Re: Post Easter Questions

From: Roderick and Ellen Robertson <rjremr_at_...>
Date: Fri, 28 Apr 2000 09:45:06 -0700

> I wasn't really so worried about the HW/RQ mechanics stuff. To my mind
rune
> levels were always officials of a religion and in RQ terms qualification
was
> mostly done mechanically. I suppose what I'm trying to ask badly is "Does
> the Orlanthi religion still have such a position as Windlord, if so what
is
> the nature of that position?"

Actually, I was wrong about the nature of "Rune Lords" - here are Greg's musings:
Note that "Priest" is divorced from "Rune status" - you can be a priest without being a Rune-type person.

RR

"Q: What are rune lords now in Hero Wars? If I am a devotee of Humakt, does that mean that I am a Sword of Humakt? If so, it seems like the entry requirements are a lot easier nowadays, even if I also have to take the Priest occupational keyword.

1. No, a devotee of a deity is not the same as the old rune lord. "Rune lords" do still exist, and it is indeed more difficult to become one than it is to become a devotee. A rune lord is a worshipper of a deity who so embodies the attributes (i.e., physical skills, mental skills, virtues, and affinities) of the deity that he becomes a living representative of the deity in the Inner World. He gains access to additional powers, and generally spends all of his time doing the deity's work.

A rune lord (or rune priest as some were known) is not merely a devotee who spends more time worshipping the deity. Indeed, a rune lord may not spend more time than a communal worshipper in the temple to his god. Instead, he is out in the world, doing the things that his deity did, and showing his devotion to the deity in everything that he does. Thus, a Sword of Humakt is the embodiment of Humakt in the Inner World. Although he spends about 90% of his time being a Sword of Humakt, this time is not spent in prayer. Instead, the Sword will be a war leader, perhaps a mercenary captain, and his time is devoted to practicing war and combat, either by training his followers, fighting in battles, or performing the heroquests that made his god the greatest warrior in Glorantha.

Priest is a term that describes an occupation, not a magical status. Although most temple leaders who are priests will be devotees, it is possible for an initate to also be a priest, probably a junior priest or the like who assists the more magically powerful priests. On the other hand, a Sword of Humakt certainly will be a War Leader, Mercenary Captain, or the like, and will not have the priest keyword. Priests of Humakt are known, perhaps tending a temple in a large city or teaching swordfighting to the sons of nobles, but his duties are administrative more than active -- he is not doing what his god did, he is running his god's temple and ensuring the continued worship of the god. His duties are important to the god, but he is not himself an exemplar of the god. "