Idea for a spirit cult

[Agentorange]

Now, it's not often I have any ideas about spells , spirit cults etc. I'm quite happy leaving that sort of thing to those better at it than me....

But I've had this idea bubbling away in the back of my head for a while. It started when I had to scrape the frost  from my car window one morning and I thought of a spirit cult or subcult connected with frost. In my head the name Frost Maid emerged and that's what I'm going to run with. Now there is a water spirit called Dew Maid  down in Prax, maybe Frost Maid is simply another aspect of Dew Maid, but in My Glorantha she's going to be something different.

I think she'll be the daughter of one of the winter deities: Valind, Inora or Himile, though  Himile is the least likely. If it's one of the male gods then I like the idea of a female earth deity maybe Ernalda or a regional goddess. If a daughter of Inora then I'm inclined to a storm god as the father.

She could be worshipped anywhere that frost happens but her cult will be small, probably only shrines or maybe she can be contacted by shamans as a spirit cult.. I' don't know enough Gloranthan mythology to really get a back story filled in but I'm working on that. spell wise I think there's two ways to go: malign in that frost can destroy crops and plants. Or benign in that there are certain plants ( eg damsons ) that prosper and need frost to germinate, also frost melts to give us life sustaining water.

Anyway, all of which rambling leads me to ask, do people think this idea has any merit, if so I'd welcome your comments.  If I do write it up it'll be the first thing I've put down on paper for RQG.

over to you......

Edited February 3, 2022 by Agentorange
typos

[Akhôrahil]

This sounds completely reasonable, especially with Inora (and agree about a Storm daddy, as frost comes from the intersection of Cold and Air).

Farmers are bound to be unhappy about the frost, but others might think it’s so pretty (again, works with Inora). I could see the idea that she needs to be delayed until the harvest is secure.

Her cultist are never bothered about the cold, anyway (let the storm rage on)?

Edited February 3, 2022 by Akhôrahil

[Squaredeal Sten]

Cherry trees need a certain number of hours of cold to bear fruit, too.  An arborist could probably give you a list of such trees.-

You have described one segment of worshipers.  Another segment might be those who want to avert frost - on the same principle as people who want to avoid disease worshiping Mallia. 

 

 

 

 

[David Scott]

13 hours ago, Agentorange said:

over to you......

Frost is one of Inora's Rune spells (RBM 53). Daughter of Himile & Kero Fin, she has a cult and is also worshipped as a spirit cult (where she's called the White Princess and normally provides Snow). I'd suggest that Frost Maid / Frost Maiden is a variant of Inora's spirit cult that provides Frost instead of Snow.

Frost uses Stasis or Darkness when cast, Inora has the runes of stasis, cold & harmony, so as Frost Maid would have the stasis rune and as the White Princess the Cold rune.

 

[French Desperate WindChild]

that sounds good

depending on your spirit / goodess she could be worshipped to protect the people from cold, in two ways (at least)

the first way is described by @Squaredeal Sten : she is powerful and decides by herself to give protection or not, but she may expect worshippers some violent sacrifice (as malia and disease))

the second way she may have no true power on cold but she may intercede with Dad / Mom cold divinity to reduce the frost or things like that. A kind of "cold" Voria. her spells/power would be to create / find some rare frost plants, to allow a campfire when there is (not too strong) snow fall, to show where is the nearest cave etc...

 

it is up to you to determine what is her psychology then her powers and requirements

[JRE]

For propitiation I would expect you have to create frost somewhere else, and that way your own crops will be protected to the extent you hurt others. That would fit with having access to Frost, but possibly you can have rituals so the frost that should strike your field strikes the neighbors instead. 

Cold deities tend to be unfriendly, so any protection would be at the expense of others. It also makes you bad neighbors...

[svensson]

One of the great things about Glorantha is the ease in which minor tweaks like your 'frost maiden' cult can be fit into the mythology.

I don't see any problem with a minor spirit cult at the intersection between Water, Air /Storm, and Cold /Ice....

You might also look into the Japanese myths about 'yuki-onna' or 'snow wives'.

Certainly she'd teach Extinguish. Maybe develop an Icicle spell that works exactly like Disruption but requires water to be present.

As for sacrifices and propitiation, I would guess that going a day in Dark /Storm Seasons, with snow present, without fire or shelter would keep her happy. Dress warmly 😁

[Agentorange]

8 hours ago, David Scott said:

Frost is one of Inora's Rune spells (RBM 53). Daughter of Himile & Kero Fin, she has a cult and is also worshipped as a spirit cult (where she's called the White Princess and normally provides Snow). I'd suggest that Frost Maid / Frost Maiden is a variant of Inora's spirit cult that provides Frost instead of Snow.

Frost uses Stasis or Darkness when cast, Inora has the runes of stasis, cold & harmony, so as Frost Maid would have the stasis rune and as the White Princess the Cold rune.

 

Ah right.....I've got a copy of the RBOM on order  ( in the post ) so i didn't realise that Frost existed as a spell. Well so much for that idea then......

[David Scott]

14 hours ago, Agentorange said:

Well so much for that idea

It's a good idea, it shows how you can adapt existing spirit cults into different forms for different places.

Edited February 5, 2022 by David Scott

[Richard S.]

This topic combined with Texas getting the one snow it's gonna get all year is making me think of a spirit cult spell myself, basically an unknown part of Inora based around "what if she and Yelmalio hit it off a little better at the hill of gold?":

Snowbright
1 Points
Ranged, Temporal, Stackable
This spell causes a 10-meter radius circle of fresh snow to emit an uncomfortably bright light. Anyone within the circle using skills that require sight to use, or anyone outside trying to target someone inside with one of those skills, suffers a -10% penalty per point of the spell. Extra points can instead be spent to increase the radius by another 10 meters.

[Oracle]

5 hours ago, Richard S. said:

...

Snowbright
...

I've thought always the name is SnowWhite ...

(Sorry, couldn't resist ... 😉)

[soltakss]

On 2/3/2022 at 7:27 PM, Agentorange said:

Anyway, all of which rambling leads me to ask, do people think this idea has any merit, if so I'd welcome your comments.  If I do write it up it'll be the first thing I've put down on paper for RQG.

Yes, this has merit and sounds good.

On 2/4/2022 at 6:25 PM, Agentorange said:

Ah right.....I've got a copy of the RBOM on order  ( in the post ) so i didn't realise that Frost existed as a spell. Well so much for that idea then......

You can still use the spell from the Red Book of Magic. Not every spell from a Spirit Cult needs to be a new spell.

 

[Akhôrahil]

6 hours ago, Richard S. said:

This topic combined with Texas getting the one snow it's gonna get all year is making me think of a spirit cult spell myself, basically an unknown part of Inora based around "what if she and Yelmalio hit it off a little better at the hill of gold?":

Snowbright
1 Points
Ranged, Temporal, Stackable
This spell causes a 10-meter radius circle of fresh snow to emit an uncomfortably bright light. Anyone within the circle using skills that require sight to use, or anyone outside trying to target someone inside with one of those skills, suffers a -10% penalty per point of the spell. Extra points can instead be spent to increase the radius by another 10 meters.

The brightness of the snow-capped mountain peaks is already an effect of Inora picking up Light from Yelmalio, I believe?

[soltakss]

27 minutes ago, Akhôrahil said:

The brightness of the snow-capped mountain peaks is already an effect of Inora picking up Light from Yelmalio, I believe?

That is how I play Inora defeating Yelmalio on the Hill of Gold. His light is reflected from her, as she did not truly conquer him.

[Richard S.]

6 hours ago, Akhôrahil said:

The brightness of the snow-capped mountain peaks is already an effect of Inora picking up Light from Yelmalio, I believe?

I think their deal was technically something like "the mountains receive light first and give it up last, but their snow never melts", but I thought it could be interesting to think about if they actually made an alliance rather than just agreeing to leave each other alone. Probably an appropriate thing for a heroquester try out, at least.

[jajagappa]

2 hours ago, Richard S. said:

but I thought it could be interesting to think about if they actually made an alliance rather than just agreeing to leave each other alone.

Depends on which myth you know, or which one you are invoking!  In some cases, Yelmalio is trapped as her lover forever, in some he spurns her and runs away, in some they trade, and in some she may betray him to Chaos in order to survive.

[Qizilbashwoman]

On 2/3/2022 at 6:22 PM, Squaredeal Sten said:

Cherry trees need a certain number of hours of cold to bear fruit, too.  An arborist could probably give you a list of such trees.-

You have described one segment of worshipers.  Another segment might be those who want to avert frost - on the same principle as people who want to avoid disease worshiping Mallia.

Also snow is important for the spring. In many places, the snow might not be ideal to live in during the winter, but the mountain snowpack is actually your source of water year-round, it's where the rivers and aquifers come from.

[Shiningbrow]

17 hours ago, Oracle said:

I've thought always the name is SnowWhite ...

(Sorry, couldn't resist ... 😉)

I see... Time for a few short jokes then....