Skip to content
The Well of Daliath
Menu
Menu

After the Spike

Posted on January 25, 2024

The Spike is the central pillar that holds up the sky and unites Sky, Air, Earth, Water, and Darkness. It extends from the deepest depths of the Underworld to the City atop the Sky Dome. The destruction of the Spike is the worst moment of the Greater Darkness, and marks when the relationship between gods and mortals changed forever.

Prior to this, communication between gods and mortals was easy. Men could easily visit the gods and vice versa. For example, Orlanth took mortal lovers, as did many other deities. Yelm’s grandchildren climbed his Footstool (another title for the Spike) and visited him. From atop the Spike, Pole Star sent his Star Captains down to aid mortals.

But the Spike was destroyed, leaving a void, a “central opening” in the cosmos, to quote Mircea Eliade. And a chasm was created between the gods and mortals. For mortals, that central opening served only for transmission of offerings and worship – from there sacrifices would ascend (or descend) to the realm of the gods.

It was Horned Man who showed the path. He shows shamans how they can ascend and descend the Spike, even though it is gone. Through that shamans can directly interact with the spirits and gods.

Some shamans used this to technique to contact their ancestral gods and enabled mortals to directly communicate with that god and wield its magic, through a lesser form of shamanic initiation that created a link between mortals and that deity. Other mortals found ways to straddle the mortal and divine realms – these Heroes were self-made shamans of a sort and also showed others how to communicate with the gods.

We can imagine this going on in many parts of the world in the Dawn Ages. Cults such as the Lightbringers, Yelmalio, Ernalda, Storm Bull, Humakt, and Yelm popped up – and the Theyalan Missionaries showed others how to do this. Shamans were not needed to maintain communication – that was the role of priests, rune lords, and god-talkers (although some cults maintained a shamanic tradition, such as Yelm, Waha, etc.).

But in other places, people preferred to rely on their shamans. Ancestor worship, be it Daka Fal, Hykimi, Aldrya, or Kyger Litor, remained important. And the Horned Man continued to guide those who sought him out or fell into his path. And so shamans, like heroes, still have the power to reach the realm of the gods and spirits – the “Spirit World”. And for the most part, they, unlike priests and rune lords, have freedom to go where they will.

For the most part, shamans are suspicious of the gods, and many cults do not permit shamans to initiate into their mysteries. But many other cults make accommodations for those shamans willing to serve the gods. Some incorporate this directly into the main cult practices – Waha, Kyger Litor, etc. Others have subservient or even associated cults that do this – Golden Bow, Kolat, etc.

Horned Man is sometimes a man, sometimes a horned snake, or even other horned animal.

Shamans are the main source of access to many powerful spirits/ancestors/etc. These are the so-called “spirit cults” and include everything from Black Fang to Elk Woman to worship of gods. So for example, troll shamans provide access to such deities as Asrelia or Lodril, but as spirit cults.

Common to many shamanic stories is a focus on “Old Gods” – lords of the direction (such as Loon, Otter, Sea Eagle, and Turtle), rulers of the elements (King of Above, King of Below, Grandmother Earth, King Undine, etc.), Grandmother Spider, Grower and Taker, etc. These Old Gods are not the subject of “cult”, but rather are powerful/universal archetypes in the cosmos. The God Learners identified them with the Cosmic Court and with the source of many elementals and other spirits.

There’s a lot in this post to unpack, and I’d suggest doing that carefully before following tangents. Gloranthan shamanism touches many cults, and the relationship between the shaman and the hero is strong, even if often overlooked.

The key attributes of RQ shamanism are – ability to Discorporate the soul from the body, the fetch, and the ability to interact with spirits. There are all sorts of additional shamanic abilities and powers, geases, etc., but consider those add-ons.

Now we get some parallels with Rune Masters – the allied spirit as a fetch, the ability to interact with cult spirits, and the ability to enter the Hero Plane through Worship. But these abilities are more defined – more restricted – than the shamanic equivalents. They do overlap, and in the Hero Wars, groups like the Sartar Magical Union intentionally exploit that overlap.

Jeff Richard

Next
Previous
shamans, Spike

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

  • 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 …
  • Farming in Pavis County

    So I’ve been looking really carefully at agriculture and farm …
  • Nochet – Sailing and Oceanic Trade

    One thing I think is easy to underestimate is just …

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

  • 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?
  • RuneQuest GM Screen Pack
  • Why does Orlanth have the Mastery Rune?
  • 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

  • Vrimak

  • Sun Hawk

  • Red Goddess

  • Oslira

  • Nysalor

  • Hyalor Horsebreaker

  • Grain Goddesses

  • Ernalda

  • Entekos

  • Chalana Arroy

  • Buserian

  • Aldrya

  • Cult Writeups from the Distribution Tables

  • Aeolian

  • Malakinus

  • Malkionism demographics

  • Deep Lunar Synthesis

  • Myth of the Month – Pelandan Cosmology (2013)

  • Bentus

  • Lendarsh

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