Skip to content
The Well of Daliath
Menu
Menu

A Few Rules of Thumb

Posted on May 2, 2023

Most to all adults are initiates of a cult, regardless of culture, and around 2% of initiates are Rune levels. Many people are lay members of one or more other cults.

These are not hard numbers of course. Thanks to war, pressure, desperation, or whatever, with some cults the number might be as much as 3% and in others it might be closer to 1%.

For example we’ve got about 1.2 million Lunar initiates (all cults) in the Lunar Heartlands (total population 5.5 million), which gives us somewhere around 20-24,000 Rune levels.

While in Sartar we have 34,000 initiates of Orlanth, but might have somewhere around 1200 rune levels thanks to the pressure of the last few years.

Just about every Gloranthan culture defines adulthood as initiation into a cult. That often takes place over several years and is usually somewhere between 15 and 21.

This is true for just about every human culture – Orlanthi, Pelorian, Lunar, Malkioni, Praxian, etc.

As a general rule about 66% of any listed Gloranthan population are adults and about 33% are children. Compare that to the modern US where only about 18% are under 15. I am really not interested in going more granular than that.

As another aside, I figure most initiates only make the single POW sacrifice and don’t continue going much deeper into the cult mysteries. They are likely concerned about other things like work, relaxation, sex, family, more work, avoiding work, feeding the chickens, etc.

Does this apply to the Elder Races in addition to the human cultures? No, only humans. The Elder Races are all over the map. The dwarves and dragonewts are entirely other, the trolls are bifurcated species, and the elves are plants. Don’t assume they work like humans do.

Jeff Richard

Next
Previous
Cult demographics, Population demographics

Sections

  • Search Tips
  • Current RuneQuest Glorantha Publications
  • RuneQuest Glorantha Corrections and Q&A
  • Catalogue
  • References for Glorantha
    • Gloranthan Canon
  • Gloranthan Documents
  • RPG Systems & Versions
  • Gallery
  • About This Site
  • Get involved!

Latest Posts

  • The Grasslands of Prax

    Something to keep in mind about Prax. The grasslands of …
  • Praxian Kinship Groups

    Praxian tribes are divided into smaller kinship groups or clans, …
  • Lunar Resettlement of Tarsh after 1460 ST

    After 1460, large sections of Peloria (especially east of the …
  • The Spread of the Lunar Way

    In the Lunar Provinces, about 26% of the total population …
  • Gods of Fire and Sky and the Lunar Way

    The Gods of Fire and Sky co-exist alongside the Lunar …
  • How Much Land is a Hide?

    So in RQ, a “hide” is a unit of accounting …
  • Agricultural Data for RuneQuest

    Back in the late 70s and early 80s, Greg‘s only …
  • Farming in Dara Happa

    In anticipation of the Fire/Sky Book, here’s a few notes …
  • Farming in the Big Rubble

    There are some 1600 humans in the Big Rubble, with …

Links

  • Chaosium
  • Chaosium’s RuneQuest RPG Wiki
  • Glorantha on BRP Central
  • RuneQuest on BRP Central
  • RuneQuest on Discord
  • Prince of Sartar Webcomic
  • Glorantha G+ Archives on Tapatalk
  • Search mailing list archive

Latest from BRP Central

  • Stat modifiers for Perception skills
  • Core Glorantha and Jonstown Compednium
  • A possible suggestion for sorcery
  • Out now on Jonstown Compendium: RuneQuest without a Gamemaster, a guide to playing RuneQuest solo or co-operatively with a group
  • Are there any official RQ scenarios regarding Mostali?
  • Cults books - state of completion, undocumented cults
  • Jeff Kyer's Blood Over Gold
  • Gagarth's steed
  • Does Issaries have a magical language?
  • How the Rebel Storm Set Me Free

Popular Tags

Boldhome (large city) Chaosium Colymar (Sartar tribe) Contents Cult demographics Cults of Runequest (preview) Ernalda Esrolia (homeland) FRA Furthest (large city) G+ post Gods Wall Greg Stafford Guide to Glorantha (preview) Humakt Jar-eel Lunar Empire Lunar Pantheon Magazine Malkioni pantheon Map Michael O’Brien Mongoose MRQ1 New Pavis (small city) Old Glorantha Q&A Orlanth Orlanthi pantheon Photo reference Population demographics Prax (homeland) RQ3 RQG Sandy Petersen Sartar (homeland) Spirit Cult Star Subcult Tapatalk post Tarsh (homeland & Lunar province) Troll Pantheon Yelm Yelmalio Yelm Pantheon Youtube

Recently added or updated

  • Kralorelan Pantheon

  • Godunya

  • The Exarchs

  • Udam Bagur

  • Ω Urangar Vorderos

  • ISS1304 Lunar Handbook Vol 2 – Under the Red Moon (2006)

  • Ω Dakkasinoda and Dakkahoneel

  • Noonlight

  • Tribes of Sartar Map, 1625-1626

  • The Gloranthan Sky (1997)

  • Mad Max Part 1

  • Mad Max Part 3

  • Myth of the Month: History of the Race of Trolls (1998)

  • Part 1 – Mundane Carnivores

  • New Gamemaster Month 2019

  • Notes on the Big Rubble

  • Mad Max Part 2

  • Mongoose RuneQuest Products

  • Library of Londarios: The Kings of Seshnela, Part Two (1999)

  • Library of Londarios: The Kings of Seshnela, Part Three (1999)

©2025 The Well of Daliath | Design: Newspaperly WordPress Theme