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The Other Lightbringers in Sartar

Posted on August 2, 2021

The other Lightbringers (Chalana Arroy, Eurmal, Issaries, and Lhankor Mhy) have large and well-developed cults in Sartar. These cults are primarily centered on the cities – few tribes, let alone clans, can support the number of specialists needed to maintain a temple to the God of Scribes or the Goddess of Healing, but all of Sartar’s cities have shrines or temples to each of the Lightbringers (although the Eurmal shrine is usually within the Orlanth temple). The Sartar Dynasty serve as patrons of the Lightbringer cults, even during the Lunar Occupation. Sartar built temples to Chalana Arroy, Issaries, and Lhankor Mhy in his cities, gave them gifts and endowments, and his heirs maintained and expanded upon these. His dynasty strongly supported trade, knowledge, and healing – and those cults received much largess. For example, the libraries of Boldhome and Jonstown are among the most important in the Third Age, and the dynasty was renowned for its learning and literacy. Royal scribes serve the prince and the city rulers. Issaries and Chalana Arroy have been similarly supported, and even Eurmal’s cult has received (admittedly more limited) patronage – Clown Tower in Boldhome is a rare public temple to Eurmal. These cults tend to have a broader perspective than the clan and tribal-based Orlanth and Ernalda cults, and members largely stay neutral in tribal conflicts. During the Lunar Occupation, they were largely untroubled by the Provincial Government and they continued as they had before, albeit with less support and patronage.

Garangian Bronze-Guts, Lhanknor Mhy chief priest at Jonstown, RuneQuest Starter Set. Artist. Dimitrina Angelska.

Hopefully this helps make it clear that the other Lightbringer cults are not really organised on a clan or even a tribal level.

What’s up with Humakt? Humakt is not really a Lightbringer, although he is part of the pantheon. Humakt’s cult normally operates outside of clan or tribal lines, although there are a few notable exceptions (the Malani are able to maintain a tribal major temple).

Is Ginna Jar directly worshiped or is she an Inner Secret shared by the Lightbringer cults? Ginna Jar is worshiped but is not the subject of a cult.

Does she get called on frequently or is she mostly important during Sacred Time? she gets invoked whenever all the Lightbringers are collectively worshiped. Which is often.

And this is an important point – some of the old material from the HW era made it seem that everything in Orlanthi society was organised on a clan level, and that each clan was a hermetically sealed monad. That’s not true, not even for the Orlanth and Ernalda cults, which have temples that transcend clan and even tribal boundaries. The Sartarites have been organised into tribes for centuries, and have been unified by the Sartar Dynasty for over a century. That is going to have a big impact, allowing a greater surplus to support more specialist cults and occupations, but at a city or even kingdom level.

So, these temples are a parallel hierarchy to that of clans and tribes? other hierarchy, not parallel. These temples are typically outside of clan and tribe – so the high priest of the Jonstown LM Temple is not subject to the Cinsina or Culbrea tribal assembly, but looks to the city rex and city ring, or even to the Prince.

Jeff Richard

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Lightbringer, Sartar (homeland)

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