This mystic diagram is from the House of Black Arkat in the Esrolian city of Arkat’s Hold. It depicts an Illuminate who has been guided by Arkat’s teachings to transcend the struggles of the Gods War. She is seated at the symbolic Axis Mundi and holds Arkat in her left hand. With her right hand she makes a mystic gesture of reassurance and blessing.
This diagram is remarkable in the amount of iconographic details shown on the various deities, and for the tribal and temple tattoos on the Illuminate, who can clearly be identified as an Ernalda priestess from the temple at Ezel.
Surrounding her is a traditional depiction of the major events and deities of the Gods War. Clockwise from the lower left are:
- Ernalda: The Green Goddess is holding barley and snakes wind around her arms;
- Orlanth and Yelm: The Storm God is striking down the Sun God;
- Humakt and Grandfather Mortal: The Death God is about to kill the First Mortal; and
- Argan Argar and Lodril: The Darkness God has bound the Volcano God and is taking his Fire Spear.
This piece appears in HeroQuest Glorantha.
