Orlanthi recognise the existence of gods other than their own. Those who follow them are not deluded, though they may harbour false beliefs about the Storm Tribe gods and how they fi t into the pre-Time stories as they really happened.
Certain Orlanthi gods are considered defectors from other pantheons: Elmal came from the Fire Tribe and Heler from the Water Tribe.
The gods of many other cultures appear in Orlanthi mythology, often as enemies or adversaries of the Storm King himself. They include: the Uz warrior god Zorak Zoran, known to the Orlanthi as the God of Hate; the elf mother spirit Aldyra, personifi ed as a primal forest goddess; Dayzatar, the sky god, high priest of the Fire Tribe; Lodril, the consuming volcano god of the Fire Tribe; Magasta, hostile king of the Water Tribe and the werewolf god, Telmor.
Other enemy gods are specifi c to Orlanthi mythology. These include Daga, god of drought, as well as the Unholy Trio of malign deities: Mallia, goddess of disease, Ragnaglar, god of evil and Thed, goddess of rape.
My History
Orlanthi took an important role in the unity battles that drove off Chaos when the world began, including the decisive one called I Fought We Won, fought near Dragon Pass.
Our people took part in the First Council. We were called the Theyalans then. We took the lessons Orlanth had given us and went out into the world looking for people still suffering the effects of the Darkness. We taught them the skills they had lost. They learned to plant and to raise herds. Also we told them of our Orlanth stories and these were embraced. The weak gods who had failed to help them were discarded.
Orlanthi have always taken risks and created new things. So, to our shame, many of us participated in the creation of the riddling god, Nysalor, who turned out to be Gbaji, a Chaos god in disguise. So then the Orlanthi who had not been driven mad by his strange worship rose up and fought him.
Arkat, the hero who destroyed Gbaji, was an Orlanthi, too, sort of. He accumulated power by joining one cult, then another, changing his identity each time. He was like the God Learners in that way and it is no surprise that their blasphemous raiding of the divine realms is based on his secrets. As wrong as he was, he was for some time a follower of Orlanth’s brother, Humakt.
Also he was helped considerably by a great hero of our people, a man named Harmast, who was the fi rst to complete the entire Lightbringer’s Journey as a HeroQuest. As such we can take credit for the destruction of Gbaji, whenever the time for a boasting contest comes.
Again our love of innovation proved our undoing in the Second Age, when good people were beguiled by the dragon and worshipped an imaginary god called Orlanth the Dragon.
Those who spoke up were killed or driven off.
We will bring down both the God Learners, who loot our myths like we raid each other’s cattle, and the wyrmtalkers, who think that you can worship anything, even a crawling snake, so long as you call it Orlanth. We are not just people who make new things. We are a people who fi ght for what is right.
My Life
Traditional Orlanthi life occurs in good grazing land, where it is possible to do a little planting, too. We herd cattle and sheep.
We raise horses and consider them a precious commodity.
We harvest grains, the exact varieties depending on local conditions. Wheat and barley are best but in some places we have to settle for wilder grasses. We supplement our larders with game and forage.
We organise ourselves into bloodlines, then clans, then tribes, then kingdoms. Of these associations the most important is the clan. Clans control their own pieces of territory. They are governed by chiefs, who may be male or female. Each chief appoints a ring, a council of seven worthies who provide advice. Wisely chosen rings are balanced between worshippers of the various Orlanthi deities, so that their counsel draws on life’s many spheres.
You can tell much about a clan from the nature of its ring. A ring fi lled with priestesses of grain and cattle seeks prosperity, valuing a full belly above all else. These are called peace clans. One staffed by warriors seeks success through tribute and conquest and are known as war clans. Most clans seek
a middle ground. If a ring includes a follower of the crazy outlaw trickster god, Eurmal, count on its magic to be both potent and unpredictable.
Though we worship gods, we gain knowledge and power from spirits, too. The most important is our clan spirit, the wyter. We also revere our ancestors and gain magic when we honour them by behaving as they did, back when the clan was founded. For this reason older clans therefore have more powerful magic, including folk magic, than newer ones.
Each clan is made up of a half dozen to several dozen bloodlines, households of close blood relatives. In most places they live together in large single-room houses called steads.
A tribe is a group of clans gathered together for mutual prosperity and protection. Tribal leaders are called kings and are advised by tribal rings. They settle disputes between clans in a judicial process called a moot. Clans of the same tribe do not go to war against each other — not unless they want to break up the tribe.
When Orlanthi are not battling foreigners or crazy oppressors, we fi ght each other. We fortify our lands against our neighbours’
raids and arm ourselves to conduct raids of our own. Raiding for cattle is not considered warfare; it is a normal way of life.
Orlanth was a thief before he was a king and ordains that clans who cannot protect their cattle deserve to lose them to cleverer, bolder neighbours.
The number of warriors a clan can fi eld is called its fyrd. This includes all able-bodied individuals, not just its great heroes and war priests.
Serious wars can break out between clans, usually as a result of feuds. We are a people of honour. If a person allows insults or injuries to go unchallenged, he shames not only himself but his family too. Though it is possible to make peace and lay feuds to rest, often with the payment of gifts, many of us prefer to solve them with Orlanth’s favoured tool, violence.
We go out and do harm to the one who wronged us, or one of his bloodline or clan. This can escalate, because these acts of redress are themselves subject to reprisal. It is a woman’s duty to remind men of their honour and to encourage the shedding of blood for it.
Unlike other people, like the arrogant Dara Happans, we know that men and women are equally important. Men fi ght and women egg them on. Women attend to the fertility of the land and the safety of children and men protect them.
We allow people to make exceptions for themselves. If a man wants to devote himself to fertility magic, he can do it. He worships Nandan, the housekeeper god. Women drawn to the sword and spear devote themselves to the martial goddesses.
These include Vinga, Orlanth’s red-headed daughter; Maran Gor, mother of earthquakes and the dread axe avenger Babeester Gor.
The Imperial Age is a time of travels and of prosperous cities.
Many of our brothers have left their clan lands to live in those cities or traverse the world in search of fortune and trouble.
City Orlanthi still value their clans. Assuming they have not been outlawed, they return to their ancestral lands when they can. Most go at Sacred Time, to participate in ceremonies and renew their ancestral connections.
All of us hold generosity as a cardinal virtue. City Orlanthi show their generosity by bringing home gifts of silver and trade goods. Their welcoming brothers cannot be outdone and shower them with food, ale and the other signs of hospitality, even when they cannot afford it.
In the hill country, the word of chief and ring governs the behaviour of individuals. They maintain little practical infl uence over their citifi ed brethren. A city Orlanthi must answer to the local authorities, who may also be of the Storm Faith, but it is not the same. They must fi nd their own way, like Orlanth did when he was free and journeying. Old clan rivalries fall away in the city. It is better to embrace a fellow Orlanthi, even if he hails from the hated Blue Deer clan, than to trust a foreign sorcerer or dragon mystic. In the towns we must restrain our sense of honour. Foreigners cannot take away our honour, because they have none of their own. So while you can threaten to strike them with your sword, which is often a satisfying thing to do, such actions occur by choice, not obligation.
After generations in the city, ties to the old clans may fade.
Cityfolk of the same tribe associate together in organisations called far-halls. Each maintains a drinking house, often reminiscent of a homeland clan hall. Members of a far-hall help each other out with business connections, knowledge, magic and, most importantly, comradeship. None of these gifts, however worthwhile, substitutes for the guidance provided by a chief and ring or the soulful feeling of solidarity with one’s ancestors.
Orlanth has always brought in strays and exiles and, when they proved their value, given them full status in his tribe.
Heler brought the rain from the Water Tribe. Elmal was once a member of the enemy Fire Tribe. Even Ernalda was of another people, that of the Earth. For this reason converts to Orlanth and Ernalda are always accepted. Without ancestors to lend them magic, their path may be diffi cult. Yet Orlanth himself always made it up as he went along and for us it is more
important to have the storm in your heart than to follow a list of musty old rules. These days, though, you have to be careful that a convert is sincere before sharing your rituals and secrets.
He might just be a God Learner agent trying to swindle you out of your clan’s obscure myths. We Orlanthi have another word for ‘blind faith’ – we call it stupidity.
Adventurers like Orlanthi gods because they were wayfarers and therefore grant powers useful to mercenaries, freebooters and fortune seekers. It is not insincere to join us for these reasons. It means that thunder beats in your chest and that your feet are as restless as those of our god.
My Magic
Like anyone, we can practice Common Magic. We know it as a gift from Orlanth. Anyone who says otherwise is just fooling himself. You gain it by going out and raiding for it, so it must be from him.
Our truly powerful magics are divine, gained in the theist way.
We get a little bit of magic from spirits, that benefi ts a clan but is not much use to individual warriors or adventurers.
Clans draw on their wyter spirits and their ancestors. Also, one of Orlanth’s brothers, Kolat, is master of wind spirits. An Orlanthi who walks his path is a shaman, not a priest.
Sorcery is very evil. Wizards will tell you that not all of them are God Learners, who seek to cut off the connections between us and our deities. Do not believe them. Better to distrust all of them than to be fooled by a single one.
If you asked a Dawn Age Orlanthi about mysticism, he would shrug his shoulders and wonder what you were talking about.
Now we have learned to hate this word and all it stands for, because it is what the wyrmfriends use to suppress and pervert our worship. Gbaji, the Chaos god that walked the earth and called itself Nysalor, also had suspiciously mystical qualities.
Mystics of other traditions may be acceptable but why risk contaminating yourself?
Why I Adventure
Orlanth went out into the world to take what riches awaited him, so we do it, too. Treasure is a good thing, especially when it benefi ts the community. The same holds true for magical abilities. Many of his Storm Tribe companions also went out to face the dangers of the world, making it a better place. So by hitting the adventurer’s trail, we emulate the divine actions of our gods.
Malkioni
We Malkioni worship the Invisible God. All other gods are false. We believe in logic and scholarship; these are the tools he gave us to make our way in a hostile world. The false gods hook their benighted followers on improper worship by doling out spells and charms. The Invisible God is not so vulgar. With the discipline of logic, we can fi gure out magic for ourselves. By applying its precepts, along with the divine principles outlined in the Abiding Book, we can govern all aspects of our daily lives in the correct and holy manner.
My Myths
Through recent scholarship we have refi ned our knowledge of prehistory, breaking it into the following eras.