Earth Cults in Balazar - options for rather masculine hunter types (willing to travel)

[Stephen L]

My Balazar campaign has taken an fascinating turn.

The characters have had an interesting engagement with Starnia and her guards.  And the upshot of it is that one of the hunters has fallen madly (and a bit over-dramatically) in love with her.

Given her Geas of only love Earth cultists, I'm thinking how to run with this...

I suspect the doomed lover (whose a very masculine hunter type) might be thinking about finding an earth cult. But I'm mulling over their options.  

I don't think of Balazar being somewhere the Earth gods have forsaken, stuff grows there and the elves thrive well enough. So it's not like Genert's wastes, I think it is just no-one really worships Earth gods (much).

Though there's no mention in Griffin Mountain, there must be some priests and worship of Mralota to service the pig farming in the citadels, but I've no idea how that would be organised, and I doubt that would cut it for a hunter... Also, the hunter's anti-Lunar, so an no entry to an obscure Earth cult there (unless there was, if not the whiff of rebellion, at least non-co-operation with the empire). 

If they travelled, Minlinster and Barntar would be an options, but not a good fit for their personality.

I'd imagine something more martial, but I don't think the Nandan route of access would be a good fit.

Pavis would be good, but the cult doesn't travel.

Flintnail? Quest to Greatway to find the secrets of smithying? Maybe, but Flintnail always felts a bit like DnD to me.

I wonder how literal being reborn an elf is for joining High King Elf... That sounds a bit drastic! For me the elven initiate literally dies, and feeds the growth of the new elf. Though I might be misremembering that...

Verhil, who's the Earth Lord, worshipped in Saird, Son/Husband of Balurga, might be the closest fit.

One current idea is to have a season finale of a trip to Snakepipe Hollow Find Baroshi, and "I've come to take you home... to Balazar".  And set up a minor cult. That should be enough to impress Starnia.  Or have a hidden earth temple lost in the in the mountains or elder wilds, blasted, sealed and lost for some transgression against the EWF, probably rebellion, with an earth demi god loosely modelled on Baroshi.  

So any ideas welcome, please, since I'm coming up with a blank for martial(ish) earth cults. But I guess that's the point of growth/fertility as opposed to death. And for so many reasons, this thread would make a terrific campaign arc, so many things fall in place.

 

[Stormwalker]

Depends on how you interpret "Earth cultist" - Lay member or initiate? Given the animist culture of the Votanki would you be happy with something like the PC finding an Earth-based spirit cult (via a local shaman) and worshipping that?  Just design it fulfil your needs - it doesn't have to be a major Earth cult - Spirit Cults are great for that sort of thing.  I do like the idea of heading back down into Snake-Pipe Hollow for Baroshi though...

(Also, not that I would go there due to the lack of temples, but another Death-based Earth cult is Maran Gor - you can at least initiate to her without doing anything more drastic!)

[jajagappa]

43 minutes ago, Stephen L said:

So any ideas welcome, please, since I'm coming up with a blank for martial(ish) earth cults. But I guess that's the point of growth/fertility as opposed to death. And for so many reasons, this thread would make a terrific campaign arc, so many things fall in place.

The most obvious in my mind for what you want is the wild counterpart of Mralata: the Wild Boar (before it got befouled by Tusk Riders). If I recall correctly, in Maniria this is Entru or Mralot. For Balazarings, easiest to treat as a Spirit Cult. 

46 minutes ago, Stephen L said:

Verhil, who's the Earth Lord, worshipped in Saird, Son/Husband of Balurga, might be the closest fit.

Verhil is the Husband-Son-Lover of the Earth, a version of the Year-Husband who is then sacrificed in blood rites and reborn. The best places to look for him are either the Plain of Stones (the ghost-haunted and stone-filled land where the Queendom of Balurga once ruled) or the Earth Hill/Temple in Hortugarth.

[Stephen L]

1 hour ago, jajagappa said:

the wild counterpart of Mralata: the Wild Boar (before it got befouled by Tusk Riders). If I recall correctly, in Maniria this is Entru or Mralot

That is an excellent idea - it would then tie in to Found child much like Odayla and Yinkin does, but tick the earth box.  And I could flesh out the worship of Mralata in the citadels, as I imagine that you could treat that as an associate cult...

I can feel the inklings of a Heroquest adventure coming on - unleashing the long lost wild boar...

Thanks, that's splendid.

[Stephen L]

And if anyone like pictures for their campaign, this is one I found that does very nicely for Starnia (well at least for me)

Kassandra_Camera-3.jpg (1080×1350)

[soltakss]

Barntar is possible, although he has no sway in Balazar.

Aurelion is another, but he is normally worshipped in faraway Caladraland.

Men can belong to Ernalda, at least at Initiate level. 

 

 

[Jeff]

The Balazarings have a pretty simple indigenous pantheon - Balazar, Brother Dog, Foundchild, Hearth Mother, and Votank. Shamanism is common so other spirits can be contacted and worshiped. Yelmalio is the patron god of the citadels, and there are small Lightbringers and Seven Mothers cults at Trilus and Elkoi. Poor Starnia, that geas seems to be one forbidding love!

But wait - perhaps there is an earth spirit a shaman might contact and we could start a spirit cult of? Or a dryad that we could befriend and worship?

Or we could go further - into the Lunar Provinces there are numerous Earth cults. Ernalda and Maran Gor are both options (men can be initiates of either). Pelora/Oria is an option as well. One might be a Deezola initiate. And the geas might simply require that the object of her love must be a lay member of the Earth. 

[PaulB]

I don't have the Earth Goddesses book, but isn't Flamal male and Part of the Earth pantheon ?

[Squaredeal Sten]

On 12/8/2024 at 2:45 PM, PaulB said:

I don't have the Earth Goddesses book, but isn't Flamal male and Part of the Earth pantheon ?

Yes.  Page 84.     "Not a major cult."   Non-elfs are likely to only worship Flamal indirectly, that is through Flamal's daughter earth goddesses. 
Worshiped in all "strong" Elf forests, an ambiguous phrase.   He's lucky that there are plenty of elfs in Balazar. All non chaotic beings are eligible, but if they have no ties to the plant rune they need 50% Plant Lore, and a favorable POWx5 roll.

So I can see your hunter needing to somehow enter an elf forest, convince the elfs that he is a friend and not to be killed or ejected, then go to (find) a Flamal temple, join as a lay person, then after some time apply for initiate.

To initiate, remember standard requirenmtns ar in RQG page 274.  One of them is having a rune in common with the god at at least 50%.  Flamal's runes are double plant and fertility.  So how is your hunter's Fertility rune?

Priesthood is basically only open to elfs, but your lovestruck hunter doesn't need that.

I can imagine the elfs setting him on a quest to prove his friendliness and get permission to enter the forest, then another to be accepted as an initiate. 

 

Edited December 10, 2024 by Squaredeal Sten
Spelling / typing

[mfbrandi]

10 hours ago, Squaredeal Sten said:

I can imagine the elfs setting him on a quest to … be accepted as an initiate.

In which case, skip the rolls which abstract the test of the candidate’s suitability, as the test has been played out in concrete form, right?

[Squaredeal Sten]

16 hours ago, mfbrandi said:

In which case, skip the rolls which abstract the test of the candidate’s suitability, as the test has been played out in concrete form, right?

Yes, that seems reasonable.  A lot of people do that.

[Rodney Dangerduck]

On 12/8/2024 at 6:13 AM, Stephen L said:

Given her Geas of only love Earth cultists

In Cults of Prax a Yelmalio Rune Lord was further restricted to only marrying an earth cult priestess.  Not sure if this still applies.  I'd say your smitten PC should strike soon before the Solar Cults book is published.  🙂

 

Starnia is a great, well written NPC.  One of my PCs, also a Light Son, had a little "thing" for her too, but, knowing the cult restrictions, nothing came of it.

Edited December 10, 2024 by Rodney Dangerduck

[Darius West]

Mralota.  The Pig Mother.  

[RHW]

Time to reassemble Genert!

Or if you're looking for a martial Earth God suitable for an adventurer that's not, you know, dead, maybe Turos might also be a good option. I'm 99% sure he's an Earth God. Darsen isn't THAT far. Just across the Empire. Easy trip. Take in the sights!

[mfbrandi]

41 minutes ago, RHW said:

Time to reassemble Genert!

I love this, but I fear that Gloranthan orthodoxy will have it that disassembled Genert can have no cult and that flat-pack Genert with no diagrams, most of the components MIA, and no Allen key is a tricky proposition.

Still:

• Orthodoxy be damned.
• Maybe a vestigial cult like Nysalor’s is possible right now.
• If the Genert cult flies, next stop Wakboth.

The only good god is a dead god, after all. 😉

[Agentorange]

Are there Snakes in Balazar ? Snakes are associated with earth deities.....

.....so maybe some kind of snake spirit cult ?

[mfbrandi]

1 hour ago, Agentorange said:

Are there Snakes in Balazar?

Probably:

• https://glorantha.fandom.com/wiki/River_Snake_Clan
• https://www.backtobalazar.com/animals-of-the-elder-wilds/
• https://www.backtobalazar.com/clan-leaders-of-note-in-the-elder-wilds/

[Agentorange]

20 minutes ago, mfbrandi said:

Probably:

• https://glorantha.fandom.com/wiki/River_Snake_Clan
• https://www.backtobalazar.com/animals-of-the-elder-wilds/
• https://www.backtobalazar.com/clan-leaders-of-note-in-the-elder-wilds/

I must get my copy of Griffin Mountain out and have a re read.

[Joerg]

18 hours ago, RHW said:

Time to reassemble Genert!

Why go the full Genert when Gerendetho is available north of the Elf Sea?

[mfbrandi]

5 hours ago, Joerg said:

Why go the full Genert when Gerendetho is available north of the Elf Sea?

Because not an cult? ( in latest Prosopædia.)

Yes, Lodrilalikes have something to do with the earth — but maybe not enough to get around the geas. I appreciate that the ground is ever shifting under us.