Glorantha is, above all, a world where Gods are everywhere. In this brief write up to the commonest cults, I will give a very brief precis of:
God Name
Runes
Cultures Found
Description
Brief Summary
High Holy Days (when it might be relevant)
Argan Argar
Runes: Darkness, Harmony
Cultures: Troll, Human cultures in friendly contact with Trolls
God of Surface Darkness
Argan Argar is a son of Night, and was a leader among the trolls during their stay on the Surface World. Argan Argar’s cult acts as a mediator between trolls and humans.
Argan Argar’s High Holy Days are Waterday and Clayday of Harmony week of Dark Season
Babeester Gor
Runes: Death, Earth
Cultures: Orlanthi, Praxian, Esrolia
Babeester Gor is the Avenging Daughter of the Earth Mother.
Her axe-wielding warrior women are the sacred guardians of the temples of Ernalda (and other earth goddesses). They defend temples and hunt down kinslayers, oathbreakers, and other vile criminals.
Babeester Gor’s High Holy Day is Freezeday of Death week of Earth Season. Her other important holy day is Wildday of Disorder week of Dark Season.
Chalana Arroy
Runes: Harmony, Fertility, Harmony
Cultures: All (Rare amongst Trolls, where Xiola Umbar is preferred)
The Healer
This merciful goddess is both a Lightbringer and a member of Yelm’s household- thus bridging a major theological rift. She knows how to heal all diseases and wounds, and even healed the sun and the world after the Great Darkness. Her worship is widespread, and she is even more popular during times of plague or famine. Most cultures and peoples have strong taboos against attacking Chalana Arroy’s healers.
Wildday of each Fertility week is a seasonal holy day. The High Holy Day is a week-long festival running throughout the second week of Sacred Time.
Daka Fal
Runes: Man, Spirit, Man
Cultures: All, commoner in less civilised cultures.
Judge of the Dead (Shamanic Ancestor Cult)
The cult of Daka Fal is an integral link to the cosmic structure. It supports the reality of human mortality by worshipping the Judge of the Dead, and by drawing upon the dead for strength to survive in life. At the same time, the cult provides the basic barriers to help protect weak humans from mighty powers. When worship services are held, the spirits of the friendly dead invisibly participate. Their presence enables even small families to maintain a shrine or minor temple to their ancestors.
The ancestor worshipers of Daka Fal scrupulously observe the Sacred Time as their High Holy Days. Seasonal holy days are set by tradition for each family (for example the anniversary of the death of an honoured ancestor etc).
Eiritha
Runes: Fertility, Beast
Cultures: Orlanthi, Praxian (default womens cult for Prax).
Mother of Herds
The daughter of Ernalda and the Father of Beasts, Eiritha is the mother of all cattle, including the herd beasts of Prax (or as the Praxians would say, the Herd Beasts, oh… and cattle I suppose). Indeed, her favorite place was Prax, where she lived with her daughters, each the mother of a species of herd beast. When the mighty Storm Bull came to Prax, Eiritha gave up her old lovers and married the god.
Eiritha’s High Holy Day is Clayday of Fertility week of Earth Season. Additionally, the Clayday of Fertility Week of each season is a seasonal holy day.
Ernalda
Runes: Fertility, Earth, Earth, Harmony
Cultures: All
Earth Mother and Queen
Ernalda is the bountiful mother of life and is the source of all sustenance. Plants and animals, both wild and domestic, are her children. She is fruitful and generous. She is the goddess of women, sex, community, and all the things that live on and in the Earth (Snakes are amongst her sacred beasts). At the higher levels it is limited to women.
Every Clayday is a minor holy day for Ernalda. Clayday of Fertility week is always a seasonal holy day, with the Clayday of Fertility week in Earth Season being the High Holy Day. Other seasonal holy days are Waterday of Harmony week in Sea Season and Freezeday of Illusion week in Dark Season.
Eurmal
Runes: Disorder, Illusion, Mobility
Cultures: All
The Trickster
Eurmal goes by many names and many shapes. He is a liar, a shapeshifter, a joker, a murderer, an innocent victim, a ravenous glutton, usually insatiably selfish but occasionally touchingly generous. He is a paradox and a mystery, too shallow to be real, and yet he is one of the Seven Lightbringers. His worshippers are ill-mannered, gluttonous, and selfish
in every way. They are vagabonds, drunkards, madmen, outcasts, and thieves. The Eurmal cult is an illusion. It does not exist in any formalised sense. Each Eurmal shrine is a separate subcult, operating completely independently. Trickster spirits can be summoned and worshipped by shamans for spirit cults. Most tribes only know how to summon one or two types of trickster spirit (often very culturally dependant).
Eurmal’s holy days are set by the whim of the priest of each shrine.
Foundchild
Runes: Death, harmony
Hunting God
Foundchild was first discovered by Helpwoman during the Great Darkness. Upon reaching adulthood, he taught his family the use of Death as a tool of Life. He also taught the songs to send slain beasts’ spirits back to their ancestors
Humakt
Death, Truth, Death
God of Death and War
Cultures: Not Lunar
Humakt is the god of death and war. He is the unyielding fate of all living creatures, both mortal and divine. To his followers, Humakt is a frightening but necessary agent of eternal change who can be used in a courageous and noble way to preserve the world. To others he is the merciless doom of all mortals. His temples sometimes serve as mercenary hiring halls. He is primarily worshipped by professional warriors and soldiers.
The High Holy Day for Humakt is Windsday of Death week in Storm Season. This commemorates the slaying of Grandfather Mortal (where the Shaker Temple now stands). There are seasonal holy days each Death week of each season on the day corresponding to the season: Waterday of Death week in Sea Season; Fireday of Death week in Fire Season; Clayday of Death week in Earth Season, and Freezeday of Death week in Dark Season. This correspondence probably shows the applicability of Death to all.
Issaries
Mobility, Harmony
Normally not Lunar (see Seven Mothers)
God of Communication and Trade
Issaries is the god of communication, roads, and trade, and is one of the Seven Lightbringers. His worshippers are merchants, traders, caravaners, travellers, and heralds. The cult’s language, Tradetalk, was spread by the God Learners and is spoken as a second language throughout much of Glorantha. Issaries is often worshipped apart from the rest of the Orlanthi pantheon and his cult is located throughout most of the civilised world.
The High Holy Days of the cult are the Wildday of each week in Sacred Time. Seasonal holy days are the Wildday of Movement week each season. Each Wildday is a holy day and a market day- where the God is appreciated by others who are not his worshippers!
Lhankor Mhy
Truth, Stasis
Normally not Lunar. Rare in Prax
Lord of Knowledge
Lhankor Mhy is the Lord of Knowledge. He is one of the Lightbringers, and during that epic quest, he inherited, found, fought for, and stole many pieces of the old powers. Even so, his knowledge is not complete, and he and his cult ever thirst for more. His Sages (as priests of the cult are called) provide information to all that pay for it. They constantly seek after new information.
The Godday of every Truth week is a seasonal holy day. The Goddays of the Sacred Time serve as the High Holy Days of the cult.
Maran Gor
Death, Earth, Disorder
All, Rare in Lunar
The Earthshaker
Maran Gor is the goddess of the Earthquake. She represents the destructive side of the Earth Mother. She is worshipped by those who seek the carnage and destruction that is her
most precious gift. In the grim regions where she alone is worshipped, Maran Gor’s temples come in all sizes, with the largest the Shaker Temple in Tarsh. Commonly, her cult consists only of shrines within the temples of her sister goddesses, for whilst many wish to appease the Earthshaker, few love her.
Odayla
Air, Beast
Orlanthi
The Sky Bear
Odayla is the son of Orlanth and the Lady of the Wilds. He is best known for his hunt of the great Sky Bear. One slew the other and took his skin to wear, fooling the ignorant. Initiates know the truth of course: that there were never two at all, but that the hunter and the hunted are always part of one being.
His companion is always a shadowcat, and Odayla’s hunters are forbidden to slay these animals except in extreme need. Odayla is often worshiped as a subcult of the Orlanth cult.
Orlanth
Mobility, Air, Air, Mastery/Kingship
Cultures: Orlanthi (Duh). Esrolia. Prax (rarely)
Storm God, Chieftain, Warrior, also God of Farmers (amongst others) Orlanth is the King of the Gods, Master of Storms, Death Wielder, and Bringer of Light. He is one of the Seven Lightbringers, and is the chief of those deities. His worship is widespread throughout much of Glorantha. He made the world what it is with his strength, and his virtues keep it that way. By right of his deeds Orlanth claims overlordship of the universe. He is the god of warriors, farmers, and rulers.
Windsday of Movement week in Storm Season is the High Holy Day. Each season, the Windsday of Movement week is a seasonal holy day, as are the Windsdays of Sacred Time.
Additionally, Orlanth has a “floating” seasonal holy day each season. These holy days are determined by the priests of the cult and not fixed by calendar.
The Seven Mothers
Death, Moon, Fertility
Cultures: Lunar/Lunar Sympathisers
Mothers of the Red Goddess
The Seven Mothers is the guardian cult of the Lunar Empire’s borderlands. It is the official state organ, first responsible for keeping foes of the Empire out and secondly for letting friends of the Empire in. For the first role, the cult has a warrior subcult, terrible in its fury. In the second role, it has a teacher subcult whose mission is to educate those wanting
to meet the Red Goddess. The Seven Mothers is a proselytizing cult. Its members include both missionaries and converts
Storm Bull
Death, Air, Beast
Cultures: Prax, Orlanthi (rarer)
The Chaos Killer
The Storm Bull is the god of berserks. He is the Desert Wind, the raw power of righteous purifying rage. The primary purpose of the Storm Bull is to prevent the rise of the Devil, or any associated form of Chaos. Storm Bull is beloved by the Praxians and tolerated even in "civilised" Orlanthi lands because he is so skilled against the forces of Chaos. Where Chaos is active, Storm Bull is a popular cult.
Each season has a holy day during Stasis week. The day varies according to the season. In Sea Season it is on Freezeday; in Fire Season on Waterday; in Earth Season on Clayday; in Dark Season on Windsday; and in Storm Season on Fireday. The High Holy Day for the year is
Storm Season, Stasis week, Wildday.
Waha the Butcher
Man, Death
Cultures: Prax
Khan of the Animal Nomads
Waha is the god of the Animal Nomads of Prax and the Wastelands. His cult provides the basic lifestyle and survival needs for the tribes of Prax, in commemoration of Waha's original teachings. It carefully explains what each man must do to survive, and determines the social order within the tribe. It is limited to men, and Priests are Shaman, and the Khans of most of the Tribes of Prax.
Yelm
Fertility, Sky, Death
Cultures: Grazelander, Lunar
The Sun Horse
Yelm, called Yu-Kargzant the Sun Horse by the Pure Horse People, is the Sun God who ruled over all during the Golden Age. He was betrayed by Rebel Gods and went to the Underworld, but returned with the Dawn to rule the world and give primacy to the Pure Horse People (note, Yelm gives primacy to whichever culture he is worshipped in as the model of Kingship). It is limited to men.
Yelmalio
Sky, Truth
Cultures: Grazelanders, Orlanthi, Esrolians, Praxians (rare), Lunars, Elves.
The Cold Sun
Yelmalio is the god of the Sun Dome—the shining light of the sky when both the sun and night are absent. He is the predominant sky god worshipped in Dragon Pass, and is also popular among the elves.
Fireday of Truth week in Fire Season is the High Holy Day of Yelmalio. Seasonal holy days are each Fireday of Truth week.
Yinkin
Yinkin
Air, Beast
Cultures: Orlanthi, Rare elsewhere
The Shadowcat God
The god of shadowcats is a half-brother to Orlanth, born of the same mother, Kero Fin. The animal god served as Orlanth’s friend and ally through all his wars, and is now honoured in the storm pantheon for it. Yinkin has a very small cult and is normally worshipped through Orlanth as an associated cult.
Shadowcats are sacred to the Yinkin cult (as they are to the Orlanth and Odayla cults), and members of the cult are forbidden from killing these creatures.