>I agree [[the Holy Country Other Side] is not the ordinary
>Hero Planes.
>
>I'm less certain that it is not in the God World, after all even the
>trolls worship Argan Argar in a theist mode.
AFAIK it's a tauntology to speak of worshipping Argan Argar in a theistic mode because Argan Argar is a god who is worshipped theistically (and Argan Argar is the human cult, not the troll cult). Other gods worshipped by the Uz include Karrg, Vaneekara, Kogag the Boater, Xiola Umbar and Zorak Zoran (according to the HW:UZ publication).
One could say that the Uz learned how to worship Gods after coming to the surface world but that's a debate for another forum.
IMO the Pharaonic cults are common religions like the cults of Imarja (HQ p42), the Unknown God Church (HQ p44) and Diros (MotS p25) rather than the cults of Argar Argan etc.
Whether the Only Old One actually had something similar to what is being suggested for the Pharaoh is an interesting idea with some support from the Runequest Companion. I'll just say that IMO that if the Kingdom of Night had a similar otherworld, it had its roots in the Underworld where the trolls could move in the myths of their ancestors and that the Pharaonic redefinition of it bears as much resemblence to the original as to the Red Moon.
>I don't see why Belintar's Return from Hell quest should be anchored in
>God Forgot.
Belintar's a complicated guy who has six return from hell quests IMO. That ritual of the year king resurrection is different from his ritual to resurrect King Andrin and so forth.
>Having the Pharaoh disappear in Sacred Time means he was present
>when the Wolf Pirates plundered his city (unless this was while he
>campaigned against Greymane).
The Wolf Pirates didn't plunder the City of Wonders until the 1620s. The Pharaoh disappeared in 1616. While Harrek and his ships were around in 1616, they couldn't sack the City of Wonders until Broyan gave them the key.
>How well do Lunar scholars know the Hepherones Philosophy?
Not well but the Lunars have their own means of scouting other people's magicial places. The knowledge that the Holy Country is divided into six elemental parts is general knowledge and not specialized knowledge known only to Hepherones and his disciples.
>If Tatius was in Sartar at the time, he would have taken
>part in this, and his support would have amounted to
>something.
Why would he have? The Empire is not a monolithic institution efficiently marshalling all its resources to the fulfillment of the Seven Year Plan. Tatius and JarEel are rivals for Imperial Favour. In a culture where the advancement for promotion is through the Dart Competitions, Tatius would have been remiss if he didn't put some resources into sabotaging JarEel's plans just as he was sabotaging Fazzur's.
> > Hence the nearest temple
> > would probably be the Temple of the Seven Mothers
> > in Boldhome unless there was a decent temple in
> > Wilmskirk at the time.
>
>The temples in Bagnot or Dunstop aren't that much farther, and more
>established.
Tarsh is much further away from the border of the Holy County than Boldhome or Wilmskirk. If those temples were used, it would have required Tarshite support while none of the Tarshite factions boast of their role in the Pharaoh's death.
>Neither they nor Boldhome have any correspondence to the Holy
>Country, though.
I didn't say correspondence to the Holy Country - I said correspondences between the unknown Sixth and the Lunar Element. And all that's required to access the Lunar otherworld is a temple.
> I doubt Wilmskirk had more than a regimental shrine and
>an Etyries shrine, it is a fairly small city.
Which supports Boldhome.
--Peter Metcalfe
Powered by hypermail