Grazelander Yu-Kargzant associated cults

[Shiningbrow]

Apologies if this is answered clearly already, but I'm not finding it... (noting that a number of threads on the topic are a number of years old)

One of my players is a Grazelander, and he's looking to join another cult.

A) What cults could he reasonably join? (I'm sticking with Solar at the moment...).

B) what benefits would that give him?

 

(so, basically, I'm asking about what's going to come out in the Solar cults book)

Since Kargzant is like Yelmalio, but different - what are the differences for Grazelander worshippers? (I've read they get Kuschile Archery, but that seems pointless!)

What about Polaris? Antirius? Any Star Captains?

(I've also read that the Associated cults for Y-K are different for Yelm from the book... maybe.... so, who would they actually be? (or, if faster, who isn't?))

[Ironwall]

In the Smoking Ruins book you meet a Grazelander woman who worships Polaris, Yelmalio would probably be a good idea. I also imagine a lot of cults in the grazelands are probably Spirit cults which can mean any number of fire spirits would allow your Yu-Kargazant membership.

[Runeblogger]

RQG says their main gods aside from Yu-Kargzant are Arandayla Horse Mother, Hyalor the Rider, and La-Ungariant (the Grazelander Ernalda). I imagine Arandayla as a sort of Eiritha for horses, and Hyalor as providing lots of riding-enhancing magic.

The old free-to-download HeroQuest Voices PDF document included a section about the Grazelanders and their gods/spirit traditions. Really nice to roleplay a Grazelander character. Aside from the gods already mentioned, it briefly describes Folorene, the Wanderlore Spirit, Tamar, Lord of Wild Beasts, Tara, Lady of the Wild, and some subcults of La-Ungariant. Interestingly, the 4 subcults of Yu-Kargzant vary a bit from the ones in RQG:  Dastal the Hunter is YG's youngest son (corresponds to Dostal in the videogame Six Ages), Jardan the Warrior is "the god of fathers, stallions, flutes and lancers", and he "rides across the sky every night", which might mean he is associated with Lightfore/Antirius/Yelmalio. Henird the leader is the patron of leaders, and Josad the Elder is YG's first son and the one who has accumulated the most knowledge through experience. In HeroQuest Voices, Golden Bow is a warrior society within the Jardan subcult.

In Six Ages: Ride Like the Wind you play as a clan of Hyalorings, the common ancestors of the Grazelanders, Pentans, and others. They mainly worship Elmal, (Yelm's noblest son) an old version of Yelmalio who at the time still hadn't lost his fire powers, and also Hyalor (the cultural hero), Osara the Flame Sister (Elmal's sister who is a bit like Vinga), Inilla, the goddess of foraging, and Zarlen, the Bright-Tailed Wanderer, god of explorers, among others.

 

[Jeff]

6 hours ago, Shiningbrow said:

Apologies if this is answered clearly already, but I'm not finding it... (noting that a number of threads on the topic are a number of years old)

One of my players is a Grazelander, and he's looking to join another cult.

A) What cults could he reasonably join? (I'm sticking with Solar at the moment...).

Ernalda and Yelm are the big ones, but there are also Maran Gor, Polaris, Babeester Gor, Foundchild, Humakt, and even Orlanth, Chalana Arroy, Issaries, Lhankor Mhy, 7 Mothers, etc. Just check out the chart at the end of the Mythology book. 

6 hours ago, Shiningbrow said:

B) what benefits would that give him?

 

(so, basically, I'm asking about what's going to come out in the Solar cults book)

Yelm and Polaris get the full treatment in the Solars book.

 

6 hours ago, Shiningbrow said:

Since Kargzant is like Yelmalio, but different - what are the differences for Grazelander worshippers? (I've read they get Kuschile Archery, but that seems pointless!)

What about Polaris? Antirius? Any Star Captains?

(I've also read that the Associated cults for Y-K are different for Yelm from the book... maybe.... so, who would they actually be? (or, if faster, who isn't?))

Yelmalio is not a big thing among the Pure Horse People, as they can contact Yelm directly. Polaris is known, but a pretty minor cult. 

[Shiningbrow]

6 hours ago, Jeff said:

Ernalda and Yelm are the big ones, but there are also Maran Gor, Polaris, Babeester Gor, Foundchild, Humakt, and even Orlanth, Chalana Arroy, Issaries, Lhankor Mhy, 7 Mothers, etc. Just check out the chart at the end of the Mythology book. 

Ok. Firstly, I don't have Mythology (yet?)

Secondly, I presumed that the Yelm worshipping Grazelanders (the actual PHP) wouldn't steep to worship of those other walker Storm/Earth cults, as those would be the ones followed by the Vendref. (He is, naturally, light cavalry).

I'm looking to offering him Shooting Stars as a Rune spell... (probably through Association)... and I'd also suggest that Daylight  Sunbright makes a lot of sense (moreso than probably any other god).

Is Yelmalio going to have a full write-up of the different versions? So that, Kargzant will include different skills/spells?

is there any difference with an FHQ version of Ernalda worship? (and - do the Kargzant worshippers normally cross-initiate into her cult? Or just leave that to a 'women's thing', like Waha/Eiritha?)

 

(slightly off-topic - but are Grazelanders supposed to be using the Horse bow (1D6/60m), from W&E? Because I noticed somewhere that training is given for a normal Composite bow (1D8+1/100m) instead... which I thought might be slightly too unwieldy from horseback, compared to the smaller horse bow.)

 

(And, just for sh*ts and giggles, I gave him a tortoise-shell cuirass!)

 

 

Edited April 3 by Shiningbrow

[Shiningbrow]

9 hours ago, Ironwall said:

I also imagine a lot of cults in the grazelands are probably Spirit cults which can mean any number of fire spirits would allow your Yu-Kargazant membership.

I presume those spirits are coming via Golden Sun shamans.... or, perhaps, Kolati or Earthwitch for the Vendref, not the actual YK worshipping horse riders.

[Shiningbrow]

8 hours ago, Runeblogger said:

RQG says their main gods aside from Yu-Kargzant are Arandayla Horse Mother, Hyalor the Rider, and La-Ungariant (the Grazelander Ernalda). I imagine Arandayla as a sort of Eiritha for horses, and Hyalor as providing lots of riding-enhancing magic.

The old free-to-download HeroQuest Voices PDF document included a section about the Grazelanders and their gods/spirit traditions. Really nice to roleplay a Grazelander character. Aside from the gods already mentioned, it briefly describes Folorene, the Wanderlore Spirit, Tamar, Lord of Wild Beasts, Tara, Lady of the Wild, and some subcults of La-Ungariant. Interestingly, the 4 subcults of Yu-Kargzant vary a bit from the ones in RQG:  Dastal the Hunter is YG's youngest son (corresponds to Dostal in the videogame Six Ages), Jardan the Warrior is "the god of fathers, stallions, flutes and lancers", and he "rides across the sky every night", which might mean he is associated with Lightfore/Antirius/Yelmalio. Henird the leader is the patron of leaders, and Josad the Elder is YG's first son and the one who has accumulated the most knowledge through experience. In HeroQuest Voices, Golden Bow is a warrior society within the Jardan subcult.

In Six Ages: Ride Like the Wind you play as a clan of Hyalorings, the common ancestors of the Grazelanders, Pentans, and others. They mainly worship Elmal, (Yelm's noblest son) an old version of Yelmalio who at the time still hadn't lost his fire powers, and also Hyalor (the cultural hero), Osara the Flame Sister (Elmal's sister who is a bit like Vinga), Inilla, the goddess of foraging, and Zarlen, the Bright-Tailed Wanderer, god of explorers, among others.

 

Well, yes.. however, I need details on what they can get from those cults - and we don't really have much (so, need to houserule). Personally, I had thought of a Bless Foaling spell - combined Bless Horse with Bless Pregnancy (so, one can drop RPs into increasing horse stats).

Would a male be likely to join Arandayla?? (well, yes, ok - a few.. .but I would imagine not a very high percentage... no doubt single figure (as Initiates - most would be Lay Members). Same with La-Ungariant (although, as I asked above, is there any differences given the FHQ - I presume she's worshipped directly, and would have different spells/skills. An Ernalda the Queen aspect (one part of the RQG write-ups that I and others are disappointed about - less emphasis on sub-cults... I'll look more at HQ/HW for those).

 

Cool on the HQ Voices...

 

Do you have any thoughts on what skills/spells each would give? As I mentioned above, I think I'll allow Shooting Stars (probably as an Associate spell from Pole Star) - although, that would normally mean it's rather pointless for a cult to give away its best spell...

Also, does Kargzant (Yelmalio) have the same restriction on fire spells?

[Shiningbrow]

Oh, I had a thought to ask...

What's the (normal, non-YGMV) situation with the children of Grazer & Vendref? Do they follow the father's line? The mother's? Do they have the freedom to choose? (does it matter, except for certain clans?)

[French Desperate WindChild]

7 hours ago, Shiningbrow said:

Is Yelmalio going to have a full write-up of the different versions? So that, Kargzant will include different skills/spells?

How many people who can cast fire magic would like to join Yelmalio (so lose these powers)  ?

I don't know how different is PHP -yelmalio, but in all cases he would have at least the core (no)power : no fire.

 

[Techpriest]

1 hour ago, French Desperate WindChild said:

How many people who can cast fire magic would like to join Yelmalio (so lose these powers)  ?

I don't know how different is PHP -yelmalio, but in all cases he would have at least the core (no)power : no fire.

 

I'm working on a regional cults variant thing for Yelmalio for the Jonstown compendium - hopefully done before the end of the year, but it depends on how strange and esoteric I want to get with it and if I want to include variants on Orlanth as well in the list. Under the name Kargzant, Yelmalio is worshiped differently so his cult is different - which makes sense. The Grazelanders/Pentans and the Sairdites are very different peoples with different ways of life. Their spirit magic is going to differ, but the same god is the core of the worship. His purpose in society is different, sure, but he's the key god of the horse nomads. You're part of his Lay cult if you're a Pentan that isn't in the pure horse clans, and probably even then the Pure Horse Peoples likely still hold him in some regard - YGMV, but he would be important as the one who still taught them how to live and showed them their ways.

On topic, Yu-Kargzant has his associated cults already shown in the RGQ Core, in his detailed cults write up. You could add the star captains later on, but I think the key part of the Pure Horse People like the Grazelanders is that to them, Yelm (Yu-Kargzant) gave them the world through the lessons he taught his son Yelmalio (Kargzant), and that flavors the relation they have with one another. If you join the cult of Kargzant, you're not able to use the fire related spirit magics, sure, but that doesn't stop you from using your connection to Yu-Kargzant to summon a fire elemental or cast rune spells like Flamesword/Flamespear - that's an expression of your connection to the Sun, not the Son of the Sun. When it comes to Chalana Arroy, how the pure horse people treat her and her devoted followers is likely nearly identical to the way the Orlanthi do - look at Cults of Runequest: The Light Bringers. They might even give her some special honor for 'guiding' the rebellious Orlanth to restore the sun to the world and heal it.  Ernalda (As La-Ungariant) is among the grazelanders very respected now. The Feathered Horse Queen is effectively her avatar, and she holds the vendref in her direct protection. She's more like how the Orlanthi view her than the other solar cults will view her, not submissive, but an active and powerful force that you must respect or you suffer her wrath. Aldrya is also going to be in this camp. Wood is important - they use it for spears, tent poles, fires, and a host of other things so the forests they have access to are going to be a place you can't risk offending her, else they lose it. 

Hyalor is a hero and god. He's the first one to ride the horse, and he and Hippoi are likely worshiped together - the re-enactment of Hyalor first mounting Hippoi and swearing to protect her in exchange for the service of her and her children is likely a critical part of any festival honoring the Horse Mother. Stories of Hyalor are likely told like those of Heort.