This entry covers what that system looks like from the inside; what do initiates of a cult believe to be true?

What is a Doctrine?

The dictionary definition of `doctrine` is, in Gloranthan terms, a belief or set of beliefs held and taught by a cult or subcult. A doctrine covers the information a player would know, if they made a successful Cult Lore roll, or what a senior Priest would answer, if asked a hypothetical question.

If the RQ:G rules are the underlying truth of the setting, a doctrine is a group's understanding of that truth. The RQ:G rules say that Barntar is a subcult of Orlanth; different groups of Barntar cultists may or may not agree. It is useful to keep the distinction in mind; what a group believes may or may not be true. But they still believe it and will act on it.

A doctrine takes a set of related forms of worship, and declares some of them to be cults, some subcults, and some mortal heros. In these terms, a cult represents a universal tuth, a subcult is an aspect of that truth as understood in a specific region, and a mortal hero is someone who discovered some of that truth.

This gives those who hold to a doctrine an expectation of how cult Rune Magic works, who can cast it, under what restrictions, and how they can recover it. 

Sometimes a cult has a uniform doctrine across all temples and organisation; probably more commonly different groupings have somewhat different doctrines. This is often source of open or covert conflict, and so can be the background of plots that drive gameplay. For example, all members of the main three Orlanthi subcults recognise they worship the same god. However, Barntar is more complicated; many worshippers publically state he is different. At least some of them are deliberately lying, to conceal the truth from their overlords; .others are not in on the secret. Either way, if and when a rebellion happens, all will be able to gain access to Orlanth's combat magic, 

The thing to rember is that widespread and longstanding doctrines are typically, mostly true, at least in so far as they cover things within common experience. A doctrine becomes unsustainable if it too directly contradicts people's personal religious experience. A doctrine can say the Red Moon should not exist; it will be in long term trouble if it says it does not exist. Eventually people look up.

This is limited by the idea that the beliefs of a community become manifest in the spirit of that community, the wyter. So if that wyter is locally responsible for sending spirits of retribution, or answering divinations, that doctrine will be the thing it is basing its decisions on. So a doctrine needs to be demonstrably wrong in some significant way to be rejected.

The Monrogh Doctrine

The best-known example of a doctrine is the one created by a Sartarite hero of Yelmalio, Monrogh. This transformed the beliefs of the Yelmalio worshippers of the Dragon Pass region, leading to a different set of subcults being present. At least as the doctrine has it, Monrogh did not change anything, merely discovered things that had always been true. The claim is that the new doctrine was demonstrably less wrong than prior beliefs, and so came to largely supplant them.

The Monrogh Doctrine reconciles the many ways of worshipping Yelmalio by claiming they are all valid, representing Yelmalio as he was at different stages of his divone life. And as the Other Side is timeless, it is possible to meet and talk to any of those successive versions of him. Each of these versions represent the different subcults of Yelmalio.

 

The diagram above summarises this. In it, Yelmalio is a son of Yelm, sibling to Vrimak, and associated with the celestial body Lightfore. The horse nomads of Pent worship him as Kargzant, though they get pretty much everything else about him wrong.

As a young man, Yelmalio was brought up in the Imperial Palace. The Dara Happans know this version of him as Antirius. In the palace, he was a close companion of Yelm's sun Avivorius, who wielded the Sun Spear. As a result, Antirius cultists can cast that spell reusably, while those Yelmalians who worship later versions must seek permission from Yelm for each casting.

Leaving the palace, he travelled widely, meeting Aldrya of the elves, who call him Halamalao. When he came to the Hill of Gold, he met, fought and then befriended Orlanth. The Elmali say that is the end of the story. He settled down, married Redaylda, and serves Orlanth still.

What they did not know is that, when Orlanth left on the Lightbringers Quest, Ernalda spoke to him. On her advice, he left Orlanth's stead in hands of other defenders, and returned to the Hill of Gold, aiming to bring light to all those holding out until the Dawn. There was a demon of Darkness who did not want that to be, and fought him. The Hellacali of Vanch think he fights there still, and hope that one day he will win.

But we Yelmali know that he did not prevail, but instead endured, climbing further up the Hill. They he met a demon of Cold; the Khelmali of Imther think he is still locked in her embrace. But we Yelmali know he endured, and made it to the top of that Hill. From there, his light spread to all mountains. This kept the world alive for long enough for the Lightbringers to save it.

Come the dawn, as she had promised, Ernalda accepted him amongst her husbands. Since then, there have been a number of mortal heroes, in different lands, who discovered new truths about Yelmalio's story. Monrogh is merely the latest.

What could the Doctrine be wrong about?

Plausibly, the relation of Yelmalio and Antirius. Antirius is a minor cult in a distant land, with a lot of the same associates. It is much less likely to be wrong about Elmal, as many thousands of Sartarites in Monrogh's time had the experience of worshipping both.

Related to that, the detail that Yelmalio was born from the dismemberment of Yelm need not be so; nothing much would change if he was instead the son of Yelm and some other Goddess such as Dendara.

Furthermore. The Bridling of Kargzant, in 111 ST, may represent some kind of significant change to the Other Side after the Dawn. Which is the one thing all Lightbringers agree is either impossible, or at most only possible by breaking the universe using chaos.

Finally, there are many other sun and horse cults in lands the Yelmalio cult never spread to. What do those cults know of Yelmalio's wanderings in the distant lands of Ralios, Teshnos and Kralorela? Who is dead Yamsur of Prax? Why does Yelorna not acknowledge Yelmalio as a sibling?

What happens if your Glorantha varies?

If for reasons of plot, or just taste, there is something about the rules or cults book you want to change, then do so; YGWV. That change then becomes the new underlying truth for doctrines to be wrong about.

It is just that if you want plausibility, be careful about the way in which beliefs can realistically differ from truth.

How do I use doctrines in play?

A doctrine can be considered an incomplete map of the Other Side, the location where heroquests take place. It tells you about paths that have been proven  to be mostly safe, and where people have tried, and failed, to forge such a path.

Thinking about doctrines helps to create subcults that make internal sense given a shared mythology. For example the subcult below accepts all the relevant theologically demonstrable facts contained in the Monrogh Doctrine. It simply differs on their morality, and so on the prospects for success of a heroquest that has not yet been successfully performed.

Sometimes, the results of a heroquest are more significant  for their effect on doctrines than for anything they do directly. It is not just that someone has acquired some magicl power, it is that they have demonstrated that such a thing is possible. Those who said it was not will lose credibility.

Yelmalio, Defender of the Stead

A common name for this aspect of Yelmalio is Elmal. Followers rarely correct those who use that name, though they know it is wrong; Yelmalio is the Son of the Sun, not the Sun itself

Following the death of Yelm, his sun Yelmalio wandered far and wide from the Imperial Palace where he was born. During that wandering he made many friends and allies, who taught him many tricks of fighting, protection and survival

On those travels, he met Orlanth, the Storm King. In the way of such stories, Initially they fought, but later joined forces to drive off hostile demons of Darkness and Cold. Yelmalio pledged eternal friendship and loyalty.

When Orlanth went to resurrect the Sun, Yelmalio was appointed to guard Orlanth's stead

Subcult members know that Yelmalio later broke his pledge, seducing Ernalda and claiming rule in his own right. They solemnly vow to never do the same

Temples

The sole temple following this subcult is the Yelmalio temple in Runegate, in Colymar lands. This is a tribally-sponsored temple that trains patrollers for all Colymar clans, and scouts for the Colymar warband

Many Yelmalio shrines in Orlanthi in Sartar and neighbouring lands could be considered to follow this subcult. Though of course with a shrine or site, it is hard to make a firm distinction between one subcult and another.

Ranks

Lay, initiate and godtalker as standard. There are no full priests who formally follow this subcult, though two of the priests at the Runegate temple are sympathetic to it

The subcult also supports Rune Lords, known as Sun Thanes, who serve as clan champions or in the retinue of tribal kings. Sun Thanes may never permanently marry Ernalda initiates. They must end any such marriage on becoming a Sun Thane. This disqualifies them from chiefdom or kingship under the Orlanth Rex rites, although some have served as temporary clan leaders in times of war.

Relation to Other Subcults

The subcult accepts that Yelmalio of the Sun Dome is the true expression of what Yelmalio actually did before Time. They simply hold that what he did represents a moral failure, one they aspire not to fall to. 
Sun Domers consider them young and foolish, destined to either die young or wise up. So far they have not been proven wrong. They are happy to recruit scouts for their own Templar regiments from co-worshippers amongst the surrounding tribes. As in Prax, they rarely enforce strict doctrinal purity on such auxiliaries.

Other Yelmalian subcults are entirely unaware of their existence.

Compatible Occupations

• warrior (light cavalry): serving member, or veteran, of the Colymar tribal warband or Sun Dome Temple auxiliary
• noble : Horse Thane, patroller and diploma

Magic

• Spirit: Coordination(2), Farsee(var), Lightwall(4), Mobility (1), Protection (var
• Forbidden: Lantern
• Common: all
• Yelmalio: Cats Eye, Cloud Clear, Sun Bright, Vision
• Orlanth: Shield
• Vinga: Fearless
• Aldrya: Heal Body
• Redaylda: Speak to Horse

The subcult does not grant gifts or enforce geases.

Skills

• Starting Skills: Ride +15, Orate +10, Scan +20, Cult Lore (Yelmalio) +15, Worship (Yelmalio) +20, Meditate +5
• Free: Cult Lore (Yelmalio), Worship (Yelmalio)
• Favored: Ride, Sing, 1H Spear, Javelin, Scan

Notes

All spells are in Red Book of Magic, Elmal and Redaylda are in the Prosopedia.

All Sun Lords publicly pledge to undertake a quest to the Hill of Gold in Vanch. Those who fail to do so within a few years of attaining the status are considered to lack in self confidence, and likely lose the loyalty of any men they command. Historically, most of those who have gone have not returned. And those who have, did so as Light Sons of Yelmalio of the Sun Dome. Nevertheless, the subcult maintains the belief that one day the right candidate will do better, returning as a hero.

One common theory is that the potential hero must first acquire mastery of Yelmalio's fiery aspect, knowledge of which has been lost at some point during the wars of the Second Age.