We'll be playing in Dragon Pass, which is sort of the default part of Glorantha to play in in Hero Quest. It's a land of very high mountains and very deep valleys. Long ago, dragons (which are what you think, except bigger, and made of dreams) destroyed all human life here.

After that, the Heortlings moved in. They are a culture based around families, clans (collections of many families, about 500 to 2000 people), and tribes (collections of many clans, about 5 to 20). Their main god, Orlanth, is the god of storms and freedom. Their main goddess, Ernalda, is the goddess of hearth and community, although she's got aspects of the earth and cracking skulls, too. Their life involves hunting, farming, raiding other clans, revelry in worship, and generally being kick-ass barbarian guys. They have a very large pantheon of gods and goddesses they worship, and people worship more than one a lot of the time. They do receive great powers from their gods.

Lately, there's been this giant empire to the north called the Lunar Empire which has taken over other cultures. Their central goddess is the Red Moon. They are very powerful because of their mantra, “We Are All Us.” Every culture they subsume, they work into theirs. If there's a local god people worship, they work them into their pantheon. “Oh, yeah, the Red Goddess knows him. He's cool.”

The Lunars want Dragon Pass. They have fought hard to get it. But, the Orlanthi remain rebellious. About half of the tribes have fallen under Lunar control and worship Lunar Gods. The ones who remain loyal to Orlanth are being hunted. Usually, the Lunars are cool and say “your god's alright, as long as you realize he and the Red Goddess are buds.” The Lunars have done this with Ernalda, and so some tribes have decided not to fight them. They can't integrate Orlanth, though, as his first rule is “no one can make you do anything.” As a recent poster on a Hero Quest forum said:

Again, Orlanth's first rule is “No one can make you do anything.” His other rule is “Violence is always an option.” The rule of Ernalda is “There is always another way.” While violence is always an option, she teaches that it is never a necessity.