Yelmalio was a son of Yelm (probably by Ernalda, but I'll come to that).
He was worshipped as the Forest Sun (when you walk through a forest and look up, you see a blazing golden canopy above you - the sky dome; when a shaft of sunlight breaks through the leaves, you see the RQ2 cloud clear spell; when you walk into a clearing, you are surrounded by brilliant sunshine - Sunbright; the forest floor is very dark relative to the canopy, so you need a spell to help you see - Catseye) and was a protector of the forests in the Darkness, having responsibility for the Marching Aldryami, god of the militia and army.
In Prax, Yelmalio rode upon a giant bird, as did his brothers and relatives in Dara Happa (Verk riders etc). When Oakfed came to destroy the forests, many fought against him. One of these was Yelmalio, but his steed was afraid and hid her head beneath the ground. Yelmalio had to leave to find a new mount. He chose Hippoi who had been befriended by others of his kin.
At some point, Yelmalio was injured and befriended by Orlanth his cousin (probably at the Hill of Gold when Orlanth was given his Lightning Spear and Yelmalio was given friendship and protection). He then was known as Elmal. When Orlanth left on the LightBringer Quest, The Loyal Thane, Elmal, remained behind as Orlanth's Chief (Elmalus king of the Vingkotlings?) and god of horses and militia.
After the Dawn, Yelmalio was worhipped by several groups in several ways - by the elves as Forest Son, by Orlanthi as Elmal, by the Ostrich Riders as an early aspect of the Forest Sun and Bird Rider, by some Pentians who had fled there from Prax when it had been burned and by several other groups.
These groups of people began as isolated groups, but were brought together by the actions of others. So, the Pentians were exposed to the Dara Happans, as were the worshippers of Elmal. The elves were contacted by the Dara Happans during the Broken Council and God project era. Some of the beliefs of one culture were absorbed by other cultures, so the Elmali took some Dara Happan ideas, the Pentians took others and forced their ideas on Dara Happa.
After the God Project came the God Learners who tried to integrate beliefs and to identify similar deities, simplifying the mythologies of the cultures they met. In opposition to this, various Dara Happan schools arose and looked into their own mythologies. It was then that Monrogh began to see similarities between the elven cult of Yelmalio, one of the riders' cults of Pent (possibly Kuschile) and the cult of Elmal. He quested mightily and showed that each cult shared things with the other cults.
Amongst other things, he performed the Hill of Gold Quest and, rather than having Orlanth befriend and defend him from Zorak Zoran, he created a contest between Orlanth and Yelmalio, thus preventing the friendship and worsening the defeat by Zorak Zoran. In this way, he separated worship of Yelmalio from Elmal and created a new cult. He could then integrate this with the elvel cult of Yelmalio and the Riders' cult of Kuschile.
This Dara Happan cult was a strong and vigorous cult, as befits a new cult. It began to expand on the borders of Dara Happa, gaining converts from the Riders and from the Elmali. It expanded into Dragon Pass and then to Prax. After a while it even came to Votankiland to seek the Elven Yemali and to speak to the Riders on their borders. Finally, it settled down and achieved the structure and mythos that it has today.
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I have seen several arguments about the nature of the Yelmalio cult, and here
are my thoughts on them:
So what? Many gods do not appear here. The Gods Wall is the traditional official view of Dara Happan mythology. It has been interpreted in many ways by many people. In my opinion, the Gods Wall makes no mention of Yem's Queen Ernalda and her kin, since she left Yelm. If Yelmalio were Ernalda's son, he wouyld also not be mentioned. In any case, the Dara Happans see other minor gods as "jesgetti" those who debarked early from Anaxial's ship.
2. The Hill of Gold appears in the Glorious Reascent of Yelm.
Yes, but it appears several times. More than one god goes there and is defeated. Antirius and Vanyoramet went there as did the mortal Darvedeskorgos. From the text, it appears that The Hill of Gold was an important ritual place, so it is no wonder that many gods went there for various reasons.
One could equally well complain about the cults of Storm Bull, Eiritha and Waha, because all are associated with Prax.
In my opinion, the Hill of Gold is the defining point when the cult of Yelmalio was born from the cult of Elmal.
3. The cult of Yelmalio is a recent import to Prax, the old Sun Dome cult is not Yelmlaio.
I dispute this completely. People would have remembered if such a cult was altered or superceded in recent times. It is more likely that the cult of Yelmalio was in existence throughout this time, so was born before 800 or so, during the time of the early God Learners.
Some people have argued that the names of the Counts of Sun County are not Yelmalion in origin and betray the worship of other gods. Well, perhaps they did, not everyone has to only worship Yelmalio. Certainly, some are worshippers of other gods, but this does not mean that Yelmalio worship was not present.
After Dragonkill, many compromises had to be made, and it would have made perfect sense to attract other light/fire cultists into the Sun County area to strengthen them.
4. The cult has Light Sons and Light Priests, so must be the fusion of two cults.
Maybe, maybe not. Is Orlanth several gods fused, or Yelm? I think not. How about Kyger Litor - is she Kyger Litor and Karrg? Admittedly, Thanatar has a multi-priest hierachy and is the fusion of two gods, but the same thing cannot necessarily be applied across the board. The cult of Caladra and Aurelion has a single priesthood, yet is a fusion cult.
Personally, I think that sophisticated or advanced civilised cults are more likely to have several leader statuses. Yelmlaio is certainly an advanced civilised cult. Also, it has several facets and has merely devolved responsibilty - military and leadership metters to Light Sons, farming and social matters to Light Priests.
5. We've been Gregged
No such thing. Glorantha is a changing world and has never been static. You only have to look at early copies of Wyrms Footnotes to see how much of the mythology has changed (Dayzatar in the Celestial Court, Primolt being Dayzatar's son, for example).
Many people have a problem with the idea of a changing Glorantha, where the gods are not static, where changes have been made and can continue to be made. However, remember that if you do not like part of the histories or whatever, don't use it.
End of Glorantha Digest V2 #632
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