Skip to content
The Well of Daliath
Menu
Menu

Solar Worldview

Posted on September 7, 2023

Yelm is the Giver of Life and Death, the Source of Light, and the most important of the Greater Gods. He received rule of the universe from the Cosmic Court and arranged the world and named everything, giving each a place in the cosmic order. As long as we all fulfil our assigned duties, the cosmic order is maintained.

That’s the trick to understanding the Solar worldview of Peloria (including the Lunar Empire), Pent, Teshnos, and even Fonrit and Kralorela. Yelm’s order is perfect – so long as we all do what we are assigned to do. Problems result whenever people fail in their duties and tasks. So if there is war, famine, corruption, oppression, etc – it is because something refuses to do its proper assigned duty.

That usually means something like a Storm God, Lodril, the Trickster, barbarians (anyone who is not a good and obedient member of the Solar polity), trolls, ignorant peasants, disobedient spirits, lewd bird goddesses and unruly rivers, etc. Anyone except a good Yelmite who of course is carrying out their duties.

Even a bad Yelmite is better than no Yelmite at all.

The Red Goddess does not really challenge this – she just holds that her presence is a necessary part of the Cosmic Order and that as Yelm’s daughter, she’s a key part of this. She heals the world that was destroyed when Yelm was killed.

As we all know, a good Dendara initiate is never a problem. It is always ignorant peasants, lewd bird goddesses and unruly rivers, barbarians, and that sort of thing. Not “women” per se, as we know Dendara, Entekos, Ourania, and the Red Goddess all carry out their duties.

The Lunars fit surprisingly well into the solar hierarchy – or maybe not surprisingly, as the Red Moon is a celestial entity. The Red Emperor is the grandson of Yelm, the Yelm Imperator hierarchy are all Red Goddess Illuminates, and that’s the way it has been for at least a century and a half.

Yelm always fulfils his duties. He rises every morning, follows his assigned path through the sky, sets, and then rises the next morning. That’s what it means to be a Yelmite.

What do the Dara Happans think of the grazers and the pure horse people ? They ARE pure enough to use the powers of Yelm.

Jeff Richard

Next
Previous
Yelm

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

  • 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
  • control entity spirit spell question
  • 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