Gerendetho, Goats, and the Balkoth

[Gallowglass]

I'm working on a simple write-up for the cult of Gerendetho in RQG. The reason is because my PC's have ventured into Balkoth country, where they will be tracking down the former king of the tribe, Angtyr of the Horn. In my Glorantha, he has turned bandit since the Dragonrise, and continues to make life miserable for his people by raiding and kidnapping people's daughters (and sons). For details on Angtyr and the Balkoth, I used the Hearts in Glorantha write-up on the tribe. This is a really great article, I recommend it. But it's a little out of date (and canon I suspect). 

Anyway, Gerendetho. In the HiG article, Angtyr is described as having introduced worship of Gerendetho and Uryarda to the tribe, the "Goat Gods." I didn't realize that Gerendetho had anything to do with goats. The Guide describes him as being an Earth/Fertility god, possibly the same being as Turos in Pelanda, or maybe even Genert (this one seems unlikely to me). I then discovered that Gerendetho appears in HQ1, where he has a clear association with goats. Is this still canon? I actually kind of like the HQ1 version of Gerendetho, and I'm considering the goat thing as maybe just a subcult. 

For my cult write-up, I'm not sure what is reasonable to give a Gerendetho follower (or priest). Some spells related to the Earth and Fertility Runes, maybe spears. If Angtyr follows some kind of goat-related subcult, I'm also considering some spells that grant goat features, like horns, climbing up rocks, or eating practically anything. Any thoughts are welcome, and if anyone can offer more insight into Gerendetho, that would also be helpful. 

[Joerg]

Gerendetho is the Earth King of the area around the mountain whose stump became the Hungry Plateau and whose tip formed the Jord mountains out of the rubble. The people there (especially on the Arcos) all herd goats or antelopes, so a certain relationship to goats is a given.

Whether Gerendetho is the same as/an aspect of Genert is not that urgent a question. Turos is more fiery than Gerendetho (who still totes a spear, though).

The Balkoth goat episode was a big feature in the Hero Wars description of Sartar, and (much like the introduction of Doburdun) possibly a bit beyond current canon.

Gerendetho is related to Uryarda, possibly as father, possibly as husband, likely both. That makes him enough of a (non-chaotic) goat father.

Uryarda is basically Eiritha for goats.

Gerendetho's Praxian equivalent would have been Tada, only that guy had a fatal encounter with another goat father... He is not a goat-shape(d) deity, however, which makes Hsunchen-like goat body transforms rather unlikely.

Fertility and spear go hand in hand. Some archetypal foe that was confronted by Gerendetho, possibly beheaded (reprise of Argan Argar and Veskarthan), and feats derived from that. Maybe a goat-drawn chariot (yes, he is a walker, too...).

Gerendetho is also a rulers' cult in his homeland. Making a claim based on that on the edge of Prax is probably not really effective, though.

[Gallowglass]

34 minutes ago, Joerg said:

Gerendetho's Praxian equivalent would have been Tada, only that guy had a fatal encounter with another goat father... He is not a goat-shape(d) deity, however, which makes Hsunchen-like goat body transforms rather unlikely.

Never heard that comparison before, but it’s interesting. are you saying Durbaddath and Basmol are the same?

[Joerg]

 

18 minutes ago, Gallowglass said:

Never heard that comparison before, but it’s interesting. are you saying Durbaddath and Basmol are the same?

No. For one thing, Durbaddath is still around, as are his beasts, and unlike Basmol in Genert's Garden his lions aren't an invasive species.

Gerendetho might still have some lion-slayer attribute, but it would be much weaker than Tada's. The equivalence is as Earth King of their respective regions.

That said, a quester might go and prove some identities to use local Tada myths to strengthen Gerendetho, but the fact that Tada was slain by Ragnaglar (and remained slain) makes that of limited benefit.

[Gallowglass]

3 minutes ago, Joerg said:

That said, a quester might go and prove some identities to use local Tada myths to strengthen Gerendetho, but the fact that Tada was slain by Ragnaglar (and remained slain) makes that of limited benefit

Oookay you meant Ragnaglar, I got confused. Lots of goat fathers to go around apparently.

[metcalph]

12 hours ago, Gallowglass said:

Anyway, Gerendetho. In the HiG article, Angtyr is described as having introduced worship of Gerendetho and Uryarda to the tribe, the "Goat Gods." I didn't realize that Gerendetho had anything to do with goats. The Guide describes him as being an Earth/Fertility god, possibly the same being as Turos in Pelanda, or maybe even Genert (this one seems unlikely to me). I then discovered that Gerendetho appears in HQ1, where he has a clear association with goats. Is this still canon? I actually kind of like the HQ1 version of Gerendetho, and I'm considering the goat thing as maybe just a subcult. 

For my cult write-up, I'm not sure what is reasonable to give a Gerendetho follower (or priest). Some spells related to the Earth and Fertility Runes, maybe spears. If Angtyr follows some kind of goat-related subcult, I'm also considering some spells that grant goat features, like horns, climbing up rocks, or eating practically anything. Any thoughts are welcome, and if anyone can offer more insight into Gerendetho, that would also be helpful. 

The goat association comes from something Greg wrote in Enclosure #1 but I think that may be a thinko because Gerendetho doesn't have any overt Goat association.

The Glorious ReAscent is our best source on him.

"Ovosto was the son of Gerendetho, a famous Earth Walker who was the lord of the Hungry Plateau. Ovosto was Steward of the city of Senthoros." GRoY p19.

"Lord of the Earth. He is also called the Raiser of Hills, the Long Runner, the Father of Kostaddi, the Spear Shaper, the Old Hunter." GRoY p61 also Guide p676

"Greg Sez: Gerendetho was head of an ancient pantheon
with its strongest roots in the Kostaddi area. The Ovosto
dynasty are in his family, along with many others known
only to regional folk rites.
One day Gerendetho was angry at the Granite Man,
who lived in a big palatial hill....
When they finally got to fighting, Gerendetho was
unbeatable and sheared the whole top of all the mountains
off, and the foundation ruin of that god’s home is now
called the Hungry Plateau. Gerendetho shoved all the rock
and refuse aside, and that big pile is now called the Jord
Mountains. That is why we say “the Jords have no roots.” GRoY p78.

Also there is a land called Gerendethlia in what is now Kostaddi during the Great Darkness GRoY p30

On the Gods Wall, his kilt is given a block pattern which suggests a Darsenite origin (in that other gods with similar fashion are found in Darsen).  This accords with the description of him as an Earth Walker (ErGantae p6 Entekosiad).

That he is a Long-Runner may be related to the AroTurro who are described as Long-Walkers.  

In any event, the identification of him in Darsen and the Western Reaches is unlikely to be wrong - he is an incarnation of Turos who moved from Darsen to Kostaddi.  He is likely to be a boon companion of Murharzarm because he is blessed by two rays of light from the latter's eyes - the other gods so blessed are his first-born, his wife and his slave.  

Hence I would give him spear magics, hunting magics and the ability to move large boulders around.  His cultists can still have goats but they are likely to do so through a subcult rather than the God himself.

 

[Tindalos]

The HQ1 write up has Gerendetho as almost a child/subcult/aspect of Lodril and Oria (compare him to Navestos to see the shared connections) so I imagine using Lodril's runes as a basis could work.

Runespells such as Sureshot, Create Fissure (likely accompanied by volcanic gasses), Shake Earth, Bless Animals (specifically goats), Charisma, and Reproduce. Maybe Earthpower as a gift from Oria his mother or the Earth goddess of Kostaddi (maybe Senkana?)

[Joerg]

All of this depends on how powerful you want to make Gerendetho when worshiped by a fraction of a Sartarite tribe on the border of Prax. As a regional cult around the Hungry Plateau, I would suggest to make quite a few of these available to local subcults of Gerendetho in his homeland, requiring a pilgrimage to a specific temple (or otherwise a local heroquest) to learn these spells/feats.

He should definitely have a spell that allows a spear wielder to make a slashing attack with the blade of the spear with special separation power.

There is also a possibility that the Granite Phalanx might be less friendly to the cult than other Stonewall phalanxes, or (flipping in the opposite direction) celebrate his beheading feat of the Granite Man.

[Sir_Godspeed]

This isn't hugely relevant or important, but his goat-association might, as @Gallowglass mentioned, make its apperance in surefootedness and climbing - as this combines the goat-association with the more essential properties of being a mountain/Earth deity and a "walker" (in a literal sense of traversing land).

Due to this, does anyone know if there are any Ibex or North American Mountain Goats in Genertela? It could be interesting to include them somehow.

And if you really want horns as a spell effect... why not make them of literal stone? Inflexible, heavy - yes, but Rule of Cool is an argument in itself.

[Joerg]

Ibex have been used as totemic beasts for Lunar organisations in HW and HQ1 material, and the beast is probably right at home in Gerendethlia as well as in the Rockwoods.