Skip to content
The Well of Daliath
Menu
Menu

What is Magic?

Posted on January 2, 2022

From time to time, it is worth bringing some material you likely already have to your attention – here’s an explanation of what Gloranthan magic is from the RuneQuest Roleplaying in Glorantha core rules:

To grossly oversimplify, Gloranthan magic is the interaction of mortals existing within Time with the timeless and eternal powers of the God Time. In the God Time, there was no division between the worlds of men and gods, between life and death, or body and spirit. The Gods War introduced the power of Death, which separated all with violence, death, and entropy. War entered the world and the endless beauty and harmony of the universe was destroyed. Reality was fractured. The eternal gods themselves would have ceased to exist but for the Cosmic Compromise, whereby the gods that still existed abdicated their free will within the temporal world voluntarily, rather than lose their All into the maws of nonexistence. The gods remained eternal, at the cost of being restricted henceforth to only the deeds they had performed during the God Time, which are now fixed and unchanging in the world of Time. If the gods were ever to transgress their fixed and allocated positions in the Cosmos, they would enter the shifting world of Time and would be destroyed by Death and entropy.

Mortals exist within Time. The necessity of Death in the world of Time is another result of the Cosmic Compromise. Mortals are separated from the gods, are subject to both Life and Death, and upon death their spirits are separated from their physical bodies.The dualistic worlds of eternal God Time and mortal Time are the basic polarities of Glorantha. From these opposing poles comes all known reality. Magic is the result of the interaction of these two worlds; drawing upon the timeless and eternal God Time to affect the mortal world of Time. With magic, a priest of Orlanth can call down thunderbolts from the sky, a Praxian warrior might call upon a spirit to guide his arrow true, or a sorcerer might command the waters to seize and capsize an enemy trireme.

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
  • Role-playing in Glorantha
  • About This Site
  • Get involved!

Latest Posts

  • Boldhome Embassies

    In general, Gloranthan kingdoms and empires send representatives to each …
  • Yanioth the Red-Haired Huntress

    Yanioth Two-Sight was born in 1577, the daughter of Arene …
  • The Founding of the Colymar Tribe

    Colymar was the son of a farmer of the Orshanti …
  • Chaos and The Great Compromise

    The Spike held Glorantha together in the Gods Time. The …
  • Notes on The Red Goddess and Chaos

    In 1220 ST, great stirrings in the world centered in …

Links

  • Chaosium
  • Glorantha on BRP Central
  • RuneQuest on BRP Central
  • RuneQuest Glorantha on MeWe
  • Glorantha Wiki on Fandom
  • Prince of Sartar Webcomic
  • Glorantha G+ Archives on Tapatalk
  • Search mailing list archive

Latest from BRP Central

Popular Tags

2007 Avalon Hill Boldhome Chaosium Chaos pantheon Cult demographics Cults of Runequest (preview) Ernalda Esrolia (homeland) FR G+ post Greg Stafford Guide to Glorantha (preview) Humakt Issaries Jar-eel Kralorelan pantheon Lunar Empire Lunar Pantheon Magazine Malkioni pantheon Map Maps Michael O’Brien Mongoose Nochet (metropolis) Nomad Gods Oriflam Orlanth Orlanthi pantheon Photo reference Population demographics Prax (homeland) Praxian pantheon RQ3 RQG Sandy Petersen Sartar (homeland) Spirit Cult Subcult Tales of the Reaching Moon Troll Pantheon Yelm Yelmalio Yelm Pantheon

Recently added or updated

  • Boldhome Embassies

  • Yanioth the Red-Haired Huntress

  • The Founding of the Colymar Tribe

  • Chaos and The Great Compromise

  • CHA4032 RuneQuest Glorantha Bestiary – Q&A

  • Protected: CHA4042 – The Prosopaedia (2023)

  • Zaytenera

  • Zotulla

  • Zong the hunter

  • Zzabur

  • Zorak Zoran

  • Zaktirra

  • CHA4028 RuneQuest: Roleplaying in Glorantha – Chapter 16 Sorcery Spells Q&A

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

  • CHA4028 RuneQuest: Roleplaying in Glorantha – Chapter 04 Homelands Q&A

  • CHA4028 RuneQuest: Roleplaying in Glorantha – Chapter 07 Combat Q&A pages 206-225

  • London Calling… A wonderful presentation on the Guide to Glorantha project (2013)

  • CHA4035 RQ Starter Set – Book 1 Rules – Q&A

  • CHA4039 The Smoking Ruin and other Stories – Q&A

  • Teelo Norri

©2023 The Well of Daliath | Design: Newspaperly WordPress Theme