To me they seem like an adaption of Theyalan Councilic chaos-fighting monomyth grafted on the Malkioni or even Brithini lore flooding Ralios with the "liberation" from Gbaji.
Borin lies in the border area between the Korioni and the Vustri tribal regions. The Korioni were members of the Dari Alliance, the Vustri traditional enemies. Since Borin is somewhat lowland, but among the hill, I suppose that Dorastan settlers had taken hold there, too. This mixture of cultures had been stable during Nysalor's reign, and IMO were typical for the cult of Orlanth introduced by Lokamayadon.
IMO the Theyalan monomyth was based upon some common (?) tales of Creation, intrusion of not-Being and combating this (like the Footprint myth, or the Snake Pipe Hollow myth), in the end with not-Being (Death - - the Sword Story has Eurmal and Humakt go to the outer border of the Universe, Subere's darkest Darkness, where Chaos lies just a step further), too. In the course of finishing Creation and completing Being, Storm had to use the weapon of not-Being on the Emperor, but also had to undo this deed to ensure Being once again.
(BTW: Don't you think that this period of co-existance with the Dara Happans was the origin of the Theyalan knowledge about and acceptance of the Celestial Court as the supreme body of entities after Creation?)
The philosophy of Nysalor managed to unify irredeamable paradoxes into one theory. While Arkat's crusade surely destroyed much of that knowledge, traces remained in Dara Happa, so why not in Ralios?
I don't know when Chaos became a problem in Borin, but the best time seems to have been the late Gbaji wars, or the Telmori curse after this. Borin lies close enough to both Kartolin Pass and Telmoria.
IMO the philosophy of the first Boristi was to use one form of not-Being (Tap) on another (Chaos), in order to revert not-Being into being. This is kind of not understood illumination...
I don't know whether it is necessary to have the Boristi breed their own chaos spawn for scapegoat purposes. I have once argued that the Praxian do breed their culturally important chaos in the Devil's Marsh as well, tended by the Storm Bull colony of the Block. That time I earned strong protests (I think it was by Sandy). The Orlanthi ritual of the Summoning of Evil, performed each Sacred Time, could be another such incident - while it may be argue that they just attract existing chaos, they may also call in new not-Being. Who is to decide?
Still, the Orlanthi and the Praxians understand themselves as foes bent upon the destruction of chaos, not realizing that by fighting the Chaos in the world, obeying the terms of the Compromise, they strengthen it. I think that the Boristi may have realized this somewhat better, and try to escape this cycle by turning one form of not-Being (Tapping) onto another (Chaos) in order to create Being (MP, fatigue, whatever). The intention and the rational behind it may be different, but the net effect as described here reminds me strongly of the Lunar use of Chaos to achieve or even improve Creation.
Ok, this much for high-heeled thought around midnight.
Back to the origin of the Boristi:
To me they seem to combine 1st Age Hrestoli Malkionism, Theyalan concepts, and pre-Hrestol Malkioni magic (Tap).
Was Tapping an issue to the 1st Age Hrestoli? (When I played a Castle Coast bishop in HtWW1, I led my church into abstemption on the Tapping issue. Our church write-up allowed the Tapping of peasants, and I even found the rational behind that: If we allow our soldiers, wizards, and knights to risk their soul for the church, why should we deny our peasants the right to "volunteer" to donate and risk part of their soul to the Church? In RQ terms this would mean that they would only allow Tap POW on peasants.)
If Tapping was not an article of faith then, Arkat's wizard companions from Seshnela may have brought it with them. As a weapon the Tap spell is pretty useless, unless you allow a Touch projection alongside it. As a means of recovery it might have been invaluable in the fighting against the pagans.
If the 1st Age Malkionism had the prohibition on Tapping, one has to wonder how the Boristi on the farthest Malkioni outcrop learned of this technique. We know that the Brithini zzaburs still tap ("freely") in the 3rd Age. How did the Boristi contact them, in this case?
End of Glorantha Digest V2 #345
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