This guide is in three rough sections: the basics, the map, and Advice for Homebodies.

The Basics include: the exploration screen, mission types, time, and safety measures.

The section on the Map includes: rivers, meeting the god Zarlen, and locations that have events tied to them.

Finally, if you don't like exploration and want to do as little as you can without adverse effects, or if you're just too busy with survival to focus on it, skip to Advice for Homebodies at the end of the guide. It covers the minimum exploration necessary to avoid problems and exploit event-based opportunities.

You explore from the Exploration Screen. Click the Explore button and it'll bring up a sidebar full of options; click the X button to get rid of the sidebar.

The Exploration sidebar lets you decide everything about the mission you're sending out.

First, you choose mission type: Capture Horses, Explore, Forage, or Search for Spirits. More on these later!

The default leader is typically the best on paper—the person whose skills and religion make them likeliest to succeed. But you might want to pick someone else if you need the "best" leader at home for some reason. Click on the little button next to the leader portrait to do that.

If you switch mission types, the game will automatically re-select the what it thinks is the best person to lead the new mission.

You also pick an escort. The game won't let you send an explorer off alone—your noble needs at least two people, either Bows or Swords, to escort them. Larger groups are better able to deal with trouble while exploring, but there's always a chance that an exploration party will be lost, and that's worse the more people you sent. Swords are more effective fighters than Bows, but that's as good a reason to keep them at home for raids as to send them off exploring. If you don't want to worry about it, just feel free to send the default escort.

You choose your destination by clicking on the map. Your chosen location will be marked by a red jewel.

(If you click somewhere you can't explore—too far away for the exploration type—the red jewel will stay at its default location, or the last viable place you put it.)

Gold jewels mark expeditions that are still away. (You can't send more than one party to the same location at once—you have to wait for the first one to get back).

Finally, your mission won't be sent out until you click the Send button. While you can send out missions ay any time, in Dark Season they will probably turn back immediately.

One more thing about those red jewels. If you put your exploration jewel within your own lands, they'll be highlighted in gray, matching your clan name in white text. And if you put it on someone else's lands, their territory will be highlighted in red. This is useful because exploring your own territory can be rewarding, but exploring another clan's is very much not.

In addition to general exploration, there are three special missions you can send to various locations on the map: Capture Horses, Foraging, and Search for Spirits.

These special exploration types can only be sent to known territory—the colored-in areas of the map. You can occasionally find spirits on your own lands, but it's difficult, and foraging and horse-catching will always fail at home. And none of the special missions can succeed on another clan's lands.

Each of these exploration types can be effected by both good and bad omens.

Plain, unmarked exploration is the only type that can visit unexplored areas of the map—that is, the light areas shown here. After your explorers get back, those areas will be detailed, and other kinds of exploration can go there. (The dark areas you see at the top of this image can't yet be visited; they're too far away.)

Explorers are tested in (obviously) Exploring, a skill composed of Combat and Bargaining. Zarlen worshippers often have advantages; to a lesser extent so do worshippers of Dostal, Ekarna, and Inilla. Dostalkarn here has Renowned Combat but merely Good Bargaining, so his exploring skills will be in the middle—probably competent but not amazing. However, he does worship Zarlen, which could make things easier for him in the wilds.

Unlike with special mission types, it's worth it to explore at home—you can find interesting things on your own clan lands.

Regular exploration is also the kind of exploring that affects Bandit Threat—to keep bandits under control, make sure to send someone into unknown territory every once in a while.

And the vast majority of exploration events are tied to this type of exploration. (See "Event Locations" below!)


Requires Hyalor's Horsebreaker blessing to be active when the mission is sent out.

If successful, this gives about 6 horses. This is better than it sounds—a horse is worth four cows. This isn't an exploration type I rely on, but it might be worth giving a try if you wind up low on horses.

The skill tested is Herding, which incorporates Food and something else. Worshippers of Hyalor and to a lesser extent Gamari have an advantage.

Foraging relies on Food and Lore, two skills that are rarely united in the same person. Worshippers of Inilla also have an advantage, and allocating Wilds magic at Sacred Time can help.

Foraging missions can't be sent very far from your clan lands—no foraging on the Glacier or in Naztalvan, for example!

I personally find foraging pretty unreliable in this game, and tend to get food by building up my shrines as fast as I can instead. If you need to do it, I'd recommend sending out multiple missions in the hope that at least one will succeed.

Foraging directly on waterways can result in an illustrated event, or an interesting text-only encounter with a talking fish.

I personally do this a lot, because I like spirits.

The skill that matters here is Magic, but shamans get a significant advantage.

Shamans can also get special opportunities—for example, running across spirits that won't agree to come home with them but are willing to give a one-off blessing. And shamans who successfully bring home spirits will get a small boost to their Magic skill.

Wearers of Mojara's Mask can occasionally bring home two spirits rather than just one. This can also happen if you send a mission in response to wandering Yeleni telling you that many spirits can be found in a specific area just outside the valley.

There's more information on this in my guide to Spirits and Shamans.

Exploring is dangerous. Many parties never return home. What can you do to keep your explorers safe?

First off: your pantheon includes a god of explorers.

Sacrifice to Zarlen until you get his Pathfinder blessing, then build a shrine to keep it active. This is something you can do no matter what, and you should do it as soon as possible.

(Zarlen's other blessing, Safe Travel, protects your missions from ambush. It's not useless, but if you're interested in exploring at all, Pathfinder is better.)

Each Sacred Time, if you plan to explore at all in the next year, put as much magic as you can into Exploring. This is the single best thing you can do for your explorers—particularly if you can give them more than the default single magic point. (Two points of magic will help in many more situations than just one.)

Having a Zarlen worshipper on the circle means you get an extra Exploring magic slot, so if you have a Zarlen worshipper in your clan, put him on the circle. And if you get the yearly omen that gives you another extra Exploring slot, take advantage of it—whatever your plans were before, that's now Exploring Year!

On the other hand, there's an omen that prevents you from putting magic into Exploring at all for a year. That year, don't explore—it's not worth it.

More generally, you should pay attention to good and bad omens related to exploring, foraging, horse-finding and spirit-finding. If it's a bad omen, don't send out that mission type; if it's a good one, consider doing so. Good omens don't guarantee success, but they make things easier!

Send missions to unknown territory periodically. (Otherwise bandit threat skyrockets and your explorers are all in more danger.)

Finally, consider the worst-case scenario. Even if you're doing everything right, there's a chance that your explorers will die away from home. If someone is vital to the survival of your clan, don't send them.

(Of course, impressive leaders can also get impressive results while exploring. It's a trade-off!)

I'm talking primarily about Beren the Tall. Beren has interesting special exploration results, but exploration is dangerous and if he dies you will lose the game. Maybe don't send him out if you're not playing with unlimited restores.

During Dark Season, the weather is so bad that any missions you send out, exploration or otherwise, will almost certainly result in the expedition leader announcing a turn later that they and their escort refuse to risk their lives for this nonsense.

Exploration at home has a chance of working out, but exploration further afield is pretty much doomed.

There is a way around this—the Pine Spirit's blessing allows "peaceful missions during snow", which includes exploration. So if you happen to have that spirit and have bargained with it, you can ignore the calendar and explore in bitterest cold! (I'm not sure it guarantees success, but it does make it possible.)

Mostly unrelatedly, exploration takes time. The further away you send your people, the longer it'll take them to get back. (Lost missions are always reported after a year, though; that's how long it takes people at home to give up on them.)

If you want to prioritize exploration—for example, if you want to visit Noastor before that becomes impossible—you can sacrifice to Gamari to learn Fleethoof, and then build a shrine.

This blessing makes all your missions faster—not just exploration, but also trade caravans and diplomatic missions.

At the beginning of the game, your clan knows very little about the land they live on. Only a small area—the Riders' side of the Black Eel Valley—is colored in: this is the extremely limited "known territory" for your clan.

The unexplored map has only the barest of features filled in—mountain ranges, the Black Eel River, and the Oslira once the Black Eel joins it. As you explore, detail and color are added to your map—forests, hills, small waterways, and certain event locations.

You can send any type of exploration type to the known, colored-in areas, including foraging, capturing horses, and searching for spirits.

The light blank area surrounding your known territory is explorable territory. You can visit this only with standard exploration missions. Once they return, the area they visited (as well as the path there) will become known territory, and adjacent land will become explorable.

Beyond the explorable territory is land too mysterious to even think about visiting, shown dark on the map.

Your clan does have some idea of the location of major landmarks—mountain ranges, and part of the course of the Black Eel and Oslira rivers.

In the northeast is the glacier that swallowed Nivorah. As the world grows colder, the glacier will slowly expand, moving southward. There's at an exploration event that can only occur in the early game because after a while its location is covered in ice!

The fully explored map looks rather different:

All of those spiffy little circles are event locations. They're not marked like that until you get to them. If you hear of them before you visit (by asking for information about the land as a favor from another clan, or sometimes as a freebie when your emissaries give gifts) you'll see a text name on the location. (You can't find all these locations that way, but with most of them it's possible.)

Keep in mind that most of those circles can move around between playthroughs! With a couple exceptions, though, they tend to stay relatively close to where they're shown on this map.

Gloranthan rivers—particularly large ones like the Black Eel and the Oslira—are powerful magical beings, and no friends to humanity. In the game, this means that they're extremely hard to cross.

The ritual Taming the River (which you know from the beginning of the game if your ancestral foes are the forces of Water) can make river crossings routine. You'll have to perform it once for the Black Eel and another time for the Oslira.

(The scribbled red dot on the map above, by the city of Elempur, shows the point at which the rivers meet.)

Until you have tamed these rivers, crossing them is risky. You may pass without incident or placate the river with a small sacrifice, but you may also have to choose between turning back and spending clan magic on a safe crossing. (The Trout Spirit can make crossings easier, but it doesn't guarantee success.)

Finally, while this may seem painfully obvious: until you have tamed both rivers, remember where they are. (I give this advice because I could have used it myself in the past.)

While the rivers cordon off a large section of the map, a lot of it is open even if you never tame either one.

The red-and-blue map is meant to give a rough idea of how much land the rivers block off from your emissaries and explorers.

The area across the Black Eel (blue) is relatively small, though it does contain several of your neighbor clans. (You do have to cross it to get two of the exploration-related achievements.)

The Oslira, though, cuts you off from a very large section of the map—the entire red area! This includes just one or two clans, but many, many event locations. (Though again, if you're a diplomatic completionist or seeking all the achievement for sending a caravan to every clan, you will have to cross the Oslira.)

If you're not interested in exploring, you should tame the Black Eel anyway, because that will allow you to visit, trade with, and raid more of your neighbors. However, if you're not interested in exploring, all you lose from not taming the Oslira is the opportunity to reliably trade with and send emissaries to a couple of Ram clans. (Mind, you'll want to visit them if you're trying to unlock certain achievements or get the maximum number of trade routes and alliances you can. But if you're not a completionist, ignoring the Oslira can work out okay.)

Some events are tied to specific locations (which may move between playthroughs, or not!); others are variable. (By which I mean that you shouldn't limit your exploration to event locations! Random places can also have interesting things.)

With on exception, I'm not going to go into detail about exploration events, just note some places that are worth exploring—and in some cases, skills that you might need to make the most of the opportunities there. If you want more detailed information, that's available on the wiki[sixages.fandom.com].

The exception!

If you plan on exploring much at all, I recommend visiting Look Hill (the single hill in the east, marked with a gold explorer dot in this image) early. It'll take a couple missions to explore far enough to reach the hill, and you may have to visit more than once to get the event to trigger.

Once you can see the hill, send your best explorer there—the noble with the highest combined Combat and Bargaining skills. (It's also good if they worship Zarlen).

When Zarlen appears, I personally recommend asking for a blessing of safe passage. (You can also ask for increased skills, a random treasure, or help fighting strangers, but Zarlen may not grant these gifts and he always grants at least two years' worth of safe passage, longer if you send a skilled explorer to talk to him. (The maximum I've gotten is 15 years.)

Whatever you ask for, if Zarlen's impressed by your exploration skills, you will find new areas of the map colored in: a mix of event locations and distant zones like the Autumn Mountains or Jord Mountains. You can visit the newly colored areas or adjacent light areas, even if there's unexplorable territory between you and them.

It's worth visiting all the small patches revealed here, especially—and if you don't get the event the first time, try again! (A small patch at the edge of the map, especially, is likely to be a Traveling Stone location.)

Exploring your own lands can turn up exotic goods (useful for crafting or making trade routes), and there's also an illustrated event where you can find the remains of explorers who died before you settled in the valley. However, other missions are almost certainly pointless. If you aim an expedition towards your own lands, your territory will be highlighted in gray in case you might want to change your mind.

This screenshot doesn't show other clans, but of course the valley is full of them! There's an illustrated event if you try to explore a neighbor's lands, but aside from that, you won't accomplish much by trying (and that includes the special missions). If you send a mission to another clan's lands, that clan's territory will be highlighted in red on the map.

The larger rivers (Oslira and Black Eel) have two illustrated events associated with them—one of which requires you to send a foraging mission, rather than normal exploration, directly to the water.

Additionally, the triangular area between those two small rivers at the top of the map section and the wooded area is a good place to meet Yanadlings (though hardly the only one).

Yelena is home to the Yeleni vulture people, a mildly aggravating illustrated event, and some non-illustrated eventlets that can give a treasure or spirit.

The ruins of Elempur are haunted by ghosts who really hate Rams and anyone who cozies up to them. There's an illustrated event if you visit, but also a non-illustrated chance to gain a treasure (if you visit after hearing that a sinkhole has opened up in the ruins).

Boulderwood has a (creepy) illustrated scene as well as multiple non-illustrated mini-events. (Foraging and spirit-hunting there are not great ideas, for the record.)



The small crater moves around a bit. It has only one event, but what's going on there is different in different playthroughs.



The obsidian plain is the site of a divine battle. I recommend visiting with a heroic magician if you get the chance. And keep on visiting until you see the event!



The closest of the three caves is just outside of the valley proper, but it's across the Black Eel, so it may be a bit until you can visit it. Visit all three caves for an achievement! They share a neat illustrated event.


Finally, the crater can be anywhere a clan can be. It has an illustrated event, as well as some text ones that vary depending on how long it's been there. (Note that visiting here is not how you get the Sky God Bone treasure—that's linked to a random event.)

There's an event if you visit the very edge of the glacier, but otherwise it's a singularly boring expanse of ice—aside from the fact that it gradually moves over the course of the game, covering more and more of the map.

Noastor, located just beneath a small river, is a dwarf trade post. It will eventually be covered by the glacier, so if you want to visit move fast!

The Jord Mountains don't have their own illustrated event, though they do have some text-only ones.

Sometimes the Traveling Stone can be found on the upper edge of the map, between the Jord Mountains and Naztalvan.

Ergeshan is the home of the Ergeshites, nomads who herd only goats. You may have the chance to seek a blessing from a magical blue goat, or to steal it as a treasure (though fair warning, the latter option is risky).

Naztalvan, kingdom of the Northern Wheels, has a kind of boring illustrated event as well as a much more interesting long news chain—if you send missions there repeatedly you can make friends with the Gar-Astini, a clan who have their own saga.

The Inland Sea is home to a powerful water spirit, who won't be well-disposed towards you if your ancestors fought the forces of Water.

The Imther Mountains are home to dwarves and sacred to Orlanth, so you may find dwarves and Rams fighting here. Outside of the illustrated event, fighting dwarves can net you treasures—either the Self-Firing Bow (meh) or the Mostali Mill (glorious).

In the Dog Hills, you can encounter a magical wolf, and there are also various text-only events in which you can attempt to waylay or trade with various strange foreigners. While the Votanki dog people live here, you're likeliest to run into them in the wooded areas at the edge of the hills.

The lone hill just below the Dog Hills is Zarlen's vantage point, already discussed.

Some of the event locations around here are pretty nondescript, happening in seemingly random forested locations—they're best found by talking to Zarlen and then visiting the tiny green patches he reveals.

Another cave is located near the edge of the map, a bit southeast of Zarlen's hill.


The mountains in the corner there are called the Rockwoods. Theoretically you can get an illustrated blizzard event there, but I've never managed it—it usually happens in the Autumn Mountains instead.

The Traveling Stone can usually be found somewhere in the lower left hand corner of the map (near the Rockwoods), but sometimes it's up at the top edge of the map instead, between the Jord Mountains and Naztalvan. (The Traveling Stone moves around. The icon shown here always shows where it used to be, not where you'll find it next—that'll be a close but not identical location. )

Finally, the easternmost Southern Ram Kingdom is Infithan, inhabited by the Infithtelli, who have domesticated mammoths and would like you to tell the valley Rams that they aren't cannibals.

Pentenan is the kingdom of the Penentelli Rams. Their king employs roving bands of tax collectors.

Vestenan is the kingdom of the Vestantes, a Ram tribe known for prowess in war and magic. If you want to explore there, send a mighty warrior.

Lake Imaress is always in the same location in Vestenan, but it's tiny and not revealed until you visit. Other than remembering where it is based on the river next to it, the best way to find it is by impressing Zarlen and then traveling to the revealed spot in Vestenan until it shows up for you.

Forosan is the kingdom of the Forosilvuli, a Ram tribe who passionately hate Solars. Visiting here can lead to an illustrated confrontation with Forosilvuli warriors (again, this will go better for someone who's good at fighting), or a non-illustrated gift from their other foes.

The Hill of Gold is the site of a Gods War battle (tabletop Glorantha fans may know which one). Any option but the first two can have dramatic effects in the sequel.

The final cave is in this region, on the edge of the forested area.



There are two sets of ruins - one location is a wonderful way to get rid of unwanted nobles (and also cure sickness in those left at home); returning gives you the same result again. The other has a positive or ambiguous encounter with a mysterious giant temple; returning there can be worthwhile.

The Spirit Hills, at the west edge of the map, are confusingly illustrated as forest rather than hills. This area is home to a nomadic people who herd reindeer, as well as Yanadlings who can trade goods or spirits. Shamans searching for spirits can also encounter spirits offering to teach them about specific situations.

The sands are a variable location, but usually a bit north of the Autumn Mountains. If you learn about the location, send a strong fighter. And it can be worth visiting again after you get the illustrated event, particularly if you're not having much luck finding spirits.

The Autumn Mountains have two events—a terrible blizzard and an encounter with a monstrous bear. The latter can go a few different ways depending on your explorer's skills and choices.

The gold dot covers the location of the whispering stones, which can tell the future to a bold explorer. (Beren is accounted for specially.)

Exploring may not be a priority for you. Maybe it's not something you particularly enjoy, or maybe you can't spare anyone competent to risk their lives in the wilderness. Maybe you're just busy avoiding starving to death!

Unfortunately, not exploring for long periods of time makes missions riskier—not just exploring, but trade and diplomacy. Some of this can be reversed, but not all.

There's also a minimal level of exploration that will open up some opportunities and rewards, without sending dozens of missions all across the map.


You should probably at least explore your own lands, because you can find Exotic Goods there! These open up some nice economic possibilities. (To explore at home, just don't move the red exploration jewel from its default position.)

If you're at all interested in spirits, I recommend at least exploring the hills to the east and the first set of mountains to the north—these will allow you to take advantage of some spirit-hunting opportunities that come up in events. Add the eastern mountains if you manage to tame the Oslira.

The map here shows roughly where these opportunities are located. You can reach the eastern hills by default; the mountains are further away—in order to reach them, you have to first explore the land in between.

In order to send a spirit-hunting party promptly enough to take advantage of these opportunities, you will need to have sent a "normal" exploration party to that location already. If you try to do this after the event opportunity, the opportunity will be lost by the time the normal explorers get back home and you're able to send spirit-hunters.

Beyond that, exploring every few years will prevent threats from building up.

If you don't explore, or only explore known territory (such as your own lands), you'll eventually start seeing the Banditry Threat and Chaos Threat concerns by the Clan button. Both of these concerns increase the risk of losing missions to ambushes.

Bandits are relatively easy to deal with—there's a venture that helps, provided you have at least eleven Swords.

Bandit threat increases gradually over time. If it's very low, your leaders will say on the Clan screen you don't need to conduct anti-bandit ventures; if it's a small problem, they'll start saying that your missions would be safer if you scoured.

Once you get the concern, the problem is serious enough that the venture is definitely a good idea, instead of "well, if you don't have any other ventures in mind..."

Unfortunately, there isn't really a way to reduce Chaos Threat in this game. Once it shows up, it's there forever. And like Bandit Threat, it increases gradually over time—if you avoid exploring after it first happens, it will get worse. Again, this increases the risk of losing trade caravans and diplomatic missions, not just explorers.

Sending out exploration parties can help keep the risk from growing. But what about protecting your missions?

While either problem persists, it's wise to assign large escorts to your trade and diplomatic missions—but bear in mind that large escorts don't fully prevent ambushes!

If the Scour for Bandits venture doesn't work well for you, or if you're suffering Chaos
Threat, Zarlen's Safe Travel can be a big help.

(Note that if you're exploring at all, Pathfinder is Zarlen's better blessing; if you're not, Safe Travel is the way to go. Since you can only build a shrine to him, it's nice that this is so straightforward!)