> 1) Does any one have any info as to a complete list of Lunar Cults in
> the Lunar Empire?
I wrote an article on "Gods and Goddesses of the Lunar Way" for Tales #16, but sadly it had to be pulled at the last minute when Greg Stafford was unable to find the time to revise it. The deities featured in my article were (in order of appearance):
THE SEVEN MOTHERS:
Yanafal Tarnils - Ram and Warrior Irrippi Ontor - The Brown Man Danfive Xaron - Bridge for the Seeker Jakaleel the Witch - Spindle Hag Teelo Norri - Young Life Queen Deezola - The Binder Within unnamed servant - She Who Waits
THE RED GODDESS SEDENYA:
Verithurusa - The Virgin Goddess Lesilla - The Queen of Heaven Gerra - The Suffering Woman Rashorana - The Great Teacher Orogeria - The Huntress Natha - The Balancer Zaytenera - She Who Comes The Young Elementals - The New Creation Etyries - Tongue of the Goddess Nysalor - The Bright One Gbaji - The Deceiver The Crimson Bat - Steed of the Goddess Orlanth - The Last Enemy MOONSON Great Sister - The Emperor's Shadow THE INSPIRATIONS OF MOONSON: Glamour - Goddess of Beauty Yara Aranis - Goddess of the Reaching Moon Hon-Eel the Dancer - Goddess of MaizeJar-Eel the Razoress - Superheroine
HEROES AND HEROINES OF THE LUNAR EMPIRE:
Kana Poor - Scribe of Time The Twin Stars - Handmaidens of the Goddess Hwarin Dalthippa - The Conquering Daughter Aronius Jaranthir - Saviour of Carmania Kalikos - The Icebreaker
The article also featured boxes on the Three Worlds (Mortal, Divine and Mystical), the story of the Moon Goddess, the Old Gods and the Lunar Way, the Lunar Mission, Other Moons, and Lunar Worship in Other Lands. With any luck we'll be able to print it before long, perhaps as part of the booklet accompanying "Life of Moonson". I'll happily answer general questions, but given that we're planning to publish this (not to mention its length!), I won't be posting the whole kaboodle to the Daily.
Greg Stafford occasionally produces lists of "Gods of the Lunar Empire", but these are usually lists of surviving indigenous cults (e.g: Yelm, Surenslib, Lodril, others) rather than the actual deities of the Lunar Way. As you were specifically asking for "Lunar Cults", I'll not waste your time with these. You can find more by ploughing through the Entekosiad or Glorious ReAscent (or visiting Dave Cake's estimable "Pelorian Prosopaedia" on the Web).
Two funnies: name-change freaks sometimes call the Red Goddess 'Rufelza' (Pelorian for "red goddess") or 'Shepelkirt' (Orlanthi for "poison blood"), and/or the Red Emperor 'Takenegi' (Pelorian for "first among the Egi"). Watch out for these in recent revisionist works.
> 2) Do Orlanthi practice slavery? ... I think it would be inconsistent
> that Slavery of any form would be practiced in Orlanthi culture, as
> Orlanth is one of the penultimate Gods of Freedom and Justice.
Yep, Orlanthi are (of course) stinkingly inconsistent, and practice slavery with gay disregard of all this "Life, Liberty & Happiness" guff they spout (just wait for the shrieks of protest!). "Freedom and Justice are for *us*, not for everyone!".
Cults of Prax (perhaps a bit OOD) says:
: The Sartarite tribes of Dragon Pass had a system whereby captives were : slaves, and specialists occasionally were purchased as well. Captives : commonly were put to work as field or herd workers and allowed to worship : most of their own deities except for Orlanth or any sky deities.
This status would be the "thralls" of Heort's Laws (I think: my KoS has gone walkies and I'm slightly underinformed). Certainly they were in David Hall's Lismelder campaign.
CoP also says:
: The Holy Country included Sartar-like customs among most of their popu- : lace. A cult of freedom was there which opposed the practice, but did : not try to force freedom upon unfeeling owners. The cult was popular : among many of the Holy Country elite, and several large landholders did : not practice ownership of humans.
And this is borne out by the description of Heortland in "Genertela":
: The "unfree" class is so abhorrent to the Heortlanders that fewer : slaves or serfs exist here than in most western countries.
> 3) Anyone care to take a stab at what the actual game stats may be
> for persons such as Jar-Eel, Argrath or Kallyr, or other Dragon Pass
> notables, in RQ3 terms?
Not in RQ3, but you can find the twenty-year old extremely clunky Arduin Grimoire (i.e. D&D rip-off) stats for many of the Heroes of Dragon Pass in the back of "Wyrms Footprints". Unplayably silly, of course.
> 4) Finally, what's the full story on Sheng Seleris? [source of powers]
A Pentan shaman-hero-demigod. His powers were personal and shamanic in origin, but the Great Spirits he contacted were most likely Yelmic (e.g. Kargzant and his ilk), though some would be Kralori/Pentan exotics and underworld nasties (look at the bottom line of the Gods Wall in GRAY for some evil ideas).
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