Skip to content
The Well of Daliath
Menu
Menu

Earth Goddesses coming this week

Posted on August 14, 2023

I am particularly pleased with the Earth Goddesses cults book, which is available later this week.

This book is dedicated to the powers of Earth – the source of Life for most mortals, but also the place of Death. Ernalda, Aldrya, Asrelia, Eiritha, the Grain Goddesses, Uleria, and Voria are all goddesses of Life; Maran Gor, Babeester Gor, and Ty Kora Tek are all goddesses of Death. These deities are all tied into agriculture and animal husbandry, the cycle of the seasons, and of life and death. Many Gloranthan cultures (e.g., the Orlanthi and Pelorians) view these powers as feminine, and the book forms a counterbalance to the Lightbringers and Solar books.

I would be remiss if I didn’t thank Claudia Loroff and Skylar Mannen for their work in shaping these cults. Compared to the Lightbringers book, I had less to work off from Greg – and so we made a lot of discoveries during the writing of this book! Things that were always there but never noticed before are now front and center.

There’s also plenty of cults beyond the above – some aren’t goddesses and some aren’t even associated with Earth. For example, this book includes Pamalt, Caladra & Aurelion, Donandar, Flamal, Mostal, and the Bloody Tusk. But all of these tie into the themes of the book.

There are two cults that I could have put in this book but that I instead chose for thematic reasons to put in the Solar book – Dendara and Gorgorma. But even without them, I think you’ll find this book covers a lot of new territory.

One thing I really want to call out is the art of Loïc Muzy, Antonia Doncheva, Katrin Dirim and Agathe Pitié. They really made this book what it is – and with Simeon Cogswell made the visual aspect as important as the text. There’s also a wonderful piece depicting different types of grains from Ossi Hiekkala – I really love that we have red maize, and I have learned so much about historical grains from Claudia Loroff’s projects.

One way of thinking about the Earth goddesses is that they are the foundation of both the Lightbringers and Solar cultures. In Sartar, some 36% of the adult population are directly initiated to one of these deities, and in Esrolia and Old Tarsh that number is even higher. Even in the Lunar Heartlands, some 15-25% of the population are directly initiated to them (assuming you say Dendara is one of them).

And when we think about how these Cult books fit together, almost all of them have strong tie-ins to the Earth Goddesses. Lightbringer, Solar, Darkness, even Water and Horned God.


Jeff Richard

Next
Previous
CoR-EG preview

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

  • 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

  • Excerpt – Cosmology (1981)

  • Excerpt – History in Glorantha (1981)

  • Excerpt – Some Pamaltelan Creation Mythology (2003)

  • Famous Trolls of The Gbaji Wars (1999)

  • Excerpt – Ernalda’s Holy Days (2009)

  • Excerpt – Some Gods (2009)

  • Hero Wars FAQ (2000)

  • Excerpt – The Affairs At Dusk (2003)

  • Myth of the Month: The Orogeria Moon (1998)

  • Greg Sez: Ernaldan Initiation Rites (2005)

  • VASSAL

  • The Grasslands of Prax

  • The Guardian Hills

  • The Guardian Hills, near Swenstown or Toena

  • Quivin Mountains and Guardian Hills

  • Praxian Kinship Groups

  • Working on the Darkness Book

  • Vrimak

  • Sun Hawk

  • Red Goddess

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