Haragalan Magic and Cults

[Goldennose]

"Vele Unnikanan, Queen of Fereva: This ambitious young queen has already earned a reputation as a shrewd merchant and a pirate. She is closely allied with Trader Jadilulo. " Says Guide...

I want this character to be in our RQG-campaign... Does anyone have any good ideas of what gods does she worship... And what magic she has? If she only worships Dormal and local Island God, does the Island God give her Runemagic?

Should this worship something similar to Tsangth or similar to Issaries? Or both? Or some powerful Spirit Cult of the Fereva Island with Dream Magic?

 

 

Edited January 7, 2020 by Caras

[Joerg]

Very little official has been published about the East Isles religions.

People in the East Isles usually worship their island deities, but can also worship the deities of the Vithelan pantheon - otherwise, the Haragalan Tallships with their solar lenses would be hard to explain with the one rune spell their island deity offers. The people of Vormain worship their own pantheon of color-coded gods, the Kralori worship dragons and local deities, the Teshnans worship their fire pantheon, or Tolat, so somebody in the east must worship the Vithelan pantheon, and what remains are the East Islanders outside of Vormain.

I don't think that her island's deity has been described anywhere. You are in better luck with her half-sister's (and rival's) island god.

Tsankht is the pirate god of Vormain, a few archipelagos away. He shouldn't play much of a role this far south.

[Ali the Helering]

I believe that you are looking for Lumaxovoran (sp?) mentioned in the old Gods of Glorantha 

[metcalph]

The Guide lists the following cults and sects worshipped in the Haragalan Isles

Thella, the Dream Seers at Orvandil, Ferendalo

Hensarava, archer god in Luma, Haragala

Kamboli - Indulged in at Janeta.

Karkal the God of the Fire and War - worshipped in Champaya and Luma, Haragala

Marinali the Healing Goddess at Manjusor, Haragala

Lumavoxoran at Nemalipaya, Haragala

Order of the Rising Sun - Sunscope makers in Luma, Haragala.  Said to be derived from Teshnos.

Shark and Crocodile - who fight for water supremacy at Chaiya, Haragala

Other God such as the Avanparloth and the Parloth would be known and not regarded as foreign, but that don't have a big presence here.

In the nearby Shorenti Isles, the following gods are worshipped

Vith, Supreme Being at Avaroma.

Enzeriath, at Aravaty, whose local manifestation is a dragon(?)

Avanadan at Vergutomy.

Being a pirate, Vela would best be a follower of Henserava.  

Being a merchant, she would best be a follower of Volendaru (the Rich Twin in charge of Mineral Wealth and Money)

 

[Goldennose]

I made up the spells of this Hensarava. Vele Unnikanan may be a Captain (Priest) of this pirate cult. This is the list of spells I decided. If you have better ideas, i would like to know?

Hensarava

Divination, Extension, Heal Wound, Sanctify, Find Enemy, Dismiss Magic, Command Cult Spirit, Soul Sight, Spirit Block ,Warding

Float, Sureshot, Hold Course (Lumavoxoran), Living Blade (Tsankth), Breath Air/Water (Iphryanta), Increase/Decrease Wind (Veldru)

Open Seas (Dormal)

Edited August 6, 2020 by Caras

[Goldennose]

Besides Runemagic do Haragalans use Sprit Magic at all? Do they use Dream Magic or Sorcery instead? Is Dream Magic or Mystisism canonical in RQG, even thou there are no rules for that?

[metcalph]

1 hour ago, Caras said:

Besides Runemagic do Haragalans use Sprit Magic at all? Do they use Dream Magic or Sorcery instead? Is Dream Magic or Mystisism canonical in RQG, even thou there are no rules for that?

Pretty much all gloranthans use spirit magic.  The main exceptions are wierdo wizards wanting a clear head.

As for the rest, well it's complicated.  What follows is my opinion only.

Dream Magic exists but we don't have rules for it.  

One possibility is that people use dream magic as a mini-HeroQuest,  Success means they gain rune magic that is associated with their dreams (use runic affinities as a proxy) and suffer curses from the Nightmares that they have (based on whatever their weakest runic affinity is).  They cannot do this alone but rely on the intercession of the Dream Seers for which there is a school in Ferendalo, one of the Haragalan Isles.  

There is a schism of Dream Magicians called the Waking Magicians who seek to use dreams as a source of magic in the waking world.  They can make dreams a reality, either by calling summoning dreamwraiths or creating objects made of dreamstuff.  They are sorcerers concerned with the study of the Magic Rune.  They have several issues with the ordinary practice of dream magic but the text in Revealed Mythologies is rather opaque and saddled with Greg's misthinking about mysticism at the time.  The Waking Magicians seek to overthrow the Eastern Isles and widely seen as evil.

Sorcery exists in the Eastern Isles.

Sorcery has been around since the Golden Age and is widely associated with the God Martalak, the patron of sorcerers, alchemists, enchanters and charm-makers,  In the Imperial Age, they were transformed by the arrival of renegade wizards from the God Learners and are now an Earthseasque school based at the Isle of Ambovombe to the north.

Another branch of Eastern Isles sorcery is the already mentioned Waking Magicians.

Finally there are the Sages who use sorcery, not for the purposes of doing magic on the world, but for preparing the mind and soul for the various states of consciousness to reach Durapdur etc.  Even though their magic is sorcery, they would be pretty startled to be described as such.

Myticism exists in the Eastern Isles.

There is no mystical magic and all existing forms of magic can be identified as spells, feats and charms.  What mysticism is used for is preparing the soul for higher states of existence.  Some powerful rule-bending magics may be available at certain states but they are almost accidental by-products of enlightened awareness.

The main forms of mysticism are the worship of the High Gods such as Atrilith or Vith. and the meditative approach of the Sages.

Martial Arts exists in the Eastern Isles.

There's been a lot of sound and fury abotu Martial Artists being a form of mystical magic but I no longer believe that to be tenable.  Instead I think their magics would be best constructed within RQ:G as being a combination of spirit magics, sorcery or rune magic. 

The Martial Artists of the Eastern Isles are two or three forms..  The first is the Venform school which involves spirits.  There are two branches the Kamboli school (which is present in Janeta) whereby one indulges in various practices (sex, alcohol abuse etc) to strengthen the spirit and do potent magic.  The other is the Sivoli school in which one refrains from various practices (sex, alcohol etc) to be strengthen the spirit even more and do even more potent magic.  Because of what Greg wrote about them, I feel their magics should be the equivalent of Shamanic Abilities - not that such martial artists are shamans but they obtain geases and gifts in a similar fashion.

The second or third (depending on whether you count the Sivoli/Kamboli as one school or two involves the worship of Kabalt.  I personally think it's a rune cult dedicated to the manifestation of the God Kabalt within the Cosmos.  But Kabalt is normally capable of existence within the world as akin to a flash of lightening or Satori.  The worshippers of Kabalt seek to experience Kabalt and once that is done, they may use their fists or weapons to make others experience Kabalt.  For the uninitiated, it is a devastating experience more hurtful than its method of delivery.  Eastern Isles martial arts, IMO, is more focussed on achieving contact than damage (although there's a valid reason for them to be skilled in dodges and parries).

 

 

[Sir_Godspeed]

18 hours ago, metcalph said:

The Martial Artists of the Eastern Isles are two or three forms..  The first is the Venform school which involves spirits.  There are two branches the Kamboli school (which is present in Janeta) whereby one indulges in various practices (sex, alcohol abuse etc) to strengthen the spirit and do potent magic.  The other is the Sivoli school in which one refrains from various practices (sex, alcohol etc) to be strengthen the spirit even more and do even more potent magic.  Because of what Greg wrote about them, I feel their magics should be the equivalent of Shamanic Abilities - not that such martial artists are shamans but they obtain geases and gifts in a similar fashion.

 

I have to admit, the austerities always gave me mysticist vibes. That it is animist is a surprise to me. 

Personally, I don't think the indulgences approach is incompatible with mysticism either. RW Hindu sadhu exist to deliberately break societal norms in order to gain deeper consciousness. Unless mysticism is going to be this (imho boring) monoculture where it's all about avoiding doing anything and then disappearing, I think it'd be interesting to let different trains of thought play around with their presumptions and conclusions. Very un-draconic, sure, but gorging until you pass out might give some kind of deeper insight, who knows. Or maybe it's a case of Illumination/Occlusion making it all meaningless either way. YGWV.

[metcalph]

2 hours ago, Sir_Godspeed said:

I have to admit, the austerities always gave me mysticist vibes. That it is animist is a surprise to me. 

You can have austerities with practically any magic cf Yelmalio's geases.  That it gives of a mystical vibe doesn't mean we have to crate a magic system out of whole cloth for it as I explained in the post you are responding to.  I made the Venform school animism because that is what Greg wrote about them in myth of Venform in Revealed Mythologies.