythology section.
It’s trippy and gross and superbly on-theme with the subject matter. Throughout, the art really brings The Voralans to life.
The book is also well laid-out, with good modifications to the Jonstown Compendium template to give The Voralans a unique feel (like a mushroom-filled font for chapter titles).
Conclusion
Overall, The Voralans is absolutely phenomenal. A wonderful blend of researched detail and Glorantha crazy, supported by good art and polished production quality. I read this as an “armchair” book, and I do think The Voralans leans that way on my personal “armchair to kitchen table” scale due to its somewhat precise topic. However, it certainly provides the gamemaster with the means and tools to introduce voralans into their RuneQuest campaign.
Honestly, if you’re on the fence—just buy it.
If you can’t imagine ever wanting to use black elves in your game, or if you don’t want more oddball species in RuneQuest, you might not get much use out of this book. For everyone else, it’s worth your time and money.
Until next time, then.
Akhelas 