Skip to content
The Well of Daliath
Menu
Menu

The Winter Deity Trinity

Posted on February 3, 2022

It is the right time of year (at least in Colorado) to talk about the trinity of winter deities – Valind, Inora, and Himile. These gods are much more important than their tiny cults would suggest.

Valind is the Winter King. He is a dangerous and powerful god who brings the winter storms, snow, and ice across Genertela. In the Lesser Darkness he ruled much of the world, and his glacier – a vast accumulation of ice and snow – displayed his might. Each winter, he advances from his glacier stronghold and tries to conquer Genertela. He is initially aided and later opposed by his storm god kinsfolk, but he always is eventually forced back so that spring can occur.

In recent decades, the Lunars send an annual group of heroquesters to fight him on the glacier and force him back, as the ancient hero Kallikos did before Time. This has weakened his advances into Peloria, and shortened winter. But Valind himself remains powerful and has built up resentment against Peloria like a river against a dam. Now if the Lunar heroquesters ever fail, winter will return with a terrible vengeance.

Inora is the goddess of the snows, particularly the mountain snows that remain year round. In some lands she is viewed as an enemy; in others she is the primary source of water and fertility. She is the half-sister of Orlanth and an ally of Valind.

Himile is the god of cold itself, a dark and hungry god, even more terrible at night than day. He is perhaps the most dangerous of the three gods of winter, but the least obvious.

Xentha is ambivalent about winter, as she is the goddess of both the freezing nights when Himile is present, and the warm nights of Nochet.

Among humans these deities are usually either propitiated OR called upon against enemies. They are not particularly socially useful gods. But being able to call down snow in a battle can be really darned useful!

Jeff Richard

Next
Previous

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

  • Some Thoughts On Dragons And Jung

    I’ve been increasingly thinking that True Dragons embody the Jungian …
  • Adventurers in the Hero Wars

    Now the big Hero Wars stuff operates at an orthogonal …
  • The Apotheosis of Mortals

    We moderns have inherited monotheism’s assumption that apotheosis of mortals …
  • Your Sartarite Adventurer and the Hero Wars

    From the Sartarite perspective, the Hero Wars last some 30 …
  • Argrath and The Sartarite Elite

    In 1627-1628, Argrath relied strongly on the Sartarite Orlanth Adventurous, …
  • Thog the Giant

    In 870, Thog the giant appeared with an army of …
  • 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 …

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

  • Help dealing with a LM Sorcerer and an Ernaldan Shaman in 6SiS
  • Question about cult Initiation for characters in the Six Seasons in Sartar Campaign
  • RQG corebook reprints?
  • Dragon pass and Cults of Light and Fire........UK restock dates ?
  • Help dealing with high-Darkness and high-Fire/Sky Sartarite in Six Seasons campaign
  • Ancient Warfare magazine on Bronze Age Warfare
  • Waking the River
  • Toras Joran
  • Verithurusa and the Figures in her Artwork
  • Yelorna question

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 Genealogies 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

  • Shepelkirt

  • Senbanth

  • The Mountain Wind

  • Notes on the Three Feathered Rivals

  • AH857 RuneQuest Deluxe Edition (1984)

  • Xiola Umbar

  • Valind

  • Subere

  • Himile

  • Gorakiki

  • Xentha

  • Esrola

  • Ernalda

  • Only Old One

  • Nightcult

  • Kropa

  • Cragspider

  • Some Thoughts On Dragons And Jung

  • Ω Arimtasus

  • Ω Alanthor

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