After Orlanth and Ernalda, the most prominent cults in New Pavis at this time are the war gods Humakt and Storm Bull, with over 300 devoted cultists each, with nearly 700 in…
Tag: cults
Visualising Gloranthan Societies
I like to think of mortal Gloranthan societies as being made of clusters of temples, with links to their associates. Some cults – like Orlanth and Ernalda – end up with big…
Polytheism
In most of Glorantha, polytheism is the norm. Gods and spirits are acknowledged and worshiped at temples and shrines throughout the land. The same deity might be worshiped at different places, with…
Essential Cults for Adventuring
I think the four essential cults for adventuring – and for quickly getting the setting – are probably Orlanth Adventurous, Chalana Arroy, Issaries, and Lhankor Mhy (which also introduces sorcery). Think of…
Mutually Hostile Cults
Some people seem to assume that mutually hostile cults simply end up murdering each other if they have an opportunity. That’s not really the case – between hostile cults, relations are strained,…
Greater and Major Gods
So as I check over some of the material about to go to the printer soon, I was comparing things to a list Greg had written some years ago, listing all the…
Lay Members
Being a lay member of a secondary cult is a useful way to gain training and spirit magic, without binding yourself deeply to the god and its cult. So for example, IMG,…
How Cults Change
The archetypes and patterns of the God Time are eternal and fixed. But what we in Time experience of the God Time, what we call things, what we offer magic points to…
Cults & Mechanics
One of the odd cognitive dissonances I often see when people discuss RuneQuest cults is the interplay between these two ideas: Now personally I don’t subscribe to Case 1 even for game…
Notes on Hrestol and the Invisible God
Hrestol was the Ascended Man, son of Froalar, last of the Secret Keepers, and of Xemela, He is the great hero of the West and was born during the God Time. During…
The Gods War
This mystic diagram is from the House of Black Arkat in the Esrolian city of Arkat’s Hold. It depicts an Illuminate who has been guided by Arkat’s teachings to transcend the struggles…
Understanding the Runes
The Runes are the building blocks of Glorantha. They are symbols, archetypes, embodiments, and the actual matter and energy of the world. Runes originated with the very creation of Glorantha. The Runes…
Some thoughts on spirits and gods
Spirits are discorporate entities that are present individually in all parts of nature – animals, plants, rocks, winds, fire, soil, waters, and so on. The Brithini classify them as an incorporeal but…
Some thoughts on the Gloranthan gods, cults, and divine names
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…