Jeff

Closer to 2.5:1 but that is close enough.

In play, there are far fewer "killer" combinations than some forum cognoscenti seem to think. Since your starting character usually knows only 3 special Rune Spells and has 5 points of spirit magic, it gets very easy to learn what works for your character and to build up from that.

Prior to 1621, Whitewall was the cult center and assembly place for at least four tribes - the Volsaxar, Bacon, Curtali, Sylangi - as well as an important Great Temple for the other Heortland Orlanth and the Kitori. Since 1570 or so, it has been under the rule of the Volsaxar, but from about 1540 to 1570 it was under the rule of the Kitori (who took it from the Volsaxi). The politics of this region is a mess. I know that Broyan is the first king who managed to be more than "first among equals" since the demise of the Hendriki kingdom in 1317, and managed to make himself the High King, or King of the Four Winds, or whatever weird title he had. Even those who opposed him recognised his uniquely magical authority. But Broyan died earlier in 1625, killed by the Lunar College of Magic and his short-lived realm has no heirs. I doubt he left any institutions, or even traditions of rule, as the timeline below shows. A quick timeline 1615-1616 - Volsaxi raid Lunar Sartar. 1617 - Broyan returns from Dragon Pass with the Sword and Helm of Vingkot. Broyan acclaimed as King of Hendrikings. 1618 - Civil War in Heortland between Broyan and Richard Tiger-Hearted. 1619 - Lunars invade Heortland. Siege of Whitewall. 1620 - Lunars conquer Malkonwal. Siege of Whitewall. 1621 - Siege continues. Whitewall falls to Lunar Empire and is "destroyed". Broyan in hiding. Great Winter. 1622 - Broyan returns from hiding. Lunars defeated at Battle of Auroch Hills. 1623 - Broyan fights Jab. Broyan goes to Esrolia. Siege of Nochet. 1624 - Lunars routed at Battle of Pennel Ford. Broyan returns to Whitewall. 1625 - Lunars kill Broyan. Dragonrise destroys Lunar domination of Dragon Pass. Kallyr Starbrow becomes Prince of Sartar. Kallyr fails LBQ. 1626 - Kallyr killed at Battle of Queens (rules only three seasons). 1627 - Argrath becomes Prince of Sartar. Wolf Pirates in Heortland. Wolf Pirates sack Whitewall (?). 1628 - Argrath fights Wolf Pirates. Argrath allies with Wolf Pirates and is acclaimed "King of Kethaela". Battle of Heroes. By 1625, the tribal structure around Whitewall is pretty much broken. In the previous five years, there's been: 1618-1621: somewhere between 5,000 and 20,000 Lunar soldiers have been camped out in the North Vale and the Markdale, building camps, making walls, launching assaults and magical attacks, etc. This likely did tremendous damage to the Sylangi, Bacon, and Volsaxi tribes. 1622-1624: Hendriking rebellion. Clans and temples look directly to the High King for support and loyalty, rather than to tribal intermediaries. Many warriors, volunteers, and devotees travel to Esrolia to follow the High King and fight the Empire. 1625: Broyan gathers a small (maybe 1,500 to 5,000) army of adventurers, volunteers, mercenaries, and devotees from Heortland, Sartar, Esrolia, and the Wolf Pirates. Instead, Broyan is killed by Lunar sorcery. Although much of Broyan's army likely drifts away, the core of it probably still there, dominating the local temples, claiming land and herds. I'd assume the head of the Orlanth temple is a Storm Voice with the support of many of these adventurers. This situation is like very fluid and unstable. Without Broyan, they have no single established leader. Some look to Kallyr, some to Harrek, others to Argrath, and still others think about making themselves kings or warlords in their own right.

The site of Whitewall goes back to before the Dawn, and it includes cyclopean walls that are variously claimed to have been built by demigods before Time, by dwarfs in the Unity Council days. or laid by Hendrik the Rebel (although most of these claims are likely false, as most of the wall circuit dates no earlier than the late Second Age). Most of the fortification are much more recent, being rebuilt in the 1570s with Sartarite masons (paid for by Belintar). Whitewall has been an important center of the Orlanth cult since the Dawn, and was independent of Lokamayadon, the EWF, and Belintar the God-King. The city is divided into an Upper City and a Lower City. It rests atop a flattish rock hill with two "peaks." The higher peak is the Upper City. The entire hill top is surrounded by huge stone walls, up to 10 meters high and 3.5 to 5 meters thick. Both the Upper and Lower City have water sources. A fissure in the Upper City rock was created in 1050 when the Vent in Caladraland had a huge eruption, and much of Kethaelan was shook by huge earthquakes. Although this badly damaged the old walls, it exposed springs within the rock, which meant that Whitewall had an independent water supply. A. North Gate. This is the gate that leads to the Gaven River. Although I labeled it as the Main Gate, it isn't. It is significantly smaller than the South Gate. It was rebuilt in the 1590s with Sartarite masons. B. Upper Gate. This is the gate between the Lower City and the Upper City (or acropolis). It badly damaged by the Crimson Bat in 1619. C. Great Temple of Orlanth. This is the great temple of the Hendrikings, a sacred place dating back to the Dawn. It has many shrines to Orlanth and the Lightbringer deities. The main temple was rebuilt during the reigns of Tarkalor and Terasarin with Sartarite masons. D. Palace. This is the Upper City of Whitewall, and home to its priest-king, and his companions, bodyguards, scribes, and priests. It is built in the same Esrolian style as Clearwine. E. Assembly Grounds. This small rocky hill is where the tribe assembly meets. It is sacred to the Orlanth cult. Broyan brought it the Orlanth Rex statue with the Sword and Helm and it is the center of that cult in Heortland. F. Market. The market was extensively G. Town. This is the Lower City of Whitewall, and traditionally home to most of its population of crafters, labourers, and traders. H. Village. This is village on the Gaven River and where many visitors and pilgrims stay. I. South Gate. This is the main gate into Whitewall from the North Vale and connects to the Royal Road between Sartar and the Holy Country. It is an imposing stone fortification, originally built around 1400-1420 and then extensively improved in the 1570s with Sartarite masons.

And it is worth getting a feel for how much has happened in this area in the last decade: About a season ago (1625), the Lunar Army in Dragon Pass was destroyed by the Dragonrise. One of Broyan's lieutenants (Kallyr) makes herself ruler of Sartar. About two seasons ago (1625), the High King and many of his companions and followers were killed by a demon summoned by the Lunar College of Magic. He left no heir or successor. About four or five seasons ago (late 1624), the High King returned to Whitewall with adventurers, mercenaries, Wolf Pirates, Esrolians, Sartarites, etc., after an absence of over a year and a half. More than two years ago (1623), the High King left for Esrolia. He defeated the Feathered Horse Queen, defended Nochet from the Lunars, and defeated the Lunars (with the aid of Harrek the Berserk) at the Battle of Pennel Ford. Three years ago (1622), the High King returned from hiding, gathered an army, and defeated the Lunar Army at the Battle of Auroch Hills. The Lunars were forced out of the area. Four years ago (1621) Whitewall fell to the Lunar Army at terrible cost. Six years ago (1619), the siege of Whitewall began. The Lunars reorganised the local tribes, and started an unexpectedly long stay in force. Nine years ago (1616), Broyan became High King and reforged the Hendriki Tribe.

Some notes on Heortland: Heortland This plateau occupies most of the eastern part of the land around the Mirrorsea Bay. There is a narrow coastal strip which quickly gives way to thousand foot high cliffs ending at the plateau. Five rivers have cut gorges from the plateau top to the sea and these fjords form the only access from shore to the upland farms. Only in the northern part, around the Marzeel River, does the land sink into Volsaxiland. Little remains of the once great woodlands that once covered most of this plateau in the First and Second Ages. East of the farmlands rise low wooded hills, then a steep, snow-covered mountain range called the Storm Mountains, inhabited by Wind Children and other beings of the Air. Most prominent among them is Stormwalk, where Storm Bull resides at times. The rugged nature of the land prevents easy passage between Heortland and Prax, which lies on the far side of the Storm Mountains. Short History When Belintar defeated the king of the Hendrikings in 1317, he broke that ancient tribe and bound its spirit to his service. As long as the God-King ruled, the Hendriking tribe did not exist. Instead, the God-King appointed a governor to rule the Heortland region. The clans loyal to the God-King were called the Vandari ("loyalists"); in the north of Heortland, the Volsaxi tribe of the lands between the Shadow Plateau and the Marzeel River (the heart of the old Hendriking tribal lands) refused to acknowledge the authority of the God-King. In the 15th century, as the southern third of Heortland came under the domination of Aeolings, that region became known as Esvular. In Vandarland, the threat of Chaos from the Footprint resulted in a peculiar institution. Bands of chariot-riding (and sometimes horse-riding) armoured warriors are supported by nobles who are in turn chosen from within certain families and approved by all free members of the community. As a result, central Heortland become known as Gardufar ("People of the Watch"). In Esvular (also called Bandori after the Aeoling tribe), the Aeolians are divided into three hereditary castes: free, noble, and wizard. These castes are hereditary and endogamous: the free and noble castes use Rune and spirit magic; the wizard caste uses sorcery. For nearly three hundred years, the God-King kept peace in Heortland, broken only by the occasional rebellion among the northern hill tribes and the rarer Chaotic eruptions from the Footprint. When the God-King disappeared in 1616 and did not return, the land quickly fell into disorder.In the north, an Orlanthi holy man proclaimed himself the High King and resurrected the long-dead Hendriking tribe. In Vandarland, a Western adventurer seized power with the support of his Esvular allies, calling himself the King of Malkonwal. In 1619, the Lunar Empire invaded Heortland, capturing Karse. The following year, they conquered Malkonwal, while the Hendrikings held out at Whitewall, defeating everything the Lunars threw at it, including the Crimson Bat. Whitewall finally fell in 1621, at a terrible cost, but the Lunar triumph was short-lived. In 1622, Broyan reappeared with a new army and raised the hill clans in rebellion. He defeated the Lunar army at the Battle of Auroch Hills. Scorpion Men erupted from the Footprint, forming the Queendom of Jab in Gardufar. After forcing the Scorpion Men back into the Footprint, in 1623 Broyan left for Nochet with a small army. The High King returned to Whitewall late the following year with a new army of adventurers, mercenaries, pirates, and devotees, preparing to invade Dragon Pass, but in 1625 the High King was assassinated by Lunar sorcery. Heortland is now in turmoil. Although much of Broyan's army has drifted away, the core of it is still there, dominating the local temples, claiming land and herds. Without Broyan, they have no single established leader. Some look to Kallyr, some to Harrek, others to Argrath, and still others think about making themselves kings or warlords in their own right. Meanwhile, Scorpion Men reemerge from the Footprint, raiding ever deeper into the former Vandarland and Bandori. Stereotype Bronze-armored clans of Orlanth-worshipers, herders famous for their quarrels and feuds. Men are emotional, often violently passionate, with swiftly shifting opinions and feelings. Women are cunning, practical and vengeful. The Vandari are mostly loyal to the God-King, while the Volsaxi are inveterate rebels. In comparison to the Vandari and Volsaxi, the Esvular are seen as comparatively prudent and less adventurous. They all hate Chaos. Common Attitudes Heortlanders are loyal to their clan above all, and are devoted to their gods. They are open to foreigners and foreign ideas, particular from Esrolia, whom they have much contact with through cult, trade, and marriage. Religion They worship the Lightbringer gods and Esrolian goddesses. Storm Bull is an important war god, and the bull god resides atop Stormwalk Mountain. The Invisible God is revered as the Creator by the Aeolians of Esvular. Climate Heortland is wetter than either Esrolia or the Shadow Plateau and is the only part of the Holy Country that regular gets snowfalls in winter. Durengard Temperature and Precipitation Season Temp (low/high) Rainfall (cm/days) Prevailing Winds Snow (cm) Sea-Early 6/22 15/20 Southwesterly — Sea-Late 11/23 15/18 Southwesterly — Fire-Early 16/26 8/8 Southwesterly — Fire-Late 22/32 5/6 Southwesterly — Earth-Early 13/26 2/3 Southwesterly — Earth-Late 9/19 3/4 Southwesterly — Dark-Early 2/13 6/6 Northerly — Dark-Late –4/6 12/11 Northerly 40 Storm-Early -3/7 15/18 Northerly 45 Storm-Late -2/13 7/18 Northerly 1 Sacred Time 3/22 6/9 Southwesterly — Total Precipitation: 94 cm rain, with 86 cm snow. REGIONS Esvular Culture/Religion: Esvularing/Aeolian Bandori: This Esvularing tribe has an ancient alliance with the sorcerers who rule the city of Refuge. The Lunar conquest of Heortland did not extend to the Bandori, who maintain a tenuous independence from the Empire. Duchamp (small city): This city, surrounded by fertile countryside, sits along the main road down from the Heortland Plateau. It is governed by a council of guilds and temples. Duchamp is the location of the Jelenkev School, famous for its copying of manuscripts from all over Glorantha. Mount Passant (large city):The largest settlement of the Esvularing people was built with the aid of Belintar after the old capital, Bensval, was razed. It has the largest Aeolian temple in the Holy Country. The actual name of the city is Demthal, but everyone calls it Mount Passant after the hill that stride forward to defend this area in the God Time. Vizel (small city): This city is squeezed between the Vizel Inlet and the high cliffs of the Heortland Plateau. The inhabitants are mostly Aeolian fishermen, who nonetheless offer sacrifices to Pelaskos and Choralinthor, and a surprising number of scholars and sages have been attracted to the city by its protection of Free Inquiry. Gardufar Culture/Religion: Heortling/Orlanthi Backford (small city):This fortified city is the safest crossing of the cursed Syphon River. Backford was the center of the God-King’s cult in Heortland, and was connected to the City of Wonders by a magical bridge. The magical Fish Road still stops here on its run from Deeper up the Syphon River. Durengard (large city): This was once the tribal center of the Hurlant tribe, and later the capital of the Sixth of Heortland. Located on the Bullflood River, Durengard is the main port for Heortland and its political center. The massive fortress-palace was built in the Nochet style by Belintar for the rulers of the Sixth of Heortland after the Volsaxi rebellion. Jab Hills: These wooded hills are currently infested with scorpion men from the Footprint. The Chaos Queen claims this area as part of her “Queendom of Jab”. Jansholm (large city): This fortified river island was the tribal center for the Jondalaring tribe and is now the capital of Karhend Province. The Lunar army took this city by treachery in 1620; it was reclaimed by rebels in 1622. Karse (small city):Karse is the most important port for offloading goods destined for Sartar, or through Sartar to Prax and Tarsh. The locals are expert boat makers. Temples to Diros, Pelaskos, Poverri, and Choralinthor stand near the harbor. Despite its strong fortifications, the city fell to the Lunars in 1619 after a dramatic assault by land and sea. Since the collapse of Lunar rule, the city now alternates between Esrolian and Wolf Pirate rule. Larnste’s Footprint: This large, unnatural, Chaos-tainted valley is surrounded by steep cliffs. The unnatural Syphon River flows up backwards into the Footprint. Larnste the Changer once saw the squirming thing Krarsht and sought to eliminate that Chaos evil from the world. When Larnste tried to step on the foulness, Krarsht sprang to bite the god. Where Larnste bled, there rose up a foul and evil forest, a perfect nesting place for all things chaotic. A forest made entirely of stone trees grows at the edge of the Foulblood Woods and halts the spread of the Chaos within. Leskos (small city): This seaside city lies at the mouth of a steep ravine leading up to the Heortland Plateau and is surrounded by thousand foot high cliffs. It is defended by an ancient fortification; most of the inhabitants are Esvularing. It serves as the port for Durengard and is ruled by a ring of local merchants. Lylket (ruin): These are the ruins of a port city founded by the God Learners near the mouth of the Marzeel River. It grew rich off trade between the Middle Sea Empire and Dragon Pass, and contained a major Lhankor Mhy Temple, famed for its troll lore. The city was destroyed when trolls entered in by secret tunnels known only to them. Malkonwal, Kingdom of: The southern half of the Heortland Plateau is divided by several fast-moving rivers that flow down from the snow-capped Storm Mountains. It is a hilly land of farms and woods. The farmers are mostly Orlanthi, but the southernmost area is Esvularing, as are most of the city folk. When the governor of Heortland died in 1617, the Western adventurer Rikard the Tiger-Hearted seized power in Gardufar and Esvular as the “King of Malkonwal”. However, he was defeated by the Lunar Empire in 1620. Stonewood: A forest made entirely of stone trees “grows” in the Footprint, halting the spread of Chaos from the Foulblood Woods. Everything here is made of living stone, even the animals (which move incredibly slowly). Sklar (small city): This city is squeezed between the mouth of the Solthi River and the cliffs of the Heortland Plateau. The people are fishermen and boatwrights, best known for their colorful houses. The city boasts shrines to Orlanth, Pelaskos, and Poverri. Storm Mountains:These formidable crags rise abruptly from the Heortland Plateau, separating it from Prax. Forests cover their upper slopes. Several clans of Wind Children live in aeries which cluster about the steep peaks and cliff faces of these mountains. Stormwalk Mountain:The largest peak of the Storm Mountains, Stormwalk is one of the Great Sacred Mountains of the Orlanthi. Urox the Storm Bull took a mountain god and twisted its head off, and the mountain is the body. It has a discernable spiral pathway rising around its sides, seven times around to reach the ice-covered top. Some say that the temple there can call winds which lead upward to the inner temple of Orlanth and beyond, to other celestial realms. Like many geographic features of the Holy Country it is colossal: some 10,000 feet in height. Herds of sky bulls can always be found nearby. Syphon River: This evil river flows backward from Choralinthor Bay some 80 miles uphill into Larnste’s Footprint, and then down a deep hole into the Underworld. The Syphon River has always flowed into this hole, for it alone of all the waters of the world refused the call of Magasta. Volsaxar Culture/Religion: Heortling/Orlanthi Tribes: Volsaxi, Kultain, Sylangi, Bacofi Derensev: This Great Library of Lhankor Mhy is located in the tribal lands of the Kultain, who are sworn to defend it. The sages are famed for their oratorical prowess. Hendrikiland:This rugged land between the Storm Mountains and the Shadow Plateau is the ancient homeland of the Hendriking tribe. Whitewall is its capital. It is populated largely by herders and their livestock of cattle and sheep. The Hendrikings were famed as fierce bandits and magicians, and that reputation continues with their Volsaxing heirs. Ancient tombs of kings and heroes litter the landscape. Marzeel River: This river flows 140 miles from its headwaters in the Storm Mountains to Choralinthor Bay. Its upper reaches are fierce and rushing, but the lower river is wide and slow near its mouth. The Marzeel used to join the Creek-Stream River before Belintar diverted that great river’s course. Sen Senrenen: This is the ancient homeland of the Hendrikings, a rugged land of hills and valleys populated by herders of sheep and cattle. The locals have a reputation as fierce bandits and powerful magicians. The tombs of ancient kings litter the landscape. Smithstone (small city): This city is wealthy from its abundant bronze and from its many redsmiths, considered the finest in the Holy Country. The Redsmith Guild dominates the city’s affairs. The city was built around the anvil stone of the smithing god Gustbran. Volsaxiland: This rich valley is home to a stubbornly proud people who harvest barley and raise dairy cattle. Bronze is very common here. The Volsaxi successfully rebelled against Belintar in 1340 and established an independent kingdom here that on occasion ruled most of Heortland. After over a century of rebellion, Belintar aided the Kitori to defeat the Volsaxi and they imposed a harsh tribute on the tribe. In 1550, Tarkalor of the Royal House of Sartar defeated the Kitori with his Yelmalio allies and forced the half-trolls back to the Troll Woods. In 1617, King Broyan of the Volsaxi magically resurrected the Hendriking kingdom and proved himself heir to the demigod Vingkot who once ruled all of Dragon Pass and Kethaela. Whitewall (small city):Capital city of the Volsaxi and ancient religious center for the Hendrikings. An impregnable fortress built atop solid rock, it is surrounded by high gleaming white stone walls some 50 feet high and 30 feet thick, and the city is well-provided with granaries and wells. Within the walls are temples to Orlanth and Ernalda, and their pantheon. A star god has defended the city since the Darkness.

Who says WF 14 hasn't been scanned?

This is it gang! If you don't have the RQ Core Rules, the Bestiary, and the GM Pack and Adventures Book what precisely are you doing on this forum?

In RQG this is best understood through Associated Cults. You initiate to Orlanth, you also gain a magical connection to the other Lightbringers, Ernalda, Storm Bull, etc. Pretty much the whole Orlanth pantheon. Except Humakt, because Death doesn't share.

The commoners and nobles have access to spirit magic and rune magic. The priests use sorcery exclusively.

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The Chariot of Lightning has its own work arounds, as its initiates hold that Orlanth is the Supreme Deity (and not merely primus inter pares).

Keep in mind that with RQG lay membership in a cult is actually important. You do not get Rune Magic as a lay member but you are a part of the cult.

It really depends on which culture you are talking to. I don't mean to be funny, but when you look at an international audience, the D&D tropes are not always the main trope setting for frpgs. There are even some parts of the gaming world where Call of Cthulhu is the cultural default for frpgs! If people don't want to play in Glorantha because it is not to their taste, that's fine. Some people only want to play according to the tropes of a single genre (for example, my 9-year old son wants everything to follow the tropes of Minecraft).

LEXICON Hero Plane: This plane exists simultaneously in the temporal Middle World and the eternal Gods World (and sometimes the Underworld). There live legendary beings, including worshiped heroes or traditional enemies. Incarnations of the gods manifest easily here and interact with beings and things. There are landscapes, peoples and individuals, and the usual physical laws of the Middle World mostly hold true, thus people can walk about, eat, talk, and otherwise physically interact with the world. However, both Time and the God Time interact here, as a result an adventurer in the Hero Plane may simultaneously interact with gods (or at least their incarnations) and with purely mundane things. God Time: In the God Time, there was no division between the worlds of men and gods, between Life and Death, or body and spirit. The events and deeds of the God Time made the cosmos and established its patterns. The Gods War introduced the power of Death, which separated all with violence, death, and entropy. Reality was fractured. The eternal gods would have ceased to exist but for the Cosmic Compromise, whereby the gods voluntarily abdicated their free will within the temporal world rather than lose all into the maws of nonexistence. The gods remained eternal at the cost of being limited to their God Time patterns. Gods World: The realm of eternity. Every god and goddess who performed great immortal deeds is found here. Within this world of extremes lie the heavens and hells of the cults, where initiates and devotees go after death. Here, too, lie the great pools of creative material from which were made the primal oceans, ancient mountains, and first skies of the mundane world. Middle World: This is the world of mortal beings, bound by Time. This is the physical world, of Life and Death. This is the world of your RuneQuest adventurers. Spirit World: This world is made up of non-physical (discorporate) entities and things. It has a correlation with the Middle World in that many spirits maintain their relative spatial positions in the Middle World and the Spirit World. It is a place of sublime beauty and life, but also where lost spirits wander, where broken dreams coalesce, and where nightmares feast. The Spirit World can be visualized as a place without gravity or an exterior light source, but which is instead filled with various shapes of color. Real perception is limited, and depends on both the power of the viewer and the viewed. The Spirit World is made of many smaller parts that are distinct but connected to other locations through spiritual pathways. Underworld: The Underworld is the irrational ancestress of known Glorantha. It precedes all that can be known, and thus cannot be truly known. It houses mystery, spawns mystery and is a mystery itself. Many Gloranthans think that all the worlds of Glorantha spawned from the Underworld. Hidden deep underneath the center of the bottom of the lowest Underworld is the Chaosium, the Fount of Chaos, which spews forth both monstrosities and raw unformed “stuff” into the world. What no sane Gloranthan really understands is that, without this Chaos entering the world, everything would be locked into Stasis.

As does Gods and Goddesses. Let me restate this - I do NOT consider mysticism to be a separate magic system comparable to rune magic, sorcery, or spirit magic. There is Lunar magic. There may be some weird cults that use mystical disciplines do some strange things with one system or another - for example Dayzatar's monks have some powerful Rune spells as a result of their austere life, but they are Rune spells. There may even be a few cults that have some bizarre abilities as a result of the same - but that is no different than Yelmalio and Humakt having gifts and geases.

It is all in the Gods and Goddesses book.

There are the Hsunchen who turn into (are) beasts. But that is cult magic, not traditional lycanthropy. Only the Telmori "involuntarily" transform.

Storm Tribe is wrong on this as it is on lots of things. There's a reason I tell our authors to no even read TR or ST, but to use the documents Greg and I put together.

So if you want to become a sorcerer and understand Runes and Techniques, you can still worship Orlanth as a lay member or as an initiate of an associated cult that permits sorcery (CA, Eurmal, Issaries, LM, and plenty of others), but you can't initiate into HIS mysteries. Aeolian sorcerers worship Orlanth but are not initiates of his cult. Wizards are initiates of <AEOL> (or whatever we end up calling it). They worship Orlanth (and other gods) as lay members, but do not participate in Orlanth's mysteries as initiates. Which seems perfectly appropriate to other Esvularings, and seems just plain weird to other Orlanthi. But as polytheists, the other Orlanthi don't consider the Aeolians to be "heretics" - just weird people.

Another possibility is that it you are trying to construct too much from a few statements. All of which are correctly placed, but there are a lot of other points in between. Also worship includes Lay Membership, which is much more important in RQG than in RQ3.

Kanestal is the PHP title for Issaries (remember that Pure Horse People is a Pentan language and its roots are not even distantly related to Theyalan). And the vendref are not slaves. Their ancestors were enslaved, and they are bonded to the ground by the Pure Horse Folk. But Orlanth Thunderous is known to them, as is Orlanth Adventurous. Orlanth Rex is not there at all. But more than any deity, the Grazelanders are ruled by ERNALDA. Yelm survives in the Grazelands by being part of the Earth Pantheon (as one of Ernalda's husband-protectors). The Pure Horse people outnumbered the initial settlers, and forced them to accept the arrangement. Of course the peasants would sometimes rebel, and then the Pure Horse People would kill the peasants. That was the context in which the FHQ arrived. The Yelm cult was determined to massacre the Orlanth cult among the settlers. Meanwhile, the Orlanthi kingdom of Tarsh was powerful, and the Orlanthi settlers were quickly growing to outnumber the Pure Horse People. The FHQ defeated Yelm's representative and forced a compromise. The settlers would continue to exist but under the FHQ's protection. The settlers would give a portion of their harvest to the PHP, pay tribute, and not use the grazelands of the horse herds, plus a bunch of other rules. The Yelm cult would hold the positions of status and authority, but the peasants would not be molested as long as they followed the FHQ's rules. The FHQ married Sartar and the cults of Issaries and Lhankor Mhy spread in the Grazelands. Issaries proved much more popular, but all of the Lightbringer deities are well-known in the Grazelands. The solar pantheon is marginally more prevalent than the Lightbringer pantheon in the Grazelands at about 58% to 52%. But the Earth pantheon is clearly dominant with 73% of the population worshiping an Earth cult or one of the husband-protectors. That's about the same as Old Tarsh.

My understanding of Joy and Solace are both strongly influenced by Plotinus' henosis.

None of the spells in the core book are presented as self contained, as Dormal is not one of the cults presented in the core book. The Gods and Goddesses book has so much information and new content in it that it will no doubt end many of the current debates and start a new generation of forum debates.