Does anyone worship Daga?

[Squaredeal Sten]

Does anyone worship Daga, circa 1625ST?

If so what rune magic would Daga give?

 

 

[JRE]

I would expect most magic will be propitiatory, usually by people who do not have strong air connections, as if they had  they would go for the opposites, so Heler and Orlanth.

I would not be surprised if the Lunar Empire has a temple or two, for weather control, including offensive environmental action against neighbours. It will not be useful against orlanthi, but it can be useful in other areas. Similarly I expect the kralori have temples to their equivalent for the same purposes. I am sure they make sure he is away from the heartlands and active in the Wastes and Ignorance.

In Balazar, the Wastes or even in Pent you probably have shaman societies dealing with him as a spirit cult, to keep him away from where you are and as part of environmental warfare with other tribes. 

The two natural spells would be Cloud Clear (no need to invent a new one when one works) and the opposite of Rain, that I would call Drought, with similar duration and area of effect, that makes sure it does not rain, or decreases the rain intensity by one step.

 

 

[Darius West]

1 hour ago, Squaredeal Sten said:

Does anyone worship Daga, circa 1625ST?

If so what rune magic would Daga give?

If you live in Northern Sartar around Far Point with the  90m per year  of rainfall coming from the Skyfall, I could see someone deciding that Daga might be an option.

As to the magic, I would suggest that Daga gives Cloud Curse, which is a stronger version of Cloud Clear, as well as Evaporate, and Thirst.

[Jeff]

Daga has no cult in Genertela that I am aware of. There might be some band in Pent that worship Drought as a god, there are some weird Air cults appearing there. There is certainly no cult of Daga in Dragon Pass - they'd be overwhelmed very quickly by Orlanth.

[Darius West]

6 hours ago, Jeff said:

Daga has no cult in Genertela that I am aware of. There might be some band in Pent that worship Drought as a god, there are some weird Air cults appearing there. There is certainly no cult of Daga in Dragon Pass - they'd be overwhelmed very quickly by Orlanth.

I could see the Lunar Empire weaponizing and reinforcing Daga so that the usual Aroka HQ didn't work, just to mess with the Orlanthi.  Watch their crops fail, their animals die of thirst, and their magic deplete.

Edited July 20, 2022 by Darius West

[radmonger]

1 hour ago, Darius West said:

I could see the Lunar Empire weaponizing and reinforcing Daga so that the usual Aroka HQ didn't work, just to mess with the Orlanthi.  Watch their crops fail, their animals die of thirst, and their magic deplete.

I don't think that kind of mythic weaponisation would take the form of founding a cult that taught a 'cause drought' spell. You need their lands ravaged this season, not in several generations time. Surely by then they will be good Lunar citizens?

Instead it would be more a matter of a few magical specialsts and hero candidates directly doing whatever  mythic dirty work seemed most tactically useful right now.

[French Desperate WindChild]

Would say a good job for jakaleel people. Dominate / control / bargain Daga is better than serve him

[Akhôrahil]

15 hours ago, JRE said:

I would expect most magic will be propitiatory, usually by people who do not have strong air connections, as if they had  they would go for the opposites, so Heler and Orlanth.

I also liked a suggestion in HW that merely being invoked and railed against as an enemy in a religion is enough to pass some spiritual energy towards them, and that this is how purely enemy gods without much in the way of worshipers keep going.

(I imagine Iphara isn’t getting much worship either.)

[metcalph]

28 minutes ago, Akhôrahil said:

(I imagine Iphara isn’t getting much worship either.)

I think she would be worshipped by the Zabdamar of the Sea of Fog. 

[metcalph]

For Daga, I think he would most likely be worshipped in Fonrit (in order to dry out the Elf Woods).  He might be another name for Sikkanos. 

[Rick Meints]

Daga doesn't have any worshippers in Dragon Pass. Interest dried up decades ago...

[Ironwall]

This is definitely YGMV territory but I always liked the idea that societies who rely on irrigation more than rain to water crops (mainly dara happa) in glorantha would view daga as a benevolent anti flood God who drives flood bringing rain storms away so they don't ruin crops or damage irrigation infrastructure. Maybe even a sartarite clan whose getting too much of helers blessings may opt to give some worship to even things out ( though I imagine this would be HEAVILY frowned upon)

Edited July 21, 2022 by Ironwall

[Ormi Phengaria]

I suppose you would need to find a people who didn't rely upon rainfall in their own lands in some form or another. Daga isn't just dryness, but drought. Even in places where the rains come as destructive flash storms and inundation, they are still critical to the survival of all forms of life. He is a child of Famine. If such people exist, I would expect them to either have no need for water, or to have access to some form of fresh water which exists independently of the rains, e.g. fossil water, or perhaps moisture harvest like some desert insects.

Edited July 21, 2022 by Ormi Phengaria

[Darius West]

15 hours ago, radmonger said:

I don't think that kind of mythic weaponisation would take the form of founding a cult that taught a 'cause drought' spell. You need their lands ravaged this season, not in several generations time. Surely by then they will be good Lunar citizens?

Wait until the Lunars are a decade or two into the Hero Wars and I think you may reconsider.  Hero Quests effects take effect pretty quickly, and the day will dawn when the Lunars will despair of ever truly beating the powers massed against them.

[radmonger]

On 7/20/2022 at 11:01 PM, Akhôrahil said:

I also liked a suggestion in HW that merely being invoked and railed against as an enemy in a religion is enough to pass some spiritual energy towards them, and that this is how purely enemy gods without much in the way of worshipers keep going.

While plenty of people in Glorantha believe so, I suspect the gods don't need worshipers. Plenty of gods preceded humans, and there is little correlation between cosmic significance and number of worshipers. Worship mostly strengthens the worshiper, not the worshiped. 

The thing is, with great strength comes great responsibility. If you have the magical power to affect the climate on the level of a Cloud Call or Bless Crops Rune spell, you had better use that power wisely.

Daga doesn't need a cult; he is the Other of one of Orlanths aspects/ In other words, he is the anthropomorphic description of what happens when priests of Orlanth Thunderous fumble the relevant roll. Every worshiped god has such an Other, because every d100 sometimes rolls 00.

 

 

 

[French Desperate WindChild]

I agree with @radmonger

with a little difference, worship implies sacrifice, sacrifice means "fuel" (mp, pow,...). Then fuel implies the gods need it. Probably to be present more in mundane world than if not.

Probably with more worshippers, daga will be more present = more drought. Not only when worshippers invoke its power (rune spell) but "just" because they do their worship

[Squaredeal Sten]

7 hours ago, French Desperate WindChild said:

I agree with @radmonger

with a little difference, worship implies sacrifice, sacrifice means "fuel" (mp, pow,...). Then fuel implies the gods need it. Probably to be present more in mundane world than if not.

Probably with more worshippers, daga will be more present = more drought. Not only when worshippers invoke its power (rune spell) but "just" because they do their worship

Yes. I can see that a congregation of Daga-ites would be self limiting in size.

 

Edited July 22, 2022 by Squaredeal Sten

[jajagappa]

Daga is one of those demons/monsters you inflict on others.  Propitiatory worship with appropriate sacrifices to summon him.  Once summoned, he's hard to get back in the Jar.