When visiting Sog City some years ago, I befriended the Hrestoli wizard Woldegkorb. Over several cups of the unusual blueberry wine so preferred by the frigid Northerners, Woldgekorb told me that an alternative account of the Pithdarans was recorded by their spiritual hero Tryensaval.
"Gbaji, as we all know, means "Deceiver" in our tongue. When the Army of Justice came to Seshnela, the Agimori told Ullmar that they followed "the Deceiver" who had come to Genertela to do great evil that would threaten all of Glorantha. In their tongue, they did not call this entity "Gbaji" but "Bolongo" - when Ullmar explained that "Bolongo" is known as "Gbaji" here, he was simply translating the term "Deceiver"."
"A better term Ullmar could have used, but didn't (because he wanted to recruit the Agimori in his war against the Safelstrans) was the "Devil". In truth, the Deceiver the Pithdarans had followed was not the Pelorian Gbaji or Arkat, but Malkioneran who wrote the Abiding Book and came to tempt us with the grimoire of the demiurge. It was Tryensaval who revealed that Malkioneran was the Devil and that the followers of the Abiding Book were unwitting dupes of the Devil."
"The Agimori first became aware of this after the Order of Yoranday destroyed the forests of Vralos and it took many years for their holy people to spread the word of this great new evil. Tribes and kingdoms were shaken when they tried to stop this growing Army of Justice, but because the Agimori left no records (and those who knew the truth were destroyed by the Six-Legged Empire), this great movement that shook Pamaltela is lost to history. Suffice it to say, that in 719 their great fleet landed in Genertela."
"But here is where the Devil laughs the most - they landed in the Devil's own kingdom and were met by the Devil's agent, Ullmar. Ullmar then deceived the Agimori - what cruel irony! - and the great Army of Justice became yet another dupe of the Lying Devil Dynasty."
Woldegkorb explained that was the great tragedy of the dupes of the Lying Devil Dynasty: they sincerely believed themselves to be good, even though the served evil and everything they did was evil. None are immune to the Devil's temptations and it is ever easy to fall prey to the thoughts of the Devil. As if drunkenly reciting a familiar proverbial phrase, Woldegkorb told me that is why the Loskalmi follow Siglat's Way - because it protects them from *performing* the acts of evil. And with that, he ended the learned discourse having imbibed too much blueberry wine.
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