Gods and Goddesses of Glorantha

[David Scott]

15 hours ago, jajagappa said:

Yes, Truesword.

This is correct, and it's more a bit more refined:

Quote

The True (Weapon) spell provided by Yanafal Tarnils only works on curved slashing weapons such as the kopis, rhomphaia, sickle, and the sickle-sword.

Only Seven Mothers chief and high priests get access to this form of True (weapon) via the Yanafal subcult.

Edited October 19, 2021 by David Scott

[Runeblogger]

3 hours ago, David Scott said:

Only Seven Mothers chief and high priests get access to this form of True (weapon) via the Yanafal subcult.

OK. Does it make sense then for a Seven Mothers Runelord to be fully initiated into Yanafal Tarnils to have access to the Truesword Rune spell?

[David Scott]

15 hours ago, Runeblogger said:

OK. Does it make sense then for a Seven Mothers Runelord to be fully initiated into Yanafal Tarnils to have access to the Truesword Rune spell?

(This is unchanged from Cults of Prax.)

It's a matter of perspective. The Seven Mothers is the provincial church, offering a range of magics from the seven recreators of the Red Goddess. Its Rune Lords aren't as martial:

Quote

As is typical among Lunar cults there is more opportunity for recognition through non-combative skills in this cult than comparative ones such as Humakt or Yelmalio.

While their rune Lords are required to have two weapon skills at 90%, the three others aren't martial The cult relies on other martial cults when needed. I would advise players who want their adventurers to pursue a martial career to leave the Seven Mothers and join Yanafal Tarnils. It is very much a gateway cult to the lunar pantheon.

[French Desperate WindChild]

1 hour ago, David Scott said:

(This is unchanged from Cults of Prax.)

It's a matter of perspective. The Seven Mothers is the provincial church, offering a range of magics from the seven recreators of the Red Goddess. Its Rune Lords aren't as martial:

While their rune Lords are required to have two weapon skills at 90%, the three others aren't martial The cult relies on other martial cults when needed. I would advise players who want their adventurers to pursue a martial career to leave the Seven Mothers and join Yanafal Tarnils. It is very much a gateway cult to the lunar pantheon.

 

What could be the motivation for a gloranthan character (not a player) to be rune lord of the seven mother and not of YT ?

Is there any restriction like "you are a provincial guy --> seven mother, be adopted as a true lunar citizen and you may join the YT cult" ?

Or something like the role of the Seven Mothers rune lord is to protect the provincial cult in all aspects (protect temple and missionary, protect province, protect caravan, ...) when a YT rune lord is dedicated to war against any empire ennemy (I don't care a caravan, I don't care how you convert barbarians to our way, my job is to defend the empire and to conquer new lands) ?

or something else ?

[jajagappa]

1 hour ago, French Desperate WindChild said:

What could be the motivation for a gloranthan character (not a player) to be rune lord of the seven mother and not of YT ?

Freedom.  You're not tied to a Lunar regiment dedicated to war.

 

[Jeff]

29 minutes ago, jajagappa said:

Freedom.  You're not tied to a Lunar regiment dedicated to war.

 

Also Authority. The Seven Mothers temples play key roles in the administration of Lunar Satraps and Provinces, while the YT cult is tied to its regiment.

[French Desperate WindChild]

2 hours ago, jajagappa said:

You're not tied to a Lunar regiment dedicated to war.

that's a point I didn't notice !

That means that the difference between Humakti and YT is bigger than I believed. Humakti can be not tied to a regiment, right ?

[jajagappa]

4 hours ago, French Desperate WindChild said:

That means that the difference between Humakti and YT is bigger than I believed. Humakti can be not tied to a regiment, right ?

Humakti still could be tied to a regiment, but don't have to be.  They only sever relationships when joining the cult.  After joining, they can take new oaths/loyalties which they are Honor-bound to acknowledge until such oaths are fulfilled (and that could be to a regiment).

[Rodney Dangerduck]

Everybody routinely ignores drawbacks or restrictions on other cults.  Because of MGF.  Why enforce them for YT?

Edited October 20, 2021 by Rodney Dangerduck
left out a word!

[French Desperate WindChild]

On 10/20/2021 at 3:29 PM, Rodney Dangerduck said:

Everybody routinely drawbacks or restrictions on other cults.  Because of MGF.  Why enforce them for YT?

there are two things :

- what is the "canon" background

- what do a GM+players need to change to have a MGF background. And this part is very important.

(exaggeration) Playing a voria dwarf cultist with a 2h sword, with INT 56 and able to use berserker three times a day may be fun for some people, no issue, but I will not have fun with that, personaly, in glorantha at least.

My own taste is to play a character with its own limitations (cult, passion, runes, ...) and if there are some difficulties for me (the player), try to imagine how to "transform" the character by the story to have a more confortable character to play, not by ignoring some background point.

And if a cult / passion / rune / ... implies difficulties I don't want to play, well I don't play a character with this cult / passion / rune / ...

there are plenty of possibilities in the settings, a large part makes my game fun, without any change.

Edited November 17, 2021 by Rick Meints
spaces

[simonh]

20 hours ago, Rodney Dangerduck said:

Everybody routinely ignores drawbacks or restrictions on other cults.  Because of MGF.  Why enforce them for YT?

I'm sure there are workarounds. An officer could be on secondment to a non-YT temple as an adviser, acting as an aide to a regional administrator, working as liaison with local allies, or even on leave or a sabbatical. Scions of a noble house might have an essentially honorary or ceremonial role in the regiment. All sorts of options. However the cult itself I believe is a regimental institution, so that link is really important. 

[Alex]

On 10/20/2021 at 9:46 PM, French Desperate WindChild said:

there are two things :

- what is the "canon" background

- what do a GM+players need to change to have a MGF background. And this part is very important.

I think this is an interesting and useful way of framing it.  If there were non-regimental initiates of YT, that'd imply either...

• As Simon suggests, they might be "attached" to regimental temples, but not serving members;
• Or they might be members of some non-regimental temple, essentially implying a locally subtly different form of the cult.

I'm sure either is perfectly possible without Advanced Godlearnerism or other such tinkering with the cosmology, but are they socially/cultically likely?  If there were such a temple, where might it be, and what would in look like?  Fairly clearly there's none in canon or canon-adjacent Old Sartar.  There's the Temple to Yanafal of the Seven Mothers in Aldachur, but that's likely to be more magical similar (if not identical) to the standard 7M cult.  Might there be a non-reg YT temple in the Provinces?  I suspect they're going to the 7M-flavoured too.  In the Heartlands -- say Yuthuppa, or somewhere in Carmania?  And if so, what sort of people are said cultists?  I don't see the Lunars as being wild about random YT cultists roaming the land staging their own version of the famous Humakti Ambush.

[neyrick]

Hi everyone,

I just started playing Runequest and fell in love with the personality and the "fluidity" of Heler and their cult, and my GM allowed me to use it as a starting cult for our campaign, but I'm desperately looking for up to date "technical" information (aka starting skills and starting spells). Could anyone who got the preview book please look it up ? I checked Engizi in the core book first, but the skills and spells are way too tightly related to boats and swimming when the Heler cult seems to revolve much more around rain or crops (and the limitations due to her betrayal of the Sea Tribe).

 

[Scotty]

5 minutes ago, neyrick said:

I just started playing Runequest and fell in love with the personality and the "fluidity" of Heler and their cult, and my GM allowed me to use it as a starting cult for our campaign, but I'm desperately looking for up to date "technical" information (aka starting skills and starting spells).

• Starting Skills: Cult Lore (Heler) +15% Worship (Heler) +20% Meditate +5% First Aid +15% Spear +10% Swim +20%
• Cult Spirit Magic: Coordination (2 pts.), Extinguish (var.), Heal (var.), Mobility (1 pt.), and Protection (var.).
• Forbidden Spirit Magic Spells: Initiates are forbidden from possessing Firearrow, Fireblade, or Ignite.
• Favored Passions: Devotion (Heler), Honor, Loyalty (temple), Loyalty (leader).
• Rune magic: All common, plus Flood, Flight, and Rain.

[hipsterinspace]

On 11/17/2021 at 5:25 AM, Scotty said:

Starting Skills: Cult Lore (Heler) +15% Worship (Heler) +20% Meditate +5% First Aid +15% Spear +10% Swim +20%

I'm honestly surprised to see Swim here. Given the centrality of dance to Heler's cult in previous editions, I'd have thought that would be included in the starting skills instead. I'm curious about the rationale, especially given Heler's role as the deity of water in the middle air as opposed to a river or sea god.

[Scotty]

7 hours ago, hipsterinspace said:

Swim

 Heler is one of the great Water Gods and is associated with that Rune. He is the son of  son of Sramake the Primal Ocean, and much of his mythology is that of a water god. Swim Is important for the followers of a Water god. 

7 hours ago, hipsterinspace said:

dance

Dance is a cultural skill, see RQG, page 60, everyone dances at rituals.

In the last write up for the Sartar Companion (2010) There are just two mentions of Heler dancing, one being rain dances. That's covered by the Worship (Heler) skill, which can of course be augmented by dance.

If a player wants to swap out swim for dance for their adventurer, I'd let them.

[Byll]

I would think disguise could be a cult skill for Heler, and I'd put sling or dodge ahead of spear. I was contemplating trying to generate a Heler entertainer NPC the other day

[AndrewTBP]

On 1/7/2022 at 10:53 AM, Byll said:

I'd put sling or dodge ahead of spear.

Why would a great god of Water be favouring a Darkness weapon? 😉

[Orlanthatemyhamster]

On 10/20/2021 at 10:26 AM, David Scott said:

It's a matter of perspective. The Seven Mothers is the provincial church, offering a range of magics from the seven recreators of the Red Goddess. Its Rune Lords aren't as martial:u

Rune Lords are required to have two weapon skills at 90%

That seems pretty martial, similar requirements to Orlanth and Babs and more than Storm Bull! 

Edited January 28, 2022 by Orlanthatemyhamster

[Orlanthatemyhamster]

Could we have an update to the contents of the book, pretty please? 

It's a lot of pages to go through to get a better idea of the list of contents than the 3 year oldish initial post? 

Not complaining, just want more info. 🙂

[Scorus]

Spear, a fire weapon, instead of Trident?!

[hipsterinspace]

Heler invaded the sky with Lorion, so having the spear skill makes some amount of sense.

[Orlanthatemyhamster]

3 hours ago, hipsterinspace said:

Heler invaded the sky with Lorion, so having the spear skill makes some amount of sense.

Clouds are in the Air and that's where rain falls from. Heler isn't a martial deity and even needs rescuing. 

Is there a reference for him invading the Sky, please? 

[metcalph]

30 minutes ago, Orlanthatemyhamster said:

Is there a reference for him invading the Sky, please? 

Book of Heortling Mythology p64

[Orlanthatemyhamster]

Ta. 

 

Still seems odd though.