Do many people worship the Red Moon herself?

[The_Wombat]

I have been looking over the various lists of followers of cults in different locales and while I see many worshipers of the Seven Mothers, I do not remember seeing a listing for those who actually directly worship Sedanya/the Red Moon herself.

I wonder if she isn't seen as too great, too lofty, too involved in the Empire as a whole and, therefore, more or less inaccessible to humble petitioners, that the way to get her attention is through the Seven Mothers or other such related cults?

This does bring to mind some Real World parallels, but I would be interested in how other view this situation.

[Eff]

1 minute ago, The_Wombat said:

I have been looking over the various lists of followers of cults in different locales and while I see many worshipers of the Seven Mothers, I do not remember seeing a listing for those who actually directly worship Sedanya/the Red Moon herself.

I wonder if she isn't seen as too great, too lofty, too involved in the Empire as a whole and, therefore, more or less inaccessible to humble petitioners, that the way to get her attention is through the Seven Mothers or other such related cults?

This does bring to mind some Real World parallels, but I would be interested in how other view this situation.

Becoming part of the Red Goddess cult in Runequest rules terms requires you to be a Illuminate first, and ideally a rune level in another Lunar cult. So the pool of members is relatively small and doesn't amount to the ~80,000 people necessary to appear as a cult of 1% of the population for the whole of the Lunar Empire. 

With that being said, outside of Runequest rules terms, I suspect that a lot of people in the Lunar Empire offer up worship to Sedenya without that cultic relationship- they contribute to large-scale worship ceremonies to Her, they inscribe prayers on ostraca and leave them at shrines and temples, they make Lesilla amulets to keep their kids safe- but they're not getting the Rune magic, the heroforming, etc. Maybe occasionally they get a few encouraging sentences. 

[French Desperate WindChild]

3 minutes ago, Eff said:

Becoming part of the Red Goddess cult in Runequest rules terms requires you to be a Illuminate first, and ideally a rune level in another Lunar cult. So the pool of members is relatively small and doesn't amount to the ~80,000 people necessary to appear as a cult of 1% of the population for the whole of the Lunar Empire. 

With that being said, outside of Runequest rules terms, I suspect that a lot of people in the Lunar Empire offer up worship to Sedenya without that cultic relationship- they contribute to large-scale worship ceremonies to Her, they inscribe prayers on ostraca and leave them at shrines and temples, they make Lesilla amulets to keep their kids safe- but they're not getting the Rune magic, the heroforming, etc. Maybe occasionally they get a few encouraging sentences. 

you are describing lay membership 🙂 in this case a large part of people are lay members

 

but yes very few people are initiate (or more) in my previous version of god of glorantha,  you must be illuminate and  (rune level in lunar cults or some skills > 90%). But is previous version, with different skills. Seems to me we have to wait for the new version of the gods books to know what is "now" the requirement

Edited May 12, 2022 by French Desperate WindChild

[Nick Brooke]

From my short note Mistress of the Three Worlds in the Gloranthan Manifesto, Volume Two (available free somewhere in this forum, only it’s late):

[Soccercalle]

9 hours ago, Nick Brooke said:

From my short note Mistress of the Three Worlds in the Gloranthan Manifesto, Volume Two (available free somewhere in this forum, only it’s late):

Is the upcoming rules for illumination close to old rules or will they be completely different? I wonder if I can use some Nysalor riddles in my campaign or if I should wait for the Cults Book.

[Nick Brooke]

Close enough. The biggest change is that new Illuminates don’t get every illuminated ability at once, some are rarer than others.

[davecake]

On 5/13/2022 at 3:37 AM, Eff said:

With that being said, outside of Runequest rules terms, I suspect that a lot of people in the Lunar Empire offer up worship to Sedenya without that cultic relationship

In rules terms, she receives worship as an associated cult, and every Lunar cult is associated with her. 

[davecake]

On 5/13/2022 at 3:38 PM, Soccercalle said:

Is the upcoming rules for illumination close to old rules or will they be completely different? I wonder if I can use some Nysalor riddles in my campaign or if I should wait for the Cults Book.

Very close. As Nick says, not every Illuminate receives every ability, and there are a few extra abilities, including being able to overcome the Illuminates own Passions, and Opposed runes are no longer treated as opposed, so eg they may increase both Life and Death runes (really quite handy for Seven Mothers cultists). This was also the case in HeroQuest Glorantha. It’s also explicit (as it was in HeroQuest Glorantha) that other mystical experiences, such as draconic mysticism, are essentially the same as Illumination in most respects (though not 100% identical, as the abilities taught may vary - eg only Nysalor Riddlers learn Nysalor Riddles). 

[French Desperate WindChild]

10 hours ago, davecake said:

It’s also explicit (as it was in HeroQuest Glorantha) that other mystical experiences, such as draconic mysticism, are essentially the same as Illumination in most respects (though not 100% identical, as the abilities taught may vary - eg only Nysalor Riddlers learn Nysalor Riddles).

will we find these differences in the book  ? Nysalor as riddle when draconism has… etc ?

[Qizilbashwoman]

6 hours ago, French Desperate WindChild said:

will we find these differences in the book  ? Nysalor as riddle when draconism has… etc ?

draconism has godzilla film watching parties

[davecake]

I’ve only seen a draft version of the Gods book, and material has certainly been added to it since then. But the one I saw had only had Illumination within the Nysalor cult in any detail.