The Cult of Deezola, first draught for discussion
RUNES - HARMONY MOON and EARTH/TRUTH/MASTERY?
I. Mythos and History
The Cult of Queen Deezola is part of the Lunar pantheon. She is known as the 'Binder Within', and is one of the Seven Mothers. She is also known as 'Keeper of Vows, Avenger of Wrongs, and the Unshakeable One'. The 'Binder Within' refers to her cult's current role as negotiators and interpreters, and her role within the Seven Mothers, using her secret Arachne Solara magic to combine and enhance their group capability. 'Keeper of Vows' refers to Deezola's (and the cult's) commitment to never breaking a promise, or allowing one to be broken if it can be prevented. 'Avenger of Wrongs' refers to Queen Deezola's determination and success in driving away the Carmanian would-be overlords of her lands. 'The Unshakeable One' is a more obscure reference to the quest to free the Red Goddess from the Underworld. This HeroQuest, which was a corruption of the hazardous Lightbringers' Quest, reached several very dangerous and seemingly impassable points. At these Deezola always held confidently to power of the magic she had summoned with She Who Waits, and refused to give up. As history has shown, her determination paid off, although perhaps not exactly as she had hoped.
In pictures Queen Deezola is shown as a middle-aged woman, seated with various healing and homely artifacts upon her lap. An ornate comb, crenellated and with her special rune within a square, decorates her hair in an ancient fashion. (Her special Rune is a circle with three lines coming out of each side.)
Deezola was a Queen of Rinliddi lands along the Arcos River in Dara Happa. She was an Initiate of Chalana Arroy and a Rune Level Cultist of Dendara. In her early years she was famous as a healer and a patron of the nobility, as well as being quite a poet, and a mistress of earth magics. The Rinliddi peoples were once bird worshippers, and their warriors of old rode demi-birds. Once, ages past, they grew so powerful as to rule all of Dara Happa, but eventually were crushed by the Horse Riders of Pent during the Great Darkness. The Rinliddi survived the Great Darkness to become loyal subjects of the Horse Emperors, although their bird religion was gradually replaced by mainstream Pelorian mythology. At this time (the years before 1220ST), Rinliddi was broken into small mistrusting City States.
Leader of a more prosperous State, during Deezola's early rule the people flourished, their wide grainfields made them strong, and their cavalry kept them so. She ruled at the head of an ancient council, and whilst her wisdom was legendary, her involvement in politics was too little, too late. At that time Rinliddi was broken into small dynasties. It was squashed between the Carmanian Empire to the west, and, to the east, increasingly hostile horse barbarians were regularly raiding the country in growing numbers. Deezola's people tired to become part of a reconciliation treaty with the Carmanians, and all seemed to go well. Deezola prized herself as a negotiator. At first all seemed to go well and some legitimate trade began. But it was just another ruse by the deceitful Carmanians, they secretly brought in commando units under the cover of merchant caravans and cultural exchange parties
This was happening across Rinliddi States, a co-ordinated effort under the totally artificial guise of a Carmania pursuing a peaceful compromise. When they moved, the Carmanians acted swiftly, attacking by ambush and assassination, and burning grainfields where they could. Amongst their first actions they had murdered many Rinliddi war leaders. Deezola herself was left, because as a Healer she was unable to commit herself to combat, and not considered a priority. This was a big mistake. Despite not being a warrior, Deezola was already a HeroQuester, and amongst the Dara Happans, there were many other heroes seeking a way to overthrow their oppressors. Seeing the Rinliddi peoples in despair, those on the borders fighting guerrilla war amongst the smoking ruins of their homes, she acted, and set upon one of her greatest HeroQuests. She consulted the wisest of the wise, and revived a ritual not used for many centuries. This was walking the Path of the Spider, lore secreted as part of the obscure Chalana Arroy sub-cult of Arachne Solara. Some say she was involved in the Terminal Debate to contact Arachne Solara, but this was not so, there had been no organised worship of the spider goddess since the fall of the Empire of the Wyrms' Friends.
She set out, determined to find a way to make the Rinliddi great and drive back the Carmanians once and for all. She only told those closest to her the nature of the ordeals she underwent, but she came back she was changed forever, and was weeks in healing before she could even talk. Somehow, as well as learning potent magic and secrets, she had rent aside the restrictions of Chalana Arroy and gained the privilege to fight when there was no other rationale alternative, apparently through confronting Vivamort. And most importantly she had learned of the Red Goddess. From this point on she titled herself as a Priestess of Arachne Solara.
During the following months she became part of the Conspiracy that evolved into the Seven Mothers Quest. Deezola's link with Arachne Solara was crucial to the success of the rebirth of the Red Goddess. Whilst little is known about the motives of the Seven Mothers, Lunar legend gives them only the highest praise. (Other hints indicate that political expediency and a simple lust for power motivated at least two of the conspirators.) The leading members were Yanafal Tarnils, and Jalakeel the Witch, supported by Irripi Ontor and Deezola. They took with them a psychotic criminal Danfive Xarron, and an innocent orphan Teelo Norri. The seventh member of their group was known only as She Who Waits. In history SWW is sometimes mentioned as a Priestess of the Blue Moon, this is apocryphal, or possibly spread about to confuse her true identity by Jalakeel, who knew the secretive nature of the Blue Moon cult. Amongst other things, the group that became known as the Seven Mothers did evoke the powers of the Blue Moon, but SWW was non other than a deliberately corrupted avatar of Arachne Solara.
One aspect of Arachne Solara is that of the "Joiner, Interpreter, and Mediator". Some refer to this aspect as "Ginna Jar", which is how she was encountered during the original Lightbringers' Quest, and it is this that the Lunars twisted into "She Who Waits" (by enhancing its connection with the Arachne Solara "Raw Power of Nature" aspect.) Only the High Priests and Priestesses of the Seven Mothers have the slightest understanding of the nature of "She Who Waits", and only those of the Cult of Deezola have any significant comprehension at all. Deezola used SWW to form a mystic coven to recall the Red Goddess, using Arachne Solara's power as a binder and oath-maker to combine and enhance the powers of the original Seven Mothers. Irripi Ontor uncovered other pieces of the knowledge from the Arachne Solara sub-cult of Lhankor Mhy, and was excommunicated from the cult because of the use he and Deezola put this knowledge to. Both Deezola and Irripi Ontor knew that only Arachne Solara could remember the details of the Red Goddess from before the Dawn.
Apart from what follows, the rest is unknown or subject to history and its vagaries. Yanafal Tarnils organised the HeroQuest to begin at a temple in the Dara Happan town of Torang, which his forces held. Things were looking bleak for the conspirators, but fate was in their favour. Time was rent open, and the Goddess appeared - embraced Danfive (the bridge) who pulled her through to possess the innocent body of Teelo Norri. The Goddess fed on their emotions of arrogance, honour, innocence, truth, pride, anguish, and more. From this grew her power and ambition, and this led inevitably to war. Through SWW, the Spider's Protection was granted at the birth of the Red Goddess. More or less immediately the Goddess formed a rag tag army, and defeated a Carmanian raiding party of some force, at what became known as 'First Victory'. This was at a battle on the Arcos River near Torang, and the Lunar Empire began, known initially as the "First Blessed Sultanate".
II. Cult Ecology
The cult of Deezola, like all Seven Mothers cults, has two branches. The standard Seven Mothers cult (protectors of the Empire's borderlands) is controlled by the Provincial Church lead by Icilius the Overholy, which in turn takes its orders from the Red Emperor. The Seven Mothers is Lunar-religion-lite for the barbarians and provincials. Cultists of the pure form have their allegiance with the Priestesses of Deezola within the heartlands of the Lunar Empire. Seven Mothers cultists who especially venerate Deezola, and may specialise in her spells, still take their orders from the Provincial Church, although some sub-groups of the Seven Mothers do create their own Temples when their numbers are high enough. (Such as the Temple to Yanafal of the Seven Mothers, at Alda-Chur.) All Seven Mothers cultists in Prax are under the command of Governor Sor-Eel in matters of security, and under the religious supervision of Icilius. Pure Deezola cultists who may visit Prax and Pavis on business or pleasure are under the religious and practical jurisdiction of the Deezola cult in the heartlands, although control of them could be taken by Sor-Eel in times of emergency. In such a case Deezolans would NOT expect to be used as cannon fodder, but rather as messengers, emergency medics, possibly arbitrators, or even commanders of small reconnaissance missions
The cult of Yanafal Tarnils controls the Red Army, and at its head is
Bellex Maximus. The prisons, penitentiaries and some commando units
are run by the infamous cult of Danfive Xarron, led by Grand Master
Orsorkson. The other cults of the Seven Mothers have fallen in
influence due to the plans of the Red Goddess. The power of the
scribes that worship Irripi Ontor has been eclipsed by the Lunar
College of Magic. The most senior members of the cult of Jalakeel are
too insane to provide coherent leadership, and the cult is manipulated
by Marshal Feodr Volkhovos, who worships Annilla. The cult of Teelo
Norri is weak with a fragmented leadership. The Cult of Deezola alone
spans the middle ground, with a small but powerful leadership
(Principally High Priestess Luada Solon), and a few notable heroes and
champions that make up for the numerical lack of cult membership. It
has been rumored that the Priestesses of Deezola are part of a
pacifist conspiracy based around either the White Moon, or mystic
worship of Arachne Solara, however neither Investigations nor
Divinations have ever uncovered any evidence of this. The cult retains
a power base because it traditionally controls much of the Emperor's
agricultural trade.
The cult of Deezola originated as an artistic revolutionary cult. Its founder striving to uphold and promote the integrity, honour and values of her Royal House and its lands. Having its origin in the desire to make a strong and lasting peace, so that all could benefit from civilisation and the arts, Deezola valued poets, artistic nobles and healers, and had a healthy respect for the earth, which supports all life. Misguidedly, she hoped that the Red Goddess would stand as a leader for peace and fair arbitration, but the motivations of the other Mothers brought a lust for power into the equation. Since the birth of the Goddess, the Cult of Deezola has been the single focus for negotiation and reconciliation of the main cults within the Empire.
III. The Cult in the World
In Lunar Lore, Deezola's cult is considered to be that of Chalana Arroy, healed of her pacifism in the face of absolute evil. This is a gross generalisation. Some consider it was Deezola's greatest individual action on the HeroPlane finding, defeating and torturing Vivamort, and retrieving a portion of the power this God of Undeath stole from Arroin. Nevertheless, Deezola's cult has from the very beginning been its own entity, only partly influenced in its development by the precepts of Chalana Arroy. The confusion tends to be reinforced because the two cults both have a strong presence in Peloria and maintain close friendly ties due to sharing some common principals.
In principal and in action, Deezola cultists of the Seven Mothers and of the pure cult, all tend to fill the roles of diplomats, arbitrators, interpreters, messengers between antagonistic parties, and battlefield medics rather than healers by profession. In the healing realm, they are not worried so much about fixing things, more on preventative medicine. The cult attracts an unusually high percentage of its members from the lesser nobility. This is no doubt because of its stand as a civilised and artistic cult, and because of the image of Deezola's followers as being independent and cultured. A typical cultist would rather prevent a fight than clean up the mess afterwards. They are peacemakers who use their vocal skills to persuade aggressors to adapt an alternate approach instead of violence. They will parley with anyone, even Chaotics, although this last has proved the downfall of a Cult Negotiator on more than one occasion. This may convey the impression of a cult full of naive idealists. This is not the case. Whilst some (mostly from the Seven Mothers branch) might fall into this trap, an equal amount are hard headed cynics, used to dealing with muscle-headed war mongers and blood hungry beserks. Most of course, lie in the middle of this spectrum, desiring peace, but prepared to advocate violence when no other form of expression will be respected. When violence is considered necessary, a Deezola cultist will push for swift and decisive action, followed by assistance and fairness for the conquered. (This is in cases where the conquered are able to appreciate such benevolence, i.e. not the survivors of a rampaging band of murderous scorpion folk!)
The cult members are taught proficiency in only shield and one weapon, although some disdain this in favour of defensive training only. Usually however, a cultist that is considering active service outside the Empire will choose a specialist weapon. They prefer not to fight, according to cult values, but when forced into combat prefer to end it as quickly and as favorably as possible. In their negotiations cultists of Deezola value highly their own integrity. If they make a promise they see it kept, and may even die trying to restore things, or give himself or herself up as hostage if someone else breaks the Deezolan side of the bargain. Whilst the cult makes no official differentiation between genders, there is a slight predominance in numbers of female initiates over males, and a more marked predominance at higher levels, especially amongst the Priesthood.
IV. Initiates
This is primarily a cult for those who dislike violence and have strong principles of fairness and justice, however it is not a cult of pacifists. To join the cult one must pass tests in three out of the following: First Aid, Oratory, Bargain, Poetry (there ARE non-Deezola Poets), World Lore, Ride, and Read/Write own language. One must also convince the selection panel of one's high ideals and interest in promoting peace and cultural exchange. Providing this is achieved, one sacrifices a point of POW during the initiation ceremony. The Initiate will then go through several months of intensive cult training, during which no other activities may take place. From then on the Initiate must give 50% of time and income to the cult. One must be eligible in background (if not in skill level) to join the Lunar Army, in order to be admitted to the cult of Deezola.
Special Deezola Cult Skills
Poetry - after initial training the skill starts at POW%
Negotiate - communication skill, to show confrontational parties
common ground and appreciation of opposing viewpoints. After initial
training the skill starts at INT+POW%, however the game Storyteller
may impose penalties according to the intractability of the
protagonists. Weapon training - If an Initiate so chooses they may
forsake the Poetry and instead take advanced weapon skills. This
illustrates the difference between those who plan always to prioritise
the use spoken word, and those who imagine that sometimes the spoken
word will not be enough. The additional percentage added to a chosen
weapon is half again of the current skill with a minimum raise equal
to DEX, and a maximum raise equal to DEX+STR. Such training is usually
carried out by a Yanafali weapons master.
Common Spirit Magic
Bladesharp, Countermagic, Detect Enemies, Detect Magic, Dispel Magic,
Glamour, Heal, Light, Protection, Second Sight, Spirit Screen
Special Deezola Spirit Magic
Lay on Hands - (Costs 3MP) A POW challenge is needed to drive out a
disease spirit, fumble and it possesses you instead. Sustain Life -
This spell costs 1MP per 4HP or 2CON that the recipient is below their
normal level. It completely halts all further deterioration due to
injury, poison etc. Each application of the spell has a duration of
minutes equaling the caster's POWx3. It may only be applied when a
person has reached 1HP, or one third of their normal CON, or less.
V. Rune Lords
To become a Rune Lord (gender unspecific term), the candidate must have 18 POW, 90% in two from First Aid, Oratory, World Lore, and Negotiate, (and a minimum 60% in Negotiate). If one is a Poet they must have 80% in Poetry, or if they took the weapon training they must have 80% in their main weapon. They must also speak and read/write three languages (Spk minimum 60%; R/W min 50%), know their own racial lore to 60%, and know one racial lore other than their own (can be another human culture) to at least 50%. A Deezola Rune Lord is a ranking junior officer with authority in the Lunar Army, although this is a thorn to some Yanafali. A Yanafali of equivalent rank, outranks the Deezolan. The Deezolan position is not normally a combat position, but can lead to tricky situations when the choice between combat and negotiation is unclear. Rune Lords must give 70% of their time and income to the cult.
VI. Rune Priesthood
A Rune Priestess or Priest of Deezola is accepted when they have performed at least two years as a Rune Lord, with at least four active missions. The skill tests are the same as above except they must have 90% in all four of the first skills and Speak 70%, R/W 60% minimum in three languages, as well as a 60% minimum in the foreign/non-human racial lore. Rune Priests are middle rank officers in the Lunar Army, and must give 90% of their time and income to the cult.
Common Divine Magic
Dismiss Magic, Divination, Reflection, Spell Teaching,
Special Divine Magic
Command Lune, Curse Vampire, Detect Truth, Mindblast, Regrow Limb,
Resurrection (re-useable), and Truesword
Special Deezola Divine Magic
Call She Who Waits - (3POW, single use) She is called when groups or
individuals are separated by conflict when they could be working
together, and if they don't work together the consequences are dire.
She may appear in spirit, aiding the presence and persuasive power of
the summoner, or rarely she appears in person as a dark and mysterious
hooded figure, whose words are always wise, forceful, to the point,
and spoken with chilling authority. They are not always words that the
summoner might have hoped to hear! Inspiration - (1POW Re-useable)
Various uses, self or other. Gives Divine Inspiration into a situation
where creativity has become stagnant. Recipient might be trying to
compose epic poetry, to create a package of terms to reconcile two
warring factions, to solve a life-threatening puzzle... Inspire
Followers - (2 POW, single use, re-useable by Priesthood) A successful
Poetry or Oratory roll is required to make this work. Its typical use
is for a noble leading from the front of his warriors, perhaps think
of Henry Fifth Moonpower - (3POW Single Use) Works most effectively
only when the Red Moon can be seen, or within the Glowline. It
activates automatically when the user reaches 0HP or 0POW. On the dark
(no) or dying moon it restores 1POW and 3HP, Crescent Moon - 1POW and
5HP, Half Moon 2POW and 7HP, Full Moon - 3POW and 9HP PreHealing -
(2POW Re-useable) Each use allows the caster to put as many MP as they
like into storage. The MP reservoir can then be filled up again
normally. Only one use can be active at a time. Prevent Decay - (1POW
Re-useable) Typically cast on a corpse. Each use prevents bodily
corruption for 24 hours. Ward Disease - (1POW Re-useable) Takes 1 POW
from recipient on use. Each MP added to spell increases recipients CON
by 1 for the purpose of combating the specific disease. If there is a
second disease it takes 2MP for each 1 increase in relevant Stat.
Permanently increases resistance from then on, thus making it quite a
different option to the Lay on Hands spirit spell.
VII. Associated Cults
Arachne Solara - the Spider Goddess is acknowledged and included in some of the inner rituals, however gives nothing in return. Perhaps there is truth in the rumour that high level cultists can HeroQuest to learn special Rune Magic or Sorcery from her. Chalana Arroy provides Resurrection (re-useable) Dendara provides Regrow Limb and Restore Health (INT) Seven Mothers give Command Lune and Mindblast Yanafal Tarnils provides Truesword Yelm provides Curse Vampire
End of The Glorantha Digest V5 #636
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