A Question About Arkati Henotheism and Arkat’s Runes (2013)

Forums | Glorantha QA

Submitted by Bryan Chavez on Thu, 27/06/2013 – 23:52

So, as someone who may soon run a game set in Ralios, and Safelster in specific, I’m very interested in portraying Arkati cults (along with all of the other strange cults, spirit societies, and schools of magic in the region) as a major element of the game. While I know that Arkati use sorcery via the Law rune, as suggested in Argan Argar’s write-up in Sartar Companion, the Guide to Glorantha also explains that the Arkati form of malkionism is henotheistic. Does that simply mean they combine reverence of Arkat (via their particular form of Malkionism) with local gods, or does Arkat have actual affinities that a theistic worshiper can approach him from directly as well?

While obviously, this would likely be established in more detail in a book devoted to the subject, has there ever been something that established, at the very least, what Arkat’s runes are, and whether or not they change between his varying aspects? Such as Arkat the Troll having different runes than Arkat the Liberator, or Arkat the Great. Any basic, barebones information on this would be much appreciated. Thank you for your time.

Sorcery, tradition and runes

Submitted by David on Fri, 28/06/2013 – 19:49.

Sorcery in general does not need to be tied to any personal rune. You can augment with a personal rune if it matches the spell/grimoire, but you don’t have to have it to cast the spell. Take a look at the grimoire section of Pavis: Gateway to Adventure, that has the most up-to-date information in print on sorcery.

I’m interested in what spirit tradition the arkati would have their spirit societies in. Certainly a Darkness tradition with their spirit magic keying off their Darkness runes if they had them.

As for Runes, these are the complex runes:

Men of all    (Arkat, Hrestol)
Martyr        (Arkat, Death)
Troll           (Arkat, Darkness)
King           (Arkat, Mastery)
Devil          (Arkat, Devil)

(from Glorantha, Introduction to the Hero Wars – Errata)

The runes are in this document, it includes the complex runes

http://moondesignpublications.com/library/rune_list.pdf

You can see the Arkat and Hrestol runes

The Devil rune is represented by the Annihilation rune (not the Devil runes!).

I’d have to have a think about representing Arkat with the Core runes.

—–

David Scott

your henotheism may vary…

Submitted by Charles on Fri, 28/06/2013 – 07:57.

I’d opine that the Arkati in Ralios cover many variants of henotheism, from near exclusive sorcery, to sorcery + theism, sorcery + animism and maybe even sorcery + theism + animism.

See https://plus.google.com/u/0/108191783232173529938/posts/DNuc7Zb2ucA for much more information on Arkat. From this, it is pretty clear to me that the different Arkats have different runes.

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