Skip to content
The Well of Daliath
Menu
Menu

The Sky Gods

Posted on December 27, 2023

The Sky is orderly, regular, and far removed from mortal ephemeralism. The Sun, planets, and stars move in regular patterns through the sky. Clusters of stars form constellations, associated with gods, monsters, and other powers – as the Sun and the planets move through these constellations, heavenly mythology plays out in the sky.

We look to the Sky and see the pure divine realm above. Here is the realm of Light – of Dayzatar. Now Dayzatar gets little attention from the Orlanthi, but he is incredibly important in Solar mythology. He’s completely unpolluted – the most sacred of the gods. By our own purity we can achieve the Light within us, a far more rewarding goal than mundane prowess or power.

And so it is with the stars – points of Light in the sky, ruled by Arraz, Ourania, and Polaris. Arraz has no cult among mortals – he is king of the people who live in the heavens – although we call upon him when priests call upon the Luxites for aid. Ourania and Polaris are far more responsive to mortals – Ourania is the mistress of heavenly power and Polaris is the General of Heaven.

The Sun is the greatest of the celestial powers, although he is too powerful for most mortals to directly reach. The Sun is a source of Life, but also a god of Death for he must descend at the end of each day to spend the night in the Underworld. His most powerful son, Lightfore or Yelmalio, is his nighttime counterpart, providing light in the darkness.

The Sky Gods are the highest of powers and most removed from the world. Unchanging and austere, they are a far cry from the tumultuous Air Gods or the terrestrial Earth Goddesses. This is part of their appeal – they reveal a heavenly perfection beyond mortal experience.

From Mythology, page 124 – Artist, Katrin Dirim

I don’t see Yelmalio on the tree? Yelmalio came into being when Yelm was killed and is that Light which cannot be extinguished. There’s a separate picture of those in either the Mythology or Prosopaedia book. (See Yelm Disintegrates WiP)

Is Lokarnos a son of Lodril? It says Elevated?

Katrin Dirim says

Lokarnos was a mortal who became a god and was ‘adopted’ by Lodril into the pantheon.

What’s the main difference between Shargash, Polaris and Yelmalio as war gods. Yelmalio’s cult is larger than either.


Jeff Richard

Next
Previous
Aether, Alkor, Annilla, Arraz, Artmal, Asrelia, Caladra & Aurelion, Dayzatar, Dendara, Ernalda, Everina, Genealogies, Hippoi, Katrin Dirim (artist), King Griffin, Lhankor Mhy, Lightfore, Lodril, Lokarnos, Lowfires, Luxites, Maran Gor, Mikyh, Murharzarm (emperor), Oria, Oslira, Ourania, Polaris, Shargash, Styx, Ten sons and workers, Voria, Yelm, Yelmalio, Yelorna

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 Nine Good Giant Mountains

    The Nine Good Giant Mountains are about 60 km or …
  • Why Most Sartarites Hate the Lunar Empire

    From time to time it is worth reminding people why …
  • Suntown and the Eiskolli

    Suntown has always been in the hands of the Sun …
  • A Few Notes on the Grantlands

    To the south of Sun County are the former Grantlands, …
  • Sartar Cities

    Sartar can be thought of a confederation of small cities …
  • Catalogue of the Gods revisited

    This piece from the Mythology book is among my absolute …
  • Thunderbolts in Art

    One of the things that really got me down the …
  • RuneQuest Art

    So let’s talk RQ art for a moment. For the …
  • Top Five RuneQuest Cults

    So it is absolutely no surprise to me that in …

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

  • Odayla Initiation Heroquest
  • Did anyone get a good look at WB&RM?
  • Clearwine Assembly Hill and Orlanth's High Holy Day
  • Sun County pdf is drivethrurpg’s Deal of the Day for July 1st
  • Permission to use exerpt from map in Starter Set in a Jonstown Compendium release?
  • Sun County T-Shirt
  • Summon of Jaldon
  • Jonstown Compendium: Spawn of Molokka - The Cephalopods of Glorantha
  • Runelords and Retirement
  • Hospitality Hearth spirits - what are they ?

Popular Tags

1625 ST 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 Tarsh (homeland & Lunar province) Troll Pantheon Yelm Yelmalio Yelm Pantheon Youtube

Recently added or updated

  • Keraun

  • Pamalt

  • The Tales of the Reaching Moon – Index

  • Best of Tales of the Reaching Moon

  • Tales of The Reaching Moon #03 (GBR 1990)

  • Tales of The Reaching Moon #05 (GBR 1991)

  • Tales of The Reaching Moon #06 (GBR 1991)

  • Tales of The Reaching Moon #07 (GBR 1992)

  • Reaching Moon MegaCorp

  • Griselda Stories by Oliver Dickinson

  • CHA4037 Dragon Pass – Q&A

  • CHA4034 Red Book of Magic – Chapter 02 Rune Magic Spells Q&A (A-M)

  • CHA4043 The Lightbringers – Q&A

  • CHA4029 RuneQuest Gamemaster Screen Pack – Q&A

  • CHA4036 RuneQuest Weapons and Equipment Q&A

  • The Garden, Big Rubble II

  • The Garden, Big Rubble I

  • Half-folk

  • Orlanth Rex and Sartar’s Lineage

  • The Triceratops Queen

©2025 The Well of Daliath | Design: Newspaperly WordPress Theme