So what do your adventurers know about Illumination (as opposed to players)?
If you notice Illumination is pretty much unmentioned in the core rules, Lightbringers, and Earth Goddess books. There is a hint of it in the description of the Moon Rune in the core rules but only if you already know what you are looking for.
Even in the Mythology book, Illumination is not really mentioned. You might be able to detect it in the stories if you are already familiar with the secret, but it is not apparent to the uninitiated.
Now once the Lunar book is available, there is loads of material on Illumination as it is fundamental for the Red Goddess cult. So non-Lunars who deal with Lunars a lot might know it is something key to the Lunars – it is essential to that spiritual liberation and cosmic freedom they go on and on about. But of course the overwhelming majority of Lunars are NOT Illuminated. They spout the slogans but don’t truly understand. Obviously if I am a member of the Seven Mothers cult or other Lunar cult, I am going to know more about Illumination, but that’s part of my religion.
In some areas, like Talastar, some Orlanthi may know from experience that Illumination has a close tie to Chaos, and that people asking strange riddles are often teachers of Illumination. But then again, Eurmali often do the same, so maybe Illumination is just another of Eurmal’s cruel pranks.
Maybe you might learn more from another Illuminate. That’s likely going to happen if you are a Lunar cultist, but not particularly likely if you aren’t. Only the tiny Arkat cells know much about Nysalorean Illumination while also being opposed to Nysalor/Gbaji. And they are notoriously close-lipped.
Now as players and GMs we might know a lot more than our player characters. And that’s fine – that is a common part of roleplaying. But then roleplay it.
Now your characters might learn a lot about Illumination *in game*. But then again, that is a general thing – explore the setting through play. There’s no need to know everything before play! In fact, without play I’d say that is impossible.
How many Lhankor Mhy sages study Draconic illumination? None. Plus or minus a handful.
One of the problems I have with a lot of on-line RuneQuest debates is that they seem based on the idea that everyone in Glorantha has read all the game mechanics and knows everyone else’s cult secrets! So what do non-Illuminates know about Illumination? Only what other Illuminates have told them directly or indirectly. Illumination cannot be understood through learning – it can only be experienced. A teacher can help one achieve Illumination – but they cannot teach what it means.
So do many people know that Arkat was Illuminated? Nope. Not even the Lunars, unless they have a lot of experience dealing with real Arkat initiates. Heck, most Arkati likely don’t know that. That’s something that needs to be learned *in game*.
And this gets me to something else – THIS is the main thing that people really hated about the God Learners. It wasn’t the monomyth or cult identification. That they learned cult secrets and let outsiders know about them.
Given that Argrath is an illuminate, what does he know about illumination? Argrath – just like Arkat – only knows of Illumination what he has experienced and how he has processed that experience personally. Illumination in and of itself does not necessarily come with an ideological framework to tell one how to understand it or even to tell what “it” is.
Now for most Lunars, I think the Lunar Way provides a framework for interpreting and understanding Illumination. Ironically, that framework might well be limiting cosmic liberation and forcing it to be less than it might otherwise be. But that’s in the nature of such things.
And here’s a twist – we know Arkat was Illuminated, but did Arkat know it?
So what do my Orlanthi characters know about Illumination? Maybe just that it was a cruel practical joke by Eurmal on the members of the Broken Council. And like so many of Eurmal’s practical jokes it got out of hand, backfired, and nearly killed everyone.
Which of course means that the entire Lunar Way is likely another of Eurmal’s cruel pranks. Man, Eurmal can be such a jerk!
Of course the same thing goes for both the God Learners and the Dragon Friends. Eurmal again. The Trickster is a really powerful god! And the Trickster is behind pretty much everything that doesn’t go well for anyone. Of course he is behind the Hero Wars. And maybe in the end, he’ll fly off like laughing his fool head off.
I presume that if Dragon Pass people know anything about Illumination, its just some madness inflicted by Gbaji on good people, since it drives people mad and that it’s an evil secret that hides people from the gods. How often is Illumination referred to in the core rules, the Lightbringers, Earth Goddess, or Mythology books. I can tell you it doesn’t get much mention in Dragon Pass or Sartar.
In short, Illumination is probably not a concept many non-Lunars are even aware of. They might be aware that there are Chaos worshipers that somehow manage to associate with “lawful” deities, despite being Chaotic. And some might know that this is accepted and even embraced by some Lunars. But the term “Illumination” might not even be used.
There is of course an element of Nysalorean Illumination being a short-cut to divine wisdom. The Red Goddess needed it fast in order to survive being lost in Hell and Nysalor gave it to her. She could handle it – at least she managed to impress the Cosmic Spider and become part of the cosmic web – but it is fair to question how many of her later followers could.
The Lunar Empire might well be littered with the broken minds of those who achieved divine wisdom too fast and too early.
We can imagine the Lunar approach to Illumination as a way to immanentize the eschaton – a path for mass production of demigods. We take Rune Lords and Rune Priests, give them a short cut to divine wisdom, and then teach them how to twist the spirit world to their benefit. Sure there are plenty of costs, but you don’t get Jar-eel or Hon-eel without breaking a few eggs!