Skip to content
The Well of Daliath
Menu
Menu

Some thoughts on the Gloranthan gods, cults, and divine names

Posted on March 31, 2014

Most Gloranthans believe the greater gods transcend any specific culture. Ernalda, Lodril, Magasta, Orlanth, Sedenya, and Yelm are all known by many different peoples by many different names. Orlanth is the Storm God of the Theyalans and Praxians; he is called Umatum or Rebellus Terminus by the Pelorians, Baraku by the Fonritians, Worlath by the Westerners, Wangbiao in Shiyang, and so on. A worshiper of Orlanth can travel broadly and almost always meet his god in some form; sometimes there might be different stories attached to him – the Dara Happans think Orlanth is the son of Uleria, the Ralians say he was once imprisoned by the dwarves but escaped, the Doraddi claim he killed Artmal after the Indigo Conquerer killed his son Desero.

Going a step further, many Western philosophers believe the Runes are the transcendent powers beyond culture and even gods. The Runes are “owned” by powerful magical entities worshiped by barbarians, semi-humans, and krjalki. However, these powerful magical entities are prisoners of Time, and can be manipulated and controlled by sorcerers who carefully study them and know their identity.

Understanding this was key to the God Learners’s magic. If Baraku was king of the lands north of the barrier mountains, then so must be Orlanth. And  importing the cult of Orlanth to Umathela might give the Jrusteli a secure foothold in Pamaltela. If Issaries is the God of Trade, then the exporting the cult of Issaries might create neutral markets throughout the frontiers of the Empire. This cult might become associated with, add to, or even completely replace whatever god (if any) had been the patron of that activity. Thus we see Issaries cults spread as far away as Kralorela and Fonrit.

Cults also get spread by immigrants, conquerers, merchants, and foreign spouses. Nochet has a thriving Western community that reveres the Invisible God and Hrestol. The Seven Mothers first came to Tarsh with Lunar treaty wives. The cult of Sartar came to Alda-Chur along with the son of Terasarin and Sartarite cults came to the Grazelands through the Feathered Horse Queen. Ernalda came to Melib with the merchants of the Holy Country. And so on.

Thus travelers in Glorantha can find some of their own gods everywhere, albeit somewhat disguised at times and speaking in foreign tongues. However, the actual cults  differ greatly in specific details from place to place regardless of what the god is called. Prayer and sacrifice, and also libation, procession, and votive gifts, are the elements of cult that make up the worship of gods in Glorantha; altar, temple, and image are the markers of space where the cult takes place. Participation in these rituals are part of what defines your identity; changing the rituals is often understood to threaten loss of identity.

Religious innovations that result in new rituals raise the specter of God Learnerism far more than learning a new story about a familiar god. Whether food intended for the gods is to be conveyed to them by burning or by having the priests eat it themselves may prove a more insurmountable obstacle than simply agreeing Umatum is another name for Orlanth.

Jeff Richard

Next
Previous
cults, Jan Pospisil (artist)

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

  • creating a spirit cult of Fralar
  • 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
  • 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