Glorantha
Glorantha is the mythical world developed originally by Greg Stafford and that has since been used as the background for the RuneQuest and Hero Wars role-playing games.
There are a variety of cultures in Glorantha that have strikingly different perceptions of their world, the magic that pervades it and the major events that have shaped it.
The Issaries [website] introduces Glorantha as;
"Glorantha is an action-packed world of adventure. Gods and Goddesses struggle here, with nations of people nothing but their pawns. The stormy barbarians with their brutal but honest Storm God struggle against the Lunar Empire, led by the imperial Sun God and devious Moon Goddess.
Glorantha is an exciting world of heroes. Legends are being made by great individuals, many who are not even human beings. Some work with the deities, other heroes and heroines fight against them.
Glorantha is colorful and full of magic. Supernatural animals are found, ranging from unicorns to seven types of merfolk and the Goddess of Lions.
Glorantha is immense. If explored, it has different worlds and dimensions, whole realms where Gods, spirits and sorcerous powers come from.
Glorantha is both familiar and bizarre. It has dwarfs, but they are beings of stone who manifest rigid inflexible laws of creation, while elves are beings who are intelligent, mobile plants. Glorantha is full of surprises.
Glorantha is as deep as you want it to be, or not. Hackers and choppers have what they want, while scholars and mythologists have a vast playground of new stories, legends and myths to enjoy."
The world of Glorantha has various cultures analogous to Earth spread over two major landmasses and a widespread archipelago. The northern continent of Genertela has a feudal society of roughly medieval type to the West, an autocratic Oriental society to the East and a classical style bronze age culture in the centre. The southern continent of Pamaltela is somewhat like Africa, but with many variants.
Glorantha shares some fantasy tropes such as dwarfs, elves, trolls, giants, but has developed them differently to the Tolkien versions. Unlike many fantasy settings, Glorantha emphasises religion, myth and belief to a level rarely seen in roleplaying or fantasy fiction elsewhere.
Good websites to visit to explore Glorantha include