Glorantha What the Wizard Says (Malkioni beliefs).txt

Glorantha: What the Wizard Says 
What the Wizard Says
Teachings From The Wise Ones
originally published in Gods of Glorantha
This document is Copyright © 1998 Issaries, Inc. It may be freely linked to, and 
one copy may be printed for personal use, but any other reproduction by 
photographic, electronic, or other methods of retrieval, is prohibited.
Table of Contents
  Where did the world come from? 
  Can you tell me the truth about...? 
  Holies of the Invisible God 
Where did the world come from?
The world is the result of interactions between impersonal natural powers. Many 
forces of nature exist, working in extremely complex patterns. We collectively 
name these forces the Invisible God, or Creator. These energies have always 
existed and always will exist, as we can demonstrate through methodical 
experimentation.
Where did I come from?
Your mother bore you as a result of natural reproduction processes. Everything 
in the world has a natural origin. What makes you different from an inanimate 
object is your spirit -- that measurable part of you which gives you life.
Why do we die?
All natural mechanisms eventually break down. While our bodies can be maintained 
for many years, ultimately everything and everyone dies, even if only through 
happenstance.
What happens after we die?
Paths of knowledge have been discovered whereby we can earn identity and 
consciousness after death. This is why we worship the Invisible God and keep the 
laws of Malkion.
Why am I here?
This is not a meaningful question. Each man has only one life, and it is his 
responsibility to live as well as he can. Only thus can we come to appreciate 
the works of the Creator and earn the right to eternal fulfillment.
How do I do magic?
Magic is the process of manipulating natural energies through skill and the 
authority of the soul. This requires natural aptitude and many hours of study on 
the part of the would-be sorcerer. In any formal society the services of 
professional wizards are available to all, for appropriate fees.
Lesser cultures derive magic power from other-planar entities such as spirits or 
false gods. These alternate methods of magic impose limitations upon their 
practitioners - priests and shamans are slaves to their magic, even as we are 
masters of ours.
I have heard of other powers. Can you tell me the truth about ...
During the period of time now referred to as the Great Darkness, people were 
lost and frightened. In an effort to understand their world they imagined gods 
in their own image. By personifying their social desires, the forces of nature, 
or their emotional needs, they withstood the turmoil of the Darkness.
These gods are always carefully represented as benevolent forces, but each 
possesses a dark side which is revealed only when it is too late. The 
catastrophe of Gbaji's creation is the ultimate modern example of this 
god-making folly.
We are free of the self-imposed limitations induced by the personification of 
natural forces. We try to understand nature as it is. All other gods are, at 
best, lesser beings subject to the laws of nature and to worship any of them is 
folly, ignorance, and blasphemy.
...Aldrya?
This forest spirit is like a living soul of the woods and jungles. Elves are her 
children, enslaved within the vegetal cycles of her existence. They can never 
know the Invisible God.
...Chaos?
When grouped together the truly evil gods are called by this name. They are the 
product of the raw chaos from which Glorantha originally formed. Followers of 
these monstrous entities are evil and worthy only of destruction.
...Kyger Litor?
Trolls are a race of dangerous, brutal creatures who understand only strength. 
They feed the spirit Kyger Litor to gain divine spells. Trolls know about Arkat, 
from whom they stole the knowledge of sorcery.
...Lunar Goddess?
This goddess is a modern example of misplaced belief in artificial gods. Like 
the belief in Gbaji, belief in this manufactured goddess will drive her 
worshipers into suffering, degradation, and death.
...Magasta?
The deep and ominous sea holds a history a hundred times greater than the human 
world. The ignorant have personified their fears and emotionally feed monstrous 
entities, which are thus empowered to make real those fears.
...Mostal?
Dwarfs have no delusions about the reality of the universe, and have uncovered 
the same natural laws which we know. However, they lack the key truths of Solace 
in the afterlife, and so are doomed to senseless existence and meaningless 
death.
...Orlanth?
Another personification of natural forces, this time those of an aerial nature. 
This god's worshipers are like the wind: first blowing hot and hard, then 
wavering, and finally fading when needed most.
...Primitive Spirits?
The ignorance of savages is proverbial. Study of the petty beings they worship 
shows why. At best these creatures are minor in ability, of local importance, or 
are so vague and distant that they provide only pitiful magic.
...Yelm?
The shining orb of the sun has been an object of adoration since it rose into 
the sky. Primitive peoples seized upon the visible sun as the most obvious sign 
for the ruling power of their universe, and anthropomorphized it.
Holies of the Invisible God
Arkat, destroyer of chaos
In 374 S.T., a terribly misguided conspiracy of rulers created Gbaji the 
Deceiver to stop the spread of Malkionism. They would have obliterated our 
civilization but for the efforts of this man. Arkat's battle with Gbaji involved 
an epic, 75-year-long struggle. During this war he revealed and then reversed 
the spread of Gbaji's great evil.
Though he did kill Gbaji, Arkat's fanatical purpose eclipsed his reason. He 
suffered, and to escape his pain he underwent voluntary subjugation to false 
gods so that, though he succeeded in his task, he was a failure afterwards and 
condemned by all. His story is tragic, and a warning to everyone.
Creator
This is the title we give the Invisible God when we refer specifically to his 
role as the designer of the natural universe.
Hrestol, Knight
Initiator Hrestol is the second prophet of the Invisible God. In the year 2 S.T. 
Hrestol revealed crucial knowledge and rituals which enabled the followers of 
the Invisible God to maintain their contact with him in the new age. He taught 
the Joy of the Heart, even as Malkion taught the Solace of the Body. All modem 
Malkioni sects stem from Hrestol's teachings.
Invisible God, The Creator
The Invisible God is, was, and shall be. He is the force of nature, greater than 
all other forces. In the time since the world was formed, two great men have 
discovered secret truths of the Invisible God, and have tried to show other men 
the path to happiness.
Malkion, First Prophet
Sometimes, mankind has fallen away from union and understanding with the 
Invisible God. He then sent prophets to visit us to teach us again how to find 
God through body and heart. Malkion was the first prophet of the Invisible God.
During the Great Darkness Malkion discovered the ways of the Creator, spreading 
his knowledge among other men to help them survive amidst the evil of the era. 
Malkion's proofs are essential to intelligent action. He showed men the proper 
social classes and taught them to be happy with their lot in life. He taught us 
Solace.
Saints
Though there is but one true god, there are numerous individuals who have 
discovered certain truths about physical cycles, allowing them to intercede in 
worldly affairs to ensure the well being of the righteous who follow their ways. 
We term these individuals Saints.
There are many saints; Arkat, Hrestol, and Malkion are the most important.
We Malkioni belong to many different castes and sects, but all of us recognize 
the divinity of a saint, no matter what sect he attained his sainthood through. 
It is notable that the Brithini, who profess no contact with the Invisible God, 
have produced no saints.
Dormal the Mariner came from afar to break the evil Closing, which vindictive 
Zzabur of the Brithini had brought upon the seas. He taught us the procedure we 
can use to send our ships again across the ocean depths.
Gerlant Flamesword is the famous comrade and liege lord of Arkat. He was forced 
to make the impossible choice between his people and his best friend, and he 
chose rightly.
Paslac the Ruler is the example of perfect rule, whom all kings and lords should 
attempt to emulate.
Talor, the Laughing Warrior, cleansed his own northern homeland and Fronela, 
even as Arkat cleansed the south. But when Talor was finished he left behind joy 
and light, where Arkat's gloom left only massacre and waste.
Valkaro the Good Wizard was father, king, defender, and nourisher of his people. 
But he never went outside his proper sphere. His land in the far east survives 
to this day.
Waertag, Father of the Sea People, was sacred to a hybrid branch of humanity who 
called themselves the Waertagi. These people lived entirely at sea aboard their 
great ships and so were nearly driven into extinction by Zzabur's great curse of 
the Closing. The Waertagi were indifferent worshipers of the Invisible God at 
best, and treacherous enemies at worst.
Xemela, mother of Hrestol, sacrificed her soul to save her people. One of 
Hrestol's first acts to prove his superiority and virtue was to free his mother 
from her soul's imprisonment and thus permit her to attain true sainthood, from 
whence she can bless all of us.


See also:
Pantheons of Glorantha: The Malkioni Array
A Personal View of Western Culture


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