>I believe Robert is correct here. If you look in Cults of Prax, you'll find
that
>Irrippi gives the spell 'Mind Blast' to the Seven mothers Cult. I'm not so
>certain that any Lhankhor Mhy Sages are going to even entertain the idea of a
>cult utilising a spell the can permanently destroy memories!
For a start, Mind Blast only rarely destroys memories. It just removes your use of your mind temporarily. It might be considered as destroying memories (destruction of knowledge is indeed a serious crime for LM, though wether this applies to knowledge not possessed by the cult is not clear) when it destroys INT (i.e. on a critical)... but then again, Lhankor Mhys own spirit of reprisal (the Brain Flayer) destroys INT as well, so IMHO Irripi Ontor does nothing that the Lhankor Mhy cult finds intolerable. They are not allied, but they are more intense rivals than deadly enemies (though they may end up enemies very quickly if either gets involved in politics, which LM at least should not) - compare Etyries and Issaries.
I think the official IO position on the question would be that LM knows how to withdraw the blessings of intelligence from his those of his followers that commit great sins, while IO has cunningly learnt to withdraw this blessing from his enemies as well. Merely demonstrates the innate superiority of the Lunar way.
Note that IO and LM actually co-exist in many places. In Pavis, they have separate temples (and presumably living quarters) but they are joined together and share the same library, and presumably many other temples facilties. LM aren't particularly happy about this, but there isn't fighting in the halls either. In my campaign this is also true of most of the temples of occupied Sartar as well, especially the great temple of LM in Jonstown. There is also a trend in academia (of both cults) to try and somehow link their research to the currently trendy discipline of Brithini Iron statuary.
> You only have to
>look at the cult write-up in SotB for Aytar (of Thanatar) - he was an exiled
>Sage and hunted continually by his previous religion! He suffered reprisals, so
>why wouldn't IO?
>
You are thinking not of Atyar itself (The severed head of Tien) but of Treack Marckhor, the apostate priest of LM who is credited with founding the cult (and who can still be contacted by Thanatari). Note that even he was able to steal a few of the LM secrets.
Mind you, I think that IO at least came to be regarded as a renegade - - though I certainly think he is a lot less despised than Treack. Using the Catholic Church as an analogy for Lhankor Mhy, IO is the founder of the Orthodox church or at worst the Protestants, but TM is an active self admitted devil worshipper and incarnation of the Antichrist.
>What I don't understand,
>is everyone is supposed to remember the tales of the creation of Osenchalka
>[i.e. Nysalor the Bright] and his corruption in history.
Sure they remember. They just remember a different version of it than you do. Read the differing viewpoints in Lords of Terror, for example. Nysalor the Bright was not corrupted (that is barbarian propoganda), just attacked and destroyed by the forces of ignorance and darkness.
>>To be detailed in the Lunar Book (coming real soon now, we hope).
>
>I would really like to hear from the author(s) about this, as it's important to
>agree upon whether
The author is Greg Stafford, the Lunar Book being the follow up to King of Sartar.
> a) I'm wasting my time as all seven are going to be written
>up,
He is extremely unlikely to put RQ rules matters (like cult writeups) into this.
> or b) the inter-cult organisation and relationships between the 7M's has
>been discussed in this write-up -
But stuff like this may well be, as well as discussions of the many more obscure Lunar religions.
> I believe, going by admittedly obscure
>references in CoP that the general 7M's cult has to be joined before movement
>into the sub-cults.
I do not believe that this is so inside the Empire, where the 7M cult is rare. It may be true for those barbarians converted to the Lunar way by the 7M missionaries, though.
> I've also drawn up a wild chart (if anyones interested) into
>sub-cult movement between the 17 major cults of the Lunar pantheon.
>
If interested.
> Also I've heard
>rumours that Jakaleel may have been an Uz!
I have heard rumours, but I don't know if I believe them.
> I see Jakaleel's sub-cult being an arm of the Red Emperor's who is
>there to check that every other cult is running accordingly - yeap that right!
>Jakaleel the Auditor!
>
But the Auditor position is already filled by the Examiners of the Red Goddess sub cult. Admittedly there are very few of them, but you don't need that many, especially as they are so competent. And they are far less ideologically suspect than crazed female darkness worshippers - what sensible Dara Happan male would submit to being examined by such a cult!
No, I think the Jakaleel cult is there to keep a ready access to the darkness powers, deal with the trolls, and generally act as a dirty tricks division of the Lunar hierarchy.
But back to the real question - where the 7M illuminated AT THE TIME
of the creation of the Red Goddess (they certainly where at some point later).
Peter says
>Since the Red Goddess reawakened Nysalor (note I am merely
>parroting Lunar Propoganda) and reopened the Way of Illumination, it seems to
>me that Illumination was very difficult before this.
Don't believe that Lunar propaganda. The Red Goddess just learnt some of his secrets, but he is still well and truly dead. I think Illumination has always been about as difficult - but when Nysalor was alive, his cult was a conduit for sharing the powers granted by illumination among his worshippers, such as by teaching other Nysalorians runespells granted to you by other cults (fully reusably). Look at Ralzakarks spell list - I think Ralzakark holds on to the powers that once all Nysalorians had, the power to learn any rune magic that they could be taught by other Nysalorians.
I think the Lunar 'reopening of the Way of Illumination' refers merely to active schools of Illumination being established once more. I think it highly likely that the 7M where illuminated before they started their quest (at least some of them, especially IO and YT).
I would like to mention a particularly fabulous theory at this point (probably due to Nick Brooke). Are people familiar with the theory that the awakening of the goddess was a form of Lightbringers Quest? (which seems completely reasonable - the 7 is a giveway for a start, and it seems the sort of thing you would use a LBQ for). The best part of the theory is that as part of a LBQ you must fail at your most important abilities, as Issaries and Orlanth and Lhankor Mhy etc. failed (the trickster, of course, fails most of the time, so must succeed instead). The great theory is that some of the 7M cynically exploited this to rid themselves of irksome restrictions, and 'failed' in way that was ritually acceptable but useful - so YT 'failed' to resist the temptation of resurrection, and IO 'failed' to always tell the truth, and so gained some access to illusion magics. The cleverest heroquesters in Gloranthan history, IMHO.
Cheers
David
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