Cult of Silence

[Godlearner]

Is there any information, besides Guide to Glorantha, on the Cult of Silence? 

[metcalph]

1 hour ago, Godlearner said:

Is there any information, besides Guide to Glorantha, on the Cult of Silence? 

Gods of Glorantha: Cults Book p12

Quote

All Pamaltela - the Cult of Silence

Members of many races joined to protest their existence and joined the Cult of Silence.  

RQ3 Book 5 p11

Quote

The cult appealed to creatures of many species, and sometimes ironically united former enemies in their silence.

Due to the great age of these sources, it's probable that the expansive nature of the cult is no longer true (I'm still put out by the "three savage kings [...] claim huge empires" RQ3 Book 5 p8 being downgraded to three small islands) with the possible mention of the Feofaxian elves Guide p546 being a relic of this period.  

[David Scott]

https://wellofdaliath.chaosium.com/?s="Cult+of+Silence"

 

[Godlearner]

I was hoping for a little more detail on its magic and why it spread so quickly. What was the attraction?

[metcalph]

The Cult of Silence was a revolt against existence.  I imagine in the beginning it was a belief popular among the human rulers.  Why it was so popular is probably things weren't going all that well for them.  It mutated into a cult of drugged crazies who enforced their silence upon the population (who whispered when they weren't around).  Since mention is made of psychic surgeons and magical communication, I think the cult's magic is sorcery (ie Speak to Mind as Mindlink no loner exists).  I think most cultists would have just communicated with Sign Language and the thing about magical transmissions was to communicate with people who were not Silent.  The more hardline cults would have just refused to allow mental sounds into their heads and demanded that the others learn their signs if they had anything to say.  

In terms of RQG magic, most Silenced would have had Silence being analogous to the Malkioni Rightness (I'm just spit-balling here), with various silent magics being the equivalent of Malkioni caste magics.    The Stiflers would have taken a variety of drugs that increased their Silence but also increased their intolerance for Sound (or some other limitation).  

As for the origins of the Silence, it is either the Theist origin of Glorantha or the Silence that came from the Constellation of the Whisperers (Guide p650) which afflicted even Zzabur in Cults of Terror.  I suspect, we'll learn a little more in a couple of days.

[Godlearner]

54 minutes ago, metcalph said:

Since mention is made of psychic surgeons and magical communication, I think the cult's magic is sorcery (ie Speak to Mind as Mindlink no loner exists).

Hmm, I would say they used Mindlink and Mindspeech and this is why these spells are no longer around. 🙂

Anyway, players in my game just discovered and contacted a Spirit of Silence and are able to get a couple of interesting spells from it, but are of course obligated to total silence on the days when summoning it. Lets see where this takes them. 

[mfbrandi]

1 hour ago, metcalph said:

The Cult of Silence was a revolt against existence … I think most cultists would have just communicated with Sign Language

12 minutes ago, Godlearner said:

[P]layers in my game just … contacted a Spirit of Silence … but are of course obligated to total silence on the days when summoning it.

[Puts on advocatus diaboli wig — died a fetching shade of blood red, natch.]

“In 1129 the Wordless Prophet appeared … he taught the Path of Silence to any that would listen … Some sects were so adamantly opposed to communication that the art of writing was forgotten and books were walled up in special libraries, where they could not contaminate people. Libraries became a symbol of piously refraining from reading, rather than a sign of literacy.” — Greg Stafford, Introduction to Umathela (1997)

So — even granted that many people would have sounded the words as they read — is the Cult of Silence really worried about sound? Is it not “the word” — i.e. language and communication — that they opposed? So no Indo-Pakistani Sign Language or BSL for the truly pious. This revolt against existence seems to have been a Void cult of the tortured kind [he speculated wildly].

It would be good to know how the path of silence was taught to listeners. Perhaps the wordless prophet was Hugo Ball:

• Gadji beri bimba
  gadji beri bimba glandridi laula lonni cadori
  gadjama gramma berida bimbala glandri galassassa laulitalomini
  
  gadji beri bin blassa glassala laula lonni cadorsu sassala bim
  gadjama tuffm i zimzalla binban gligla wowolimai bin beri ban
  o katalominai rhinozerossola hopsamen laulitalomini hoooo
  gadjama rhinozerossola hopsamen
  bluku terullala blaulala loooo
  
  zimzim urullala zimzim urullala zimzim zanzibar zimzalla zam
  elifantolim brussala bulomen brussala bulomen tromtata
  velo da bang band affalo purzamai affalo purzamai lengado tor
  gadjama bimbalo glandridi glassala zingtata pimpalo ögrögöööö
  viola laxato viola zimbrabim viola uli paluji malooo
  
  tuffm im zimbrabim negramai bumbalo negramai bumbalo tuffm i zim
  gadjama bimbala oo beri gadjama gaga di gadjama affalo pinx
  gaga di bumbalo bumbalo gadjamen
  gaga di bling blong
  gaga blung

… or as the odd word seems to have crept in there — all the better to drain them of meaning, perhaps? — Kurt Schwitters:

• URSONATE (Introduction)
  Fümms bö wö tää zää Uu,
                                           pögiff,
                                                       kwii Ee.
  Oooooooooooooooooooooooo,
  dll rrrrr beeeee bö
  dll rrrrr beeeee bö fümms bö,
       rrrrr beeeee bö fümms bö wö,
               beeeee bö fümms bö wö tää,
                          bö fümms bö wö tää zää,
                               fümms bö wö tää zää Uu:

[Godlearner]

I think that the cult of Gark the Calm is either an offshoot of the Cult of Silence and most likely allied to.

[Bohemond]

I like the idea that the Cult discovered that Silence is a positive force in itself, not just the absence of sound--in other words the silence it produces spreads like like or heat and is capable of infecting people, who lose the ability to make sounds.

[JRE]

Each time I read "Cult of Silence" I have Disturbed cover of "The Sounds of Silence" running in my mind. So I envision people using long duration Illusory sight sorceries to communicate with flashes of light, "neon lights", and using high intensity illusory sound to actually suppress any sounds below the intensity threshold. 

From that whimsical starting point, it is clear to me the Cult is strong in illusory sorceries, and long duration visual spells, including mute TV style communications, lacking words as such, just images, color codes and cartoon like imagery. And use of illusions for almost anything.

I assume from the eradication of mindlink and mindspeech in the rules that it is reserved in Glorantha to allied spirits and similar soul appendages, so I do not expect the secret of the Cult to be mental communication. Their real power is that you never know if what you experience is real or an illusion, and the overwhelming silence makes it even easier for the illusions to be more believable. They can be still around, masquerading as anything else. You can still cast spells with a spoken component and the illusory silence will make it unhearable anyway.

Their magic does not use words but mental constructs and complex images of the spells, between a complex ideogram and a mandala. The base script for sorcery spell skill limit would be "Visual imagery", which is used also for communication among the cultists. Their abandonment of words means they probably escaped the attention of the Gift Carriers of the Sending Gods. It may well have been their purpose.

[Mark Mohrfield]

The problem is that the people who know the most about it aren’t allowed to talk about it.

[metcalph]

10 hours ago, Godlearner said:

Hmm, I would say they used Mindlink and Mindspeech and this is why these spells are no longer around. 🙂

Except the Cult of Silence still exists.

 

[metcalph]

9 hours ago, mfbrandi said:

So — even granted that many people would have sounded the words as they read — is the Cult of Silence really worried about sound?

Given that Elassi the Stifler cut off an ear rather than an eye, I would say yes.

 

[John Biles]

The Cult of Silence grows in an area where the Godlearners, who are all about communication and aggressive search for knowledge, were bloodily slaughtered, then elven assassins wiped out people who knew 'a partcular secret'.  IE, Elves are slaughtering entire cities and won't actually fully explain why.

It's not surprising that a cult of 'bury your head in the sand, know nothing, have peace' would arise in those circumstances.    Rejecting truth in favor of ignorance, embracing a peace that only exists inside your head.  An Illusion rune cult, in other words.

But at first, they only hurt themselves; it's only when a King decides to go full metal Ashoka that the cult becomes what it fears - basically, the Hasishim if they were all unable to hear, right down to the drugs.  Whether the King sought to use the cult or went full 'high on your own supply' probably can't be known.  He wanted obedient killing machnes but creating killing machines who worship ignorance and are out of their minds on drugs was unwise.

That form of the cult is wiped out but the self-mutilators are still around.

 

 

[Godlearner]

2 hours ago, metcalph said:

Except the Cult of Silence still exists.

 

So do those spells

[EricW]

I wonder if there might be some insane level of conformity, amongst the leaders at least. My thinking is, no communication is required, if everyone thinks the same. Such suppression of individuality would stink of chaos.