For Ralios, I think the primary cult is Vivamort.
> 2. Is "Vivamort" therefore a Godlearner construct, (mis-?)describing a universal god of Undeath?
No. Vivamort was around before the God Learners, being worshipped by
the Vampire Kings of Tanisor. When Arkat slew the Vampire Kings and
razed their city, the Vivamorti were dispersed all over Genertela.
> 3. If Nontraya is an 'undead deity', is Nontraya's cult like the theistic Vivamort cult described in Cults of Terror or is it a sorcerous cult, more like the later write-ups of Vivamort in e.g. Lords of Terror?
While Nontraya is an undead deity, I don't think he is a Vivamort
analogue - I have a hard time imagining worshippers of Nontraya being
blood-sucking vampires. He's more like the Mummy than Dracula.
> 4. In the Second Age wasn't there a sorcerous cult (the name of which escapes me), which successfully replicated much of the magic of Gark for its own ends, which is written up (briefly) in one of the MRQ Cults books?
I never liked the treatment. The God Learners would IMO have their own
native traditions for creating undead (rather than stealing from
Pamaltela) and much of it would be Vadeli inspired.
> 5. Can one infer from Peter's comments on Nontraya that, canonically, Pamaltela has no native vampires? (Unless perhaps they have travelled/been imported from Genertela)
Pamaltela can have whatever native Vampires one wants. I personally prefer the Inhumi from Gene Wolfe's Short Sun Books. They feed on blood and take the form of whatever they drank from. Because they are not undead but reptilian leeches, they are tolerated by the Aldryami.
> 6. Can one infer from Peter's comments that Delecti and his vampiric acolytes (The Daughters/Dancers of Darkness?) are untainted by Chaos?
Sartar Kingdom of Heroes describes the Unlife Rune as a chaotic perversion. Personally I'm dubious considering the lack of Uroxi.
> On an almost unconnected note, have Spolite heresies ever involved the creation of undead? In my Glorantha I have wondered about a Spolite heresy serving as a basis for vampirism within the Lunar Empire, and possibly even as a supply of (occasional) vampires into the service of that Empire? (It wouldn't take that much to imagine that the Taloned Countess was one, for example)
They can if you want them to. There is a Vampiric Bodyguard guarding the Red Emperor (Argrath fights against it).
--Peter Metcalfe
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