"Hearth and Harstings, Tula, Wilds and Waste..."
Four Steads | Useful Links | Example Material
The Heortling Stead Project
Yip, we're gonna build us a stead. All we need is 'a great tree, a strong god, and a bloodline for a day'.
The Heortling Stead Project was a joint effort by members of the Glorantha community to create and populate a number of generic steads for use as Hero Wars campaign resources. We hope that these resources will prove useful to your campaign.
Useful Links
A Sharp - makers of the King of Dragon Pass computer game, our prime resource and a great way to visualise and explore Heortling life.
Questlines Heortling Stead Calendar - stead life week by week.
Questlines Flora & Fauna of the Far Place - most of this is applicable to all of Dragon Pass. Steads, crops, animals and more.
Gyrwe - The Anglo-Saxon Farm - notes and photographs on buildings, animals & plants.
The Village of Wichamstow - a fictional Pre-Conquest English village described by the folks at Regia Anglorum. An incredible resource.
Butser Ancient Farm - replica of an Iron Age farm circa 300 BCE. Some great information on ancient sheep breeds.
BBC History: The Iron Age - includes a recreation of life on an Iron Age farm from the television series 'Surviving The Iron Age', a description of building a longhouse, a terrific photo gallery describing a range of daily tasks, and some insightful commentary on daily life.
Castell Henlys - a reconstructed Iron Age hill fort. includes a photographic tour of the buildings.
Flag Fen - Britain's Bronze Age Center.
3-D Viking Farmhouse - includes a walkthrough of a turn of the Millennium Yorkshire farm. Requires the Cortona plug-in.
The World of the Celts - Gallica Home page.
Brigantia - an Iron Age recreation society.
Stephan's Florilegium - an SCA site containing a wealth of information and essays on daily life in mediaeval times, animals, crafts, etc.
Beer or Bread - was beer the first great cereal food? An informative essay.
Mead: The Brew of the Gods - a drinking person's guide :).
- A Harn resource page, including a mediaeval farming calendar.
Cheesemaking In Scotland - a historical overview. The analogue seems a good one for Heortlings.
Bees & Beekeeping - a discussion page from the people at Harn.
Some Example Material
Here are links to a number of lists and descriptions from John Hughes' Lagerwater stead, set in the Tresdarnii clan lands of the Tovtaros tribe of the Far Place. Note that these examples are highly specific in terms of location and clan: the Stead Project will produce more generic descriptions that can be fitted into a variety of campaigns with minimal reworking.
The Tresdarnii Clan Ring, listing people and positions.
A description of Lagerwater Stead, a list of Important People at the stead and also Significant Others.
Two locale descriptions for Lagerwater Stead: The Palisades By Night and Harmony Lodge. An in-depth locale has a physical description, a number of characters associated with it (with game stats where relevant), and possible mythic or historic links. It often can supply a number of story seeds. And sometimes it will function as an entertaining short story in its own right.
