Skip to content
The Well of Daliath
Menu
Menu

The Struggle for the Middle Air

Posted on June 8, 2023

The Red Goddess never made peace with the Air Gods, for there was none among her pantheon who could approach those deities on their own ground. There began, within history, a struggle between the Red Goddess and the god Orlanth for the Middle Air that lay between the Sky and the Earth. The hostility between Moon and Air was more than just a rivalry with Orlanth, for the primary Carmanian deity was also an Air god, and the power of the storm has feuded with the Moon since the Red Goddess was born.

This is important to keep in mind – although the Red Goddess made peace with Lodril, Ernalda, Eiritha, Oria, Shargash, Polaris, Xentha, Lokarnos, the Lowfires, Issaries, Inora, Hykim & Mikyh, Mostal, Himile, Gorakiki, Flamal, Donandar, Daka Fal, Asrelia, Argan Argar, Aranea, and many more Old Gods – she did not make peace with the Air Gods.

But the Air Gods have always been powerful at the edges of Peloria. The later Carmanians worshiped Storm Bull and Humakt, and the western and southern hills are ancient Orlanthi lands. So what does the empire do?

With Humakt it is easy. Just get him to swear to do his duty and he’ll do it even if he hates you. It helps to have Yanafal Tarnils do the hiring though. Plenty of Humakti fight in the Empire’s wars, even if they do it as mercenaries. Still, best to have them fight against Pentans or Pelorians, and not against the Orlanth cult.

Storm Bull is also easy. He’s still there in the Old Carmanian territories as a bull god. He’s even useful fighting against Chaos cults that won’t play ball. Just be sparing on the Chaos Gift where Storm Bull is along.

Orlanth is the problem. His barbaric cult has been trouble since the 1st Wane, when thousands of Orlanth cultists followed Jannisor the Hero to the gates of Glamour. Hwarin Dalthippa sought to pacify the barbarians, with colonies from the Heartlands and military campaigns, but the exiles settled Dragon Pass and troubled the empire in the 3rd and 4th Wanes. The Sartar dynasty were determined foes of the empire, and presented themselves as the Orlanth Rex priests of Dragon Pass.

So what to do? The Orlanth cult is too big (and the Lunar Empire does not have the resources – regardless of what sycophants in Glamour like to claim) to simply suppress. The Nights of Horror ended the era of Lunar settlement; the Red Emperor has repeatedly refused to found new cities and settlements past Furthest.

One approach is to triage matters. Tolerate the Orlanth Thunderous cult as pretty harmless. That’s all farmers and herders, and unless you really rile them up, they tend to stick to their villages. Keep Orlanth Adventurous under close watch as troublemakers – shut down the most notorious temples but otherwise just watch. Shut Orlanth Rex down entirely or at least place safe puppets in that position. Play the tribes and clans off against each other and be generous with gifts and imperial largesse.

This is the approach favored by the Tarshites and in Talastar – as well as such powerful Provincial figures as Appius Luxius and Icilius Overholy. You end up with politically docile client states like Sartar under Temertain or the Bilini under Bolthor Brighteyes. But the population remains stubbornly resistant to the Seven Mothers and the Lunar Way – religiously the dial doesn’t budge.

The other approach is to wage magical war upon the Orlanth cult. Shut down the major temples. Desecrate important holy sites. Trigger limited rebellions that you know you can crush. Build new Temple of the Reaching Moons and cover everything with the Glowline. Do a reverse Seven Mothers and kill Orlanth inside Time.

This is the approach by many leading figures in Glamour and the Silver Shadow, such as the Assiday family (powerful Yelmites of Raibanth), the Red Dancer of Power, and the Tharkalists. You end up with political disorder in the Provinces until you finally crush Orlanth. Then the population can convert to the Lunar Way en masse.

The Red Emperor flip flops from one approach to the other, sometimes at the same time.

Besides Orlanth and the other Air Gods, what other deities has the Red Goddess not made peace with? Eurmal HATES her and it is reciprocated.

Why would Humakt, in the Third Age, be considered an “Air God”? Even though he is not associated with the Air Rune, Humakt is still the boon friend of Orlanth’s.

Who is/was this primary Carmanian deity that is an air god? Bisos, aka the Bull, aka Storm Bull. Greg tried to hide the name in the Entekosiad, but the god of the Bull Shahs was Storm Bull.


Jeff Richard

Next
Previous
Aranea, Argan Argar, Asrelia, Bisos, Daka Fal, Donandar, Eiritha, Ernalda, Flamal, Gorakiki, Himile, Humakt, Hykim & Mikyh, Inora, Issaries, Lodril, Lokarnos, Middle Air, Mostal, Oria, Orlanth, Polaris, Red Goddess, Shargash, Storm Bull, The Lowfires, Xentha

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