Skip to content
The Well of Daliath
Menu
Menu

Notes on The Invisible God I

Posted on October 17, 2022

The Invisible God is abstract, the ultimate reality in the universe. It is Brahman, the Ein Sof, the Unmoved Mover, the One. The Invisible God does not change, but is the cause of all. The Invisible God is unity, undivided, infinite, and the single binding truth behind diversity in the universe.

Next to the Invisible God, all others are infinitely small, localized, and insignificant. They may be called on or used if necessary, but the Invisible God is the All.

The zzaburi are, among other things, the “priests” of the Invisible God. The Invisible God provides no Rune magic, not spirits, or Divine Intervention. But as the ultimate reality in the universe, study and contemplation of the Invisible God gave rise to sorcery, a rational system that allows mortals to understand and command the natural laws of the cosmos.

The Alchemical Tree by Wolfgang Kilian

So one way of thinking about the zzaburi is that they are brahmins, performing Brahma-yajna before the altar of the Invisible God, surrounded by geometric mandalas that depict cosmological mathematics. They chant, sing, and recite, while the rest of the community come by and offer gifts and obeisance.

I think defining Malkionism raises some of the same problems as trying to define Hinduism. Malkionism includes a diversity of ideas on spirituality and tradition, and within Malkionism are polytheists, pantheists, pantheists, henotheists, monotheists, and even atheists. Even caste is a subject of debate within Malkionism. Maybe it is merely the presence of sorcerer-priests of the Invisible God that makes it Malkionism? Maybe not even that?

But one way of thinking about the zzaburi is to analogise them to brahmins. But if you start taking that literally, then you’ve taken the analogy too far.

Jeff Richard

Next
Previous
Invisible God, Malkionism

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

  • Working on the Darkness Book

  • 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

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