> As to cults such as Thanatat, I agree that this is an Orlanthi practice
I'm seeing this a lot lately and am curious how it evolved.
Shadows on the Borderland has the best information on the cult in the world as opposed to its convoluted mythos and notes the Tunneled Hills complex as well as temples in Kralorela, Peloria, Ralios and Maniria.
The Tunneled Hills probably draws its converts from the Plains or points farther east. Ken Rolston tells us there is an active Thanatar complex in Carmania, which is not exactly Orlanthi territory. Ironically we know most about this one. Kralorela's relationship to the cult is a complicated mess but wherever those practitioners are, they're not going to be good Orlanthi.
The Ralios center may or may not be in tribal territory and is in any event probably too horrible to think about. And then there's Maniria, which would benefit from being pinned down a little but is probably a bona fide Orlanthi problem. (The word "Thanatar" does not seem to appear in The Guide.)
We are told that the Shadows version is "the Carmanian version" (LOT) and it is also vastly different from the COT version, which we might posit represents a "Manirian version." Other versions (Dorastan, Kralorelan...) exist.
Naturally there are questions about why non-Orlanthi would care about Lhankor Mhy and/or Storm Bull, so while the cult has evidently spread Since Time, we should expect either (a) an Orlanthi origin or (b) a more distant origin in pre-lightbringer LM. The difference is a little more than semantic because it may tell us a bit about where LM comes from.
Now Tien seems to have been most active around Genert's Garden. OK. (Shadows)
Than headhunters roved around in the Dawn Age. OK. Might be "an Orlanthi" thing, might not. Dirty atavistic savages. (COT) They might still be out there without access to Atyar magic, or they might well have died out. Good riddance.
The wandering sage who reactivated the skull was an LM so all Atyar worship Since Time will have its origins in LM if not Orlanthi culture. Atyar doesn't necessarily care about Orlanthi cultural mores; Atyar cares about Lhankor Mhy. In any event, the skull spends some time causing trouble in Kralorela, then is forced westward by persecutions. (COT)
The encounter of LM-apostate Atyar worship with dirty atavistic savages happens in the First Age (LOT), at an unspecified time (Shadows) or as recently as the Imperial Age (Sandy Sez; http://glorantha.temppeli.org/digest/gd2/1996.05/3231.html). What we do know is that the Dyskund complex was active under the merged Than/Atyar brand by the Second Age, so that's a hard recent limit.
(This is one of those fan details I wish the Mongoose material had gloried in.)
Whenever it happened, it was probably in the Wastes somewhere and Than Ulbar is probably one of the mother temples. From there, the Than/Atyar cult has to get to Carmania and Ralios and down to Maniria at a certain specific moment in history. Maniria probably comes first because it's easiest go get there from the Wastes. Or if the merger happened early enough, Than/Atyar could have gone straight to Dorastor and then radiated out from there.
So in your Glorantha, when did the skull meet the body and the Thanatar cult start? How does a wandering sage get to that island? When are the lapses in LM records that might point to a scroll being eaten or a head taken, knowledge lost without minarian retrieval?
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