Sample Lunar Cults

Jakaleel, the Lunar shaman

Lunar missionaries have had some success in spreading the cult of Jakaleel the Witch in Balazar, as in many ways it resembles the native cult of Votank. Five Spirit Moons and Jakaleel the Witch are separate practices, but Jakaleel shamen always follow both. The Tiger clan are almost all converted, and followers and votaries can be found in many other clans. A coven of Jakaleel shamen is based at Elder's Rock.

Cult Skills: The Lunar Way, Spirit Walk (Jakaleel), Spirit Binding (Five Spirit Moons), Spirit Binding (Jakaleel the Witch), Speak Lunar, Persistence, Lore (Ancestors), Perception, Meditation, Dance, Craft Mask.

Follower

Followers may see and identify Five Moon or Ancestor spirits within range, and may be taught the Common Magic spells Countermagic, Countermagic Shield, Detect Magic and Glamour.

They may hold one spirit fetish (the Jakaleel cult likes to use human bones decorated with silver and red cords or ribbons).

Votary

Votaries need 30% in five cult skills and can speak with ancestor spirits in their own language and with moon spirits in Lunar. They can hold up ¼ CHA in spirits, but cannot bind spirits themselves.

They may learn the common magics Spirit Bane and Bearing Witness.

They may be part of a group of six bound to a Moon Guardian (see below).

Seer

Seers need 50% in five cult skills, and may bind Moon spirits if they have Spirit Binding (Five Spirit Moons) 60%+, and ancestors if they have Spirit Binding (Jakaleel the Witch) 60%+. Ancestors will be hostile if not themselves Lunar worshippers, but may be converted to Lunarism by a successful Spirit Combat followed by a Lunar Way averaged with Influence roll. This aggressive conversion of ancestors is becoming a major source of disquiet among the Balazarings. They may have a maximum of ½ their CHA in spirits.

Balazaring Seers may also summon and bind Nature spirits of their own totem using their Spirit Binding (Jakaleel the Witch) skill.

Shaman

Needs 75% in five cult skills, one of which must be a Spirit Binding skill, and may summon ¾ of their CHA in spirits. May gain the use of a Moon Guardian Spirit, which is bound collectively to six followers of Jakaleel of rank Votary or above. Shamen can summon Spirits of the Dead using their Spirit Binding (Jakaleel the Witch) skill; the shaman need not be related to these ancestor spirits, and they will always initially be hostile. They may be converted to the Lunar Way as per ancestors but the roll is always at least hard (-20% per intensity of spirit).

Their fetch is a moon spirit and can be seen using Spirit Walk or Second Sight as an unearthly red glow around the shaman.

High Shaman

Needs 90% in five cult skills, including both forms of Spirit Binding taught by Jakaleel and Spirit Walk. Can bind up to CHA in spirits.

High Shamen can also lay the dead permanently to rest, conducting a funeral ceremony such that the person's spirit cannot be cajoled back to earth by anyone but its rightful descendants as an honoured ancestor. This will work on any spirit, even malevolent ghosts and undead if you can get hold of a part of their physical remains.

There is only one High Shaman in Balazar, Marusa the Moon-Woman, who wanders the country trying to convert the locals, and spirit plane trying to convert their ancestors.

Available Spirits

Spirits of the Five Moons Tradition are Full Moon, Half Moon, Hollow Moon, Waxing Moon and Waning Moon, and a shaman may have no more than one of each. Full Moon spirits are of the intellect and mind, Half Moon spirits are combat oriented, Hollow Moon spirits are demented curse spirits that drive people insane, Waning Moon spirits cover fertility, innocence and healing, while Waxing Moon spirits aid hunting, including hunting other spirits.

In addition a shaman may also have a Guardian Moon spirit as part of a group of six worshippers. This is created in a ritual involving a masked dance and spirit quest (Dance of the Empty Mask, Resonance 40% +10% per intensity of spirit). Combine the POW of the six worshippers, and divide by 5 to get the POW of the Guardian Moon, plus 1d6 per intensity of the spirit, combine the INT of all worshippers and divide by 7 to give the INT and combine CHA and divide by 8 to give CHA. It can donate magic points to any of the six people it is bound to, pass messages over any distance, add its POW as a bonus to any Persistence or Common Magic rolls, its INT to Insight and its CHA to Influence. It knows Countermagic at 1/3 its INT and may cast it at a worshippers request. If the mask it was originally summoned with is destroyed it will be banished, and if the worshipper loses the fetish they lose contact with the spirit.

Spirits of the Dead can be used to enhance skills and mental stats, but the best ones are curse spirits, though the shaman releasing them must be very careful that they don't turn on him. Using a Spirit of the Dead will earn the enmity of any of that spirits living descendants.

The shaman's own ancestors may be used as personal Guardian spirits, no more than one at any one time. Shamen may also bind an ancestor into a mask he has made himself, and when he dons that mask he allows that ancestor to possess him, hopefully temporarily.

Order of Jakaleel the Spindle Hag

This is a sorcerous school based on the teachings of the wizard Tetese, who journeyed to the spirit realm of Jakaleel and found other ways of working with the spirits of the dead, and going beyond what Jakaleel achieved to summon Lunar Demons. The Spindle Hag and Witch cults are separate entities, even though they both follow the same Immortal, and it isn't common for a single practitioner to join both. Jakaleel shamen are usually found on the fringes of the Empire and in poor peasant communities, Spindle Hag is more urbanised. Cyriel Endlekar is rumoured to have a Spindle Hag adept on his payroll.

Cult Skills: The Lunar Way, Manipulation (Spindle Hag), Grimoire (Book of Vile Secrets), Read/Write Lunar, Persistence, Insight, Meditation, Perception, Stealth, Lore (Demonology), Dance

Novice

Novices of the Spindle Hag order are usually only required to watch corpses to ensure they do not revive without permission, bless funerals where foul play is suspected, and perhaps cause a little light mayhem themselves, with minor curses and mischief.

They may learn the common magic spells Bandit's Cloak, Bearing Witness, Detect Spirit, Push/Pull and Fate. The only sorcery they may learn is Mystic Vision.

Apprentice

Requires 30% in five cult skills. The Apprentice may learn more common magic, with Darkwall, Demoralise, Disruption, Chill and Boon of Lasting Night. They may also learn more of the Book of Vile Secrets and can have up to INT x ¼ in spells. They must have Mystic Vision, and can learn Resist Spirit, Speak with Ghost, Manifest Ghost, Blind, Silence, Attract Spirit, Banish Spirit

Adept

Must have 50% in five of the cult skills, including Grimoire (Book of Vile Secrets). The Adept may learn up to half their INT in spells, including Bind Ghost, which enables them to take the spirit of a newly dead person and ensure it becomes a ghost. It is bound to a charm made of human bone decorated with silver and red ribbons and may be hidden in a house to ensure its haunting. They may also learn Darkvision, which enables them to see normally in darkness, Animate Darkness, Project Vision, Diminish (STR, CON, INT, POW, CHA) and Protective Ward.

Adepts sometimes find jobs as house exorcists or assassins for noble families where ghosts and spirits have been used as part of Dart Wars.

Mage

Mages of the Spindle Hag need 75% in five skills, including Grimoire (The Book of Vile Secrets) and can learn ¾ of their INT in spells, and get to use the most feared and potent spells of all, Summon (Demon), Command (Demon), Command (Monster) and Tap (Spirit).

Each class of demon has its own summon and command spells, and the size of demon is determined by the Manipulation (Spindle Hag) skill. Demons that are available include Strix, Destixin, Shades and Lunes, but others are possible, even demons serving deities such as Ikadz and Deshkorgos. Since it is not possible to banish a demon, these creatures are not summoned lightly.

Command (Monster) is also a separate spell for each class of creature. The cult knows how to command snakes and spiders of all kinds, wraiths, cave trolls, Voralans (Dark Aldryami), Broo and possibly some other chaos creatures as well.

Tap (Spirit) can only be used against disembodied spirits, but can absorb POW and CHA with the one spell.

Archmage

There is only one Archmage of the order, the crone Tetese herself, who serves at the court of Takenegi as exorcist and demonist. She has a network of loyal spies, and is trying, unsubtly, to take over the Jakaleel shamen.

Polytheism and the Lunar Way

Over the years the many many books have been published about Glorantha's Lunar Empire and its major feature – it's supposedly unifying universal religion. Since MRQII was set in a period before the rising of the Red Moon nothing was written about it for the MRQII/Legend rules, so here is my take, adapted freely from Issaries' Publications Imperial Lunar Handbook volumes I and II and Champions of the Reaching Moon.

Polytheism and magic

The natural state of the Gloranthan public is polytheism. A spirit worshipper calls on many spirits from his local area and traditions; a theist prays to the farming god when he plants his crops, the gods of the elements and weather when he wants them to grow, the god of war when danger threatens and so on, and even the monotheistic westerners call on multiple saints and guilds.

And all these gods, spirits and orders allow the person to use magic. Trying to combine magic from different pantheons gets difficult however, if the hierarchies controlling them will even allow you to do so. For example an Orlanth cultist might be able to go up to a Yelm temple and drop a coin in the collection plate, but the hierarchy will be deeply suspicious and will want him to repudiate his previous god before letting him in. A Balazaring shaman who binds a Praxian spirit will be seen as being guilty of kidnap and worse and Praxian shamen will pursue him and punish him, and the fate of a Rokari churchman who is found to have learned spells from a heretical Hrestoli Idealist grimoire will be painful to say the least.

And it is even harder to combine types of magic. Adopting the mindset required to command and control spirits makes the subservience to divine will and the logical frame of mind of sorcery harder and vice versa.

There are exceptions of course, there always are. The Lankhor Mhy Temple at Jonstown contains a grimoire of sorcery spells reformulated and blessed for use by their sages, and priests of Orlanth Thunderous have often controlled wind spirits of the Kolat tradition, but on the whole people who try and combine two or more forms of 'higher' magic are limited to mere dabbling.

Game Mechanics:

Each PC has a maximum number of spells based on his highest rank in any religion, which is his Primary Religion. Each spell from a different pantheon counts as 2 spells, each spell from a different style of magic counts as (Rank in primary religion+1) spells.

For example Tazos of Trilus is a Soldier of Tharkantus (Rank 1) with POW 12. He can have a maximum of POWx0.25 = 3 divine spells. He is also a Hawk Warrior of Balazar (Rank 1), but since his Pact skill is 50% and his Spirit Binding only 30%, Tharkantus is his primary Religion.

Tazos binds a Hawk spirit, counting as 2 spells (his rank in Tharkantus+1). He can now only have one divine spell.

If Tazos joined the cult of Orlanth and sacrificed for an Orlanth divine spell this would count as 2 spells, as Orlanth is from a different pantheon to Tharkantus. If he tried to bind a wind spirit from the Kolating spirit tradition it would count as (2x2) = 4 spells, as it is a different pantheon and a different magic type, and he just couldn't do it.

Primary religion can change if the character puts more effort into learning the new cult theology than in increasing his current one; his access to spells will change if he does so and jealous gods and spirits may well withdraw the magic hey have granted him.

The Lunar Religion

The Lunars are the big exception. The Lunar 'pantheon' is bewilderingly broad and diverse and it includes spirit traditions, gods and sorcerous orders. Lunar worshippers are positively encouraged to follow multiple gods and their most powerful mages will deploy a mix of spirits, sorcery and divine magic.

Lunar gods fall into three main categories:

First are the Moon goddesses. Sedenya and her priests demonstrated that she had always been a part of most Pelorian pantheons, and that the diverse and obscure moon goddesses were all in fact one and the same and were all reincarnated in her, the glorious Red Moon. Ulurda, Gerra, Lesilla, Natha and so on are all older moon goddesses whose worship has been updated to take into accont their status as previous incarnations of Sedenya.

Then there are the 'Healed' deities, mostly minor gods or demons from other pantheons who were converted to the Lunar way through heroquests by Sedenya or major Lunar heroes. These include Yara Aranis, Erelia and Verelia, Alanthor, Blaskarth and others. One favourite Lunar tactic is to find a demon from an enemies pantheon, such as Yara Aranis from the Horse Nomads, convert it and deploy it against them as an Imperial ally.

And finally a there are a whole range of Immortals, mortals who have raised themselves to godhood through devotion to the Red Moon. These are motley crew to say the least, including the original Seven Mothers, deified charioteers and accountants and living demigods like Hon Eel and the Emperor Takenegi, who are descended from the Goddess herself. They include the founders of various sorcerous orders such as the Orders of Borovich, Makabeus and the like.

Most people in the Empire worship these gods from time to time, but are not initiates. A worshipper of the Dara Happan pantheon still owes his primary allegiance to Yelm and will possibly be an initiate of one of the gods of his divine court, but will occasionally pray to Sedenya or one of her aspects as well, and will accept the Red Emperor as his legitimate ruler.

Any Lunar initiate of any cult who knows something of The Lunar Way (see below) can learn and use any moon related spell from any other with no penalty. A Sorcerer of the Order of Makabeus will have the skill Grimoire (Tome of Bleak Despair) and a head full of Makabean spells, but can also learn Pact (Irripi Ontor) and use his Divine magic with no penalty, and Jakaleel the Witch's Spirit Binding (Five Spirit Moons) and have a spirit or two handy as well.

Without this skill the Lunar worshipper has the usual penalties for learning spells from other gods of the same pantheon and different magical traditions.

In addition many of the Lunar gods count as being in a local pantheon as well as the Lunar one. The Red Emperor is not just a Lunar deity, he is a Dara Happan one as well, and a dedicated follower of the Emperor can learn the magic of Yelm, Lokarnos or any of the other Solar deities at no penalty.

Game Mechanics:

If you know the Lunar Way to any level, all Lunar spells count as 1 spell against the maximum known, no matter what type and no matter what rank you are in your primary religion.

The Lunar Way

This is a skill that any initiate of one of the specifically Lunar deities can learn as an Advanced skill.

The starting score is POW, but there is a bonus of 1% per 10% Speak Lunar and 1% per 5% in any Lunar spell casting skill such as Grimoire, Pact or Spirit Binding. This skill cannot be increased by improvement rolls, and training is very scarce and limited to high ranking members of the Lunar hierarchy. Gains can also be made through deeds benefiting the Red Moon.

This link between the Lunar Way and the Lunar language is one reason why barbarians sometimes refuse to learn it, to speak the tongue of the Moon really is to become it's servant.

The Lunar Way can be used to substitute for any Lunar magical skill such as Spirit Walk, Theology or Manipulation, a Lunar learning any new moon-related magical skill can start at this level if it exceeds the usual basic %age.

The skill also affects how influenced a character is by Lunar cycles beyond the Glowline. On the day of the full moon he adds his Lunar way skill, or 20%, whichever is higher, to any Lunar magic roll, on half moon days the bonus is half the Lunar Way or 10%, on crescent moon days there is no penalty or bonus and on Dark Moon days the penalty is the skill in The Lunar Way or -20% whichever is greater. Within the Glowline there is never any penalty or bonus as the magic influence of the moon is 'evened out' by the Temples of the Reaching Moon.

The Lunar Way is also used in the rites of the so-called Lunar Illumination or Sevening, a key stage on the way to becoming a Lunar Immortal oneself. Illuminates receive a bonus of +the crit range of their Lunar Way skill to all magic skills if within the Glowline.

Most initiates of Lunar cults will know the Lunar Way as the knowledge is required to become a Lunar Citizen and is always useful in advancing in the hierarchy of these religions.

Dogs in Balazar

Balazarings love their dogs, they regard them as brothers. Every Balzaring camp is awash with scavenging pups, every foraging group has guard dogs, small hunts have dogs for chasing and treeing game and major hunts use large packs to herd antelope and larger game into traps.

They keep several different breeds; small brown furred general purpose hunters are the most common, but big wolfhounds and mastiffs are also kept. Lopers are much prized bloodhounds that will keep following a trail to the ends of the earth if need be, and possibly beyond if they have been blessed by Brother Dog.

The Balazarings have many stories and legends about dogs; Brother Dog's conflicts with Telmor the werewolf are an epic, and all famous and heroic hunters have had a heroic dog at their side. Balazar's own dog, Redfang, struggled all the way back from the apocalyptic Dragonkill War to tell his master's sons of his death, then died at their feet.

Any Balazaring character can learn Train Dog as an advanced skill at POW+CHA. If they roll this skill or under they start the game with one ordinary hunting dog. Otherwise dogs can be bought or traded for at 50L for a hunter, 100L for a mastiff, 250L for a Black Loper and 300L for a Red Mastiff.

                Hunter     Mastiff       Black Loper       Red Mastiff

STR         1d6+3     2d4+2       1d6+4                2d6+2

CON        3d6         3d6            2d6+6                3d6

SIZ           1d3+2    1d3+4        1d4+3                1d4+4

INT           1d3+3    1d3+2        1d3+4                1d3+4

POW       1d6+6    1d6+6        1d6+10              1d6+6

DEX         2d6+6    2d6+3        2d6+6                2d6+6

CHA        1d6         1d6+1        1d6+3                1d6+3

Dogs can have a cultural background and a profession; after all a primitive hunters dog is not going to have the same skills as a noblewoman's lapdog.

All Balazaring dogs are Primitive, giving them +15% in Athletics, Perception, Resilience and Stealth, and +10% in Bite, and learn the advanced skills Survival and Tracking. Hunters and Lopers get an additional +5% Track and Resilience, while Mastiffs and Red Mastiffs get +5% Bite and Brawn.

Hunting dogs get +10% Resilience, +10% Stealth and +10% Track

Guard dogs get +10% Perception, +10% Insight and +10% Evade

Fighting dogs get +10% Bite, +10% Resilience and +10% Brawn

Herding dogs (only used by the White Goat clan) get +10% Perception and Obey Command

The owner can also train his dog up to 100 extra skill points, but no more than 30% in any one skill initially. Almost all learn the Follow Command advanced skill at INT+POW, and many Balazaring dog also learn Spirit Walk, to enable them to detect marauding spirits as well as physical threats.

Dogs gain advancement points and hero points just like humans, but can only use advancement points during downtime if their owner successfully makes one Train Dog roll per point.

A dog has 1 point natural armour.

A Legend Dog Character Sheet can be found HERE

Commanding a Dog

Dogs may learn one command plus one per 2 points of intelligence. Possible commands are Attack, Track, Hide, Come With Me, Silence, Fetch, Run Away, Hold Him, Go Home and Cast Spell.

To get the dog to obey a known command the trainer must roll his Train Dog skill plus the dogs Obey Command skill. If the dog has not been trained in the command the roll is half the owners Train Dog.

A dog which embodies a fetch or other spirit become fully awakened and is treated just like any other NPC follower. Such a dog may even learn human languages (limited to a max of 50% due to physical limitations of the larynx).

Disobedient Dogs

All dogs have their own personality and interesting or annoying quirks. Roll once on the table below.

1-2 Hates cats. Will have +10% to track them and will automatically attack any cat less than 2x their SIZ and may have a go at cats up to 4x SIZ if they make a Persistence roll. This dog is daft enough to take on a Sabre Tooth.

3 Gormless. This is not a clever or obedient dog. Int is reduced by 3 and any Obey Command skill is halved and any skill gains through Improvement are also halved.

4 Aggressive. This dog is a little bastard and will bite anyone who gets near unless specifically told not to. When out hunting it will attack prey when it is supposed to be keeping them at bay or just following them, if it is a guard dog it will go for friends as well as foes. Roll vs Persistence or bark and threaten, then attack. +10% Bite.

5 Greedy. Will steal rations and eat small game rather than fetch it back to its master. If put in a situation where stealing food is an option roll vs Persistence x 2 or the dog will succumb to temptation. +1 SIZ

6 Alert. Gets +POW to Perception and Spirit Walk if it knows the skill. On a Perception roll of 91+ will start barking at nothing and will be hard to stop.

7 Soppy. The opposite of aggressive, this over friendly dog licks people it is supposed to be biting. -10% Bite, -10% Insight, +5% Influence, half obedience roll when being commanded to Attack.

8 Clever. This dog is uncannily smart for an ordinary dog and has +10% Insight. If it is in a situation not covered by a command, roll Insight skill for the dog to come up with its own solution.

9 Squirrels! This dog loves nothing more than to pursue squirrels and other small game. If in a wood there is a 10% chance per hour of the dog picking up a scent and following it, with half normal obedience chances of getting it to stop and come back.

10 Hates... This dog is a smart one, but mean. Can be trained to attack one particular type of intelligent prey or human on sight. Choose one target (Lunars, your tribes worst enemy, worshippers of Issaries, people with red hair, Trolls) and the dog will get +20% Perception to spot them and raise the alarm and +10% Bite attack against them.

11 Top Dog. Gets +1 CHA and will establish itself as leader of any dog pack if it has the highest CHA. If its CHA is equal to or one less than the current top dog it will fight for leadership (winner of such fights gains a CHA point, loser loses one). If its CHA is higher than its masters then half the Obey Command skill as it looks on its supposed boss with lordly disdain.

12 Scavenger. This dog can find food anywhere and will eat all kinds of carrion. +10% Survival, but don't let it breathe on you.

13 Stinky. This dog is exceptionally 'doggy', -1d4x5% Stealth and Influence.

14 Handsome. A dog with fine bearing, sleek fur and if the Balazarings went in for such inane vanities as dog shows would probably win 'Best in Breed', +1d3 CHA

15 Mongrel. A gawky, scruffy mutt that doesn't look like his breed ought to. -1d3 CHA but +1d3 points in other characteristics.

16 Heroic Lineage. This dog's ancestors were well known as skilled hunters or guards. +1d3 POW and +5% to 1d3 skills.

17 Puppy Dog eyes. A dog which knows how to get round its owner even when it knows it deserves a good kick, +10% Influence.

18 Half Wolf. A dog with too much wolf in him is a fine vicious looking beast (+10% Bite, +10% Resilience, +1 STR, +1 CON) but hard to control, halving any obedience rolls and if the Train Dog roll is ever fumbled it will turn on its owner.

19 Wet dog. Has +10% swim and can has +10% tracking to find downed waterfowl, and will even hunt frogs and fish.

20 Two traits as above. If roll 20 again three traits and so on.

Combat

Dogs are not daft, they won't go attacking anything too large and too heavily armoured however loyal they are. They will fight in packs, one dog leaping in to bite then retreating while the disoriented target is attacked from another angle (-5% Evade or parry per dog attacking). Dogs can be taught to Hold, biting and holding on using the Grip combat manoeuvre. They can also use Unarmed Combat to bash a target rather than bite him, though they will only use this on a target no more than 2 times their size.

Magic and Religion

Dogs in Balazar are automatically followers of the Brother Dog spirit, and can advance in this religion independently of their owner. Votaries of Brother Dog can be taught common magic and spirit binding by a human Brother Dog Shaman and can carry dog spirit fetishes. A shaman's own dog will be used to embody Guardian spirits or even fetches, so the dog is pretty much a small-time shaman itself. Dogs can also follow the Black Dog and Two Stone spirits, but in Elkoi the lowland dog-god Jajagappa and Lunar hero-cult of Cwurl Toran are slowly gaining ground as more settlers move in from Holay and beyond.

Dog Equipment

Balazaring dogs usually only have a collar made of braided leather with a bone, wood or stone charm or two, but in Elkoi and nearby bronze studded collars with buckles are bought by chiefs and hunters, and even dog armour (leather harnesses for forebody or the head) as used by the Lunar military. Queen Jocestis of Elkoi even has plumed helmets and chainmail for her dog guards, and a red silk waistcoat for her 'dog vizier', a fat and supercilious looking lapdog that can allegedly cast curses.

Cult of the Cacodemon

Cacodemon

This cult first appeared in Griffin Mountain under RQ2 rules, I am updating it for Legend (and I haven't read it, but it will probably work for RQ6 as well). In my Griffin Mountain G+ game the players have just done for a gang of these creeps, but who knows, after reading this they might be tempted to join them instead.

The Cacodemon was one of the many horrible monsters that appeared in the armies of chaos during the Great Darkness. He was, according to legend, eventually slain by Waha, the great spirit of the Praxian nomads, and can now only return to the mundane plane with the aid of powerful magic wielded by his willing slaves. Each has a an avatar of Cacodemon of his very own, a vessel into which he can pour his corruption, greed and violence, but the beast yearns to be unleashed and act of its own free, mindlessly destructive will.

He is the traditional god of wild ogres, monsters who prey on humans from heir secret camps in the wilds, but many ogres who secretly live within civilised lands also follow him, dreaming of using his gruesome avatars to strike terror into their human neighbours and allowing their avatars corruption to mask heir own.

Follower
Anyone can join, but almost all of his followers are ogres, or humans who will soon become ogres as they consume human flesh as part of his worship. A follower must prove their dedication to Cacodemon by engaging in acts of violence and mayhem at the behest of their priests, and must join in the seasonal feasts of human flesh.

The cult will train its followers in Stealth, Disguise and Deception, and teaches the spell Boon of Lasting Night and Detection Blank.

Human followers will not detect as chaotic to any spell or ability unless they have a chaos feature.

Initiate
To be considered as an initiate a candidate must have Stealth 30%, Disguise 30%, Deception 30% and two other skills at 30%, preferably a weapon skill of some kind.

They must undergo the Heroquest 'Awakening the Avatar', rolling POW+STR x 3% or less. If they fail, an avatar of the Cacodemon of 1d4+1 dice (see below) will appear and attempt to kill him. If he lives, the rest of the cult will hunt him down and finish the job.

They gain a Pact with the Cacodemon and his mark, a severed hand, usually easily concealed. They can be taught any spell or skill heir cult leaders see fit, but Disruption, Befuddle, Goldentongue, Glamour and Mindspeech are favourites.

They must dedicate at least 1 POW to their pact, but no more than 1/4 of their total POW, and must learn as their first Divine spell Summon Cacodemon. They may also learn Blessing, Behold and Shield.

Any Initiate who gains a chaotic feature may transfer it to their avatar, if they manage to summon it - useful if they live hidden among civilised folk and get something not easily concealed and or something detrimental.

Acolyte (Claw)
A Claw must have 50% in five of the cult skills, and may include Theology (Cacodemon) and Pact (Cacodemon) amongst these. He must dedicate at least 3 points to his pact, to a maximum of 1/2 POW.

They may learn the Divine spells Disarm, Beserker, False Form and Dismiss Magic.

Priest (Talon)
A Talon must have 75% in five cult skills and must carry out a task of assassination or destruction assigned by their superiors. If they manage to kill one of their superiors, they are automatically their place in the priesthood. They must dedicate at least 6 POW to the cult, but no more than 3/4 or their total.

They may learn the spells Amplify, Extension, Create Skeleton and Create Zombie and must learn Ritual of Sacrifice.

High Priest (The Avatar Incarnate)
There is only one High Priest and he must have 100% Pact skill and devote at least 9 POW. There may not actually be a High Priest most of the time, and he keeps himself well hidden as the only way a lesser priest can be promoted is by killing him, usually with the aid of his personal avatar.

The High Priest can no longer summon the Cacodemon, he is transformed into a Cacodemon whenever he casts the spell, and when in ogre/human form he has all the chaotic features he may have offloaded onto his avatar given back to him, usually making him a twisted, mutant wretch of barely humanoid appearance.

Becoming an Ogre
When a human consumes human flesh (Praxian herd men don't count) he gains 1d6% in a new skill called Ogrishness, and must roll an opposed skill roll of Ogrishness vs his Persistence. If he fails he has become an ogre and rolls a new Str on 2d6+12 and a new Dex on 2d6+6. If these are higher than his current scores he gains 1 point per month until he reaches his new limit and his teeth become sharp and carnivore like. He is now a chaos creature, like it or not, and there is no way back.

Chaos Features
The quickest way of gaining a chaos feature is to join the cult of Primal Chaos and beseech the demons to bless you, but merely using certain corrupting spells may end up with the same result. As before, start a new skill called Chaos, add 1 point for each use of False Form, 2 for Create Skeleton or Zombie, 1 per dice of a summoned cacodemon, 2d6 for Ritual of Sacrifice, and roll for this skill vs Persistence (or just roll unopposed, some people actually want a chaos feature). Points may be added for particularly chaotic deeds committed. Once a chaos feature has been gained by this method, the skill is reset to zero.

Cult Special Spells
Summon Cacodemon
Duration Special, Rank Initiate, ranged

Summons the personal Avatar of the Cacodemon. This will have 1 dice in Str and Siz per 4 points of POW dedicated to the pact, 1 dice per 3 points if done on a holy day, 1 dice per two POW on a high holy day. The cultist must sacrifice at least one sentient creature of at least 10 POW and roll his Theology (Cacodemon) skill or under to control the demon once summoned, and again to dismiss it when he wants to. If it persists he must roll again once per day to control it, and again to dismiss it. An uncontrolled demon will kill anything it can reach. Killing the summoner does not dismiss the demon. A High Priest always uses the 1 dice per 2 points ratio, and personally transforms and thus does not have to roll for control.

Ritual of Sacrifice
Duration Special, Rank Priest, touch

A priest may find a holy place and sacrifice victims to boost the size and power of his demon. He gains 1 dice per 10 points of POW of his victims on a holy day and 1 dice per 8 points on a high holy day. For first victim roll the Pact skill to succeed, then at Pact -20% for the second and so on until the priest fails a roll and the demon has absorbed as much POW as it is going to and actually appears.

False Form
Duration 1 hour per 10% Pact, Rank Acolyte

Changes the form of a worshipper into that of an ordinary human of the same size, undetectable by any physical examination, magic or skill. Useful if one has a particularly noticeable Chaos feature, or a 100% foolproof method of disguising ones sharp teeth, or even (for the very brave) fooling priests of other cults long enough for you to make it through an initiation ceremony and stealing their secrets.

The Cacodemon
STR variable d6
CON 3d6
SIZ variable d6
INT 3D6
DEX 4D6
POW 2D6 + 1 per STR/SIZ dice
CHA 3D6 + 6 per STR/SIZ dice

Combat Actions 3
Strike Rank 12
Armour 1 per STR/SIZ dice

Skills
Brawn STR+SIZ x 2%, Resilience CON x 5%, Persistence POW x 3%, Athletics STR+DEX x 2%

Weapon Styles
Claw STR+DEX x 2%, Bite STR+DEX x 1.5%, Tail STR+DEX%, Kick STR+DEX x 1.25%

Weapons have three different Size, Reach and Damage, first for size 1-15, second for size 16-40, third for 41+

Claw Size S/M/L, Range S/M/L, Damage 1d4/1d6/1d8
Bite Size M/L/VL, Range S/M/L, Damage 1d6/1d8/1d10 + poison
Tail Size M/L/VL, Range M/L/VL, Damage 1d4/1d6/1d8
Kick Size S/M/L, Range M/L/VL, Damage 1d6/1d8/1d8

Chaos Features
Poison Bite with Blade Venom potency 20+5% per STR/SIZ dice
1 extra random chaos feature per 3 dice of STR and SIZ
1d3 Chaos Features on top of that

The demon is vaguely Broo shaped with a huge crocodile-like head, vestigal wings and a barbed tail, but the shape and size of the various body parts varies enormously.

Cacodemon and the Borist Church
At some point in the Second Age presumably some more than typically unhinged Godlearner sorcerer came across the cult and developed it into a whole Malkioni heresy. Borist towns are apparently very peaceful, sedate places with pleasant placid people, but in every basement there is caged up demon, embodying all the violence, lust and destructive urges the citizens do wish to deal with in the open. Most demons are very small, but who knows how big the secret demon of that pleasant, responsible householder who just wished you a nice day actually is.

Tharkantus in Balazar

Way back when Chaosium's 2^nd edition Runequest was the thing the cult of Yelmalio was pretty straightforward. Then, as discussed extensively on numerous Glorantha forums, Greg Stafford redid the whole business, adding Elmal, Tharkantus, Halamalao and whole bunch of other bits of mystical backstory and annoyed a few people and muddied the waters no end. This is how Yelmalio/Tharkantus/whatever works in my current Griffin Mountain campaign

Tharkantus

The mighty hero Balazar worshipped a god called Tharkantus, the Son of the Sun. Balazar founded shrines of this god at a number of locations throughout his newly conquered territory, and expected them to develop into the mighty Sun Dome temple colonies he had known back in Vanch, his homeleand. Instead they remained small shrines, each with its own small cadre of hoplites and the towns never expanded beyond castles in a stone age wilderness.

There are maybe 1500 worshippers of Tharkantus out of a total Balazaring population of 25,000 or so, mostly followers from among the pig tenders at the citadels, plus a few dozen initiates and acolytes among the Citadel Warriors and 14 priests, the leaders of the warriors and advisors and administrators for the kings. The cult is strongest in Dykene, moderately powerful in Trilus and fading in Elkoi.

The Balazarings are not entirely ignorant of the great upheavals in their only deist religion since the dawn of the Third Age; they have heard the names Yelmalio and Elmal from foreigners and know about Sun Domes, and a few have even visited such mighty Temples.

Taklong Woodheart of Elkoi is the accepted High Priest of Tharkantus for the whole of Balazar, though the other priests almost invariably put loyalty to their citadel above loyalty to him. He only has two subordinate priests at Elkoi, and a dwindling congregation as the local citadel warriors and pig tenders convert to Lunar gods.

The Sun Dome Temples at the Laramite Hills and the Daughter's Road are both claiming the dead hero Balazar as one of their own Templars, and thus dominion over the Balazar temples and the right to choose its High Priest and a tithe of their meagre income. Even worse the Daughter's Road lot are True Sun Revivalists, claiming to have rediscovered the ancient mystic practices of Yelmalio Daysenerus, while the Laramites are Disciples of the Third Emanation, followers of Monrogh's version of Yelmalio Tharkantus, both gobbledygook to Balazar's soldierly faith.

The Lunars interfere, as they always do, and are pressuring Taklong to take up the Daughter's Road offer, so he is openly courting the Laramites out of spite. Mostly he wishes the whole question would just go away. He is also heartily sick of the sight of his priests, one of whole he suspects is a tool of the Lunars, the other of whom IS a Lunar, or as good as, a half-Tarshite who is far too pally with that oleaginous goit Clodius Semprino, the Lunar 'Security Advisor'.

Tradition states that Taklong can name any priest he pleases as his successor, but he refuses to do it, as as soon as he does so he knows he will be poisoned, knifed or otherwise removed. He is looking to poach clergy from the other two temples, but none relish living in Elkoi.

The Trilus Temple has five priests (one died recently fighting the Moon worshipping Spiral Tribe) led by Chief Priest Tarkan Ormsfoe. Tarkan was exiled from Trilus by the last of the Gadaringer dynasty, and was instrumental in bringing Yalaring to the throne. He was a Black Lion, but has become a loyal Impala since the change in regime. While he has nothing but admiration for Yalaring's abilities as a warrior he is losing confidence in his talents as a ruler and losing patience with his tolerance of the Orlanth cult. Bluebird's position as tutor of Yalvann and advisor to the King is really bugging him as well; he was training Yalvann up to be the ideal lordly, stern and majestic Tharkanti King – might have spoilt the boy a little along the way – and he is afraid Bluebird will convert him to some weird foreign god.

The Trilus branch of the temple has a tradition of voting for a new Chief Priest among all the Temple personnel from initiate upward upon the death of an old one, a practice justified by an ancient standing order from Trilus himself about field promotion of officers. Tarkan's protégée, Zangil the Faithful, died, and he is looking for a new candidate to support who is sympathetic to his aims. Torath Manover keeps banging on about this god back in his homeland called Elmal, who he claims is Tharkantus in disguise or some such rubbish. The fact that in Torath's tales Elmal is always a loyal follower of Orlanth tells Tarkan all he needs to know about his ambitions.

In Dykene the Tharkantus Temple has no rivals and the citadel is all but a theocracy. King Skilfil appoints the Chief Priest personally, and has chosen his old friend and comrade Sylvanthi Brighteyes, who is a shaman of the spirit-cult of Balazar, which scandalized a few die hard traditionalists. They didn't say much about it though, Skilfil would have had them dismembered and fed to his giant hawks. There are another six priests (including Skilfil's daughter Starnia) and one shaman at Dykene and they regularly drill the populace in militia skills.

According to the traditions of Balazar the priests of Tharkantus must crown a king for him to be legitimate, and the king must be of the bloodline of Balazar himself and be an initiate of Tharkantus. King Glyptus of Elkoi has let his initiateship lapse and never bothers to turn up to temple at all. Yalaring never was a proper initiate having never taken the requisite gift and geas, but Tarkan crowned him anyway, and notes wearily that while Yalaring is always dutifully in the temple every Fireday he often falls asleep during the ceremonies. This, in his own opinion at least, makes Skilfil the only true and rightful king in Balazar, and thus his temple ought to be the most important, not the one in Elkoi, and all Tharkantus followers should obey his orders. Only a couple of worshippers have fallen for this propaganda, Elkoini fed up with Lunar overlordship.

Each citadel has an orb and mace-like sceptre that are part of the royal regalia, imbued with magic powers to enhance the abilities of the king. King Glyptus claims to hold the original Globe of Authority as passed on to Elkoi, his eldest son, by Balazar himself, and has a nice new silver(!) sceptre that was a gift from the Lunars. Yalaring has only the Sceptre of Trilus, the Orb was taken into the wilds by the fleeing Black Lion clan, Joh Mith had a pretty looking but magically feeble replacement made in Dragon Pass for him. The Orb and Sceptre of Dykene were recovered from the ruins of the old citadel during its reconstruction by the Dwarves. Taklong has collected information on these items and has made it known that once he has the true sceptre and orb of Balazar he will crown a High King of Balazar and end the centuries old civil war amongst the citadels once for all – some hope say the cynics.

Taklong would also like the Hawk Standard of the Golden Legion, last used to summon all the followers of Tharkantus and Balazar from the whole land to fight off Godar the Windwalker and his Army of the West Wind two hundred and some years ago. All of the Citadels claim it is interred in one of their royal tombs, but no one really knows where it is for sure.

Balazar is worshipped as an ancestor by many out in the wilds. The relationship between the Tharkantus worshippers and those of Balazar is usually cordial, and the priests recruit many of their best Templars from among the Hawk Warriors who claim to be descended from Balazar or his Golden Legion. However many of the Hawk Warriors of the Balazar cult are too full of themselves and too enamoured of the idea of being of the blood of kings to embrace the Tharkantus virtues of discipline and loyal service to the royal house wholeheartedly, and a few are hostile to the bossy know-it-alls in the stone huts, with their squiggly clay tablets, tribute records and fancy gilded bronze armour.

The Armies of Balazar

The three ancient and run-down citadels of Balazar each maintains its own army. These are more in the nature of retainers kept by oaths of loyalty and occasional feasting and gift giving than paid troops, but their favoured hoplite fighting style means they are well disciplined and well drilled.

Trilus has 65 men, 10 are light cavalry, 10 light infantry trained to rain down volleys of javelins or arrow fire, 10 are Yalaring, his brothers, immediate family and his more martial priests and advisors and 35 are hoplites. They will also field a varying number of hunters depending on how loyal the clan chiefs are feeling, what gifts and bribes are in the offing, what matters of honour at stake, who the enemy is - clansmen will turn out in large numbers to fight someone they have a long running feud with. They can rely on maybe a hundred as a minimum.

Dykene has 30 men, 5 hawk avilry, 5 personal bodyguards and priests with King Skilfil and 20 heavy infantry. They have horses, but leave them at home when going to war. They will also be supported by 100 or more armed pig tenders, kitted out with spear, shield and a helmet, and trained as militia by the temple of Tharkantus. This makes the Dykene phalanx impressively large, but only the first couple of ranks are any good. They too will have tribal support, including the Black Lion clan who can still field a few armoured hoplites, and the White Goat who will have men willing to join the militia.

Elkoi has two armies, that of Glyptus and that of the Imperial Governor. Glyptus has 30 warriors, 5 light cavalry and 25 smartly turned out but rather fat and lazy hoplites. His men have been reduced to a village police force as they and their King confidently expect the Lunars to defend their city should either of the enemy citadels attack. The garrison varies depending on the whim of the Provincial government. Currently there are 100 Pelandan peltasts and 100 Holayan medium infantry, but in the past they have sent Kastok light cavalry from the Redlands, hoplites from Sylila and even Shargashi troops from Alkoth, who made themselves very unwelcome very quickly. At one time slack and slovenly units were sent here as a punishment, but recently Euryptus has insisted on at least some reasonable quality troops to give a good impression of Lunar law and discipline to the locals. He is creating a locally recruited archer/skirmisher unit, but the clansmen's enthusiasm waxes and wanes more often than the moon and they only take orders from elected tribal chiefs, and then only when they feel like it.

The Great Hunt

Hunter's Hill

Every year during the Sacred Time hunters from all across Balazar converge on the citadel of Trilus for the Great Hunt. This ritual decides who gets to call himself 'Hunter', and count himself (and sometimes herself) an adult in their clan, and who amongst the Hunters is the greatest.

The fun starts up to two weeks before the event, as parties of hunters from the various clans come and camp on the Hunter's Hill, a ditch and rampart earthwork on a hill a couple of hundred yards from Trilus. All domesticated pigs and horses are kept out of the area as a mark of respect to Foundchild, (and because many hunters will kill them for meat, not accepting that it is possible to own a live animal). The only clan that sends no one at all is the Blue Bear clan, though attendance from a number of clans is low with many youths from eastern clans going to Taksmound to be initiated.

Within the circle all clan feuds are supposed to be put aside, and the Master Hunter's word is law. People who are judged to have broken the truce are given until the following dawn to leave the circle, and when they do they will be permissible prey for the duration of the following hunt.

The Games

The games held at this time used to be informal contests of skill between bragging hunters to pass the time until the ritual began, but since King Yalaring began offering prizes they have become more formal and for some hunters a more important part of the occasion than the hunt itself. When King Glyptus began offering a few prizes by way of keeping up with Yalaring, and King Skilfil of Dykene offered prizes for the hunters at the 'Old' Hunt at Taksmound, politics and prestige have got mixed in, much to the annoyance of the more serious minded and traditional Shamen.

On Freezeday of Truth week Yalaring, his chief priest of Tharkantus, the Great Hunter and whoever Glyptus has sent to represent Elkoi, open the games with libations and sacrifices, and wine, beer and meat are distributed to the hunters.

The sports vary every year, depending in part of whether Glyptus or Yalaring thinks his tribe can win the competition. Glyptus always sponsors distance running as the Grey Wolf clan almost always come first, Yalaring sponsors sprint as the Sables almost always win. Games such as the traditional wrestling, the 'catch the greasy boar' game, archery, javelin (accuracy as well as distance is important), hauling the carcass (a deerskin full of heavy sand is lugged up and down a hill then finally taken up a tree), dog racing and dog fighting, jumping and drinking competitions have all been part of the event over the last few years. 

Some prizes are well worth having; the distance running prize is a black loping dog from Glyptus own kennels and Yalaring offers a magic arrow for the sprint, but other prizes can be a bit more peculiar – enchanted bear fat for the wrestling, the boar itself and the guarantee that one will father a son in the next year for the boar catching, a headdress of yellow feathers for the archery, a smilodon skin cloak for the carcass hauling and so on. 

This year there will be a Shield Push contest, with teams from the Elkoi city guard and the Lunar garrison and from among Trilus' warriors. The prize will be a silver inlaid shield donated by the Temple of the Reaching Moon itself. The Lunars are quietly confident, the Triloi win over the Dykenean Tharkantus templars last summer was a fluke.

The Hunt

On Godday of Truth week, the shamen set up their drum and chant circles and the serious business of the hunt begins. Everyone swears the Hunter's Oath and gets the sacred warpaint mark of a participant in the Great Hunt. Some shamen offer other marks in return for sacrifices or as favours to men of their own totems. These give bonuses for the duration of the hunt (the two weeks of Sacred Time). The Pure Hearth mark offers +10% resilience, the Two Stone mark gives a temporary hero point to any hunting dog, Rigtaina's mark gives +10% Spirit Walk and +10% Tracking while in forests, the Darkness mark gives protection from trolls at the cost of being a target for elves, while the Old Tree Mark has the opposite effect, Balazar's mark gives +10% spear attack. Last year a Five Moon Shaman from Elder's Rock offered the blessing of the Red Moon, which tied the hunter to the Lunar cycle, weakening him on days of the dark moon, but making him much stronger when the moon was full. This year Throggar Giant Baiter will offer the West Wind mark, greatly enhancing missile range when shooting with the wind behind you. 

Some hunters will have sought other blessings at Hearth Spirit sites before the hunt begins and some shamen will offer fetishes with spirits who are bound to serve until the end of the Great Hunt only. Those who do not break the fetish on the last day are asking for trouble.

Only flint weapons may be used and only a loincloth may be worn. If the hunter made his own weapons (and most will have) they get 1 temporary hero point, and personally slew the beast that made his sacred hunting garment he gains +10% Survival.

The hunters disperse in all directions, many making forced marches of several days before looking for game to make sure they are well away from the mass of other participants. He who strikes the final blow gets the kill, and it is common practice (though strictly speaking not within the spirit of the hunt) for fathers to weaken a game animal and allow a young son to finish it off to gain their initiation. 

The beast must be of reasonable size (SIZ 10+) and either edible or capable of eating a man, and must be witnessed by a shaman of Foundchild in the field or the head taken back to Hunter's Hill. Succeeding in three hunts in a row and having sufficient skills and knowledge to satisfy the shamen of Foundchild makes you a Great Hunter. The Hunting Shaman who brings in the best beast is made Master Hunter. Ogolorph Windshaper won last year with the head of a huge Sabre Tooth tiger, but Willarnia Oakbow of the Great Sables says she is going after a Cave Troll this year.