Home › Forums › Glorantha › Glorantha Discussions › Holy Country…. [my players get out!]
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November 5, 2013 at 9:56 pm #5261Eric VanelSpectator
Please my players get out !
Hi all,
I wonder about Belintar magic.
What is his magic ? Based on what ? Runes ? Spells ?
Thanks in advance for your ideas.Eric
November 5, 2013 at 11:02 pm #6160Roko JokoSpectatorHis powers have to do with
* Kethaela – uniting it, ruling it, defending it, terraforming it
* reincarnation
* heroquestingHis secrets are meant to be permanently mysterious/YGWV. Jeff said they’ll never publish an official explanation.
But the idea is that he’s both a god and a man, in a unique way. You could say it’s theism, or that it “originates in the everything world”, and I’m not sure the difference is too important, except that there’s something about him that’s grounded in the middle/everything world (the man part).
Personally I like to imagine that he’s Chloralinthor. The bit that describes Chloralinthor poetically describes him hiding and waiting.
November 5, 2013 at 11:29 pm #6161Barry BlattSpectatorBelintar is IMO a sorcerer, and a God Learner to boot. His arrival out of the sea in the midst of the Closing and the way he knows just how to manipulate, infiltrate and dominate each mythic system of the six parts of the Holy Country suggest this. He has also got a lot to do with the Red Moon Goddess. He is blatantly using the same system of soul transfer as the Red Emperor, and he could be seen as an embodiment of the White Moon, a truly inclusive and unifying demi-god whereas the Red Moon always manages to taint whatever she touches with the bloody mark of chaos and the insanity of Lunar Illumination, she creates as much faction fighting than she resolves and of course she cannot include Storm in its raw and primal form, which the Pharaoh’s Holy Country of course can. As a heroquester of great power the magic used personally by the Pharaoh is not readily classifiable, but his servants use all forms of power, spirits, divine miracles and sorcery, based on their own traditions with a little extra something added by their allegiance to the Pharaoh, again a lot like the Red Goddess, but his people are less inclined to mix and match between cults and traditions except in the City of Wonders. This city is his own private quasi-material otherworld, just like the Red Moo is Sedenya’s, reached by magic bridges from the mundane part of his Empire (cf the bridge to the Red Moon from the Crater near Glamour). The people lucky enough to live there use a mix of all forms of magic.
November 6, 2013 at 3:18 am #6162Peter MetcalfeSpectatorThe magic of his initiates (hereafter the MoLaDs) can be divided into six groups – fire, earth, air, water, darkness and law. They are able to follow whatever magical tradition is worshipped by the people of the Sixths. Rather than physically worship at a temple to learn their magic, they go onto the place of the Tournament and visit the temple there and indulge in a magical contest. The people supplying the magic are aware of the contest and aren’t too happy about it, with assassinations of MoLaDs being not uncommon.
I think the MoLaDs seek to attach themselves to a certain temple or City, such as the Master of Ezel, the Master of Karse and so forth. Being the Master of a given location grants them increased powers plus the ability to enter the Tournament to become the new vessel of the Living God. The downside is that the Masters must defend their status from challenges from other MoLaDs.
November 6, 2013 at 6:04 am #6163Jeff RichardKeymasterEric –
By Belintar’s magic, I assume you mean the magic used by the God-King (as he does not provide spells, feats, or charms to his worshipers). Belintar commands great elemental power within the Holy Country based on his alliances with the gods of Air, Darkness, Fire, Earth, and Water. He himself is Man, Mastery, and Infinity, if I recall correct (or just Man and Infinity – my files are still not fully unpacked).
Belintar has thousands, maybe even millions of worshipers, but they are Lay Members, not initiates. His few initiates most likely do not gain magic, but learn the rites by which magical energy is channeled to Belintar. They are NOT called the Masters of Luck and Death (which is the title of those who participate in the Tournament of the Masters of Luck and Death).November 6, 2013 at 1:07 pm #6165Vaughan CockellSpectatorThe other clue into who/what Belintar is, and his power is, is that he has been referred to as Belintar of the Harshax in some documents. The Harshax appears more clearly in King of Sartar as a powerful magical unifying King in the post-Hero Wars Age. There does seem to be a similarity between the Red Emperor and Belintar, the case made above is persuasive, at least to me. It may be that the Harshax is the New White Moon’s Emperor figure, cleansed of Chaos, along with the Moon herself. Belintar could be an incarnation of that Emperor, reaching back into their pre-history to lay the mythical and philosophical groundwork to ensure the successful rise of the future regime. A sort of “in-time heroquesting”?
Course this is complete speculation, done off-the-cuff just now. Any other pet theories around?
November 6, 2013 at 10:04 pm #6166Eric VanelSpectatorThanks a lot for your replies, guys.
It really helps.Any idea of colorful magical effect of Belintar’s magic in combat ?
November 7, 2013 at 7:44 am #6167Jeff RichardKeymasterBelintar doesn’t provide direct combat magic to his worshipers. His initiates can perhaps call upon the many pacts the gods and spirits of the Holy Country made, although no doubt those pacts have quite a few limitations (“Oh Orlanth, you agreed to aid Lord Belintar against those who would invade Ernalda’s land. I am Lord Belintar’s man, come aid me!”). I suspect many of his initiates study the Runes directly.
November 7, 2013 at 12:52 pm #6169CharlesKeymasterIn my opinion. What Belintar has (had) is access to better information of more cultures and pantheons than anyone else in Glorantha. I don’t think that he was a god-learner but perhaps (when he was a sailor?) found some of the lost information of the god-learners. I don’t think that he was a Lunar but has access to information that pre-dates and greatly influenced the foundation of the Lunar religion.
See, for example, http://www.glorantha.com/docs/aldryas-own-story/, with the quote
Quote:I can only remember them as gods now, from the time I was an elf.November 7, 2013 at 1:25 pm #6170Joerg BaumgartnerSpectatorBelintar surely has mapped the Other Side, as those sketchy maps in Unearthed Arcana show. I am particularly astonished about his including the Void in that magical version of the Holy Country, which I take to be an Otherworld domain. Void, not Chaos. No idea what JarEel would have made of that part of his realm.
Would those initiates of Belintar have been functionaries of his bureaucracy/magocracy or individual supporters?
November 8, 2013 at 9:20 am #6171Jeff RichardKeymasterBelintar is surrounded by individuals who study his teachings and aid him in directing magical energies according to his inscrutable plans. Those are his initiates. The Tide Lord, the Constant Guard, the Reef Master, the Bridge Singer, the Keeper of the Book, the Red Destroyer, the High Priests of the Great Runes, and so forth, were all officials AND initiates into Belintar’s secrets.
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