<< I've just joined this list and after searching the archive I noted that
some things seems to be missing from the HW set some of uz has got. I'm
thinking of Elmal/Yelmalio.
[snip]
Since I know pretty much nothing about their powers, I'd very much like to
seen what anyone else has done before I try my hand at writing a HW cult
myself. Especially since I haven't got HW yet... And I do believe we will
have to wait for Thunder Rebels and an
official write-up. (Yes I know the RQ cult description is on the Issaries
site, but I never learned RQ... ) >>
Well, lets have a crack at this. To begin with, lets make the assumption that the RQ3 cult write-up of Yelmalio is essentially correct - there's a good chance it isn't, hence the delay in writing it for HW, but we have to start somewhere. Descriptions of initiate membership etc., minus POW sacrifices and other clear anachronisms therefore remain as in the Issaries website version. What we need is the magic.
Yelmalio has the runic affinities Truth and Light (his runic classification, should anyone care, would be Theist, Solar, Yelmic, Yelmalio). Thus we give him two affinities: Truth and Light.
In RQ3 Yelmalio grants the following magic (ignoring associate cults and stuff everyone gets): Coordination, Detect Gold, Farsee, Lantern, Lightwall, Repair, Catseye, Sunbright, Enchant Gold, Enchant Iron. With a few tweaks to the names, these will be his Feats - we can always add more later if we need them, but for the moment we're assuming for simplicity's sake that the RQ3 write-up is essentially complete and accurate.
To begin with, we immediately get:
Light Affinity: See Long Distance, Wall of Light, See in the Dark, Create
Patch of Sunlight
We add Enchant Gold and Detect Gold to this, since gold is the metal of the sun. Note that we've changed the names to make their meaning more obvious, since we won't have spell descriptions. We've also merged Lantern and Sunbright into one, and assumed that they just reflect different abilities with the same feat.
This leaves us with Coordination, Repair and Enchant Iron for the Truth affinity. This doesn't sound quite right, so we rename the affinity Staunch Defence (or some such). The feats are: Instant Reactions (augments any combat or agility related ability), Repair Item and Enchant Iron.
From Yelmalio's myth, we make his Secret 'Survive in Adversity', which acts as an integrated passion spirit giving a bonus of 1/4 to any roll to resist death from injury (I don't think this can be used in a fight, but if, for instance, *after* a fight, you find yourself on your own, with no healing magic and have to crawl miles back to your home with both your legs broken and bleeding from a stomach wound...)
The list of geasa remains the same as in RQ3, except for the armour
restrictions (41-52). The gifts are:
1 +3 in any physical skill, chosen by the initiate
2 +3 in any mental skill, chosen by the initiate
3 Gain Acute Vision ability at 14
4 Increase either Archery ability to 2W (replace with gift #1 if archery
already is this high)
5 Increase Spear Fighting ability to 2W (replace with gift #1 if spear
fighting is already this high)
6 Increase Throw Javelin ability to 2W (replace with gift #1 if throw javelin
is already this high)
7 Increase See in the Dark feat by +3
8 Gain Speak with Horses feat at 14 (no affinity; treat as a subcult)
9 Gain Understand Birds feat at 14 (no affinity; treat as a subcult)
10 Gain magical Resist Fire talent at 14
That's how I'd do it. It's not terribly original and it probably won't be the same as the official version, but if you want a cult write-up now, and RQ3 is all you've got to hand as a basis, its the way I'd suggest doing it. Obviously, as it isn't official anyway, it can be tweaked to taste. I'll leave the topic of Elmal alone, although I'd guess his secret kicks in when he's defending something important.
Forward the glorious Red Army!
Trotsky
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