Glorantha and RW religions

[GianniVacca]

What I like in Glorantha (compared with most vanilla fantasy worlds) is the accurate portrayal of religious phenomena.

One thing that is missing though is the Gloranthan equivalent of real world cargo cults (see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cargo_cult). I feel maybe the Timinits should have this kind of religion rather than orthodox Malkionism.

Any thoughts?

 

[simonh]

I'm sure cargo cults do exist in Glorantha, but the problem is that since they are false religions they will not grant any magic.

In fact Glorantha is full of fake religions and mountebanks claiming religious insights but actually just ripping people off. A number of these have been mentioned in various fan publications. One of the Lunar Coder characters from an RQ3 era supplement had in his background that he'd been a member of a fake religious scam for a while.

Now it is possible that a cargo cult might be formed round a genuine religious relic from a foreign religion, and grant some effective magic almost by accident. That could be an interesting situation, as the cargo cultists might completely misunderstand the real significance and purpose of the relic.

In the case of the Timinits, they have direct communication with real Malkioni, so any cargo cult-like misconceptions would not last long, but there may well be isolated communities of them along the lines you suggest.


Simon Hibbs

 

[Voriof]

I wrote up a Cargo Cult for Glorantha as a part of "Blood over Gold." The Great Good Canoe cult wants the return of the good old days before the Closing. But now, since their part of the coast is known as the Poison Shore and their islands have nothing to sell, they can only enviously gaze at the prosperity of ports such as Fay Jee and Haranda.

So, they set up lovely beacons, wharfs of driftwood and palm leaves, and errect Summoning Towers with beacons over their rocky coasts to lure back the Great White Canoes of old.

Sometimes the Great Spirit blesses his people and strange goods, exotic travellers (who are then enslaved), and precious amber are brought to the shores after storms. Ships seeking shelter promised by the beacons only find rocky shoals and unyielding cliffs where they expected safe harbour.

Jeff