The Sun Disk is the most powerful manifestation of Fire/Sky in Glorantha. Greater than all the fire gods, greater than any other celestial being. But he is also chained to the same route every day, and doomed to travel through the Underworld every night.
In many cultures, the Sun Disk is not directly worshiped. He is Ehilm the Sun, abstract and distant. His sons are closer and more approachable – most important is the Little Sun, whom we might call Kargzant, Antirius, Elmal, Lightfore, but most popularly Yelmalio. Yelmalio is far more approachable than the Sun Disk and more interested in the concerns of mortals.
Yelm himself seems to have two main paths – one of purity and one of authority. The purity one was discovered first. The Pure Horse People rode and herded only horses and maintained ancient laws uncorrupted since the Golden Age. They could contact the Sun directly but only as long as they maintained their purity. There are few of them remaining – the Grazelanders, Char-un, and a few Pentan tribes.
Authority is the other. The Dara Happans proclaimed an Emperor who possessed the full sacred regalia and passed the Ten Tests, and he can directly contact Yelm and is aided by priests that can let others contact the divine Sun. The presence of a true Emperor allows a flourishing Yelm cult. In the Third Age, the true Emperor is also the son of the Moon.
Now the Yelm cult of the Lunar Heartlands is much more populous than it is in Pent.
