RE: Defiant Cults(?)

From: Richard Sands <richard.sands_at_...>
Date: Thu, 6 Jul 2000 15:15:57 +0100

On Thursday, July 06, 2000 2:13 PM, Martin Dick [SMTP:martin.dick_at_...] wrote:
> So I've just read the Defiant Cults article on the Glorantha
> website and it states that Urox/Storm Bull is a transcendent
> being which lives outside of Time, so that it can have both
> a Spirit Aspect and a God Aspect. So who else fits into this
> category?
>
> Orlanth/Little Brother? Both are well described as existing in
> past literature, obviously Orlanth more than Little Brother,
> but we also know that Orlanth worship occurs amongst the Praxians
> from Cults of Prax (ranging from 1% in the Sables to 16% in the
> Impalas - even the Morocanth are at 3%). So is this misapplied
> worship or is it another example of a Defiant Cult?

I would suspect that this was probably a CoP bodge to excuse including Orlanth (who was so important for all the Sartar campaigns that were also making use of CoP as a source), although as a Lightbringer, I wouldn't be surprised if a small (tiny) percentage of Praxians worshipped him. I would imagine, though, that most Praxians who have taken up the ways of theist invaders, whether Lightbringer or Invader, would have left their tribe behind to do so, and either become adventurers or abandoned their culture to join the temple of their new god. Please note that I said most - I'm sure there are (or at least could be) Khans out there who worship Humakt, Lhankor Mhy, or the Seven Mothers on the side.
>
> Eiritha/Uralda? Misapplied Worship, Defiant Cult or
> are the spirit and the goddess totally different
> beings, despite the obvious parallels? Especially
> when we see the name similarity between Urox/Uralda.
> Clearly the Paps would be the equivalent of the
> Eternal Battle.

This seems quite plausible to me, although the Eiritha spirit appears more powerful than Uralda is as a goddess. And the Pol-Joni and Orlanthi (presumably theists), but they follow Eiritha also, which would seem unlikely if they could simply follow Uralda...
>
> Gagarth/Wild Hunter?

Actually, I just looked and couldn't find a HW reference to Gagarth - he might be (like Kolat) a spirit, rather than a god, in which case he could very well be the same entity as the Praxian's Wild Hunter.
>
> Yelmalio/Bright Treasure? 15% of the Sables and 13% of the
> Impalas worship Yelmalio in Cults of Prax, so who are they
> worshipping now? Is he another defiant cult?
>

I would think that the tribesmen might be willing to misapply ecstatic worship to Yelmalio for his light magics (which are not readily available in Prax, as far as I can see), and didn't a hero-cult provide firearrow? (I know you might be able to get fireblade/firearrow spirits from Oakfed, but if it was me, I'd be worried about letting a wildfire spirit mess about with my weapon...)

To sum up, I think misapplied worship is probably a more likely explanation for most similar god/spirits, although there probably are more, since Storm Bull was described as an example... Perhaps one of the more exalted list members could enlighten us as to the identities of some other defiant cults?

Richard
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