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"Deityies of Glorantha" Copyright (c) 1997 Simon E. Phipp
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Glorantha is Copyright Greg Stafford and all rights are reserved.

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# Deities of Glorantha

Glorantha is a unique fantasy world because it has a well-defined mythical basis. In Glorantha, the Gods are real and performed acts which affect the world even now. Those in Glorantha who are Atheists do not disbelieve in Gods, but rather do not accept their divine nature, thinking of them as super-beings rather than gods.

Many of the deeds of the gods took place in God Time, or on the God Plane. This is a moment outside of Time, where all things happened at the same time. Having said that, there are many events which seem to happen in sequence, as if in normal Time.

The Mythical Deeds of the Gods can be contacted by mortals who perform HeroQuests. In this way, mortals can enter GodTime and experience those deeds first hand, even changing the deeds themselves.

## The Celestial Court

In the beginning there was Chaos. From the Chaos formed a thought and from that thought formed the world of Glorantha. The Great Powers were first formed, then were formed the Elements. Darkness came first, then Water, then Earth, then Fire and finally Storm. These Powers and Elements formed the Celestial Court. These members of the Celestial Court were:

Rune | Deity | Description
Glorantha | Glorantha | Empress of the Court
Law | Acos | God of Law
Fertility | Uleria | Goddess of Love
Movement | Larnste | God of Change and Movement, The Soul Arranger
Truth | Orenoar | Mistress of Truth
Harmony | Harana Ilor | Goddess of Harmony and Peace, The First Harp, Musician of the Cosmos
Illusion | Tylenea | Mistress of masks, Mother of Illusions
Death | Kargan Tor | God of War and Courage
Disorder | Ratslaff | God of Disorder
Darkness | Nakala | Dame Darkness
Water | Zaramaka | Father Ocean
Earth | Gata | Mother Earth
Fire/Sky | Aether | Lord Light
Storm | Umath | Storm King

Each of these deities was powerful, more powerful than those who followed. However, they were Primal Deities, made of the Raw Power of that Principle which they held. So, Umath was the God of all Storms, from the calm air, light rains through to huge tornadoes and hurricanes, Gata held within her the bountiful earth, the dead earth, the shaking and destroying earths and so on. These Primal Elements soon devolved, bringing forth new deities which held a part of the whole, deities which were more specialised and sophisticated, capable of offering far more than the Brute Forces of the Elements. Thus, Umath had many sons - Orlanth, Humakt, Storm Bull, Valind, Vadrus, Ragnaglar and Kolat. Each embodied a specific aspect of Storm - Humakt was the chill North Wind and Destroyer, Storm Bull the Wild Wind, Valind the Winter Storm, Orlanth the Free Wind and so on. Gata produced Ty Kora Tek, Queen of the Dead and Asrelia, the Keeper of Treasures, Asrelia produced Maran Gor the Earthshaker and Ernalda, the Plentiful Earth, Ernalda produced Babeester Gor the Avenger and Voria, Spring Virgin. These gods also devolved further, creating newer and more specialised deities, until the new deities became almost as weak as men.

## What Are the Gods?

The Gods are beings of great power, many of whom were created before Time began. However, some of the gods were created after Time and achieved their greatness through their own deeds. Many of these Heroes are only worshipped locally, but some are worshipped across the world. Heroes such as Arkat, the Red Emperor and Dormal.

The Gods exist independently of whether they are worshipped. Worship merely strengthens the deities and gives them more power. If a god is no longer worshipped, he is not destroyed, but simply becomes weaker. Firshala is a minor spirit who has received no worship for many years, but she did not fade away into nothingness, but still existed in a weaker form.

The Major Gods are NOT composites of minor Gods and Heroes. Orlanth is not the sum total of Chieftains, Warriors and Storm spirits. Yelm is not the sum of Riders, Kings, warriors and Sages. Lodril is not the sum of Earthshakers, Volcano Gods and Peasant Gods. All these deities have these powers and roles as part of their natures and pass them down to mortal men. Occasionally, a god will take some part of him and pass it on to other gods or heroes, so Yelm passed the mastery of archery onto Saggitus and Dayzatar passed rulership of Heaven to Ourania. Sometimes a Hero will undergo a Quest and will find a deed which a deity did in the Godtime and which has been forgotten - once he has done this, he awakens the memory and allows others to share in the deed and thereby gain the powers and abilities from that deed, thus creating a hero Subcult of a major deity. Some Heroes may have performed a deed or gained a magical item or power as the source of their power and may want to pass this power onto another deity. If he succeeds, then he will also become a cult hero having "proved" that the deity had always had this power. However, if the worship is not continued the powers are lost - these powers are far easier to disrupt than the powers granted directly from the deity.

## What did the Gods do?

The gods performed many deeds during the GodTime. Many of the deeds are recorded in the Monomyth of the Theyalan culture. However, many local myths exist which either contradict or do not refer to the Monomyth. This does not mean that they are wrong, merely that the truth is more complex than it seems. The myths of Peloria and Pelanda are mentioned in the Glorious ReAscent of Yelm, The Fortunate Succession and the Entekosiad, often we can identify parallels with the Monomyth and can even identify shared events, but more often we cannot make such comparisons, simply because they are not there. Many deeds are not important enough to have been mentioned in the Monomyth; others are too localised in scope, only affecting a particular people; still others reflect echoes or shadows of earlier events, for instance the myths of the Grain Goddesses are echoes of the myths of Ernalda. This does not mean that the Monomyth is wrong or that the local myths are wrong, but it does mean that we need to look at many sources in order to determine the History and Mythology of Glorantha.

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Last modified:29 September 96