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
  • Role-playing in Glorantha
  • About This Site
  • Get involved!

Latest Posts

  • Boldhome Embassies

    In general, Gloranthan kingdoms and empires send representatives to each …
  • Yanioth the Red-Haired Huntress

    Yanioth Two-Sight was born in 1577, the daughter of Arene …
  • The Founding of the Colymar Tribe

    Colymar was the son of a farmer of the Orshanti …
  • Chaos and The Great Compromise

    The Spike held Glorantha together in the Gods Time. The …
  • Notes on The Red Goddess and Chaos

    In 1220 ST, great stirrings in the world centered in …

Links

  • Chaosium
  • Glorantha on BRP Central
  • RuneQuest on BRP Central
  • RuneQuest Glorantha on MeWe
  • Glorantha Wiki on Fandom
  • Prince of Sartar Webcomic
  • Glorantha G+ Archives on Tapatalk
  • Search mailing list archive

Latest from BRP Central

  • Timeline Please
  • Out now in hardcover: The Meints Index to Glorantha, 3rd Edition
  • Hyalor Cult?
  • Active sorcery spells
  • Request for info: The "taming" of the Telmori
  • Why would a Golden Bow shaman be adventuring in Sartar? (Alternate question: How old should a shaman be to have an assistant?)
  • help with heroquest idea?
  • Monster Empire
  • Kallyr was busy
  • Adventures in Nochet, Esrolia

Popular Tags

2007 Avalon Hill Boldhome Chaosium Chaos pantheon Cult demographics Cults of Runequest (preview) Ernalda Esrolia (homeland) FR G+ post Greg Stafford Guide to Glorantha (preview) Humakt Issaries Jar-eel Kralorelan pantheon Lunar Empire Lunar Pantheon Magazine Malkioni pantheon Map Maps Michael O’Brien Mongoose Nochet (metropolis) Nomad Gods Oriflam Orlanth Orlanthi pantheon Photo reference Population demographics Prax (homeland) Praxian pantheon RQ3 RQG Sandy Petersen Sartar (homeland) Spirit Cult Subcult Tales of the Reaching Moon Troll Pantheon Yelm Yelmalio Yelm Pantheon

Recently added or updated

  • Boldhome Embassies

  • Yanioth the Red-Haired Huntress

  • The Founding of the Colymar Tribe

  • Chaos and The Great Compromise

  • CHA4032 RuneQuest Glorantha Bestiary – Q&A

  • Protected: CHA4042 – The Prosopaedia (2023)

  • Zaytenera

  • Zotulla

  • Zong the hunter

  • Zzabur

  • Zorak Zoran

  • Zaktirra

  • CHA4028 RuneQuest: Roleplaying in Glorantha – Chapter 16 Sorcery Spells Q&A

  • CHA4034 Red Book of Magic – Chapter 02 Rune Magic Spells Q&A (A-M)

  • CHA4028 RuneQuest: Roleplaying in Glorantha – Chapter 04 Homelands Q&A

  • CHA4028 RuneQuest: Roleplaying in Glorantha – Chapter 07 Combat Q&A pages 206-225

  • London Calling… A wonderful presentation on the Guide to Glorantha project (2013)

  • CHA4035 RQ Starter Set – Book 1 Rules – Q&A

  • CHA4039 The Smoking Ruin and other Stories – Q&A

  • Teelo Norri

©2023 The Well of Daliath | Design: Newspaperly WordPress Theme