> Everybody says Lodril originally came from Heaven (well
> not everybody of course, but those whose myths we have
> about the origin of Lodril).
This might make his membership of the Heavenly Host as current as Satan's, of course. The big question is, did he jump or was he pushed? (I have in the past given the Von Daniken parallel, with the "Lodril-rocket" bringing the first humans to Glorantha before the coming of the Yelmic "flying saucers", but I hope nobody takes this *too* seriously).
> Monster Man doesn't really count as he is a subcult.
> But the rest of the parallels are instructive.
Isn't Monster Man more the "Dark Side" of Lodril, all that dangerous, fiery, unconsummated anger and passion? In which case he's a very handy parallel to bear in mind when comparing Lodril to Zorak Zoran.
>> Lake Oronin is in the crater of Lodril's ancient home, >> Fire Mountain.
> Wow! That is one Huge Volcano!
Was, Peter, was: right now it's a hole in the ground filled with warm water. But where else would you expect Lodril to live? (I loved discovering this from Greg, as it makes the scenery around the "magical" Lake Oronin far more vivid for me).
> The Boristi are universally repressed due to their
> allegedly vile chaos worshipping traditions... I'm
> surprised that the Boristi weren't written up in the
> released Malkioni Sect writeups at Berkeley even
> though they are more populous than the Galvosti.
The Berkeley writeups cover the sects turning up to the Seventh Ecclesiastical Council, no more and no less. The Galvosti are not 'universally repressed' and retain a power base in Holut, with an associated bishopric, which is how they crept into the Council. There may well have been Secret Boristi present (and if not, there were certainly rumours of their presence), but they were incognito: the Boristi don't have openly acknowledged bishops and would therefore have no votes at an ecclesiastical council. They certainly don't proselytize. The infinitely convertible Count Darmangon's current position was not probed into at either Council, probably much to his relief.
Several things just didn't make it into the freeform. Draft ideas included a Boristi wizard (whose 'pet gorp,' kept and Tapped for magical powers, would escape in Sog City and be hunted down); a Plague in Sog City (involving healers, miracles, relics of St Xemela, civil unrest and the like); a 'Name of the Rose' - -cum- 'Brother Cadfael' style Monastic Murder Mystery (or at least a monkish detective character); a large coloured wall-map marking bishoprics, military units, economic markers, fleet strengths and the like; various characters' possession by the Nameless Man (bent on wrecking the Council); and plenty more besides. Some of these were dropped for practical or mechanical reasons, others because we didn't have the time to develop them.
I'd be delighted to see anyone's Boristi writeup, if you think it would help 'complete the set' of Malkioni Sects. Similarly, if anyone wants to try their hand at adding RuneQuest rules-mechanical bits to the Sect write-ups (cf. Tales #13 for an example), including unusual Sorcery skills and lower-level social stuff especially for the non-Wizard castes, this strikes me as a very worthwhile thing to do. I don't see why we can't expand the </pub/runequest/malkioni> directory at <ftp.csua.berkeley.edu>, if Shannon Appel (our gracious host) is willing.
Oh, and if anyone has any questions or comments relating to our Malkioni material at Berkeley, I'd be delighted to deal with them, either via private e-mail or here on the Digest (whichever you'd prefer).
> I'm surprised that Humakt is such a power in Prax.
> There seems to be few or no significant holy sites...
I'm not sure why you think he's "such a power in Prax": Humakt has always been a popular deity for player characters to follow, but such folk aren't necessarily representative either of their society or of the lands through which they adventure. Humakt isn't a native deity, and receives almost no organised worship in Prax, for a variety of reasons.
There are several 'holy sites' to Humakt, but then again, that doesn't mean a crowd of Humakti are always to be found at them. Prax is Nomad Country, where permanent settlements are the exception, not the rule. You go to a holy place at the right time of year, perform the ritual and move on out.
> Given the number of warring factions in Prax, I'd
> have thought that there were more significant temples
> around.
I'm not certain if you meant the Tribes, or the Sun Domers, Lunars, Orlanthi, and the like, when you referred to "warring Praxian factions". So I'll try to cover everyone's religion below.
HUMAKTI AND THE WARRIORS OF PRAX Among the Tribes, Waha does many of the things you'd expect Humakti to do: he is the god of Praxian Braves, and through his dedication to the Death Rune suffers from an inability to use much Healing magic. Because Prax has a warlike culture, their dominant cultural deity is a warlike deity; because of him, they don't need many Humakti. Native Praxian Humakti may have joined a 'civilised' temple; more likely they are members in some spirit-cult or Secret Society like the famous 'Sword Brothers,' which includes members from all the Tribes. There are probably most 'normal' Humakti in the Pol Joni tribe (the "Cattle Bastards"), who originally came from Dragon Pass.
The Sun Domers are like Praxians in that their cultural deity, Yelmalio, is a militant one, exemplifying the Good Soldier. Yelmalions can get on well enough with civilised Humakti to hire them as weaponsmasters, they appreciate their ability as military leaders and devotion to a Truth, but the Humakti are still foreigners, and not to be trusted. Use of the sword is not considered 'proper' in Sun County: real men carry spears!
The Lunars have brought their various army deities to Prax, along with Yanafal Tarnils, their officer demigod, who is called a Humakti renegade by Orlanthi. There is also the zealot/militant arm of the Seven Mothers to contend with (those 7M Moon Lords). You're unlikely to meet many Lunar worshippers of Humakt: there's a lot of bad blood around, and most Humakti out this way are renegades fleeing the wars in Dragon Pass. The Lunar military 'temples' all centre on the standards of their units, wherever they may be, with the Seven Mothers Temples in Pavis and (I believe) Moonbroth as the religious centres of Lunar Prax.
As I mentioned above, most Humakti in Prax are probably Orlanthi renegades from the wars in Tarsh and Sartar. They weren't necessarily Humakt cultists before Prax, of course: the shock of losing one's family and homeland to war could easily turn a man to the service of the God of Death.
Some are still 'rebels', organising resistance to the Lunars. Given my known affiliations, nobody tells me what these folk are getting up to, or what they hope to achieve. Count Sor-eel assures me they won't last long: it's hard to fight an honourable guerrilla war against superior occupying forces.
Duke Raus is known to employ Humakti in his household mercenaries: he doesn't make too many enquiries into their past ("enlisting to forget" is always an option with Raus's Rangers). These troops can be found along the Cradle River, south of Sun County.
Some Sartarite Humakti have adopted a 'lone gunslinger' mentality, roving the High Plaines to protect the settlers in Garhound and the other (often Sartarite) towns around Pavis. Naturally, you could meet these guys anywhere in Prax, as they pursue bandits into the Badlands, or strike out into the Long Dry for whatever reason. Dust-draggers are de rigeur, crossbows an optional extra. These men are proud, taciturn loners, holding to a code of personal conduct which the settlers respect, but seldom emulate. There may not be many of these people, but they're certainly worthy of mention.
THE HUMAKT TEMPLE IN PAVIS The writeup of Humakt in "Cults of Prax" is odd, as it describes what is perhaps the least typical form of Humakti worship found in Prax: a regimented military temple. The Pavic temple to Humakt may try to run itself along these lines, but I doubt it could really deploy an organised Humakti force. Maybe a cadre?
Note that Humakt was followed in Pavis before the Troll Conquest: there is a ruined Humakti Temple in Balastor's Barracks, a site within the Big Rubble. There may be something unusual in the relationship between the Pavic Humakti and the City Cult of Pavis. Could be worth exploring? Mind you, the whole of ancient Pavic culture is well worth further development: I particularly recommend the material in Codex #1 for anyone interested in trying this out.
The description of Pavic court procedures in Ken Rolston's scenario "Welcome to the City" (from the old Pavis Pack) has a Humakti Sword present in court to take Oaths on an ornate Sword of Justice. This may be inherited from either Old Pavic or City Sartarite custom, I'm not sure which. It may be a largely ceremonial role filled by a secondee from the Humakt Temple, not requiring a dedicated full-time "Warrior Humakti Acolyte" to fill it: I certainly hope so. (In fact, "Sword of Justice" could be the title of both the official and the item!).
> Maybe it's easier for Humakti to worship. Possibly they
> don't require fixed locations and large gatherings but
> just a few warriors and a sanctified sword (or other artifact).
The famous Wooden Sword (cf. Wyrms Footprints for its full story) is just one of a collection of 'portable temples' to Humakt. While this is a unique 'artifact' (and not just a run-of-the-mill 'sanctified sword'), others are known (cf. the GoG Prosopaedia). It isn't necessary for it to be *generally* "easier" for Humakti to worship (although they do tend to be more single-mindedly devoted than other deities' worshippers, so maybe their worship is "worth more" to the god?), but if allowing this makes your players' lives easier and more fun, go for it! Where players are concerned, it's always worth fudging the letter of the rules to give them more enjoyable games. But in general, I'd recommend consistency in the way you treat the world. Come up with a set of ground rules that suits your group and makes sense. Then invent an excuse for the players to circumvent them.
Perhaps this greater ease of worship counterbalances the fact that Humakti are unusually shat-on (in Prax at least) in that they can't easily include the spirits of departed worshippers or fellow-travellers on the Spirit Plane to bulk out their congregations. Poor devils!
End of Glorantha Digest V2 #241
WWW material at http://hops.wharton.upenn.edu/~loren/rolegame.html
Powered by hypermail