MRALOT

THE BOAR SPIRIT

MYTHOS AND HISTORY

Dasior, the cloven-footed goddess, was the child of Mother Mammal and had many children of her own. The strongest, toughest and most virtuous of these was Mralot, so naturally all his brothers and sisters looked to him for advice and leadership. For a long time everything was peaceful, and everyone lived in harmony with the earth, whether they had four feet or only two. But then Fralar brought Death into the world (although some say he had only taken it from Trickster) and he and his children began to abuse this new power.

One of the children of Fralar was named Telmor, and he is the father of all the wolves in the world today. Telmor was very fond of the new power of Death, especially when he could use it to fill his belly. He attacked each of Dasior's children, and ate many of her grandchildren. Eventually he got greedy, and decided to eat one of Mralot's piglets, who were fat and juicy and looked much nicer than the fawns and calves he had been eating so far. So he crept into Mralot's den and jumped on one of the piglets, and toar its throat out and prepared to eat it.

But before he could do so, Mralot woke up, and seeing Telmor standing over the corpse of one of his children, the great Boar felt a rage greater than any he had known before and charged forward with a great rush of air and a thundering of hooves. Telmor almost jumped out of his skin, he was so frightened, and just as Mralot reached him, he turned tail and fled, howling in terror. Mralot saw the Father of Wolves fleeing and knew his piglets were no longer in danger, but he thought to himself 'I will not stop, and I will not turn away and I will not compromise,' and he chased Telmor over the hills and mountains, and across the forests and the rivers.

But Telmor proved faster, for his fear gave him great speed, and eventually he slipped away out of sight. But Mralot was not worried, for he was virtuous and thought he knew other ways to bring the wolf to justice. He went to see Fralar, who knew was Telmor's father, and who he believed could be made to behave justly and let him take his rightful revenge. But Fralar just grinned, showing all his teeth, which were very sharp. Mralot was not afraid, and stood his ground, demanding vengeance again. Fralar was impressed but tried not to show it, and told the Great Boar that he would hide his son, and all his other children would help him to do so, except for Lotara, who had tried to steal his tail and so was not in favour at the moment. "So," he said, "you may as well go away, for you will gain nothing".

"No," said Mralot, "I will not stop, and I will not turn away and I will not compromise."

"Too bad," said Fralar, and he slunk away.

So Mralot began to look for Telmor on his own, intending to search across all Glorantha if he had to. But before he had searched very far at all, Fralar ate the Sun, and everything was plunged into darkness and cold. "You cannot find Telmor now," he said, "and my children will eat yours and nothing will ever be good for you again."

And it was so, for in the darkness and the cold, Fralar's children prospered and ate as many of the other animals as they could. Monsters poured up from the ground, and ate not only the two-legged and four-legged children, but even began to eat the rocks as well. "Why don't you give up?" said Fralar, "you have already lost but you just don't realise it yet." But no matter how bad things got, Mralot stood firm and said "I will not stop, and I will not turn away and I will not compromise."

The force of his determination and righteousness moved the great powers of the cosmos, and down in the depths of Hell, Spider Woman stirred and saw the wrongs that had been inflicted on the world. She spun her web, and trapped Fralar and all of the most evil spirits within, and ate them. Then she laid a clutch of eggs, which hatched to bring back many things from the world which had been lost. At last the Sun itself was reborn and all peoples across the world rejoiced that Fralar's dominion had at last been brought to an end.

ICONOGRAPHY

Mralot is depicted as a huge, black, male boar with tusks much larger than his living descendants. In the crude artwork of the Mraloti, he is usually shown charging or stomping on his foes.

The runic affinities of Mralot are Beast and Earth.

The runic classification of Mralot is Animist, Hsunchen, Boar.

ROLE IN SOCIETY

The Mraloti are the most populous hsunchen race outside of Fronela or the Shan Shan, outnumbering even the more famous Telmori. Mralot is the principal god of the Pure Mraloti hsunchen, although his worship is accompanied by that of a number of lesser spirits with more clearly circumscribed powers. Often persecuted by the Ramalian authorities, the worship of Mralot is in decline, although at present those Mraloti who practice at least some of his rituals significantly outnumber those who do not. However, many nominally Pure Mraloti have accepted some form of cooperation with their Slontan overlords and farming relatives.

Mraloti shamans are spiritual leaders only, with other leadership duties being the province of the female chieftains and the male Boar Warriors. Most sounders only have one shaman, although he or she may have a small number of assistants.

Any sounder where untarnished Pure Mraloti worship is maintained is considered a Minor Temple; those in which worship is combined with that of non-Mraloti deities would count only as a Shrine so that the people there will have difficulty aquiring their full shape-shifting magics. Often shamans get together, temporarily creating the equivalent of a Major Temple. Shrines teach Tusks.

The holy days for the cult are Clayday of Disorder week, each season. The eighth day of Sacred Time is considered the High Holy Day.

INITIATE STATUS

All Pure Mraloti automatically become initiates when they reach adulthood by sacrificing a point of POW. The requirements of the cult are identical with those of membership of the sounder. Initiates may learn any spirit magic from the sounder's shaman, the most popular being Bladesharp, Endurance, Fanaticism, Heal, Peaceful Cut, Strength and Vigour.

All adult wild boar and related animals (but not domesticated pigs) are also considered initiates of Mralot.

PdP virtues: Indulgent, Lustful, Suspicious, Valourous, Vengeful

BOAR WARRIOR (ACOLYTE) STATUS

REQUIREMENTS

Boar Warriors are the elite fighters of the Pure Mraloti, and must be either male or a Tusk Sister. A candidate must demonstrate sufficient ability in the skills listed below, have a healthy child, have proven themselves in battle and must have taken full boar form at least once in his life (this last requirement will automatically be true if the candidate is a Tusk Brother or Sister). They must then take a test, abstracted in RQ as POW x1 or less on 1d100 (PdP: POW/5 on d20, GURPS: IQ-10 on 3d6).

Boar Warriors gain reusable divine magic as if they were priests. Their duties are set by the chieftain, with advice from the shaman. Their main function is to lead other Mraloti into battle.

SKILLS

RuneQuest: Animal Lore, Ceremony, Gore Attack, 1H Spear Attack, World Lore

Pendragon Pass: Animal Lore, Grapple, Religion (Mralot), Spear, World Lore

GURPS: Animal Handling, Brawling, Spear, Theology (Mraloti), Survival (forest)

SHAMAN STATUS

REQUIREMENTS

A candidate for shaman of Mralot must follow the usual requirements and rituals. Mraloti shamans are also priests. They may be either men or women.

Like other Hsunchen shamans, those of Mralot deal mostly with animal spirits. Spirits of boars and related animals (e.g. warthogs), are usually friendly, while those of other herbivores are generally neutral. Spirits of carnivores may be either neutral or hostile. Plant spirits are always hostile. Earth spirits, such as gnomes, are generally neutral. Other non-animal spirits are either neutral or hostile and can generally not be convinced to give any aid to the shaman.

DIVINE MAGIC

Available Spells: Boarheart, Sanctify, Speak With Boar, Trotters, Tusks, Worship Mralot.

Boarheart (2 points)
touch, temporal, nonstackable, reusable

The target sprouts thick bristly hair across their entire body and grows a short tail. In this form, they have 1 point of natural armour, and their basic fatigue rating increases by 50%. Furthermore, they may continue to move and fight even if their chest or abdomen is incapacitated provided they can pass a CON x3 roll every combat round. Even if they have no general hit points left at all (and are therefore 'dead') they may make a single CON x3 roll to continue acting without penalty for one further round before expiring.

PdP: +3 to any rolls to ignore Major Wounds, can make a Valorous roll to ignore the effects of Unconsciousness or to continue fighting for one round after reaching 0 or less hit points
GURPS: Hard to Kill +3

Trotters (3 points)
touch, temporal, nonstackable, reusable

This spell turns the target's limbs into those of a boar, rendering them incapable of using any manipulation skills. For the duration of the spell, the target has a Move of 8 and can attack a downed foe with his hooves using a Stomp attack with a starting value of 50% + attack bonus. The stomp attack does 1d6 base damage, and can be used in addition to a Gore attack if the subject is also using the Tusks spell.

PdP: use Grappling skill to attack with feet; Movement rate increases by +2
GURPS: use Brawling skill to attack with feet; one level of Enhanced Movement

Tusks (1 point)
touch, temporal, nonstackable, reusable

This spell turns the target's head into that of a boar. While in this state, the target gains a Smell skill with a starting value of 50% + perception bonus and may use their sharp tusks to gore an opponent for 1d8 damage + damage bonus. The gore attack has a starting skill of 30% and can be used in addition to normal attacks and parries, provided it is used 3 strike ranks apart from any other attacks. Both of these skills can be increased by experience.

PdP: starting Smell skill 12, use Grappling skill to attack with tusks.
GURPS: Discriminatory Smell, Sharp Teeth, use Brawling skill to attack with tusks.

SUBSERVIENT CULTS

SPIRIT OF REPRISAL

There is no true Spirit of Reprisal among the Mraloti, which may help explain the decline in their religion in recent decades. Any Mraloti who acts so far against the sounder as to be expelled is cursed by Mralot, so that he will always be recognised as an exile by Pure Mraloti, and he will attract spirits of bad luck which will make his life generally miserable without doing any serious physical or mental harm (a GM may simulate this by simply 'picking on' the character in various minor ways). However, this latter effect can be neutralised by a Fallen Mraloti Mumbor or any shaman who might be willing to ward off such spirits. Children of the apostate, even if born after his exile, will not automatically be recognised as such by Pure Mraloti and might potentially be able to rejoin the cult; in other words, they will be typical Fallen Mraloti.

The following sub-cults can be followed by any shaman and should be treated as spirit cults as per Horned Man:

MOTHER EARTH

The great spirit of the Earth only grants her power to female shamans who have borne a child. She grants the Earthpower spell.

SLASHER

This warrior spirit only grants his powers to male shamans, and demands that they participate in a hunt at least once per season. He grants the spell Truespear.

GULRIT THE WALLOWER

Gulrit is the spirit of rivers, and the mud in which pigs love to roll and cleanse themselves of insects. She grants the spell Summon Naiad, and is only worshipped near sizable rivers.

AFKA

The fire spirit demands that his worshippers abstain from alcohol, and provides a spell identical in effect to Enhance Gustbran.

ASSOCIATE CULTS

UGONRO THE HUNTER

Ugonro allows any Mraloti to learn his magic if they join his cult. He provides the Peaceful Cut spirit spell to Mralot. His cult is similar to most other Hunter cults, and provides Command spells for deer, elk, wild sheep and wild boars.

MOTHER MAMMAL

The ancestress of all mammals gives Mralot the spell of Transform Self (see Dorastor: Land of Doom p122 for details, replacing terms with Mraloti equivalents where necessary).

Notes: Much of this description is based on that of other Hsunchen cults described in Gods of Glorantha, Dorastor: Land of Doom and the Book of Drastic Resolutions: volume Prax. The mythology, holy days and runes of the cult are largely my own invention, and build further on my (entirely unsupported) theory of a war between the children of Fralar and Dasior in the Storm Age. The divine magic is my own creation, although a certain similarity with Martin Crim's ideas is unavoidable - where similarities exist he has precendence with regard to copyright issues. Subservient cults have not been mentioned in earlier Hsunchen write-ups to my knowledge, although they make sense given the answer to 'Who are our gods?' in the Rathori write-up in the Genertela book, and given that the Mraloti holy men and women are shamans. While I have no evidence that the Mraloti worship Hunter alongside Mralot, that deity is mentioned as part of the 'Hsunchen Array' in Gods of Glorantha and is therefore presumably worshipped by someone.