So why is there variation in cult Rune Masters, some have only Rune Lords or Rune Priests, while others have both?
Good question. So Rune Priests are the most common way that cults interact with the divine – the connection with the god is based on sacrifice and offering. The initiates get access to magic, the magical specialists get enhanced POW gain rolls, allied spirits, etc. The main way the cult interacts with Time is through Rune magic. Consider that the base line.
A very few cults don’t work that way. They interact with their god through deeds in the world. Their magical specialists lead worship, but primarily through deeds in the world. They gain enhanced divine intervention, improved resistance to magic, etc. The cult interacts with Time through both Rune magic AND action.
Maran Gor interacts with the world through Rune magic. Earthquakes, curses, etc. She rumbles and shakes, but her deeds are inherently magical. She does not have Rune Lords, but Rune Priestesses a plenty.
Gagarth is much weaker than Maran Gor or Orlanth or the other cults. He’s actually manifest in the world as the Wild Hunt, and doesn’t need to have magical specialists act as him. Heck, he doesn’t really care how you act – and you can be too twisted up to make a connection to other deities and you can still sacrifice to him and gain power from him. So he has Rune Priests but no Rune Lords.
Humakt on the other hand demands action that corresponds to his deeds. Honor, war, combat. That’s his things. Orlanth Adventurous as well demands action and deeds. As does Yelmalio and Storm Bull. See how that works?
So why aren’t Trader Priests Rune Lords? They aren’t a rune lord because they aren’t martial figures. In the end ALL Rune Lords are martial priests. It was important to Greg (and I) that Rune Lords are NOT the norm in cults. Only a few have them, and Issaries is not one of them. Nor Lhankor Mhy or Chalana Arroy or Ernalda.
Why did you want Rune Lords to be out of the norm? Because Rune Priests are the norm. In RQ2 pretty much every cult had both Rune Priests and Rune Lords, and Greg found that did not reflect Glorantha. Rune Lords exist, but only in a handful of cults.
Why do Rune Lords have to be martial? Because that is their nature. They are a First Age development, as a few cults developed fighting avatars of their deities.
Chalana Arroy has an odd Rune Lords in the form of Arroin, why? Exceptions always exist in everything. But Arroin is an odd one.
Should the Desert Trackers should be Rune Lords? No.