General Notes on the Cults of Arkat

In RuneQuest II cults worked slightly differently than they do in the new, revitalised Glorantha that HeroWars will be set in. There will be no God Learner distinctions so that you could comfortably have a cult of Orlanth separate from a cult of Humakt, and you may or may not think this is a good thing. However, when you are trying to talk about the many sects of Arkat in the Ralios basin, such artificial God Learner distinctions are very bad indeed and misleading in the extreme. Even though my webpage has on it a set of Arkati cults, such as Arkat Chaosbane, Arkat the Destroyer, Arkat Peacemaker etc... I will say now that in my conception of Glorantha there is no cult of Arkat Chaosbane, there is no cult of Great Arkat etc... Or at least, not as you might expect. Those type of cult descriptions work when there is a great deal of conformity or tradition prevalent in that cult, or that the cult is so small that there is only one "sect". However, the sects of Arkat have neither been around for a long time, are spread in varying forms all across the Safelstran area and, most importantly, they have no leaders, no figureheads, no archetypal RuneQuest-style High Priest. I imagine that, in the main, an Arkati sect will have one temple, and maybe a few other shrines, and that sect worships its own form of Arkat, differently, often radically different, from other sects that may even share the same name. The sect answers to its own high priest, never cares what another sect may have to say, and will usually despise all other sects of Arkat for being so obviously wrong, and therefore tools of the Deceiver. There might be the odd network of Arkati across the Safelster, but these are normally elite mystery cults such as <a href="kortagi.htm">Arkat Kortagisoul or <a href="kult.htm">the Old Arkat Kult Alliance and are rarer than the more proliferate sects of Arkatism.

An Arkat sect may, indeed, call itself Arkat Chaosbane or a temple to Arkat the Destroyer, but one temple will have no religious ties to any other temple that professes to worship the same sect (of course, they may be friendly to one another, or have political ties, but in the ever changing political ocean of the Safesltran ideals of back stabbing and intrigue, such things never last long). However, this does not mean that they must do. For instance, in my campaign there is a temple to Arkat the Destroyer in Fiesive, which basically is the same as the one described on my webpage. Some fifty key miles south, there is a temple to Arkat the Destroyer, but all it is a cult of twenty drug crazed loons who get people to burn and destroy things in the name of Arkat in huge sacrificial ceremonies. Of course, there is no connection between the two, and certainly just because they happen to both claim to be worshipping the same form of Arkat does not mean that they are similar even in game terms (in the later case, no game benefit, such as magic etc..., is gained). This happens a lot, a cult of Arkat Chaosbane in Galin may be vastly different in Borin. They may even have a different name, so a cult that uses the Arkat Chaosbane description from my webpage may call itself Arkat KrjalkSlayer, or the Cult of the Eternal Sword, or maybe a word in Darktongue roughly translating to "Lawsoul". Or anything. Variety and schisms are the keywords in describing the Arkati sects, especially because half the fun you can have is in their conflicts and political machinations.

The cult descriptions on my page should be seen more as templates to be altered slightly, or greatly, or mixed with the other sects, or with unique ideas. So, a cult may be a mix of Arkat Chaosbane or Great Arkat, or may be a group of Illuminate hunting worshippers of Arkat the Liberator (working on the premise that the only Light Side Illuminates are those in their sect), or worshippers of Arkat Chaosbane who don't learn any sorcery, but can secretly join a wider variety of cults. Besides changing the system mechanics, you also need to describe any sects temple structure. For instance, the cult of Arkat Chaosbane in Fiesive base their structure on a format similar to that of the original Arkati who lived there. There is a High Priest, with a Priest of Light, a Priest of the Dark and a Law Guide beneath him. The High Priest also commands the Head of the Guard. All are priests, with the Law Guide attending to political and practical matters, as well as being the treasurer, and the Priests of Light and the Dark attending to the worshipping masses, and the Head of the Guard attending to the private army. Each Priest is fully described, along with political and religious aims, and in a sect as small as an Arkati sect, one priest can manipulate the entire cult quite easily to achieve his/her aims. This has made the cult unique, a not simply a copy of my original cult write up for Arkat Chaosbane. They are totally different from any form of Arkat Chaosbane because of it.

So, to ensure that each sect is individualised, you should not only realize that my descriptions are merely templates, and not cast-in-iron cult write ups, and you should also consider such things as the sects attitude towards chaos, illumination, esoteric Arkatism etc..., which will vary from sect to sect. To deomonstrate what I mean about merging cult write ups, here are an example sect of Arkati from my own campaign, the Blackmorian Monks.

The Blackmorian Monks

On the northern tip of the Poldark Forest in Otkorion, about ten key miles out of the forest, is a monastery. It is made of stone, carved in the early portions of the Third Age. Two basalt pillars are either side of the entrance, carved with Arkati litany. This is the home of the Blackmorian Monks.

They are an Arkati sect, fanatical like most. They are most akin to the Chaosbane sects, with portions of Great Arkat doctrine. The cult despise chaos in the extreme, seeing Arkati as their saviour who ruled the lands he cleansed wisely and fairly, until Gbaji arose again as Chaos Incarnated and cast Arkat to the Darkness. Gbaji's new incarnation was the God Learners. The liturgy is long, and complex. There are 83 books that each describe a single act of how Arkat struggled, and defeated, a particular chaos foe. It chronicles from his life as an elf raised child to the defeat of Gbaji at the Tower of Dreams. The books are stored in the center of the monastery, defended by a spirit (huge POW, access to sever spirit). Every time a chaos foe is defeated, a monk can gain access to the next tome in the chronicle and read it for it's secrets. A more powerful chaos foe must defeated each time as you advance through the tomes. Most worshippers have read about ten, even the current high priest had read only forty and no-one in living memory has read them all. The books are supposedly copies of original books by Arkat himself. The later tomes contain powerful magic, notes on HeroQuesting and more. The books are written in a code and cipher known as Blackmorian.

The sect are all fanatics and spend their time in ritual preparations for going to fight chaos. Then they go forth, they do so in small groups of crack warriors, with other monks maintaining sorcery spells cast upon them to increase their ability. Generally the monks have little to do with the outside world and purchase small amounts of food and raw metals with the plunder they gain from killing chaos and other followers of the Deceiver (read: other Arkati).

The sect is headed by Vaxrait Blackendedsoul, a forty eight year old worshipper of Arkat. He was originally a foreigner from a place nearby Imther. There are thirteen companion priests attached to the high priest. The companions hold rituals, ceremonies and the constant training exercises. There are about 100 other members.

The cult is outside of the Church of Otkorion. Joining usually entails excommunication from the Church, mainly for the Darkness connections of the sect and also because members of the cult no longer devote time and income to anything other than the Blackmorian Monks. The Church generally leaves the Monks alone.

Joining the cult requires you to first spend a year with them, living outside of the monastery, helping them on missions, running errands etc... After this period of indoctrination they can attempt once a season to join the cult using normal rules for Arkat Chaosbane. Once they have joined they are trained in how to read/write Blackmorian, Intensity, Staff Attack, Staff Parry and Enhance Staff (see below). Once trained up to at least 30% in each, they can join the lower ranks of the cult. They spend their time in ritual contemplation and preparation. Eventually they will be sent out on a fanatical chaos killing quest. The more chaos a person slays, the higher they advance in the sect. Because chaos isn't exactly flourishing as it is in Dorastor, such missions and forays out into the world are getting rarer and rarer.

The monks weapon of choice is the staff. Only those who have mastered the staff may become priests. The sect creates their own bronze bound staves (+4 ap's) and have certain magics available to enhance the weapon. Use of Boost Damage I universal within the sect.

The Priests also wear Light Plate, enchanted plate armour that weighs only half of normal plate. The secrets for its creation are contained within the cult tomes.

The cult has access to combat orientated sorcery, special Chaosbane sorcery and their own special spells. Learning magic outside the sect is allowed, but difficult due to the small amount of contact with the outside world.

The cult also believe in a being, a deity, called The Black Master. He is said to be the creature that taught Arkat how to fight properly once he cast aside the cult of Humakt. They worship the Black Master on certain days, his cult is only joined just before you become a Blackmorian Priest, with you rapidly becoming a Black Master Rune Lord. Some Blackmorians also join Kyger Litor, the great patron of Arkat.

Blackmorians detest Illuminates, everybody knows that those who follow Nysalor turn to Gbaji. Illuminates are not allowed to join and sometimes become the targets of Blackmorian chaos hunts.

Cult Description

Use the Arkat Chaosbane cult description, modified as followed. Members can only join the additional cults of Kyger Litor and the Black master (identified as Zorak Zoran). They grant normal Chaosbane special sorcery, plus their own spells. Priests need not, indeed must not, be Illuminated. Instead, they must be Rune Lords of the Black Master (i.e. Death Lords of Zorak Zoran). Priests gain reusable access to the spells Blinding and Command Shade from Kyger Litor.

Special Sect Sorcery

Enhance Staff
touch, passive
This spell may only be cast on a staff. For every Intensity the chance to special, and therefore to gain a free attack underneath my house rules, is increased by 3%. This applies to both attack and parry.

Boost Actions
touch, passive
Only learnt once the 23rd book has been read. For every 5 intensities of the spell, the target has one action extra per round.