Jeff

Probably because they are small minority of the actual cult. There are plenty of cults that offer spells or abilities of marginal utility to certain communities. Humakt's undead fighting abilities are not important in areas without a lot of undead, and Sense Chaos is not terribly useful in most civilised lands.

The Grazeland Pony Breeders are Pure Horse People, and are descended from Yelm. They maintain their restrictions that they herd only horses and do not engage in agriculture, which allows them to contact Yelm directly.

David - I recommend you reread the skill: Initiates also may train in the Kuschile Horse Archery skill, allowing them their normal archery chance from horseback regardless of their riding ability. This latter ability costs the same as Ride but is independent of that training. Learners of this skill must accept one random geas in exchange. With Kuschile Horse Archery, you might be barely able to gallop (25% Ride) but can still shoot your bow at your regular 75 or 85%. That's a BIG deal, especially for an agricultural society like most Sun Dome temples.

How are you discussing with them? How are you meeting them? I mean they are dead after all. Are you wandering around the Hero Plane somewhere trying to find them? Did you critical a Love Family roll while visiting Orlanth's Hall on his high holy day? Is this the start of the Lightbringers Quest, when the ghosts show up? Are you hiring a Daka Fal priest to summon their spirit? What is going on? Each approach to the dead is going to have a different result.

They are all as old as each other. Both have their roots in the First Age.

If I recall, Greg figured that Kuschile Horse Archery dates from when the Pelorian Kargzant was recognized as Yelmalio in the First Age. As Yelmalio is also the solar horse god, it meant that the cult members of the Peloria hills could serve as mounted archery without being particularly good horsemen.

Kuschile Horse Archery allows relatively poor horsemen to be good mounted archers. I expect it is much more common in Dragon Pass than in Prax (the Praxian tribes don't really need it because they are excellent riders to begin with).

Are we talking Sun County in Prax? The point is that Yelmalio's weapons are the spear and pike, large shield, and the bow or javelin. His followers might be familiar with other weapons, but he doesn't particularly mind or care.

The number of souls we say a person has is really a matter of how a cult defines things. So with the Orlanthi we have: Darkness Soul (the individual’s shadow); Water Soul (blood and bodily fluids); Earth Soul (bones, tissues); Fire Soul (bodily heat); and Air Soul (the vital breath). The Orlanth cult says your vital breath is the essential you - and it, as magical Air, will return to Orlanth's Hall until it is carried down again by Orlanth's winds to return to the world. If you are a hero, part of it always exists there in Orlanth's Hall. Meanwhile, the Ernalda cult focuses on the bones and tissues that can be preserved and cared for within the Earth, where its magical essence resides with Ty Kora Tek. And it is possible to meet the same dead soul in both the Lands of the Dead (Ty Kora Tek) and Storm Home or at the Four Winds or wherever.

Old Wind Temple is about 5 km into the mountains, and likely fairly high up. Let's assume that Last Rest (also called Old Wind Village) is around 1000 meters elevation and Zomi Mountain is 2400 meters.

I doubt Ernalda is particular important to the wind children.

Old Wind Temple is just on the other side of the mountain from Dragon Rest. There is a pilgrimage path from Last Stop up into the mountain valley where the Stormwalkers live.

The Wind Children are the descendants of Air spirits and mortals who mated in the Gods Age. They are able to deal with Air spirits as kin and are far more attuned to the Air Rune than humans. They might even understand and label the Air Gods differently than earth-bound humans do, as their proximity to them gives them a more Air-oriented perspective - like looking at clouds and weather systems primarily from the point of view of a pilot rather than a farmer.

Zzabur says that the will, the ego, the self - all that is explainable in materialist terms as matter and energy. There is spirit and soul, and that is the energy source that powers the raw matter - the body. But when the body dies, the energy is NOT the self. And thus it is nonsense to talk about Solace or whatever. Sure maybe some of that energy goes to various places, but you are not that energy.

Have you ever been spelunking or tried to wander around in the dark with just a Coleman lantern (which is infinitely better than any torch)? But honestly, you have made your point ad infinitum - you don't think the Waha or Yelmalio cults have the Rune magic you wish they had. A few people agree with you, others do not. At this point I think this particular thread is over and I am locking it down. Create a new one if you want without such a negative name.

You are welcome to do whatever you want, but I see no reason to add any such spell to the published cult or to the Cults Book.

Remember, few people believe that there is only one soul. What we track as the existential Self depends on what we focus on.

Malkion proclaimed Solace -that after death the essential you persists (the soul) and will be reincarnated into the mundane world. We gain Solace in this - that there is an immortal Self. Zzabur says that the spirit, the soul, whatever - that is not I AM. These are names we give to the animating energies that help constitute the I AM, but upon death I AM is no more - it is reduced to its constituent parts and is no longer I AM. And whatever it is, is of no further interest.

I can easily say the Brithini view and the Orlanthi view are equally true interpretations of what happens when you die. It just depends on what you are saying is your essential "you".

Actually it is not a mess - you just need the right vantage. The Brithini hold that your ego is you. As your ego dies upon death, you are gone. Your spirit and other energies, etc., dissipates to wherever they are attuned to - but that's the shade of you, not you. Everything else is just sentimentality and Hallmark cards. Most Malkioni hold that after death the essential you persists (the soul) and will be reincarnated into the mundane world. We gain Solace in this - that there is an immortal Self.

Yelmalio sticked it out by not letting his light be extinguished - not because of some inherent stick-it-out-ness. Same thing with Orlanth in the Lightbringers Quest - he made his way through the Underworld despite having no magic to facilitate this and reconciled with Yelm despite having no reconcile with guy you killed magic in order to save the cosmos despite having no save the cosmos magic. The gods' Rune magic reflects their inherent nature and attributes. So Orlanth is a Thunder God, Adventurer and King, so has magic that reflects that. Yelmalio is the God of Light, and has magic that reflects that. Yelmalio is an important cult because despite being the God of Light, he did not go out despite the Greater Darkness. Maybe his Sunbright spell had a lot of Extension?

Yes, and not surprisingly CoC, RuneQuest, and Pendragon all share many of these elements. Almost as if the same team worked on them all!

Joy is a moment of where one experiences the Invisible God and is transformed by it. Like henosis in Neo-Platonism - union with the fundamental source of reality. The Hrestoli tradition teaches us that we must go beyond restrictions of caste and taboo to achieve Joy, but we must also have experience caste and taboo first - this is like the theurgy involved in Neo-Platonic henosis. Malkion appeared to Hrestol in his darkest moment and showed him the path to Joy. Through Joy we have a direct line experience of the One - to the Good above the gods and Runes. During the Ban it was easy. Through training and experience, we are able to mimic in reverse the mistakes of the demiurge and achieve Joy. Indeed even peasants could do it. But now, even some of our most noble leaders are without Joy, a sign of our degenerate times no doubt. Our greatest heroes are those that could ascend and be in perpetual union with the Invisible God, but remain tied to us as guides and guardians. Bodhisattvas, gurus, helpers, and friends of the Invisible God. They are held in reverence even after their death.

But why make that a Rune spell? Advice Greg gave me in editing Cults material - if there is something a player wants to get out of a cult that seems beyond the social/magical ecological role of the cult, let them heroquest for it and gain it as a personal boon, IF they are able to experience and survive this on the Hero Plane. Don't make it a default spell or even a special subcult. And if it is really cool, don't let it be a common heroquest!