Cults from Nick Brooke on 1995-01-25 (Glorantha Digest Vol 01)

From: Nick Brooke <100270.337_at_compuserve.com>
Date: 25 Jan 95 03:34:50 EST

Stephen Watson:

> Full Cult Writeups
> There are some vital ones we need to be published:

>	Waha		Should have been in River of Cradles
>	Eiritha		Should have been in River of Cradles
>	Seven Mothers	Main enemy cult

Obviously, I disagree with your role for the Seven Mothers, which ought to be the main PC cult.

I hope the two primary Praxian cults will be included in Tales #14 (a Praxian Special), out later this year. As there is damn' all else on the nomads in RoC, they'd have been a bit out of place there, no?

We have a Lunar Special on the drawing-board, and I dare say it'd have something you could beat up in it, though we've given you the Crimson Bat and the Granite Phalanx in recent issues, and with "Lords of Terror" just out you've got the chance to take on something else really dangerous, not just a bunch of Moonie missionaries. What, you want the "main enemy cult" to be easier to take on than these guys? Shame on you!

Brian/Martin:

>> Cult of the Year Sons:
>> I am interested in this but I waited for replies or criticisms but
>> none appeared on the daily and so I ask if people can pass on their
>> knowledge of this cult.

> I expect the lack of answers to this inquiry was due to Nick Brooke's
> being at the Con. Look in the RQ Con I book, under the Cultural
> Exchange transcript, for some thoughts tying the Year Sons to the
> Pharaoh.

If anyone wants to paraphrase this bit for Brian, feel free. I can't be bothered to retype every six months, and it is still available, in print and for sale, from David Cheng, Reaching Moon, Wizard's Attic and other discerning retailers. Every copy unsold is a hole in David's pocket, and in your own knowledge of Gloranthan ephemera...

Jake:

> So my question is: do any of you have any different mechanics or
> writeup for Illumination? Do the Kralori practice a different form
> than the Lunars? Also have any of you used the mysterious second age
> Nysalor cults? Do chaotics have a _Gbaji_ cult? Thanks in advance.

See "Lords of Terror" for even more stuff on Nysalor, Gbaji, better restrictions on the availability and utility of Illumination, etc. Including the powergamer opt-out clause: if you *want* to be Illuminated, then you will never be able to become Illuminated (you're not ready yet)!
Very probably, yes. Even if their mysticism is the same "form", I hope that it'd be unrecognisable in practice. But unless you have a game in Kralorela, you're better off adding depth and breadth to the existing cult description...
Probably not. Read the "Fortunate Succession" for the published history of these, and you'll see they were by and large wiped out by imperial action (as on the intriguingly-named "Moon Night"), or else (presumably) assimilated into the Lunar mainstream. Unless there are any Second Age games out there? Or folk who are *really* far into the deeper philosophies of Lunar Illumination (like Illuminates who know the history of their schools of thought)?
Maybe they say they do. But if they're Illuminates, how and why would we know or care if they were telling the truth? I'm always against any hard and fast rules to distinguish the Good Guy Illuminates (Arkati, Lunars, etc) from the Bad Guys (Chaos Broos, Arkati, etc): too much like D&D alignments. This is meant to be a philosophical grey area: cf. the forthcoming transcript of Convulsion's cultural exchange conversation between Greg & me on this subject (thanks to Peter Michaels, Martin Crim, and anyone else involved in the nightmarish task of writing it all down).

Nick