The Cult Of Stone

I. Mythos and History

Once all stone was alive with sentience, glowing with the forces of life and energy. Stone could change its texture, its density, its temperature, its feel. It would move across the face of the Cosmos and communicate. Stone is the brother of Mostal and is the matter that feeds the World Machine, many ignorant humans consider Stone to be the son of Acos and Gata but he has existed forever and has never not been. It was from his own arm that the Unbreakable Sword was carved. Stone was slain with the destruction of the greatest fiat of creation itself, the Spike. As the Spike was destroyed and Mostal himself died Stone felt the life that had powered him die, and Stone was forever locked into an eternal statis where he would remain until the World Machine was fixed and started again. For this reason the Cult of Stone is part of the Cult of Mostal and their knowledge used for the good of the World Machine. The Cult of Stone has only ever been worshipped by Mostali, and the worship of this god by other races is seen as absurd.

However, while Stone is dead his legacy lives on in the form of every stone that lies on the face of Glorantha. Stone inhabited the base materials of Glorantha, but nor the metals or the gems. Stone was consulted on the creation of the Rock Dwarfs, and also consulted on their abilities. Stone would be an advisor to the Ancestral Mostali, and this advice has been passed back to Mostal via Diamond Dwarfs, who contact the Ancestral Mostali on the Godplane. Stone inhabits granite, sandstone, limestone, chalk and the many other forms of stone. Stone does not, however, have any control over cement which is a creation of Rock Dwarfs. The Cult of Stone has the secrets of making cement and guard them carefully, waiting until Stone reawakes and at last cement can join the hallowed ranks of the other types of stone.

In Godtime the cult had a lot of influence in Mostali politics, its members back then used to be all made up of Rock Dwarfs and the sentient stone.Granite would follow legoins of Mostal into contsets of strength, marble would become the subjects of art, chalk would become the tools of the great Gold Dwarfs. When the elves destroyed the Spike and Stone died all Stone ceased to be. Stone changed. Stone died and now awaits the day when it will be ressurected when the World Machine restarts. The Cult up until then only accepted Rock Dwarfs as no other dwarf felt the need to join. With the death of Stone many other dwarfs were recruited for use in the cult. When the cumulation of the Godswar came the Cult of Stone enchanted large piles of granite for use against chaos. The Cult of Stones part in the Godswar was small, but notable.

When Time began the Cult of Stone went to the laborious task of ressurecting Stone via making the World Machine work. When Nysalor was created the Cult of Stone followed suit with the Cult of Mostal and supplied many materials for the creation of the god. They were one of the first to withdraw support for the experiment as they were at the heart of the projects work. Unfortunately they were one of the most enthusiastic in their desperation to fix the World Machine, so what was done was not undone. It is said they still hold samples of Ruby Harbour in their basement.

In the Second Age the Cult of Stone was the major ammunition manufacturer in the wars against elves and trolls. They were even overlooked by the God learners, relegated to a few footnotes within the documents upon the Mostali, although many of their enchanted pieces of Stone were stolen.

The Red Moon is signaled to be Stone himself and the greatest signal that soon the time will come for the World Machine to be fixed and for Stone to be ressurected. The Cult of Stone is involved in any major operation dealing with the World Machine nowadays, its following is small but the rise of Individualism has allowed it to gain more members than ever. The Cult of Stone has mysteriously accepted this heresey as the greatest tool in the ressurection of their god and the World Machine.

Stones Runes are Law, Stasis and Earth.

II. Cult Ecology

A small proportion of Mostal have joined the Cult of Stone. This Cult does not interfere with the Way of Mostal and so spiritual purity is maintained and a member of the Cult of Stone is always a member of the Cult of Mostal and if for some reason that dwarf leaves the Way of Mostal they must also leave the Cult of Stone. The Cult of Stone dedicates itself to the ressurection of the World Machine as without the World Machine Stone is dead and without Stone the Cult itself is left feeling alone and empty. Some older members of the cult, such as Diamond dwarfs from Godtime, have a deeply rooted hated of any involved in the destruction of the Spike and have develpoed their own heresy, a heresy where all must be killed that is not Mostal, and all Mostal who do not comply must also be killed. The Decamony has not accepted the existence of this heresy.

It is a members duty to aid any Mostali who wishes to repair the World Machine in any way, and so large amounts of stone are given to these Mostali for no payment, the mere idea that the World Machine will soon be working and their god ressurected is comfort enough.

Like the Cult of Mostal the Cult of Stone has no holy days, the Mostal are expected to work every day. There is a rush before Sacred Time however when large amounts of stone are needed so that the Mostali will work hard in Sacred Time.

III. The Cult In The World

The Cult occupies a small part of every dwarfs life, although there are a few who are completley devoted to it. It is not a "cult" in the sense that no one actively worships it, people only join the cult by working with stone itself. The various dwarfs in the cult each fufil obligations to do with their own castes, silver dwarfs for instance will use the materials neccesary to make magic items with.

The cult has its "base" in the Jord Mountains, although the secrets of the cult are rumoured to be in Slon.

IV. The Decamony and The Cult

Each of the castes has a certain position within the cult. Each caste must fufil its tasks otherwise fall from ranks within the cult.

The Rock Dwarfs are the leaders of the cult and are the ones who mine and quarry the stone. They are the only members of the cult who hold the secrets to the creation of cement. They coordinate who gets what amount of stone and what type, they also hold the only spell that grants stone intelligence.

The Lead Dwarfs have only one intrest in the Cult of Stone, and that is using it to make impenetrable barriers made out of granite and enchanted. They have little else intrest.

The Quicksilver Dwarfs have shown their knowledge of alchemy to be of lasting usefulness to the cult as a whole. They have shared spells that allow one stone to change into another, and also grant stones abilities such as texture altering and density altering.

The Copper Dwarfs sometimes use stone for containers, but little else.
The Tin Dwarfs have wondered at the various Jolanti and Nilmergs made with these stone types. They are used to create amazing structures of power and have given the Cult many stone enchancing powers. There are rumours that the Cult has even been able to discover particular types of gnome, such as granite gnome, marble gnome etc...

Brass Dwarfs have no buisness with the Cult of Stone.

Silver Dwarfs have always been involved with the cult. They claim that powers gained from the cult allowed them to make and enchant the Red Moon. The various stone types have been enchanted by this caste.

Gold Dwarfs sometimes join and take control as management. Other than this they do not do much for the Cult of Stone. They do however bring with them the powers of giving back stone their sentience and give spells to stabilize the spells cast by Rock Dwarfs.

The Iron Dwarfs have never been much involved with the cult except for the amazing properties they can grant granite for use in weapons.

V. Sample Cult Sorcery

Stabilize Stone's Mind (Rock Dwarfs)
ritual enchantment, temporal
This spell is cast upon a piece of any type of stone. The intensity must be greater than the ENC of the piece of stone being affected. When the duration expires, the enchantment ends. Whenever this is cast 1 POW must be spent, in addition to any magic points.

For the duration of the enchantment the stone has an Fixed INT equal to the intensity of the spell. The stone cannot innately communicate.

Create Ward (Lead Dwarfs)
ritual enchantment, temporal
This spell is cast on a block of stone designed to act as a barrier. The intensity required must be greater than the ENC of the stone divided by five. The enchantment ends when the duration expires. The caster must expend 1 POW when this spell is cast.

For the duration of the spell the affected stone cannot be moved in any way unless the caster speaks a command word stated at casting.

Transmutate Stone (Quicksilver Dwarfs)
ritual ceremony
This spell is cast on a piece of stone. One point of intensity is required to alter 1 ENC of stone. One POW is expired when this spell is cast. The caster can alter one of three features for each casting, either colour, type or density. At Intensity 1 the colour can be mildly changed, cannot turn any stone type into any other and can alter the density by upto 10%. At Intensity 5 it can radically alter the colour, change soft stones to other soft stones/hard stones to soft stones etc... and alter the density by upto 50%. At intensity 10 it can change the colour of stone into wild pictures and designs, change the stone to any other type and alter the density by upto 100%.

Boost Gnome (Tin Dwarf)
ritual enchantment, temporal
This enchantment is cast upon stone, which is then absorbed by a willing gnome. The spell requires an intensity equal to the ENC of stone within the enchantment. All stone used must be of the same type. When the duration expires the enchantment ends. The caster must expend 1 POW point in addition to magic points used in the spell.

For the duration of the spell the gnome gains a number of armour points equal to the ENC of stone used in the enchantment. The stone is immediately "coughed out" when the enchantment ends.

Grant Free Will (Gold Dwarfs)
ritual enchant, temporal
This spell is cast upon stone treated with the spell Stabilze Stone's Mind. The intensity required is equal to the Fixed INT of the stone. When the duration expires the enchantment ends, it also ends if the Stabilize Stone's Mind spell finishes before it. The caster must expend one POW in casting.

This spell turns the stone from Fixed INT to normal, free INT. This allows the stone full sentience.

Granite Weapon (Iron Dwarfs)
ritual enchant, temporal
This spell is cast upon weapons specially crafted out of granite. Each point of intensity allows the spell to affect a single weapon of upto 5 ENC, if more than 5 ENC is to be enchanted then the damage bonus due to intensity is split equally (round fractions down) for every set of 5 ENC being enchanted. The enchantment expires when the enchantment ends. One POW is spent during casting this spell.

For the duration of the spell the granite weapon has double normal armour points, it also does half again damage before magical bonuses and damage bonus is added.