> 1) Where is there information about the Lightbringers Quest?
Best source: Greg Stafford's book, "King of Sartar".
Second-best: "Wyrms Footprints" (for an extended remix of the previous best version, which was in ish #13 of Wyrms Footnotes magazine).
Vital extra info: "Cults of Prax" (see below), "Cults of Terror".
> Further, who are Ginna Jar and Flesh Man?
They are obscure and mysterious figures who do not receive any normal cultic worship. Both were described in "Cults of Prax", and nowhere substantial other than that, so I've attached those descriptions at the end of this post. (You can find some more information in the Chalana Arroy cult's mythos, as given in River of Cradles). FWIW, I see useful parallels between Flesh Man and the Great Prophet Malkion...
> 2) What's the deal with Yanafir Tarnils?
YanaFAL Tarnils is the Lunar God of War. I have a draft cult writeup which may make it into the next issue of Tales (this summer?), and have attached the Mythos and History section, again at the end. Note that this isn't "official" and variant versions may exist: take your pick.
But if you wait for an "official cult writeup", you'll be waiting a long time: Chaosium only ever produced a draft, and are unlikely to have much interest in writing up Gloranthan cults for RuneQuest in the near future...
> 3) The long Dormal cult writeup mentions that Dormal is really
> only popular in the Holy Country. Which begged the question,
> "Who do other sailors worship?"
They do exactly what Dormal showed them how to do, with maybe a few local twists and rituals. But he isn't "popular" as such: they don't necessarily tell stories of his life and heroic voyages, or consider him an iconic figure worthy of worship as a god, or indulge in any of the religious "excesses" popular in his home ports around the Mirrorsea Bay. (A frivolous comparison: PC users do things the way Bill Gates showed them. But is he popular?)
FLESH MAN was a mortal being, a grandchild of Grandfather Mortal, who was first-made Man and who lived on the slopes of The Spike. Save Humakt and Eurmal, he was the only witness to the death of Grandfather Mortal. This sight made him prophetic, but all his outcries and anguish failed to warn the greater beings of the cosmos. As the world slowly succumbed to the vices of Death the Flesh Man grew more and more crazed by the weight of his knowledge. He fled, but found only the future wherever he went...
[Flesh Man meets Chalana Arroy, who follows him; the other Lightbringers join in]
... The six were together when they reached the edge of the world where the ocean seeped across the land. Beyond that place, the lap of cold chaos froze the very stuff of the world. There, upon the edge of the cosmos, they discovered the mysterious being called GINNA JAR. Throughout elder myths Ginna Jar remains an enigma, occasionally personified as either male or female, occasionally reaching out to assist or interfere, but never taking form. Its identity remained unknown, though many cults claimed its revelation through heroquests. The worship devoted to it was always desperate and usually ineffective.
Detailed research and speculation has indicated that Ginna Jar may have been the ghost of GLORANTHA, the Great Goddess of the Cosmos who had once headed the Celestial Court. There is no mention of Glorantha after her defeat at the hands of the Devil. But there is a mysterious goddess in Hell who combats the Devil and, with the aid of the other gods, defeats it and devours it, shortly afterwards giving birth to the force called Time. The mysterious goddess is called ARACHNE SOLARA in myths and worship and she is generally the vague force of Nature in the world. It is our contention that Glorantha, Ginna Jar and Arachne Solara are the same being. The many differences in their worship is a measure of the wrack and ruin wrought upon the world at the end of Godtime. This is still speculation and further research will surely shed light on the matter.
When the brutal Carmanian Empire ruled over the conquered cities of Dara Happa, the Satrap of Yuthuppa shone out as a just and fair man. Though a loyal brother to the Bull Shah, enemies at court spread poisonous lies against him: he was convicted on trumped-up treason charges, hideously mutilated, and then executed. His dispossessed heir fled into exile, guarded and guided by the chief mage of the Satrap's household, an astrologer-priest named Irrippi Ontor. In the little town of Torang, these two joined the conspiracy of the Seven Mothers, and were instrumental in the rebirth of the Red Goddess. For his part in this, the first Lunar ritual, Yanafal Tarnils is called "Ram and Warrior".
Yanafal Tarnils had from his earliest days studied the Carmanian Art of War, mastering sword, lance and bow, as well as the secrets of leading men to fight and die. With the birth of the Red Goddess, Yanafal Tarnils founded the Red Army, the military arm of her New Moon Queendom. He became Warlord of First Blessed, sole leader of all its armed forces, and was relentless in battle, unyielding as steel, inspired by the passion for Truth that blazed within him. He fought to create a better world, willing to die for his Goddess: and, because death was unimportant to him, he transcended it to become a Hero.
When the Goddess left the world to prove her divinity, Yanafal Tarnils ably defended her lands against the full force of the Carmanian host, working miracles of strategy and tactics to delay their inexorable advance. On her return at the Battle of Chaos, when the flower of Carmanian chivalry was blasted and devoured by the Crimson Bat, Yanafal wept. But his loyalty never wavered, and he unflinchingly stayed on the path he had chosen, even walking the Sword-Bridge despite the burden he bore.
He proved his Truth against his foes at the Battle of Four Arrows of Light, when the Magi of Carmania summoned Humakt, God of War and Death, to defeat their enemies. The two strove against each other in mystical and mortal combat, matching their weapons, skills, powers and souls. Without his love for the Goddess, Yanafal would surely have been slain. But the Truth he fought for prevailed: Yanafal defeated his master, shrugging off his mask of mortality to be enthroned among the deities of the Lunar pantheon.
As in most Lunar cults, no specific life after death is promised, though Yanafal's own example is taken to prove that there is a life after death. Those most valiant in the service of the Red Moon might be recognised in the ranks of the Full Moon Corps, a legion of immortal demigod fanatics clad in crimson Steel armour.
Burial customs follow local practice. Lay members are interred in mass burials or cremated communally after battles. Initiates are members of their regimental burial club, which pays funerary expenses on behalf of the fallen. Scimitars, the military heroes of the Empire, may be enshrined in the wall of the Citadel of Halfway, facing onto Red Square, emerging to participate in the annual parades. Unlike Humakt's, this cult permits and even encourages the resurrection of fallen members.
The cult's runes are Death, Moon and Truth.
-NB
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