RE: Balazar

From: Bernuetz, Oliver: WPG <Bernuetz.Oliver_at_cbsc.ic.gc.ca>
Date: Thu, 22 Oct 1998 09:42:00 -0400


Wouldn't you know that somebody would ask about something I was interested in when I was off on a much needed week of vacation! Of course this is probably too late but since I have an opinion I might as well share it. (Of course I sent it to the wrong address first and then our Internet
connection was down yesterday so it's even more dated....)

Mikael Raaterova asked:

>Working from the assumption that the god Yelmalio (as written up) wasn't
>discovered until King Tarkalor's reign (as per KoS), i wonder:

>1) What god did Balazar worship and introduce to the Votanki?

Balazar worshipped a god he called Yemalio. It's uncertain how similar/ dissimilar his god was compared to the Sun County or Sartar Sun Dome god known as Yemalio. What is known and this is not a direct quote but a paraphrase from Griffin Mountain is that Balazaring Yemalio runelevels have no problems being accepted at Sun Dome temples outside of Balazar. If anyone is interested I will look up the reference.

My personal belief is that the worship Balazar introduced to the Votanki looked quite different from modern day worship whether or not his own practises closely resembled modern practises. The reason I believe this is that I don't think the "simple" Votanki would have accepted a rigid, sexist religion such as that practised in Sun County. I think that Balazar introduced a different style of Yemalio worship with much less emphasis on anal retentive behavior and sexism and more emphasis on the protective side of Yemalio as guardian. In the Balazaring scheme of things Yemalio acts as their wargod/protector against their enemies. He's closely integrated into their traditional "pantheon" but the Votanki didn't need a protector or wargod before they settled down in citadels and made themselves more vulnerable to attack. (Seems contradictory to say that settling in fortresses made them more vulnerable but once they settled down they lost their advantage of mobility). This fits in much

better with the level of culture the Votanki had. I also believe that the Balazaring Yemalio style of warfare emphasizes individual bravery, loyalty to the citadel kings and ability than Sun Dome Yemalio spear phalanx warfare. A Balazaring Yemalio warband is more like a unorganized mob who chuck spears and insults at each and then rush in and exchange a few blows before one side or the other breaks off the combat.

(The party I run is presently in Balazar and the Humakti and Orlanthi in the

party tried to teach the Dykeneans the "proper" way to wage war. They were appalled by the bloodiness of the notion).

>2) Has that cult since then been superseded by Yelmalio (possibly
>introduced by the lunars in 1564)?

No. The Lunars are trying to introduce the Seven Mothers in Elkoi and in my campaign at least are trying to marry the Immtheran barley goddess to Balazar so the Elkoi can practise some decent agriculture but they aren't interested in changing the local form of Yemalio. Why bother with Yemalio as an intermediary stage before proper Lunar worship when the 7 moms is a quicker, less painful manner. Yemalio worshippers could still rebel against the Red Goddess but 7 mom worshipper can't.

Oliver D. Bernuetz
www.geocities.com/TimesSquare/realm/5545 bernuetz.oliver_at_cbsc.ic.gc.ca


End of The Glorantha Digest V6 #291


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