Glorantha: Gods in PraxGods in Prax: Lightbringers
originally published in Cults of Prax
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
  The Lightbringers 
  The Lightbringers' Quest 
The Lightbringers
The pantheon of the Lightbringers is set apart from the previous groups by its 
organization and integration of several cults. The Invader Deities were 
individuals intruded into the plains. The Nomad Gods were organized to provide 
minimal cooperation between cults. The Lightbringers, by contrast, exhibit many 
more civilized relations. Even so, some of the more subtle aspects of 
Lightbringer worship are too fragile for Prax, and those cults do not appear 
here.
There are seven beings numbered as Lightbringers. They are: Orlanth, Chalana 
Arroy, Lhankor Mhy, Issaries, Eurmal, Flesh Man, and Ginna Jar. The last two are 
not worshipped deities, while Eurmal is not worshipped in Prax.
Flesh Man was a mortal being, a grandchild of Grandfather Mortal, who was the 
first-made Man and who lived on the slopes of The Spike. Save Humakt and Eurmal, 
he was the only witness to the death of Grandfather Mortal. This sight made him 
prophetic, but all his outcries and anguish failed to warn the greater beings of 
the cosmos. As the world slowly succumbed to the vices of Death the Flesh Man 
grew more and more crazed by the weight of his knowledge. He fled, but found 
only the future wherever he went. Even a major healing effort by Arroin did not 
cure him, though the meeting provided a valuable ally to him.
Chalana Arroy was a healing goddess who had sat by, passive save for her 
healing, while the world grew ill in the God War. She hoped to await the coming 
of the disease of the cosmos, but it did not come and she met Flesh Man instead. 
She chose to follow the mortal who said he was heading for the Great Doom, and 
so set off on the Lightbringer's Quest.
Orlanth, skilled in battle and friend to adventure, was the slayer of the sun. 
When Yelm, the sun god, fell and went to the Underworld, it cast the world into 
the Lesser Darkness. After many other acts Orlanth decided to right this wrong 
he had done. His path crossed that of Flesh Man and Chalana Arroy and they all 
joined together.
Issaries was absent from his golden home on The Spike when the disaster struck 
and robbed him of home and kin. He traveled on through dangers, rootless, ever 
protective of his own place. He met Lhankor Mhy, who was the holder of many 
secrets, and the two became friends.
Lhankor Mhy, the grandson of the god Acos, was the holder of knowledge. When The 
Spike exploded, he began collecting many pieces of the stone, keeping its 
secrets as his own. He could use these secrets himself but was loath to give 
them up even in exchange. Even so, he contributed to the Quest.
Eurmal was the Trickster god. He had been a mischievous imp at first but grew to 
more dangerous proportions as the world aged. It was he who discovered the first 
sword, Death, hidden deep in the recesses of the underworld and who guided 
Humakt to its place. He also helped Orlanth steal it from Humakt, then convinced 
Orlanth to lend it to Zorak Zoran, and several more times aided in passing the 
lethal weapon among gods and men.
He spread destruction without hesitation, for his runes include Disorder. As the 
world shook, he alone was at home. Flesh Man saw this, and chose to follow 
Trickster, but it was Orlanth who forced Eurmal to lead them on their chosen 
Path.
The Lightbringers' Quest
Thus the gods moved westward across the face of the earth, meeting and joining 
with the others along the way. The six were together when they reached the end 
of the world where the ocean seeped across the land. Beyond that place, the lap 
of cold chaos froze the very stuff of the world. There, upon the edge of the 
cosmos, they discovered the mysterious being called Ginna Jar. Throughout elder 
myths Ginna Jar remains enigma, occasionally personified as either male or 
female, occasionally reaching out to assist or interfere, but never taking form. 
Its identity remained unknown, though many cults claimed its revelation through 
heroquests. The worship devoted to it was always desperate and usually 
ineffective.
Detailed research and speculation has indicated that Ginna Jar may have been the 
ghost of Glorantha, the Great Goddess of the Cosmos who had once headed the 
Celestial Court. There is no mention of Glorantha after her death at the hands 
of the Devil. But there is a mysterious goddess in Hell who combats the Devil 
and, with the aid of the other gods, defeats it and devours it, shortly 
afterwards giving birth to the force called Time. This mysterious goddess is 
called Arachne Solara in myths and worship and she is generally the vague force 
of Nature in the world. It is our contention that Glorantha, Ginna Jar, and 
Arachne Solara are the same being. The many differences in their worship is a 
measure of the wrack and ruin wrought upon the world at the end of Godtime. This 
is still speculation and further research will surely shed light on the matter.
The Lightbringers at last reached Hell, though each suffered losses and learned 
much. On the journey Orlanth fought and fought well, but learned the lesson of 
defeat before he got to his ends. Eurmal tricked and joked his way through the 
falling cosmos but could not attain his goal until he was tricked and learned 
some logic and responsibility. Chalana Arroy received a wound which would not 
heal, Issaries lost his road, and Lhankor Mhy found a fact he could not know. 
But they all persevered and found their way.
The dead all fled the approach of the living Lightbringers, who nonetheless 
found their way to where Yelm ruled the end of the universe. There Orlanth and 
Yelm came to terms and contracted for harmony. Other deities agreed, so that 
when the Devil appeared, slain by Storm Bull in the physical plane, Arachne 
Solara trapped and devoured the chaos god.
Armed with Time the gods could reassert themselves in the cosmos. They fought 
their way back to Being, reassembling the shattered world as they went. At last 
Yelm, preceded by his daughter called Dawn, returned to the world of the Living 
and released Time upon the cosmos.
Thus began History.


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