"Ian Cooper" <ian_hammond_cooper_at_y...> wrote:
> Gagarth is the Wild Hunter and there is a fan write up on the
> glorantha site. He seems to be associated with bandits or outlaws
> (although I have seen one or two suggestions that Harvar Ironfist
the
> Duke of Alda-Chur may have Gagarthi housecarls/gesith/bodyguards).
> Is this is a cult that must exist underground or is there some
overt
> worship.
In as unsettled a society as DP Orlanthi, it is perhaps inevitable that at times people find a use for outcasts and renegades - they may have particular advantages, they may be 'deniable assets', they may just be available. After all, if you are determined to raise a force to attack an enemy but your tribe cannot or will not provide enough heavies, it might be quite tempting to turn to these ragged but vicious bandits.
I certainly don't see there being any scope for overt and formal worship of a deity who is pretty much defined by his opposition to Orlanth's laws. The lives of roaming and often fractious bandits and outlaws also hardly lends itself to any cult structure.
There may be some propitiatory worship (which is pretty much the same
as buying off the bandits who might otherwise raid you). Harvar
turned to Gagarthi to smash Orlanthi power at Gamla's Leap, and while
most of these 'huscarls' probably disappeared back into the woods
once
paid off, some might stay on. In my Aldachur, the most important
Gagarthi still in Ironfist's service, Kerunos Harvar's-Dog, maintains
a thin pretence of being Orlanthi but worships Gagarth behind the
gates and walls of his stead.
Mark
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