Taboos, Geasa & Oaths
In Glorantha, some powers, affiliations, and relationships impose real obligations. A cult may require a geas, a spirit may impose a taboo, a community may live under a prohibition, and two people may bind themselves through an oath.
These bonds are not merely character restrictions. When they matter in a Situation, they become directly playable.
A Protagonist does not need to have a particular taboo, geas, or oath. Most can perfectly well have none. Introduce such a bond only when it genuinely exists in their culture, cult, relationships, or through what happens in play. It is not a box to fill during character creation.
Different kinds of bonds
- Taboo — a prohibition imposed by a spirit, place, tradition, or pact.
- Geas — an obligation or prohibition voluntarily accepted, often in exchange for a power, secret, or status.
- Vow — a solemn promise undertaken by one person.
- Oath — a commitment binding several parties.
- Prohibition — a ritual, social, legal, or ancestral ban that goes beyond one person's will.
- Curse — a constraint suffered by someone, often born from transgression or a hostile power.
The exact name depends on the culture, cult, and nature of the bond. What matters for play is knowing what is required, what the bond makes possible, and what happens if it is broken.
Playing a bond
A geas, taboo, or oath is a double-edged truth.
When it supports you
If it explains why the Protagonist is especially able to uphold their intention, the bond can become a Bet in their favor.
Example: Never flee can matter when a warrior must hold their ground while everything pushes others to give way.
When it constrains you
If it closes a possibility or imposes an obligation that cannot simply be ignored, it can become a Frame Factor.
Example: a spirit bound to a fetish forbids its bearer from crossing running water. Crossing the river is then not merely “more difficult”: the taboo must be taken seriously before deciding what the Protagonist can attempt and at what price.
When it favors adversity
If the bond makes the opposition stronger in this Situation, Time may propose it as an adversity Bet.
Example: an opponent knows a Humakti's oath and builds their plan around what they know the warrior will refuse to do.
The same bond can therefore help, constrain, or expose depending on what is genuinely at stake.
Accepting a new bond
When a Protagonist receives a power, binds a spirit, takes on a status, or enters a pact that requires an enduring obligation, clearly record both sides of the exchange:
- what the bond grants;
- what it requires;
- what counts as transgression;
- what may happen if that transgression occurs.
The fiction decides whether an exchange truly requires such a bond. Not every power in Glorantha works in the same way.
Breaking a bond
Breaking a taboo, geas, or oath should produce a consequence that fits the nature of the bond.
A spirit may leave. A divine favor may no longer be available. A community may condemn the oath-breaker. A practice may lose what made it possible. A curse may appear.
The consequence becomes a new truth of the Protagonist or the world. It may in turn become a Bet or Frame Factor in later Situations.
Time does not punish the player for choosing to transgress. It makes the consequences of an already-existing bond live in the fiction.
Oaths
An oath binds the parties that accept it. Before recording it, make sure everyone knows what was actually promised.
An important oath can be played as a Situation in its own right: negotiating terms, witnesses, ritual, hesitation, outside pressure, and the risk of refusal may all matter.
The Great Compromise shows on a cosmic scale how deeply a commitment can structure the world. It does not mean the gods disappeared from Time: it bounds their freedom of action and establishes the order within which gods and mortals continue their relationships.
Examples
- An initiate of Humakt has sworn never to flee a fight. The bond may support their courage, but can also make retreat almost impossible to accept.
- A shaman has bound a spirit into a fetish and must respect the taboo demanded by that spirit.
- A Brithini lives under the prohibitions of caste and tradition; breaking them may radically transform what was true of them.
- Revealing a secret name may give someone enduring leverage over the person who revealed it.
Generating a bond
When a bond needs to appear and its form is not yet obvious, a Power Rune can provide a starting point.
The Rune does not give a mandatory answer. It narrows the field of possibilities and helps formulate a bond that fits the spirit, cult, place, or Situation.
| Rune | Bond ideas |
|---|---|
[1]  Movement | Never spend two nights in the same place. / Never refuse a journey. / Never sit on a throne. |
[2]  Death | Never flee. / Never refuse a challenge. / Never strike an enemy who cannot see you. |
[3]  Harmony | Never lie. / Never refuse hospitality. / Never break a promise made to an ally. |
[4]  Stasis | Obey an ancestral law. / Never change your name. / Never leave a holy place. |
[5]  Life | Never eat flesh. / Preserve a form of chastity. / Never let a creature under your protection die. |
[6]  Disorder | Always answer a challenge. / Never plan far ahead. / Say the first thing that comes to mind. |
[7]  Truth | Never lie, even by omission. / Reveal a secret when a legitimate authority asks. / Never steal. |
[8]  Illusion | Never reveal your true name. / Never appear twice in the same form. / Always wear a mask in certain circumstances. |
Before introducing the bond, ask four questions:
- Why does this bond exist here?
- Who or what imposes it?
- What does it grant or protect?
- What fictional consequence would follow from breaking it?
If the answers do not arise naturally from Glorantha and the Situation, keep the Rune as inspiration and look for another formulation. Never add a bond simply because a table suggests one.