Vormaino color magics

[Harald Smith]

The gods of Vormain, the Joserui, are all associated with specific colors (e.g. Valzain is black and white; Zaktirra is viridian; Telask is cerulean; Vijaya is auric/gold). Is there any work on how these colors relate to magic, mysticism, or the runes?

Presumably these gods have runic associations (Tskanth is the only one to date to my knowledge to be described and was shown with runes). Would the colors be runes as well or related to runes or simply mystic expressions/refinements/philosophies? Thoughts?

[Scott Martin]

Some fragmented allusions from 20 years ago to Sandy having done work in this area and “color magic” appearing in the abortive RQ4, but as far as I can tell the former was never followed up on and the latter may actually be a joke.

I like leaving their magic “exotic” (non-runic) because if the God Learners were unable to crack the code, how can we do better? So Red Magic may share a lot of its exoteric portfolio with Life, but confound expectations in other ways much as Tolat (also a red god) does. The Guide presents new (?) information about the importance of ritual purification in their system so we might expect each of the known colors to represent a specific type of cleansing operation: cleansing by fire (red magic) burns off what can be burned and lets the fields recuperate for a new growing season, cleansing by drowning (tsankth magic) washes away foreign dirt and collects treasure, cleansing by right action (blue-and-red magic), cleansing by right thought (black-and-white magic), cleansing by death itself (green magic). Vijaya is doubly mysterious. This may reflect some inner alchemical system as well.

Amusingly Tsankth never seems to have acquired any color identification at all unless his “diamond and sky” temple on Ghenisk makes him white and blue. In the Gods of Glorantha days I thought this was because he was the god of Vormaino exile: when you leave the home islands, your place within their rainbow was taken from you and Tsankth was the god who presided over that divestiture and the remainder of your life. As such, his runes may be an aberration as the only outward-facing part of their system the God Learners were able to decode. Now of course it looks like the pirates are not really exiles at all since Tsankth is also worshipped in the home isles. He may look very different when he’s “at home.”

[Harald Smith]

Quote:

I like leaving their magic “exotic” (non-runic) because if the God Learners were unable to crack the code, how can we do better?

I do like the exotic aspect as well. Of course, there is a mystical aspect to their magic which likely the God Learners could not comprehend so I don’t think runes are precluded here.

Quote:

The Guide presents new (?) information about the importance of ritual purification in their system so we might expect each of the known colors to represent a specific type of cleansing operation

I really like this as it seems to fit quite well with the mystical paths, the need to keep foreigners (foreign contaminants) out, and a nice association between a color (or colors) and associated magics.

[Harald Smith]

I could see possible living/cleansing associations with Vormaino gods as follows:

Valzain, white & black – “cleansing by right thought” – or since he is the Emperor god it could be through the right lineage?
Telask, blue, the cerulean warrior – “cleansing by right action” – or some variation emphasizing the martial skills including defending against all outside foes? There is a note indicating ‘he turned corpse blue when he swallowed all their poisons’ suggesting there is something that allows him to absorb and purify (maybe water purification?)
Zaktirra, green, the viridian mage – “cleansing by death” – I’m not sure that sounds quite right though it could be; he is the “source of curses” – maybe cleansing through right punishment?
Vijaya, the auric wonder – golden associations here suggesting purity and truth – she might better fit the “cleansing by right thought”?
Henshie, red, Mistress of Vermilion Magic – definitely fits the “cleansing by fire”
Tsankth, no color noted, but as you note, he has temple of Diamond and Sky – he seems to be the sharp-edged one, suggesting ‘cleansing by death’ or ‘cleansing through blood’
– an old document lists Tskanth’s father as Gosarh, the sanguine lord (the red of blood instead of the red of fire) so these might make sense for Tskanth
Fenquorr, purple, Mistress of Heliotropic Magic, called the Turning Goddess and patroness of noble women – perhaps “cleansing through obediance”? (the heliotrope flower I believe turns with the sun suggesting obediance to the sun)
Octamo, now listed as the Crimson God/Goddess and the only kindly Vormaino deity seen by outsiders – perhaps “cleansing through right duty”?

The following are in old documents though not in current Guide:
Alafin, the porphyr – he represents Nullity, the Void, but not in a chaotic sense – “cleansing through nullification or rejection”?
Pelquorr, orange, Mistress of Titian Magic, patron of common women – perhaps “right living”?
Rynglorem, grey, Master of Fulvous Magic, patron of scholars, poets, and bureaucrats – “cleansing through the right word”?

All speculative, but seems like some aspects might be useful to draw on.

[Scott Martin]

Your lore beggars mine, of course. I was downright ignorant of this source until now!

We are moving from the old four gods (three colored, one not) into a big pantheon now so my suspicion is that we’re not going to be able to find enough distinct forms of purification to fit everyone and keep things interesting. There might be at least two or more not-quite-compatible color systems in there, each with their affiliated noble houses and schools.

Since I live in a dyeworks I want to take a prismatic approach based on the order in which color terms tend to emerge in culture: black/white, red, green/yellow, indigo, brown, orange/pink/purple/gray, azure. This would give us old Valzain, one or more red gods (Henshie, Gosarh or now Octamo), green Zaktirra and blue Telask as primary cults and push most of the others to the edges as specialty cults or “accent colors” in their system.

The “primary” gods may have the most explicitly purification-oriented magic in the sense that they act as filters on each other and the mingled visible light of everyday life. The imperial monochrome banishes/purifies all. (Valzain as ultimate isolationist.) Zaktirra banishes Telask and [Red], [Red] banishes Telask and Zaktirra and so on. What isn’t banished is the characteristic virtues associated with each cult: blue is martial, green is apparently nasty, red works hard and might as well have fire.

Even if they distinguish between multiple reds as we do here in the dyeworks, one or more will be “primary” and some may be peripheral. It’s interesting, for example, that no text we have lists Gosarh as an active entity, so his flavor of redness is probably deprecated in some way — this may have something to do with Tsankth as (colorless?) “mongrel” god familiar to pirates, outcasts and slaves — so maybe Henshie and Octamo are dominant in different corners of the islands.

Interestingly while porphyry is often considered a purplish-red, it might swap in for “brown” and so Alafin may reject the entirety of the color system as the god of muddy neutrals. This might be a true “mystic” school even within the heavily mystical Vormaino system. Fenquorr may have a lunar texture and Vijaya may actually be their name for the sun, although this is now completely speculative territory.

I wouldn’t mind if Tsankth was a red god when worshipped in the temple of diamond and sky, at which times he may be called Gosarh. Although the piratical form of his cult has a lot of water magic, he is still the barracuda and he loves blood. The pirate cult may have gotten tangled in Wachaza or even some form of Magasta worship in the Second Age…

[Harald Smith]

> Your lore beggars mine, of course. I was downright ignorant of this source until now!

Just some persistent google searches! 🙂

> I want to take a prismatic approach based on the order in which color terms tend to emerge in culture…

That makes sense to me.

>This would give us old Valzain, one or more red gods (Henshie, Gosarh or now Octamo), green Zaktirra and blue Telask as primary cults and push most of the others to the edges as specialty cults or “accent colors” in their system.

That makes for a very nice, natural sequence.

> What isn’t banished is the characteristic virtues associated with each cult: blue is martial, green is apparently nasty, red works hard and might as well have fire.

Since Telask rides upon either ‘a blue and red eagle’ or ‘a blue and a red eagle’ depending on the sources I’ve seen, I wonder if he hasn’t conquered the red/blood aspect of Gosarh?

> Interestingly while porphyry is often considered a purplish-red, it might swap in for “brown” and so Alafin may reject the entirety of the color system as the god of muddy neutrals. This might be a true “mystic” school

That’s what he sounded like to me.

> Fenquorr may have a lunar texture and Vijaya may actually be their name for the sun

There are other “Eldest-Present Gods” who are sun, sea, etc. Aside from Harantara (goddess of the Sea of Kahar and also the Blue Dragon), these are probably worshipped for certain magics, but not active (unlike in the theistic lands).
I think Fenquorr and Vijaya should emphasize their colors (purple/magenta and yellow/gold). Vijaya is a patroness of one of the main families. Fenquorr is patroness of noble women. The colors make me think of the cyan-magenta-yellow combination???

btw, I found the original list here: http://www2u.biglobe.ne.jp/~BLUEMAGI/LandofVithela.htm

[Scott Martin]

Quote:

Quote from Harald Smith on September 11, 2013, 01:31
Since Telask rides upon either ‘a blue and red eagle’ or ‘a blue and a red eagle’ depending on the sources I’ve seen, I wonder if he hasn’t conquered the red/blood aspect of Gosarh?

I like this. Terra Incognita (who might comment here if I raise my level of play closer to yours and his) has noted that Telask and Alafin are mutually incompatible, so this might be the reason the Hairun-in (Alafin, riding high) and Hairun (Telask, a little marginalized) are estranged.

The Jayangar family who had Gosarh as a patron were humbled at some point [when??] and are now heavy patrons of pirates and by extension colorless Tsankth. The Hairun weren’t the primary humblers but may have been involved somehow. Turns out it was the Sunda Kalapa, who, yes, work with Zaktirra, who did the humbling. The wheel of red and blue and green again. Maybe they trade courtly roles.

Quote:

I think Fenquorr and Vijaya should emphasize their colors (purple/magenta and yellow/gold). Vijaya is a patroness of one of the main families. Fenquorr is patroness of noble women. The colors make me think of the cyan-magenta-yellow combination???

I like this. For what it’s worth, Octamo still has his “red” temple in the “yellow” abode, so he may not always have been a red god.

The women and “functionary” gods may follow a subtractive (pigment-oriented) color logic as opposed to the more additive (light-oriented) system of the old triad. The basic difference as far as their mysticism goes is that additive color starts with darkness and builds up to white as colors interact. Subtractive color starts with white and every pigment you add brings you closer to black. I have no idea what this does to their magic but it would be great if they talked about it as a fundamental mystical distinction. Henshie may be the subtractive red, defined by a job (like gray and the old yellow) and so more pragmatic in the magic he provides than the more sublime additive red that used to belong to Gosarh and is now assigned Octamo.

Valzain as januslike, the end and beginning of both additive and subtractive groupings like a more courtly cousin of Vith on the cover of Revealed Mythologies…?

[Harald Smith]

I like this additive vs. subtractive aspect a lot particularly with Valzain at the beginning and end either way. Additive sounds like an aspect of mystical engagement by honing particular skills. Subtractive sounds like you must clear your mystical debts through right living?

[Author]

Posts