Nikk Effingham on Yelmalio
>OK, having played Glorantha for a few years now, I have just become
>severly confused, something I'm not used to when it comes to things
>as basic as Yelmalio. Yelmalio is a Sun God?
Yes. Yelmalio is the god of the cold winter sun, the sun at its most weak but also most persistent time, the sun which wanes only to grow stronger again.
>But the the cult venerates Yelm as the Sun, does it not?
Yes. Always has, if the history of the Sun Dome Templars in Troll Gods is correct: they were from the Dara Happan Empire. (Checking with The Fortunate Succession, their migration seems to have started soon after the early Second Age reforestations in western Peloria. How this reflects Yelmalio's status as elf friend is a bit dubious, unless the Sun Dome Warriors did inherit some aldryami sun warrior magics to complement their own Dara Happan ones.
>I can see Yelmalio believing
>that the Sun is sacred, all powerful etc... but not that Yelmalio
>*is* or directly derives power from it, which is what I'd class a Sun
>Cult as being.
Ok, Yelmalio is not the fiery orb, but Yelmalio is a god of sunlight. To me that means he derives his power from the sun, and quite directly, too.
Within the Dara Happan empire there were quite a few Sun Gods, most of which had been declared dependent of (the artificial new reunited sun god) Yelm some time after Argentium Thriile. To name a few, Vrimak aka the Paradisiacal Aviator, Manimat, Antirius. Even Kargzant and Shargash.
>Secondly, I had always assumed that the Elmali/Yelmalio schism has
>occured centuries ago, if not millenia (in the case of Sandy, the
>Elmali karked it in the first age), as oppossed to about 60 years.
They did, to some extent. The northern Elmali surely soaked up a lot of Dara Happan thinking and cult traits during the Second Council, while some of Elmal's traits may have simpered back to Dara Happa as well. However, they were not at all identical to the Sun Dome Templars with their combined hoplite/footman and horse archer forces.
>This would give ample time for the cult to spread in little pockets
>across Genertela in various forms.
As it did. Other influences of the same cult (if you ask the God Learners, otherwise the parallelly evolved, similar gods) of the aldryami and possibly the Western sun gods may have had some influence on the spreading Theyalans.
However, the most recent and explicit schism is that supported both by Tarkalor and the Lunar Empire and incited by Monrogh Lantern of the Running Fox Clan. (Recent speculations connect this with the Jenstali or Red Fox Clan of the Colymar... after all, look where Tarkalor's Keep is situated.)
>Am I incorrect, or just coming into conflict with other people's
>opinions as opposed to Gloranthan "fact" (if, indeed, there is such a
>thing).
Tarkalor's involvement in Monrogh's Sun Dome Templar revival and the subsequent Lunar approval of this de-Orlanthisation of the Orlanthi sun worshippers seem to be hard Gloranthan facts. Whether Yelmalio or Elmal were known before is merely peoples' opinions, there is no definite answer.
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