The Cult Of Ragnaglar

I. Mythos and History

Brother to Orlanth and Urox, Ragnaglar was born unto Umath and was a great and powerful Khan who gladly served his father, King Storm, as a warrior and defender of all he held dear. Ragnaglar's uncles finally came upon him, and when he turned to see his companions, they were not there. When he turned to see his brothers, they had departed. When he turned to find his allies who he had saved in the past, they would not aid him. Whilst he fought hard and long, Ragnaglar was finally overcome, and cast into the Sex Pit.

In amongst the gibbering of the Sex Demons, Ragnaglar's lust finally overcame him. Eventually, when he had raped all the demons in the pit, a ladder of his own children stretched from the floor to the pit top, and Ragnaglar escaped into the night. When he arrived back at the Court, Ragnaglar demanded recompense from his uncles, and demanded to be married to Thed. Whilst Thed complained, the Court was honour bound to grant him his wish. Normally in such a case it was expected for Ragnaglar to retract his offer, for Thed had no wish to marry Ragnaglar and everyone knew it. However, the marriage was carried out, and consumated on the altar infront of all those gathered. Ragnaglar then began to claim women from all around the Comos, either by seduction, rape, blackmail or violence, and soon he had gathered three hundred concubines of every race, sex and origin.

When he raped one of Ernalda's priestesses, he was ordered to be cast out by Orlanth,a longside his wife and concubines. But he returned again and again, and eventually was ordered to be killed by Humakt. Cast into the Lands of the Dead, Ragnaglar conspired against the Court.

It was in the Lands of the Dead that that they encountered Rashoran, or at the very least a small portion of him, the dead portion. Rashoran taught Ragnaglar one of his secrets for reasons that only Rashoran himself would understand. Some people say that he did so to fufil his own prophecy of a coming Darkness. Ragnaglar conspired with Thed and Mallia, one of his concubines, to destroy the Comos and then remake it in their own warped image. They summoned forth the Devil.

Wakboth was born in Dorastor, long a place of evil and chaos. He raped his mother, and marched forth, destroying the Spike and unleashing the destructive forces Ragnaglar desired. Ragnaglar took one legion of chaos and marched across the world, plundering all he found. When Zorak Zoran slew Flamal, Ragnaglar took the weapon of Death and slew Genert with it. Thus did chaos gain the powers of Death.

Ragnaglar was finally slain after the Storm Bull's rage could no longer be contained and with his iron horns he cast his brother to the earth in a torrent of blood and anguish. Ragngalar's pieces were dispersed.

It is these pieces that fuel his power, the link between the dead and dismembered god to the world, some of them such as Urain haunt the world still as spirits. It is his link to the mortal realm.

Ragnaglar promises that those who are worthy will find Oblivion after death, if they can cause as much pain, suffering and evil as possible.

Ragnaglars runes are those of Chaos, Death and Storm.

II. Cult Ecology

Ragnaglar is the mad god, the chaos god that grants only madness to his followers. Ragnaglar is the dead god, killed by Storm Bull for his act of bringing chaos into the world. Ragnaglar is the god of broos, the harbringer of the death and destruction and bringer of chaos. His worship is small and only a few temples exist, built around a piece of the god himself as there is no other way to contact him. He is also the god of evil, brought to that hallowed rank for the pain and suffering he caused in the Greater Darkness. He is the end result of the actions of the cllected ranks of the gods of the Golden Age, every evil and falsehood commited are embodied in Ragnaglar, and chaos was the conclusion.

All races can worship Ragnaglar, although those more chaotic species such as broo or scorpion men are attracted more by other chaos cults than this one. Ragnaglar appeals to those who wish for power and have an eccentric ambition. His realm is that of jealousy and hatred, aswell as suicidal insanity. Ragnaglar offers little in the way of true divine powers, while he has Rune magic such feats as Divine Intervention have no effect (see below). Often, the choice of whether to worship Ragnaglar or not is not open to discussion... All cults are the enemy of Ragnaglar, even chaos can sometimes earn the scorn of it's mad priests -- the cult of Thed for not standing by her husband or the cult of Wakboth for his lack of gratitude. At other times the priests can easily work along side other cults, but such an alliance is never stable.

Relationship between one temple and another varies, but usually the insanity of the ruling high priests cause such friction as to make real relations exceedingly difficult.

Due to his connections with the old ways of Praxian relgion Storm Season is the High Holy Season, although a particular priest may change this with sleight of mind, word of mouth, the mad ramblings of his singing potato collection or other ways. Such is the way of a mad gods priest.

III. The Cult In The World

This cult holds no power that could be seen as endangering the world. The instability of his religion disallows the cult to make long term plans, although when they team up with other cults such as Thed or Malia this instability can sometimes be controlled. The cult does not usually acknowledge the existence or importance of another sect or temple, each adhering that they are the only sect in existence.

The common man does not acknowledge the existence of this cult, the god is dead in the eyes of the Inner World and even those that walk the ancient paths of Lost Chaos have heard only rumours of this gods current power. Even scholars and chaos killers do not normally know of the existence of this obscure cult.
The greatest area of influence is in the Wastelands, here the whispers of maddness can be heard from the head of Ragnaglar, talking those who stay too long into strange ways...

Shrines teach Madness.

IV. Initiates

Any may join the cult of Ragnaglar if they can convince the mad leaders of the cult to initiate them. Those who wish to join must be accepted by the cult priest, they must state their wish to join and the priest will make a judgement on the person abstracted as POWx3. If this is failed then they are turned away, although if a POWx5 is failed then the priest usually attacks in a hope of eating the poor victim alive. This test is made at -20% if the canidate is not a broo. An initiate must sacrifice the nominal 1 POW to Ragnaglar and may sacrifice for Divine magic on a one-for-one basis.

All initiates immediately gain one insanity, or one more if they already have some. They must obey, without quibble, their priest. They must devote 10% of their time and money, although this changes regulary at the whim of the high priest. An initaite must never reveal the secrets of the cult, and as part of their insanity find it impossible to discuss the cult with outsiders.
No spirit magic is taught by the cult, although associated cult shamans of Thed will normally teach any spell desired.

V. Chaos Khans (Rune Lords)

Carried over from the days when Ragnaglar stood in the ranks of the Praxian pantheon is the title of Khan. These act as priests and rune lords for the cult of Ragnaglar. To join the ranks of Chaos Khan the canidate must first of all be a broo, this can be achieved by the ritual of rebirth, Blessing of Chaos or any other means.

The canidate must then petition the leader of the temple and wait for an opening. The canidate must have at least 90% in at least four of the following: Weapon attack, weapon parry, orate, fast talk or any one skill randomly determined by the high priest. The canidate must also have at least 50 percentiles between cult lore and ritual skills. The person is then raised to the rank of Chaos Khan. They must make a POWx1, if they suceed they gain no insanity's, if they fail they gain one insanity and roll again, gaining one insanity each time until they suceed. They gain access to reusable rune magic and all rights alloted to a Rune Lord and Priest.

The canidate must stop any and all contact with the outside world. Contact is only allowed through underlings unless that contact is conducted through the edge of a blade. The Chaos Khan must aid all chaos in every form in whatever way they see fit, which is open to wide interpretation. They must follow the word of their high priest explicitly, which is often terminally dangerous as all Khans are exceedingly insane.

Common Divine Magic: Worship Ragnaglar.
Special Divine Magic: Bersek(2), Command (Madness Spirit), Fear, Madness, Mindblast, Rut.

VI. Special Rune Magic For Ragnaglar

Rut
2 points
self, temporal, nonstackable, reusuable
This spell allows a worshipper to simulate Ragnaglar in his lustful activities. It allows a broo, and only a broo, to mate with something that would otherwise be impossible to mate with. For instance, males, infertile women, rocks, trees, asexual creatures etc... This will mean that when the victim undergoes broo birth a hybrid broo will come as normal, which may be very strange in the case of a tree or rock. Many of these creatures are said to wander Dorastor, the product of overfertile broos.

VII. Sub-cults

The Cult of the Head
Those who go insane from listening to the arcane whispers of the head of Ragnaglar are sometimes led to the head itself. These people learn the secrets of the head. While this subcult is merely a small number of individuals, most of which know nothing of each other. Those in this cult can learn the Rune Spell below when next to the head.

Ragnaglar's Head
5 points
self, duration one day, one-use (available to initiate, and chaos khans)
This powerful spell changes the users head into a strange, broo looking skull. For the duration anyone who looks at the caster must make a magic points versus magic points with that of the caster or gain one insanity. The viewer need not roll again for this casting of the spell (i.e. if they gain an insanity or even if they do not then they need not make another roll until they see another casting of the spell). Also, at the cost of one magic point the caster may cast mindblast, fear or madness. They need not know any of those spells to use this effect. For the duration of the spell the caster may not regenerate magic points. Extension does not effect this spell.

The Cult of the Hand
The other major body part of Ragnaglar is his right hand. In many temples there is a small part devoted to his hand. These temples teach the Rune Spell Hand of Ragnaglar:

Hand of Ragnaglar
4 points
self, duration one day, one-use
This is another powerful spell. This turns the casters hands into a gnarled fist with three fingers. For the duration any one-handed weapon picked up doubles the damage bonus done with it and the weapon is immediatley affected by a True(Weapon) equivalent for one round if the caster expends one magic point. For the duration of the spell the caster may not regenerate magic points. Extension does not effect this spell.

Madness' Death
Upon Ragnaglar's death all his allied spirits died with him. However, with the coming of Vakalta, and the sundering of the gates of the dead, Ragnaglar's spirits escaped from the land of the dead. These are his allied spirits. They do not appear naturally, and must be sought out on the spirit plane to be bound into a priests receptacle, usually a sword or piece of armour. They attempt to gather around pieces of their dead god, and so a Chaos Khan can seek an allied spirit out near temples dedicated to Ragnaglar. Usually they must be defeated or propitiated to join with the Khan.

VIII. Associated Cults

Malia
Ragnaglar's mistress grants the spell Cause Soul Waste.

Primal Chaos
Grants Blessing of Chaos.

Thed
Ragnaglar's wife grants the spell Chaos Spawn.

Urain
A shard of Ragnaglar, he grants Foul Wind.

IX. Notes

Divine Intervention
Anyone foolish enough to Divine Intervention with a dead god deserves all that they get. The dead god grants no Divine Intervention, although all the POW sacrificed is still lost. Some people say that it goes back to help Ragnaglar return to life...

Temples
The amount of worshippers does not decide the size of the temple, instead it is the number of pieces of Ragnaglar they contain and how powerful each is. This means that there are virtually no shrines, but rather a small number (perhaps five or six across Glorantha) of minor and major temples. For instance, a temple with his right finger would be a minor temple, and if they had one of his horns as well then they would be a major temple.

This makes Ragnaglar a very rare cult.

The largest temple contains his entire head and is hidden underneath the Wastelands. It is deadly in the extreme and a great pilgrimage for his worshippers.

The pieces of Ragnaglar themselves are very magical, although to fully make use of them would require a HeroQuest.

Insanity
Lots of ideas for forms of madness and derangements appear in Call of Cthulhu, and on that note, has anyone considered the relationship between Ragnaglar and Azathoth...? : )