davecake

I think Joy and Illumination are very different. But with a few things in common. They are both personal, subjective experiences, and they both can reveal that rules you have learnt can be approached differently. Joy is the revelation that it is possible to develop a personal relationship with the Invisible God, rather than relying on the methods laid down by Zzabur. I think to Hrestoli, they believe that Malkion understood the true way for mortals to approach life, for right and moral behavior and to cultivate a relationship with God, and expressed this as a series of principles. And Zzabur turned this into a set of rules, a list of not what we should do but what we should not, and in doing so made it a form of magic ritual, a life long ritual that if observed strictly functions as an immortality spell (it’s not intended as such, but as a spell of preservation, but as it was created before Death it protects against that - though from Zzaburs point of view it protects against further devolution and dissipation, including the terrible innovation of universal Death). To the Brithini, Zzaburs laws are the perfect expression of Malkions principles in action, and clearly work as designed. The Vadeli see that, by saying only what is forbidden, it does not constrain them from doing what it does mention, including the entire world outside the West (that the Viymorni, ancestors of the Vadeli, know more about than any other Westerners) - they can treat Zzaburs law as a morality free set of ritual constraints - and so go on to become the perfectly logical, immortal sociopaths we know. And make Zzabur froth with rage and hatred. Hrestol comes at a much later time. The Brithini have already found Zzaburs laws incredibly hard to maintain in the Great Darkness. Many are not truly ageless any more, those that are are often falling to attack by external powers because their laws have not prepared them well for dealing with foreign powers, especially Chaos. And once it stops working, you can’t fix it - maybe it’s because it preserves not recreates an earlier age, but for whatever reason once you lose immortality you can’t get it back. Hrestol says Zzaburs solution isn’t working, and if they keep trying it is going to lead to their doom. But he wants to believe in it, and he eventually learns that there are other ways to follow the Teachings of Malkion than the Laws of Zzabur. The teachings of Malkion, and so the Laws of Zzabur and the teachings of Hrestol, say there is a world of Matter and Energy, but by our Intellect we can master it. Some schools, like the Irensavalists, say that this world of Matter and Energy is a trap, and by our Intellect we can escape it. The mystics say Intellect is just another part of the trap. Mostly Malkionism reacts badly to this. In Malkioni terminology Zzabur says follow my ways and you retain (if you are Brithini) the advantages of the world of the Forth Action and fend of the encroaching world of the Fifth Action. Hers too says too late, we are in the world of the Fifth Action, like it or not, but by following the ways of Malkion we can try to repair it. Mystics say the worlds of the earlier Actions can be reached inside us if we are willing to give up the mistakes, such as the idea of individual identity and the power of Intellect. Illumination gives a glimpse of this. And so most, but not all, Malkioni reject Illumination. But even those that do not reject it, treat it as dangerous.

I agree that it’s a minor cult. I think it’s likely that, given his role in Orlanthi mythology is that of the night watchmen, rather than as a war leader or captain of stars, that the spell granted by spirit cults among the Orlanthi is Star Sight (also in the RBoM rather than Captain Souls. It also seems likely that Rigsdal is sometimes worshipped as a very minor associated god or Orlanth rather than a spirit cult - by which I mean only that there is a minor shrine within a larger temple, rather than the intervention of a shaman.

I agree. Allied spirits and fetches are not analogous.

And I, for one, will be perfectly happy if RQ3 style familiars never reappear in RQG. Bound spirits, sure. They are both clearly within the rules, and staggeringly useful to most sorcerers (awkwardly, in large part because it lets them cast spirit magic without hindering their sorcery, though the magic points would be enough). Bound spirits in animals - sure, not in the current rules but trivial to add to them (pretty much just replace enchanted animal with magic item in the Bind Spirit spell description), and almost certainly something some sorcerers do, because it’s so useful, if not as prudent as a sturdy object. Bound spirits of an artificial nature that have the capacity to move etc - sure, with enough spells and extra enchantments on top of your binding enchantment, why not, if you really want to bring back Nailhead etc. But it never really made sense as an intrinsic part of sorcerous philosophy to me. And the rules always seemed very strange, as in practice the natural idea of what a familiar is (an animal) was disincentivised by the rules, and all manner of cheezy bending of the rules was actively encouraged by example (eg HvE’s ‘well, I first get this creature, kill it and get a ghoul to possess it’). Lets just return the word familiar to the way it is used in the RQG rules - a bound spirit in an animal body - and accept that it’s a minority sorcerous practice, useful but not essential. And I don’t really buy the idea that familiars must be an analogy to the fetch and allied spirit for sorcerers (and even less mystics). Though the idea of a sorcerer developing a presence in the otherworld is a reasonable one, and works for me - neo-Platonism is often mentioned as a useful way to think about RQG sorcery, so we’d be talking about something like the autogeides, or ‘body of light’. This idea was in Sandy’s sorcery system, as Presence, and helped resolve several other issues.

I think that was an early version of what Greg changed a bit when Glorious Reascent of Yelm and The Fortunate Succession were released. We now understand that the early Dara Happans understood all people, and gods, to have six parts. One part was Bijiif, the part of Yelm that went down to the underworld. But later, the Illuminates of the Bright Empire recognised the secret seventh part of everyone, that had been first recognised by Rashoran and later by Nysalor, the mystic part. So GROY, a very early Dara Happan document, goes into detail about the six parts, the much later TFS mentions the seventh part (and the modern Lunars are very explicit about the seventh part of the self, as a core Lunar teaching). While Yelm always had the seventh part, as all beings do, it was only after being reborn at the Dawn that Yelm recognised his seventh part, and only after the birth of Osentalka/Nysalor, and the Sunstop, that he was fully returned and re-unified as Yelm. Though parts of Yelms power had returned before that (particularly the post-Dawn but pre-Sunstop Emperors and prophets, though seeing themselves as directly following Antirius, wielded the Sunspear). The modern Yelm cult understand this as Yelm having experienced being both the One and the Many, and so this allows the Many to experience the One through Illumination (roughly). But the relationship between the Yelm cult and Illumination has changed multiple times over the centuries, among other changes, as documented in TFS. The 6 parts of man story is GROY pg 10, the dissolution of Yelm into his six parts on page 15-16. The full return of Yelm at the Sunstop TFS pg 18. I think that’s wrong - Elmal is one of the parts of Yelm that remained on the surface, and became friends with Orlanth (and the Orlanthi) during the Great Darkness when other parts of Yelm were in hell. Specifically, in Orlanthi myth Elmal remained behind to guard the stead while Orlanth departed. Yes, Antirius in GROY. The part of Yelm that remained behind and protected the Earth during the Great Darkness. The Orlanthi were not the only Lightfore cult that believed that when the sun rose, that meant the Lightfore Little Sun god became both the Sun and the Emperor of the Universe again, the Pentan Kargzant cultists did too. The Kargzant cult seems to have understood this early, but confusion between Elmal as the the Light in the Darkness (a part of the sun) vs the full Sun god (and Emperor) persisted in some form for centuries - and seemed only finally fully resolved by Monrogh. Another way of understanding something like this, from a more Dara Happan viewpoint, is that Elmal is Lightfore, the Light in the Darkness, same as Antirius and Yelmalio - and those actions are taking on the roles of the other parts of Yelm, or of the powers that only the god complete can wield. Marrying an Ernaldan in a sacred marriage is permitted - indeed, it’s the only possible marriage for the most holy Yelmalio worshippers - but that is because the Little Sun, unlike Yelm, has no fertility or Life powers of his own, but only accesses them through the Earth goddess (Yelm himself has no such restrictions - he has his own powers of life, and his spouse becomes holy by being blessed with his power - but they usually marry only Dendarans in Dara Happa). Wielding Fire power directly (other than through the authority of Yelm) is to wield the powers of Enverinus the Fire god. And so on. So wielding these powers they stray from just representing Yelms Justice, to becoming Yelm. And there are pretty strict rules for becoming Yelm! Like being from a sacred family, a descendant of Yelm. And note that Antirius is not the Emperor, but the protector of Emperors. Emperors can exist that do not incarnate Yelm, because Emperors existed during the Darkness when Yelm was broken, and during the Silver Age just before the Dawn when Yelm had not yet returned. But those Emperors who do not have the blessing and protection of Antirius, Yelms justice, will be Bad Emperors, and a disgrace. And now that Yelm has returned, Yelms Justice will not protect anyone who is not also blessed by Yelm. Whether an Emperor could exist now who is a Just and true Emperor is a question that Pelorian historians and theologians might debate among themselves - but clearly an Emperor who is not a true member of the Yelm cult is able to become Emperor and pass the Ten Tests, they will just possibly be a terrible one (and everyone gets very upset once they talk about that time a dragon became Emperor). And it gets real awkward if they discuss the possibility of a Pure Horse Yu-Kargzant worshipper becoming a valid Emperor, and the Imperial agents start looking around to see who harbours Seleric sympathies and must be purged (though the reign of the Jenarong dynasty is not denied, and they were definitely better than no Emperor at all). But no one can deny that there have been Emperors who were not proper Yelm worshippers, according to GROY and TFS, so it’s legally and magically valid, just very bad and very wrong to want it. An Emperor may have the blessing of Antirius - but a true Yelmic Emperor will have it, because Antirius is an intrinsic part of Yelm. The part was Bijiif, who the Orlanthi identify as Maggotliege/The Dead Emperor in Hell. But it wasn’t Murharzarm, only the spirit/Core of Murharzarm, because Murharzarm split into his 6/7 parts, just as Yelm does in response to Murharzarms death. Whether the power of sovereignty that makes for a true and valid Emperor is connected to Bijiif, and can exist when Yelm/Murharzarm exists only as parts not the whole, is something that might get debated (certainly, without it Emperors lack most of their traditional power over the physical world) - but Dara Happans say that if any single part of Yelm is associated with sovereignty it is Antirius, who remains on the surface. There are Emperors that are held in high regard in Dara Happan myth, but rule after the death/dissolution of Murharzarm/Yelm - Khorventos, Anaxial, Lukarius, Manarlavus, etc. So I think as far as Yelmic theology goes, Elmal is a misunderstanding of course, but the problem is mistaking the rebel Orlanth for the Emperor Yelm, and so being subservient to the wrong authority. There is nothing wrong in becoming ruler over such barbarian tribes, should you find yourself among them. Antirius/Anatyr/Elmal has more claim to rule over the heathens than anyone else. Thinking that he can take the place of Yelm because he rules over such benighted heathens makes him Yelm is of course false, but he can wield some of the authority of Yelm perhaps as long as he acknowledges the authority of Yelm the father, becoming perhaps a barbaric version of Murharzarm. Elmal as chief is a problem for the Orlanthi only. And the problem is thinking two different models of sovereignty are the same. A Yelmic Emperor, and an Orlanthi Chief, are very different in how sovereignty is decided, and the nature of Rulership. Yelm is the One, and the Emperor wields his authority. Power over the world, and power over men, come from the same source when the world is at rights and this is the power of Justice. Orlanth is the first among the Many. If there is any deity that is the source of sovereignty, it is the Earth Queen, who alone grants power over the world - and when the world is at rights, the power over men and the world are unified by love and Honour. Elmal as chieftain confuses these issues wildly - and Monrogh settle the question exactly the way the Orlanthi Princes of Sartar prefer, by saying Elmal is Yelmalio, and so can never have the power of Justice and the right of rulership over the world in his own right, never start to take on the power of Yelm, only wield Yelms authority second hand. The only way Elmal becomes King is by accepting that sovereignty comes from the Earth - and Yelmalio cannot do that, because Yelmalio believes his father Yelm is the sole source of sovereignty. Yelmalio can only wield power over men, by asserting Justice - but to become sacred ruler would require the Earth Queen to submit and giver up her sovereignty claim.

If you assume Lhankor Mhy’s runespells, plus Mindblast, you won’t go far wrong. And Madness as an associated cult of the Red Goddess. They can also freely join the Seven Mothers cult, and certainly Sages in service to the Empire in Sartar etc often do. The cult is more connected to the workings of the state than LM is, and Bureaucracy is a common skill for them. Like Lhankor Mhy, some of them are sorcerers, with Truth magic like LM, some celestial magic inherited from Buserian, and some Moon rune sorcery. IMG those sneaky Illuminates will often learn both Truth and Illusion sorcery. You’ll have to wait for the Cults book for the details of most of their spells, if you want to create a sorcerer IO Sage before then stick with Truth spells (like Pierce the Veil, Logician, and Logical Clarity) mostly? Though of course they have access to Moonfire, the one Moon Rune spell in the rules book. Though of course many of them are spirit magic users rather than sorcerers. Senior, Illuminated, members of the cult are likely to join the cult of the Red Goddess directly, and learn her special magic, which is a strange hybrid of sorcery and spirit magic, as it was described in RQ3. Again, that probably requires waiting for the cults book.

The cult of Xentha is actually a pretty good cult for thieves. It teaches Hide and Sneak, and has access to Dark Walk via Argan Argar. It’s not a big cult, mostly just as an associate cult of Argan Argar, but that probably means a few worshippers in Nochet. I bet quite a few worshippers are thieves. And the ones that aren’t are often specialists in summoning Darkness spirits and such, who are probably handy for various criminal activities too.

Ancestor worship works well for criminal gangs that don’t need a lot of specialist magic to do their criminal activities - protection rackets, corruption, various organised cons and scams, etc. It grants really good access to spirit magic (and at short notice), and really ensures that everyone’s first loyalty will be to their family. And allows a lot of magical defences. And the possibilities of Incarnate Ancestor are fascinating. If combined with Lanbril or other skill based thief cults, any member of the clan could incarnate a master thief ancestor to pull off a heist! Very interesting if you manage to get an ‘inside man’ in place. And if combined with the study of sorcery, a sorcerous ancestor could be incarnated to cast a few spells - you want to keep a close watch on that, though, lest they take up residence. And if someone in the family manages to get access to specialist spirit magic, like the Lanbril spells, Summon Spirit Teacher let’s them probably keep it available to the family.

Vadeli would very likely provide all sorts of sorcerous services to criminals for an appropriate price - including some exotic ones, like ways to make sure people are assassinated do not return. Or magical poisons. Or strange magical creatures usable as spies or assassins. Of course, this means criminal organisations may find they are obligated to perform services to the Vadeli. And the Vadeli are probably quite happy to fence and trade all manner of specialist magical items as well. While few would specialize in thievery, many would be willing to work with thieves and other criminals. The Telendarian school of magic, descended from the magic of Yiymorni, the ancestors of the Vadeli, was originally for exploring but useful for sneaking about, including magic for disguise and evading pursuit. I suspect it was used for infiltration and stealing occult secrets in the First Age, leading to Talor condemning it as Chaotic. I am sure it’s techniques are widely practiced by the Vadeli still, and probably for sale. If you want to become a sorcerous thief, the magic exists, and numerous shady sorcerers will have access to grimoires. It makes a great deal of sense that many Atyar worshippers favour sorcery. It gives such a boost to sorcerers potentially. You can greatly speed up your years of study by kidnapping rival sorcerers and Consuming their Mind, and by stealing grimoires and Devouring them. I doubt they lead sorcerous thief cults etc - but they sure will be sorcerers with criminal inclinations and with a desire to have things stolen for them (and worse). Many will have public ‘cover identities’ with a legitimate interest in sorcerous and other study, and practice other magic.

More or less, this is what Valare Addi does in the framing narrative of the Entekosiad, and the main narrative of the Entekosiad is that hidden lore (or at least, contains some hidden lore mixed in with better known lore). Handily, the Entekosiad also contains important retellings of Lodril core myths, once named as ViSaruDaran, once as Turos. With the Entekosiad and the Glorious Reascent of Yelm, they are quite difficult to read for someone only used to the more mainstream Gloranthan material, they present different myths, often different names for the gods, and show the myths before the God Learners assembled the monomyth, and before that the cultures met after the Dawn and tried to reconcile the myths. Sometimes you have to do some detective work to even work out what a particular myth is talking about. But it’s worth it, and there are lots of people in the community who would love to talk about it.

FWIW, I don’t buy that theory of Sandy’s myself. It’s one of those ideas that gets thrown about, sounds cool, but doesn’t really work on close examination. And if each Superhero did have a single rune, I don’t think hers would be Harmony. But that’s just me. Lore Auctions put people on the spot, and sometimes stuff that would come out was stuff that wasn’t in other published material for a reason.

I think that’s quite generous. It’s worth remembering (as I’m sure Jeff does) that killing a Superhero is just an opening gambit. Even a great shaman, with the Self-Resurrection ability at the top rank, 8, can return from mere physical death in a single Strike Rank. Jar-Eel might be able to do something similar, as a divine mistress of Life and Death? Plus of course she can expect Divine Intervention. If you managed to kill her, prevent her self-resurrecting, prevent all her allies and spiritual allies and divine companions, etc from saving her - well, she is probably just in the underworld, where she has been many times before. She can return even from darker fates, emulating the Goddess, on occasion. Jar-Eel transcended that whole life, death and depending on a physical body thing as a child. More importantly, though, it’s such a dull way to use a character like Jar-Eel. If you fight her, you better have a good reason - it allows an ally a momentary chance to sneak something past her when she is distracted, or makes a moral point, or let’s you take on a later heroquest role, or something.

It’s a rune spell (or a collection of Rune spells - it’s Cyclical (Characteristic)) from Red Book of Magic. Your attribute follows the cycle of the Moon, it’s 1.5 times it’s value on the Full Moon, and lower on Dark or Dying phases. It’s always Full Moon if you are Jar-Eel. The Red Goddess grants it.

FWIW, Jar-Eel did put in appearance in an RQG game of mine, so I sketched out some stats for her. The players were very unlikely to try to fight her, she was actually a nominal ally, but they could interact with her in other ways, and it was possible they would end up fighting with her at some point - so a lot of her stats were really in case the PCs ended up with an opportunity to see her in action (they haven’t so far, but they have been privileged to hear her play a tune, and several PCs now have Passions towards her). I used a variety of sources to guess at her abilities - including WBRM, access to a Gods book draft, and yes, her Arduin Grimoire stats (useful more as a source on interesting details, but I just loved finding some use for this ancient oddity). The spells I mention should all be in RBoM. I assumed - she was fully Illuminated, and capable of all Illumination abilities at 100%. She almost always recognises other Illuminants straight away. at least her Life, Death, Harmony, Truth, Illusion and Moon runes were at 100%. Yes, some of those are Opposed, Illumination let’s her ignore that. She may have mastered more runes than that. she was effectively a Rune Lord and Rune Priest of multiple Lunar cults, including Seven Mothers, Yanafals Tarnils, Deezola, Hon-Eel, and the Red Goddess, at least. That’s conservative. It’s possible she is a rune level of all the Seven Mothers individually. in no fight that PCs are involved in will she come close to running out of Rune Points or stored magic points. she knows significant Lunar sorcery, and probably has some significant sorcery up if she is remotely facing danger. This includes common combat sorcery too. She also has master sorcerers in her entourage. She has an effective Free INT in the mid-30s. she is a master of Red Goddess magic - so she can manipulate her spirit magic like sorcery. Eg she can cast something like Countermagic 30 if she wants, though it takes a few rounds. She has access to most common spirit magic - but her Free INT is still near maximum. she can discorporate like a shaman if she wants, but avoids doing so most of the time. On reflection, likely she is a Jakaleel witch too, and as such has a fetch (or something like it) and a bunch of shamanic abilities too. she has a bunch of extra surprises, including Spell traded spells, bound Lunar spirits, etc. she has a permanent Glowspot spell on her, so all her Lunar magic is always cast as if it’s Full Moon, and so is that of people near her. she has Cyclical Characteristic cast on herself at all times, for all attributes except SIZ, and her Glowspot means it doubles her attributes, so her attributes are at a minimum in the mid-30s. her attack skills are at least 200%, probably more like 300%+, before she boosts with magic etc. Her personal kopis, Moon Dancer, can fight independently, and is always True Sworded, and many APs. It has a spirit within it (an allied spirit, though not her only one, that is a Yanafals Tarnils cult spirit with Rune Magic of its own) that has Sense Assassin at 100%+, can Detect Undead, and may paralyse all men it hits (those details from the Arduin stats). If she is in a fighting mood she may boost it with more, such as a sorcerous Neutralise Armor, or a Bladesharp 15. It probably also has the effects of YT geases, so double damage after penetrating armor,. She can Sprout Arms, and will in any serious fight, so fight with up to four kopises or similar. She is also skilled with the bow, sickle-sword, sickle, shield, etc. Her harp I took from Arduin stats too. So it’s called My Song, can charm all who hear it (a bit like the magic of a satyrs pipes), neutralise magic, etc. It’s extremely difficult to target her with weapons or magic while she is playing it. her interpersonal skills should all be considered over 100%, sometimes far more - eg her Sing and Charm are probably 200+% hearing her perform musically counts as the Sing or Play Instrument Nysalor Riddle. She has a few other magical bits and pieces, such as a necklace of 37 red jewels that makes her immune to poison, a magical belt that lets her flee to the hero plane in moonlight, etc. of course she has the 1d10 DI of a rune lord. she is usually accompanied by an entourage, typically multiple members of the Bloodspillers regiment, and several elite Lunar magicians of various kinds. if actually encountered in battle, not only will she have a huge amount of extra combat magic up, she is likely able to command resources like the Bloodspillers regimental wyter. While it is unlikely she’d get injured, and even more unlikely she’d be killed (if not killed in one round, she is usually fully healed at the start of the next round), she will return from the dead within a day or so. Magic to prevent this is beyond the normal rules - it probably would involve heroquesting to confront her as she existed in the Lunar heroplane. but as I said, that’s all just a sketch of what she can do, and doesn’t really cover her really cool powers, which will be at the limits of the as-yet-unpublished heroquest rules. It’s just to give my PCs an idea how powerful someone of her status is - if they really tried to take her on, they’d need to be experienced heroquesters to have a chance.

Well, he wasn’t a superhero then - but bear in mind he’d already killed the Red Emperor in a Dart War by that point. So was probably at least a minor Hero then (in 1607) just to be capable of that, then killed the white bear god in 1609 - and has been pretty much non-stop adventuring since then. So he has been steadily accumulating powers since then, but was no slouch even before.

This is a really interesting new mechanic that I think will make play for animists (especially non-shamans) quite a bit better. I hope we see it in print publications soon. I really like the idea of making shamanic religion something other than either rune cults with shaman-priests, or separate single spell spirit cults. It would be nice to see things like spirit cults or societies offering it just rune magic, but special access to certain unusual spirits, unique spirit magic, and new shaman abilities. Make shamanic religion as rich in detail and varied as conventional rune cults!

I’ve always thought Etyries was a bit weak compared to Issaries, as trading spirit magic seems a lot less useful. But it’s occurred to me it’s a much more useful ability in an area where shamans are rare and a lot of cults have limited spirit magic. Of course trading genuinely hard to get, cult specific spirit magic is potentially very useful, but most of the really good stuff is against cult rules to trade - Lanbril spells, or Sleep. Though in high Lunar political circles, where Illumination is common, the stakes are high, and secrecy and deception are everywhere, I bet a few Dart Competitors somehow acquire knowledge of such magics. More mundane, but still rare, magic will be a bit of an Etyries stock in trade I guess - unusual Detect or Command spells, for example.

you are going to want anyone who is flanking or harrying in a battle to know how to ride well. Especially against enemies who do generally ride well. Kuschile archery turns infantry archers into quite mediocre light cavalry - which is potentially useful when dealing with infantry enemies, but really not great in a situation like Prax, where good cavalry is ubiquitous, and a group of poor riders is going to get chased down by much better riders.

I think the ‘mounted artillery’ really applies to primarily magic troops, like Yelmic groups like the Spell Archers, or the Golden Bow shamans - basically, the elite of the Pure Horse People probably fit, with the bulk of the PHP able to provide good magic for light or heavy cavalry (Yelm provides enhancement magic for melee weapons, especially spears, too, so can punch up a charge). Polaris just has some decent archery enhancement magic, and their leadership magic. Yelorna also provides good magic for either archery or melee, but is likely to be a small limited elite due to the lack of unicorns.

Yelmalio is a great cult for scouts, yes. The Gift of permanent Farsee is pretty great too. But that’s only one of the jobs of light cavalry, and for skirmishing or mass light cavalry as a primary troop type (like the Impala tribe or the majority of Pentans) Yelmalio doesn’t appear to offer much. Scouting is only the main job of light cavalry in armies that aren’t mostly light cavalry!

While Yelmalio also has pretty poor spirit magic (and of course is forbidden some), they make up for it significantly by being associated with Ernalda, whose spirit magic is great. Yelmalios Gifts are ok, but not quite the game changers that Humakts are. Yelmalio, as always, is pretty good if in a pike phalanx with the pointy end facing towards the enemy, and usually in a lot of trouble otherwise. But at least, they weren’t used to relying on specialist rune magic anyway. Humakts gifts are really great. Of course, most Humakti will have only one Gift, but a Sword of Humakt with several Gifts is pretty frightening even without Rune magic. Of course they always have plenty of Bladesharp. I think they are the winners in a no rune magic situation as far as combat cults go. If you have no rune magic, Waha is still pretty badly off - that restriction to Heal 1 is a bigger problem if you don’t have Heal Wound to fall back on. The restrictions on Eiritha are stronger (no weapon magic), but it probably bothers them less - they were mostly in a support role before, and still are. Both will be even more reliant on what was always their biggest asset - being on top of an animal, that is probably big and scary, or at least fast. Lanbril remains good at being Lanbril - being mostly skill based and having a few unique spells means they are still very effective. Some have cool gadgets too, even alchemical tricks. Their combat ability (whatever it was) is largely unchanged. Chalana Arroy still has many good healing resources, like healing plants and alchemy, and their healing skills, plus Sleep is an even better trump card than it was if there is no Rune magic to compare it to. So they remain pretty good at doing what they do. This has been a fun mental exercise. Now, how can I use it in a scenario. Related to the Dead Place, for example? Or some sort of heroquest to a place beyond the reach of the gods, such as someth8ng created by God Learner sorcery, perhaps created as a hiding place from the vengeance of the gods?

Yeah, spirit cult versions thereof (which is all we know about for Morning Star and Evening Star anyway). I’d guess at most spirit cult versions of Polaris teaching Star Sight or Arrow of Light or Shooting Star, and not providing access to the war leader magic of Polaris (like Captain Souls, Morale or Star Walk), but I could be wrong about Captain Souls among the Star Witches - it fits quite well thematically with the area effect supportive magic of Morning Star and Evening Star, and is very useful to an Eiritha priestess who wishes to be able to heal allies in a mounted battle. There will likely be quite a few lesser star spirits that can be contacted by the Star Witches. Unlike the Oakfed cultists, I think they have fairly little magic dealing with actual fire.

Yelornan infantry who unexpectedly acquire a unicorn is one of the few really convincing use cases for the Kuschile Archery skill. Because of course you are going to Ride that unicorn even if you do it badly, because it’s a unicorn and they are awesome. Though it’s not very useful to actual Yelornan Unicorn Riders (the official cult status), as they have to have mastered Unicorn Riding to qualify, and only if you qualify will the cult normally help you quest to acquire your own unicorn. So one again, Kuschile Archery seems very niche.

No. Kuschile archery is of very limited use to cavalry, as most cavalry should have a high Ride skill, and for mounted nomad cultures almost no use, as ‘live in the saddle’ cultures will usually have a very high Ride, generally higher than Bow. And of course it’s of no use to most foot soldiers who don’t even have horses, and usually not a very high Bow skill. Kuschile archery let’s you turn infantry archers into poor light cavalry. But the problem is it doesn’t help much at all in turning your new bad light cavalry into good light cavalry - good light cavalry have to be good riders, and the better a rider you are, the less useful Kuschile archery is.

Kids won’t have access to Gifts and Geases as they aren’t initiates, and besides the marginal value of Kuschile archery (most Grazer kids will not have high archery skill either) is not worth a geas. Plus Kuschile archery seems to be a semi-magical skill - and the Kargzant cult, which, though it is the same deity as Yelmalio, has probably been culturally distinct since before the Dawn, at least since the nomads were driven out of Dara Happa, and probably does not use Gifts and Geases (which probably date from the Daysenarus era). So - I think the point that Kuschile archery is unlikely to be useful to Grazer kids has been thoroughly made, but I think it’s unlikely to be an option on the table in any case. To the Pentans, I think Pole Star is worshipped far more as a general war god, and he offers some pretty useful magic for archery (Shooting Star) and ranged direct attack (Arrow of Light). Plus the cult teaches FireArrow and Speedart - overall, a really pretty great cult for archers. Though his war leadership magic (Morale, Captain Souls, Star Walk) is still very valued. Sometimes it will be worshipped shamanisticly I think? Once again, I think we have the issue with Yelmalio that initiating to Yelmalio can be seen as an awkward step backwards (you lose access to FireArrow and gain pretty much nothing in terms of useful combat magic) for the (mostly light cavalry) warriors who are supposed to worship him - but it’s even worse for Pentans than it is for eg Praxian Impala riders, because Polaris is right there as a clearly superior option…