Another Sartarite group that is curiously neglected in many campaigns are the Telmori. There are 6500 Telmori – Chaos-tainted werewolves, disliked by every other tribe (except the ducks who are apathetic) who are nonetheless recognised as a tribe of Sartar.
The werewolves of Sartar are NOT those presented in the Dorastor Book. They have over a century of direct contact with the House of Sartar, and served as a Royal Guard of werewolves for the Princes. During the Lunar Occupation they went on rampages, raiding and even destroying the Maboder tribe, until they were defeated by a Lunar Army led by Jomes Wulf. With Temertain they had a Prince again, but the “Philosopher King” feared and despised his own bodyguards, preferring the civilised Lunars. The Telmori are not unaware of civilization or typical Hsunchen primitives – they are familiar with Boldhome, have access to bronze (but rarely wear armor for obvious reasons) and have a surprising number of Humakt cultists. They are more like Úlfhéðnar or Sigmund and Sinfjötli, than the hunters presented in the Dorastor Book. They enjoy a deserved reputation as fearsome and merciless warriors who are invulnerable to most weapons when they assume wolf form. They are accompanied by huge dire wolves (their Wolfbrothers).
Like berserkers in Viking epics, the Telmori are normally presented as the villains in Sartarite stories, but nonetheless formed the feared bodyguards and shock troops of the Sartarite princes.
How much trouble are Telmori in when there are Storm Bulls around? I imagine they try to avoid each other whenever possible. But in close proximity, it is not good. For either group.
Pre-1627, They outnumber the Storm Bull worshipers . Post-1627 they are outnumbered by the Stormbull worshipers. Wonder what happened that year.
The Telmori are not being inducted into the cult of Orlanth – they are tainted by Chaos (but not considered one of the Lords of Terror) and not permitted to join. But Sartar made peace with them for the benefit of the Orlanthi. Such strange alliances have been made in the past as well.
But given that Waha is just as anti Chaos as Orlanth (he is the son of Storm Bull after all) and the khans of Waha are just sacred a figure as the Orlanth Rex of Sartar, I ask again – we know the Praxian tribes have allied with the broo against foes in the past. So does that make all the Praxian khans “crap Waha cultists”?
Or in your Glorantha, do people never make deals with what they consider the lesser of two evils or of folk they consider the victims of Chaos rather than the perpetrators of Chaos?
Being cursed by Chaos taints you with Chaos, and of course the Storm Bull cultists can sense that taint.
But Orlanth is both more pragmatic and more just than Storm Bull, and Sartar was famed for both traits. Orlanth cannot sense Chaos – he judges folk on their deeds. Sartar ended a terrible war between the Telmori and the Orlanthi, and ended it in a way that all sides got what they wanted and more.
In Sartar, there are more Telmori than there are Storm Bull cultists in all of Sartar. HOWEVER, Argrath is the head of a Storm Bull magical society and is supported by the more than 10,000 Storm Bull cultists of Prax. So he may change that calculation somewhat.
There are about 6500 Telmori in Sartar, about 10,000 in Dorastor, and about 75,000 in Ralios. Which do you think form the baseline for the culture?
The Seven Mothers is also fairly popular among the Telmori and surprisingly they have enough Issaries cultists to support a minor temple and enough Chalana Arroy cultists (!) to support a shrine.
The Telmori relationship with the Chaos-hating Orlanthi is similar to the relationship between Cave Trolls and the Chaos-hating trolls.
Telmori cult breakdown comes out to roughly:
- 01-63 Telmor
- 64-74 Seven Mothers
- 75-85 Humakt (about 500)
- 86-88 Issaries
- 89-90 CA
- 91-00 Other