>If an Orlanthi person has an essence instead of a soul his spiritual
>life is going to be a bit of a non-starter or are there wizardly cults
>for the Orlanthi now? (hope so btw)
There are no Wizard cults among the Orlanthi - Wizards are an alien institution peculiar to the Malkioni.
There are several cults that do magic through the sorcery realms. They all suffer status wise because their magic is associated with the magic of the Zistorites and the Holy Country. Some of these cults are evil, others are merely distrusted. However since people born with essences are considered cursed, the stigma of following these cults is little worse than what they already suffer.
Philosophers - popularly associated with the deranged prince Temertain. They claim to be worshippers of Lhankhor Mhy and study the world in abstract terms. There was a major influx of Philosophers from the Holy Country after Starbrow's rebellion but half of them were killed and the other half driven mad by a chaotic incident in Boldhome in 1616 ST.
Corpus Delecti - Students of the collected works of Delecti. They are anatomists and surgeons that handle the cases that the Healers can't, such as kidney stones and magic-resistant broo larvae. They often hire ruffians to dig up corpses for research purposes
Servants of the Servants of Isidilian - Isidilian the Wise allows the humans of the Pass to worship his creations: the Stone Men, the Alchemical Transformer and the Cannon Cult. Their worship fuels his creations and in return, they get some magic. For the cannon cult (do they have canons?), the mysteries of gunpowder are not taught - what they receive is magic on how to aim a flung stone (either putted shot or the payload of a catapult), lifting heavy weights (the objects must be round hence they are useless for building megaliths) and so forth.
Pilgrims of the Block - Out in the wastes of Prax is a colossal stone of fossilized law. Its many fragments are abused by the foolish for shallow magical purposes but a few know that if approached by the pure of mind, the block awakens sympathetic vibrations within the pilgrim that strengthen them physically and mentally. Theoretically a pilgrim could gain eternal life and the ability to live in the sorcery planes. However the Block must be touched in a certain sequence that has yet to be discovered and the local Storm Bullies get very nervous about pilgrims that remain around the Block for too long.
Seekers of Bonjanasotian: when the EWF collapsed, the knowledge of its many magical places were lost or deliberately forgotten. Yet one place has been found again because it performs a specific spiritual need - namely providing answers for those with essenses in Orlanthi society. They learn the nature of their foes (who are unsurprisingly the same as the foes of the EWF) and seek spiritual reward through their foes demise.
--Peter Metcalfe
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