[Glorantha] Orlanthi in Ralios

Jeff Richard:

>Given that the Ralians were largely hsunchen in the Darkness, most
>of these [initiation] rites are probably hsunchen in origin.

Even making allowances for the anachronistic usage of Hsunchen (Hykimi would have been better to use), I have to disagree here. Ralios is simply too big to be a land just for beast-worshippers. Given that Storm worshippers and Malkioni were influential in Fronela during the Gods War, it's too much of a stretch to suggest that such influences were largely absent from Ralios.

IMO the main cultural influence during the Gods War were the Chomali, a submarine civilization that spanned the sea of that name. They later became split into two by the Mostali raising of the Nidan Mountains into the (northern) Janubians and the (southern) Nralari. The Janubian sea later became a river while the Nralari became lesser lakes such as the Felsler and the Helby.

Olde notes have the inhabitants of the Nralar lake as being Naiades but I think it more likely in light of the modern inhabitants there, that the Nralari were Blue People, related to the Waertagi and thus the Ralian lowlanders claim descent from the Land of Logic (as well as the Galanini).

As for native storm worship, I see two possible sources:

The lowlanders could have accepted storm gods in the aftermath of the Flood when the Storm Gods were beating back the waters. Orlanth (under whatever name - I suspect it may have been Aerlit) would have been known to them then but Vadrus (in light of the fraticidal politics of Safelster) may have been equally popular.

The second prong of storm worship is probably the Vustrians, a branch of the Galanini that took to the highlands. As the Galanini pony-riders and the Felster lake people gradually coalesed into one people after the Dawn, the Vustrians took upon traditions from Dragon Pass, Talastar and Dorastor to further distinguish themselves from the hated lowlanders.

So to sum up, the lowlanders worship a God Learned version of Orlanth that they believe dates back to the Storm Age while the highlanders worship a "Heortling" version that they believe has a similar ancient pedigree.

>Contrary to well-established fan
>tradition (which I helped promote), I strongly doubt that there is
>a "Humath" cult in Ralios that has replaced "Humakt". I expect the
>Ralians worship Humakt.

I suspect any cult of the Stormy Humakt is a relic of the primal Umath cult. Rather than it being a subcult of Humakt as per Storm Tribe (as Jeff later suggests), it think it more probable that it was a storm cult with two storm related affinities (from Umath) and one sword affinity (from Hu). The cult would now be extinct in the lowlands due to the God Learners but there would be some temple in the highlands.

In any case, the modern cult of Humakt in Ralios is not going to be the same as the Heortling cult but somewhat different like the Carmanian cult.

--Peter Metcalfe Received on Sat 08 Jul 2006 - 08:28:58 EEST