I pointed out that Illumination was almost completely absent during the Second Age.
Peter:
>Nysalorian Cults did survive after the conquest of Dara Happa by the
>Theyalans and when the latter were booted out, they began to
>flourish to some extent.
Yes, this is true, but in the first place, "flourish" is a relative term -- they were still far from common, especially once the EWF, with its far more interesting draconic magic, came to strength. In addition, there is no evidence that any of these Nysalorian cults possessed anything like Illumination, whereas there _is_ evidence that the Red Goddess brought back some secret power from Gbaji just before her apotheosis. I maintain that the secrets of Illumination as now understood were spotty and rare during the Second Age.
Later on, I pointed out that Yelm is in fact suffering from the effects of the Lunar Empire.
>Spare us the Dara Happan Nobles laments. Yelm wasn't worshipped at
>the Dawn and nobody managed to speak to him until 350 _years_ later,
What? This is an outright falsehood. Yelm was certainly worshipped at the dawn. The horse nobles were all Yelm worshipers, for one thing.
>Besides Kralorela has a perfectly adequate cult for worshipping Yelm
>without hereditary lines of succesion
Sez who? The Kralori method requires a hereditary Son of the Sun for its operation. Though most members need not be the child of a Sun worshiper, the priests and rulers have to be. It's really just a variation on the Kralori Emperor cult, in which vast numbers of peasants contribute magic points for the benefit of a third party.
NOTE ON KRALORI APPROACH TO THE GODS
Many Theists, especially the more materialistic ones, believe
that the proper route of magic power from the gods to the human
worshipers. I.e., your membership in a cult grants you magic. Then
the worshipers are able to accomplish great things via their devotion
and loyalty.
But the Kralori don't see it quite this way. Instead, they view the route of power as being from the worshipers to the gods. In other words, your membership in a cult strengthens the rulers of that cult and, indirectly, the gods themselves. Then the gods' activities bless all the world. Now, the Kralori don't actually think that if they stopped worshiping, say, Den Xi (Dendara), she would wither and die, but they _do_ think that their worship makes her more attentive to their province and lands. Hence, all the land of Kralorela is benefited when the people serve Den Xi. Someone who _doesn't_ worship Den Xi is therefore, not one of the Four Millions (the traditional number of worshipers needed for Den Xi to physically manifest the Berry Wife during the Red Fish Festival), and, to that slight extent, is impious and disloyal to the other farmers.
Because of this highly different mode of worship, the structure of Kralori "cults" is very different from the Theyalan or traditional Pelorian style. There are very few priests and the status of "acolyte" is practically unknown. Formal worship services are common, but instead of huge temples to the gods, it is much more common to find small shrines and sites. Instead of gathering in masses, the Kralori are happy to worship at home. Almost every farmhouse has a tiny worship corner devoted to Den Xi and often other gods as well. Only when a particular magic effect is needed, usually determined by an important mandarin or exarch (who may not even be a worshiper of the god in question), do they gather in numbers.
And this gathering in numbers is simply to devote the massed karma of thousands of devout worshipers all at once to focus their energies and ensure that the magic power of the god is used to their benefit.
To bring this down to mundane terms, if you cause trouble in a rural area of Sartar, then a Sword of Humakt or a Wind Lord is likely to come after your ass. If you cause trouble in a rural area of Kralorela, then some magic effect, rather like a spirit of retribution, is likely to occur. Your knapsacks might be infested with mice, for instance, or your shaman daily assailed by Stabbing Spirits. Yet all the rural peasantry be as polite and pleasant as its possible to be, giving in to all your horrendous demands, and letting you loot them to your heart's content.
THE WISE DESMAN
A certain Exarch kept a band of desmans [1] in his reflecting
pool for the amusement of his son. The desmans cavorted and played,
disporting themselves and enjoying life immensely.
The Exarch also kept sheep and horses. One of his elderly rams began to sneak into the kitchen, eating all he could see. When he pushed through the door, the cooks struck at him, striving to keep him out of the jellied mouse and similar delicacies.
As this feud developed, the eldest desman feared. He spoke to the other desmans. "We must flee from the Exarch's employment! I fear lest in their anger one day the cooks may strike the ram with a torch. Should this happen, his coat would surely catch afire. What if he ran to the stables, where dwell the exarch's prize horses? The sovereign remedy for horse burns is desman fat! We must flee, before this disaster strikes and we all suffer it!"
"What?!" said the younger desmans. "Leave this pleasant place and go to the wilderness? Burrow in muddy riverbanks? Eat fruits puckery, sour, bitter?. Hunt fish spiny, scaly, teeming with bones? Chase frogs thin, sinewy, not of large size? Now we eat delicacies from the Exarch's son's table. We dwell in hutches made of bamboo. Your conceit is too wild, too unlikely. 'Twill never happen."
"It may not be likely," said the old desman. "But you wager your life so. How many sweetmeats is existence worth?" But the others laughed him to scorn.
The old desman went to the river to live, ate wild minnows and worms, hid from fisher cats, and was exposed to all hardships. But one day the ram blundered into the kitchen and a cook, too furious to see his error, struck out with a brand from the cooking fire. At once the oily broad wool was ablaze. Baaing with terror, he fled to the stables. Most of the exarch's horses were fried alive. The few survivors, burned half to death, neighed and screamed with agony in their blackened stalls. The Exarch, frantic, begged his veterinaries, and one and all they prescribed desman fat. "Take all the desmans." said the Exarch. And not one of the desmans escaped.
The old desman learned of the extermination of his friends and family, and lusted for vengeance. He wandered far and came to a mountain lake. Many animal tracks led up to the lake, but none led away. Despite his thirst and need to swim, the desman sat back and drank the lake water through a hollow reed. At once a hideous duocanth wearing a jeweled crown rose up. "Here have I dwelt for aeons, awaiting the ocean's return. None have I met who was as sage as you." [2]
The desman, amazed by the duocanth's horrendous form, asked, "What is your strength?"
"Here, in my lake, I can outmatch the Emperor himself. On the shore, a hyrax can overpower me."
The desman said, "Let me wear me your crown, and I will deliver many into your hands."
Now when the Exarch saw the crown, he coveted it, and had the desman brought to him. "A wondrous crown." said the Exarch.
"As to that," said the desman. "I know how to get such a crown for anyone."
The Exarch's eyes glazed with greed. The desman continued, "I found a secret place where, when one bathes there just at the first light of the new year, he or she comes out wearing such a crown. I will lead you there."
The Exarch ordered all his household to travel to this wondrous place. After weeks of journeying, they arrived at the mountain lake just before the dawn of the new year.
"Send all your household within the water just when I say so." said the desman. "But you, O Exarch, come with me, and I will show you where the finest crowns are found."
At the desman's word, all the household leapt into the water. The Exarch was puzzled. "Why do they take so long to return?" he wondered.
The desman cackled. "You slew all my kin. Now I have done alike with you. All that leapt into the lake are gone forever. But I remembered that you are the Exarch, and not to be harmed." With that, the desman threw his crown into the lake, [3] and scurried away from the weeping Exarch, never to be seen again.
[1] What is a desman? Look it up. Small and fuzzy, for one.
[2] The duocanth is plainly referring to the Golden Age and the invasion of the land by the sea, when the rivers were first made. Presumably the implication here is that this monster was abandoned here in his lake when the sea retreated during the early Gods War. A Kralori would understand this, and also the further implication that this is a hell of an old monster and therefore mightily powerful.
[3] presumably returning it to the duocanth.
End of Glorantha Digest V1 #101
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