Vestkarthen

[Bohemond]

My Orlmarth Campaign players have gotten interested in Vestkarthen, and might wind up trying to do a hero quest connected to him. (Short version: they found a broken sword that had been forged by Vestkarthen and now they want to quest that myth to reforge the sword.) But there’s fairly little online about him beyond what’s summarized on Glorantha Wiki. Are there any myths known about him? Mostly I’m looking for inspiration that will help me flesh out a myth or two. Since Heortlings identify him as the father of Gustbran, would it be reasonable to suggest that they could subsume Vestkarthen to Gustbran, a bit the way that Vingans can substitute for Orlanth in some quests?

[Edan Jones]

Many of the myths attributed to Lodril have also been told about Veskarthan. This could provide some potential. He was known for being enslaved by the god Argan Argar, who used him to build his palace of Black Glass.
A HeroQuest could involve this, finding an Argan Argari priest to enslave the volcano god, to get him to reforge what was once broken.

[Harald Smith]

You can generally equate Orlanthi Veskarthan with Pelorian Lodril, or minimally appropriate some of his myths as desired.
There’s a bit in the Esrolia book on Veskarthan. “Veskarthan the Great Devourer, the great volcano god of the Vent”. The Esrolians propitiate him as god of fire, protecting the harvested grain, keeping the volcanoes from erupting, etc. There’s also a tale about the reawakening of the world where Ernalda wakes first and stirs the ashes, finding a small flame. Voria then found some kindling to keep it alive. Orlanth blew on it and gave it fuel. Then Veskarthan awoke and took over the duties of the fire.

The Guide notes: “Veskarthan the Deep was a spiteful and powerful god, and he attacked this place of darkness, but he was captured and subdued by Argan Argar and bound into servitude by that god of night. Veskarthan was forced to build the great Palace of Black Glass, wherein lived the Only Old One and his minions.” You could relate this to Lodril’s invasion of the earth, intermingling with the earth goddesses, and subsequent capture/binding within the earth.

Also in relation to Larnste’s Footprint: “A god looked down and saw the writhing horror (Krarsht), and he took Veskarthan’s Spear and struck it. The spear drove the monster deep into the earth where Veskarthan was freed from the spear and fought it. In exultant victory, Veskarthan burst forth again from the Vent, spreading molten earth and rocks all about and raising a huge pall of ash which poisoned the air.” So he also has some purification/chaos fighting ability.

Under the entry for Thelos you’ll find: “A son of Ernalda and Veskarthan, a god of wine, fertility, and freedom called the Free Father, is the city’s patron god.”

Under Saltcastle is this note: “This fortress city is built over a salt mine that marks where the gods of the sea were defeated in battle by fiery Veskarthan and his sons, leaving only salt behind.”

Assuming similar runes to Lodril (likely based on the notes above), he would have Fire, Disorder, and Life (Fertility).
Gustbran represents a ‘taming’ of the Old Fire god for use in forging something new (Gustbran was ‘banished’ by the Emperor for using his power in creation).

As Edan noted, you can probably draw on some of these ideas to put together a reasonable myth.
1) a Descent into the Earth/Underworld to find Veskarthan
2) some means of taming/controlling the raging fire god (an Argan Argar ritual would be one, seduction by Ernalda as another, getting him drunk, etc.)
3) convincing/tricking him to forge the weapon or gaining the power to do so for yourself (as with a Gustbran initiate)
4) betrayal within the Earth/Underworld (the jealous Queen discovers what the heroes are up to and rouses her husband to act)
5) escape with the Treasure (and avoiding being burned up in the process – an ostensible ally like Argan Argar may demand a boon to help them escape)
6) return

[Bohemond]

Harald: Thanks for all the references. That gives me a lot to work with!

[Author]

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