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The Cult of Belintar


Richard S.

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How would Belintar's cult before his death (I assume he has one) work in game? From various conversations I've picked up that there's a "Book of Belintar", which I guess is probably a grimoire with spells relating to the Holy Country and would be the main source of magic for his worshippers (like with Pavis), but I also know that Belintar is called the Master of Luck and Death, which to me says that he has rune affinities with luck and death. I'm confused as to how those affinities would work and what powers worshippers would have, as I don't see how they are related to any of his pre-apotheosis actions (maybe granting "good luck" and "bad luck"?).

Overall, I think that his cult would probably be very much like Pavis', just on a larger scale.

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IMO the cult of Belintar would offer very little in personal magics for the follower, apart from insights in the Otherworld Side of the Holy Country of Belintar. I would treat that as a Grimoire in HQ, with a body of spells similar to Pavis, yes.

There might be some specific magic for functionaries of the Holy Country.

But, more importantly, the Book of Belintar is a handbook for Heroquesting, a thorough exploration of the Kethaelan Other Side, and pathways for participants of the Tournament of the Masters of Luck and Death. Of course, it is hard to get your hands on a somewhat complete edition of the book, even though lesser editions have seen relatively wide spread.

The runes Mastery, Luck and Death might very well be common HeroQuest awards that this book may guide you towards.

Edited by Joerg
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Telling how it is excessive verbis

 

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10 hours ago, Richard S. said:

which to me says that he has rune affinities with luck and death.

Have you looked at the Prince of Sartar comic, Belintar features in

http://www.princeofsartar.com/comic/29-the-city-of-wonders/

You can see his soul. All the elements including the Moon, Mastery, in

http://www.princeofsartar.com/comic/30-sideshows/

you can even see the change rune chained to his soul.

Page 238 depicts the ascension of Belintar. The sixths of the land clearly feed him magically.

I think the Tournament is the Luck and Death part not the result. Belintar is the vessel held magically by the sixths, the tournament fills the vessel. I don't think there is a cult of Belintar, if you live in one of the sixths you are an unwitting participant in his magical web.

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5 hours ago, David Scott said:

Page 238 depicts the ascension of Belintar. The sixths of the land clearly feed him magically.

I think the Tournament is the Luck and Death part not the result. Belintar is the vessel held magically by the sixths, the tournament fills the vessel. I don't think there is a cult of Belintar, if you live in one of the sixths you are an unwitting participant in his magical web.

I agree about being an unwitting participant if you just live in the Holy Country and participate in the mainstream cult activities. However, there used to be people who dedicated themselves to the service of the Godking, and these people would have invested more, magically, and may have received some magic according to their function inside the Godking's infrastructure.

Calling up the Raibow Bridge to the City of Wonders may have been such a boon for dedicated worshippers, unless those bridges are meant to be permanent installations (which I sort of doubt).

 

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1. IMG it's a lot like the "Dragonkill" in that "Luck and Death" aren't forces you wield within the MOLAD environment but external challenges you subordinate through your relationship to the archetypal structures that drive and unify the Sixths: the "mini-monomyth" that makes the Holy Country "Holy." The Master is beyond luck and beyond death, thus eligible for embodying the cult founder who himself embodies all Six.

2. Study of the Book may grant insight into how to combine multiple elemental affiliations within your person as well as open heroquest paths that would otherwise be closed. There are indications that he left the Book deliberately as a trap door if the MOLAD was interfered with, but the way is likely to be extremely hard,"hailing the harshax" notwithstanding. Prince of Sartar doesn't exactly leave him sitting in a position of confidence.

3. Unless you live in the City of Wonders I think most people in the Holy Country participated through their particular Sixth and only in rare and inscrutable circumstances via MOLAD. Finding your way to the City of Wonders and a place within it may be congruent with "worshipping Belintar directly," although those people seem to be big weirdos so who knows. I imagine most of them have disappeared and the rest are somewhere between sad and lazy.

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IMG visiting the City of Wonders wasn't the big equivalent of the Black Spear Hunt, but a fairly regular occurrance for people trafficking across the Mirrorsea Bay. There was the Fish Road, there were ships crossing the bay, and there were the bridges. While life on the island may have been a sometimes surreal experience, there were temporary inhabitants. I have a Pelaskite character who in his backstory spent a bit over a year on the island as a toddler, playing with Ludoch children swimming through the air and other surreal stuff in the fisherman's quarter. (This happened during the preparations for Dormal's big voyage to the West.)

There are bound to have been other big projects which saw folk invited to the city, living there for a time, then returning to their task outside.

This has a bit of the foretaste of heaven that is said to have been prepared by the Hashishimi leaders at Alamut - a glimpse of a paradisical existance that could be granted by the Godking to faithful followers.

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7 hours ago, scott-martin said:

"Luck and Death" aren't forces you wield within the MOLAD environment but external challenges

If you happen to be one of the 'fortunate' ones chosen for the Tournament, you had better hope you have lots of Luck to be either the One who becomes Belintar's mortal body or one of the very few who escape, otherwise you get Death.  As Scott noted, it's not what you wield but whether/how you survive.

7 hours ago, scott-martin said:

Finding your way to the City of Wonders and a place within it may be congruent with "worshipping Belintar directly,"

I agree with Joerg on this: it's a fantastical place to go to, and there are some folk who do (merchants travelling the Fish Roads, sages bringing the latest knowledge to the Final Information Library, etc.).  More likely, 'worshipping' Belintar directly means you have been noticed in some capacity and selected to stay on at the City of Wonders.  But most worship is indirect and channeled through the Governors.

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