Skip to content
The Well of Daliath
Menu
Menu

Lay Membership

Posted on June 14, 2021

It is worth remembering how common lay membership is. In my adventuring party, one character – an initiate of Orlanth Thunderous and the Sun Dragon – is also lay member of Storm Bull, Humakt, and Issaries. But he has his limits – he refused to participate in Argan Argar worship as a lay member.

For example, in the Lunar Empire, almost every free person is a lay member of the Red Emperor. In fact, many Pelorian cults include worship of the Red Emperor simply as a matter of routine. Of course, you don’t get much for that worship in the sense of magic or skill training, but you do get the benefits of being ruled by the Red Emperor!

Humakt is a popular cult for lay members. Pretty much every full time warrior in Sartar is a lay member of Humakt – he is the God of War after all. But far fewer people initiate into the cult.

Orlanth Rex Lay Member

Any initiate of Orlanth, Ernalda, or another Lightbringer cult may become a lay member of Orlanth Rex. A lay member must give an appropriate gift to an Orlanth Rex initiate, traditionally “a brave sword in battle, a praise song, or loyalty freely given.” The lay member swears to uphold the virtues and justice of Orlanth. The lay member must sacrifice 1 magic point on Orlanth Rex holy days and is expected to attend tribal assemblies.

Where the cult is present, people that hold leadership positions in their clan must typically become lay members of Orlanth Rex. For example, one must be a lay member of Orlanth Rex to be a candidate for clan chief.

There is no Ernalda Regina cult. it is just Ernalda. She’s got enough going on as it is!

Does Ernalda offer the same kind of special Rune Magic to high Priestesses as Orlanth Rex offer to his Priests? No. Orlanth Rex is a historical product of the need for tribal kings to be able to reign priests in. A similar development did not happen with the Ernalda cult in Esrolia.

Jeff Richard

Next
Previous
Lay member, Orlanth Rex

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

  • creating a spirit cult of Fralar
  • Thoughts on running an Animal Nomad/Praxian game
  • Fillable excel RQG character sheets?
  • Where is there a list of temples in Dragon Pass?
  • New on the Jonstown Compendium: Many Suns
  • Subcults vs Associated Cults
  • Gorgorma and Dendara's Chess Game
  • Merged deities
  • Elf plant ships and dwarf stone ships
  • Do Dwarves have souls?

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

  • Spirit Magic by Cult and Associate Cult

  • ISS1102 Glorantha: Introduction to the Hero Wars (2000)

  • Dragon Pass – A brief outline (2013)

  • Some Fronelan Population And Cultural Details

  • Notes on Fronela III

  • Notes on Fronela II

  • Notes on Fronela I

  • Hon-eel Temples and Shrine

  • Seven Mothers Temples and Shrines

  • Ernalda Temples and Shrines

  • Barntar Temples and Shrines

  • Babeester Gor Temple and Shrines

  • Voria Shrines

  • Ty Kora Tek Temples and Shrines

  • Asrelia Temples and Shrines

  • Maran Gor Temple, Shrines and Site

  • Odayla Shrines

  • Humakt Temples, Shrines and Sites

  • Orlanth Rex Temples, Shrines and Sites

  • Hippoi Shrines

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