Gods

“	Gods walk the world. You or I could meet them. But more often, we become gods, by allowing their power to mantle us.	”
— Six Ages: Ride Like the Wind

The peoples of Glorantha worship many different gods, the proper worship of which is critical for the practice of most forms of magic. Worshiping the gods through sacrifice and the construction of temples allows you to gain blessings, while performing Otherworld rituals allows you to seek powerful boons from the gods directly.

Ride Like The Wind

In Ride Like the Wind, the gods exist as much in the physical world as they do in the Otherworld, and it is sometimes possible to interact with them in person. Each of the Black Eel Valley's three major cultures—Riders, Wheels, and Rams—worships a different set of gods.

Rider Gods

The Riders worship a variation of the Sky Pantheon. Most of their gods hail from their time living in the Dara Happan city of Nivorah, or those whose worship they learnt during the subsequent exodus.

Major Gods

The following are the major gods of your clan—and most other Rider clans—whose worship you will always have access to:

• Elmal, God of the Sun and son of Yelm. The chief god of the Riders.
• Nyalda, the Earth Mother and wife of Elmal. The chief goddess of the Riders.
• Hyalor, the first rider. Once a mortal man, and ancestor of the Hyalorings.
• Gamari, the Horse Goddess.
• Osara, the Flame Sister. Patron of female warriors. Daughter of Elmal.
• Zarlen, the Bright-Tailed Wanderer. Patron of explorers. Son of Elmal.
• Busenari, the Cow Mother. Daughter of Nyalda.
• Uryarda, the Goat Mother. Daughter of Nyalda.
• Pela, the Barley Mother. Daughter of Nyalda.
• Inilla, Goddess of Foraging. Daughter of Nyalda.
• Dostal, God of the Hunt. Husband of Inilla.
• Ekarna, Goddess of Trade.
• Erissa, Goddess of Healing.
• Relandar, God of Wisdom.

Not only can you can build shrines or temples dedicated to them and gain their blessings, but if you put a devotee of theirs—as signified by the rune on their character portrait—on the clan circle, you will gain another slot to put magic into during Sacred Time, corresponding to their associated sphere.

Contingent Gods

These gods are typically not worshiped by your clan, but they may become part of your roster of gods depending on certain events or decisions made during clan creation:

• Buseryan, the Sky Watcher, god of writing.
• Venurtera, Dara Happan goddess of pottery.

The cultists of these gods are not deemed so important that they can join the circle, but you may construct shrines to them and enjoy the benefit of their blessings.

Minor Nivorah Gods

The following are minor gods, unique to your clan, that you brought with you from Nivorah before its destruction:

• Tepekos, the Smith.
• Narva, goddess of brewing.
• Perondeto, god of glass.
• Nocheli, goddess of the red dye insect.

These gods have no cultists that you can place on the circle and you cannot build a shrine to them, but they offer a passive blessing: either a unique Exotic Good or a permanent extra slot to one sort of magic at Sacred Time.

Other Minor Deities

Some gods are venerated by your clan, and occasionally sacrificed to, but are not actively worshiped. Like Shella, the Rain Goddess. You may hear about them from your advisors during certain events.

Some Rider clans will also adopt the worship of Cenala, half-elf daughter of Hyalor, over the course of the game. You cannot build a shrine to her, but adopting her worship will cause vines to cover any Hyalor shrine or temple you have, giving you a blessing to Wilds magic.

The Riders also make use of spirits, and shamans are respected enough to sit on the clan circle. Spirits are not as powerful as gods, but have similar supernatural abilities. The most important spirit is Raven, who skirts the line between spirit and god.

Wheel Gods

The Wheels largely worship the same gods as the Riders, but do not worship Hyalor, and regard such worship as blasphemous and heretical. They also worship some gods that the Riders do not, including:

• Samnal, inventor of chariots and son to Elmal.
• Rogoros, the Wheel god of trade and son to Samnal.
• Erildar, the Wheel god of healing and son to Erissa.
• Reladivus, tamer of rivers and son to Nivorah.

They may also venerate Dayzatar, Yelm's brother who lives "behind the sky".

Other Solar Gods

There are other gods of the extended solar pantheon that neither Wheels nor Riders worship, either because they are dead or is the cultural god of a Dara Happan city other than Nivorah.

• Yelm, the Bright Emperor. Once the God of the Sun and ruler of the gods, now slain by Orlanth.
• Yamsur the Shining, father to Hyalor.
• Shargash the Demon Sun, god of Alkoth, brother to Elmal but now an enemy after their father's death.
• Little Yelm the Pretender Sun, younger brother to Elmal and Shargash.
• Yelmalio, perhaps related to the aforementioned Little Yelm.
• Nivorah, the dead goddess of the Golden City.
• Vrimak, principal god of Verapur and the bird riders.

Ram Gods

Rams worship the Air Pantheon—gods of the middle air and enemies of your sky gods.

The following are the major Ram gods you can hear about over the course of Ride Like the Wind:

• Orlanth, the Storm God. Slayer of Yelm and chief god of the Rams.
• Ernalda, the Earth Mother, wife of Orlanth.
• Chalana Arroy, goddess of healing.
• Eurmal, the Trickster.
• Humakt, god of war and death.
• Issaries, the Trader.
• Lhankor Mhy, god of wisdom and learning.
• Uralda, the Cow Mother.
• Urox, also called Storm Bull, a berserker focused on fighting Chaos.
• Vinga, the Adventuress, daughter of Orlanth.

You may also hear of some minor Ram gods, including Yinkin—the Orlanthi god of Alynx and cats—Duref, a minor Ram god associated with wood-carving—Maran Gor—the Earth Shaker—and Vadrus the Smasher, brother of Orlanth. While related to the Storm gods, most Rams seem not to worship Vadrus.

Other Gods

You may also hear about the gods of people from outside the valley.

This includes the Ergeshites, a distantly related solar people that only herd goats. They worship Sidar Goatfather, Mother Goat—their name for Uryarda—and Father Lion. Another distantly related sun people, the Yeleni, is not so fortunate as to maintain the worship of multiple gods, but only managed to bring with them Urder the Tresher with the destruction of their city.

A pair of even more foreign gods that you may encounter in the Otherworld is Basmol the Lion, a beast god, and Tada, an outlander deity.

Finally, you may hear about the even stranger gods of inhuman people, inluding Aldrya, goddess of the elves, and Mostal, god of the dwarves. The trolls have their main goddess Kyger Litor, but also the war god Zorak Zoran—enemy to both storm and sky gods—as well as Argan Argar, the troll god of trade and peaceful relations with surface dwellers.

If you send your explorers to any nearby riverbanks, they may encounter the semi-divine figure known as Ugarra the Hag, associated with the Forces of Water.

Lights Going Out

By the time of Lights Going Out, your former Rider clan has converted to Orlanth-worship and become the royal clan of the Berenethtelli tribe of Rams. As a result, you have adopted the worship of most Ram gods, but also preserved and spread the worship of some of your old ones.

Since the start of the Chaos Age, many gods have died, including Zarlen, Buseryan, Venurtera, Pela, Nyalda, Ernalda, Orlanth, Vinga, Issaries, Ekarna, Lhankor Mhy, Vadrus, and more. In a few cases, other gods have risen to take up their mantle, like Redalda, but more often than not their spheres are left vacant, leaving the peoples of the valley, and beyond, to manage as best they can. Some still try to maintain the worship of these dead gods as best they can, while others have chosen to dedicate themselves to the worship of your ancestors instead.

Because Chaos has been eating at both the mortal world and the divine realm, it is much more rare to meet gods inside the world of mortals in Lights Going Out than it was in Ride Like the Wind.

Ram Gods

Main Berenethtelli Gods

Your clan's roster of gods is a fusion of both the Sky and Air pantheons. At the start of the game, it looks as follows:

• Ancestors: Rider ancestors, who migrated from the Golden City.
• Chalana Arroy: Pacifistic goddess of Health and Healing.
• Dostal: God of hunting, and husband of Inilla.
• Elmal: Bright god of war, ruling in Orlanth's absence.
• Ernalda: The great Earth Mother, who provided food and clothing (dead).
• Eurmal: Trickster, who discovered Death.
• Humakt: God of War and Death, and of all Endings.
• Inilla: Goddess of Foraging, and wife of Dostal.
• Issaries: God of Trade, Communication, and Conciliation (dead).
• Lhankor Mhy: God of Knowledge and Law (dead).
• Orlanth: King of the Storm Tribe, patron of the Berenethtelli (dead).
• Osara: Flame Sister, Elmal's daughter, and patron of warrior women.
• Redalda: Horse goddess, who brought Ram and Rider together.
• Uralda: The Cow Mother, daughter of Ernalda, source of Berenethtelli cattle.
• Urox: The Storm Bull, Chaos foe.
• Voriof: God of Shepherds, son of Orlanth and Ernalda.

You may build places of worship to all of these gods, except for Eurmal, though some are predicated on whether you choose to keep worshiping dead gods during the game's prolog. Dead gods do not offer you blessings, but the magic inside their temple or shrines can still help you in certain situations. The number of living gods are likely to decrease over the course of the game, as the state of the world worsens and more gods die off.

Other Berenethtelli clans may have a slightly different set of gods. For instance, some do not worship Elmal, and prefer Orlanth's daughter, Vinga, over his daughter, Osara, as the goddess of female warriors. A few clans have adopted the bandit deity Valind, god of ice and snow, since the death of Orlanth. Finally, one Berenethtelli clan—known for still growing acceptable barley—still upholds the worship of Pela Barley Mother, even past her death.

Other Ram Gods

Since becoming Rams yourselves, you've come to learn more about all sorts of storm gods, even those that you do not worship, though may be called upon, if not dead already.

One such deity is Heler, the god of rain and a possibly dead retainer of Orlanth's. He, along with Voriof, is one of the husbands of Nevala, a minor Ram goddess known as the Mother of Sheep. Another possibly dead retainer of Orlanth's is Durev, the carpenter god. Orlanth's brewer, Minlister, is also dead. Besides his many dead vassals, you may also hear more of Orlanth's family. One is Odayla, his son by the Lady of the Wilds and the traditional hunter god of the Rams, instead of Dostal. Another son of Orlanth's, Barntar, is the Rams' farming god, and Orlanth's sister, Brastalos, is the goddess of calm air.

You may also hear more of Ernalda's attendants and family, including Kev, the tallier of gains and losses, who balances risks with rewards. In the same vein, Asrelia, the goddess of wealth, is Ernalda's mother, and Ty Kora Tek—the Guardian of the Grave and Orlanthi goddess of the dead—is her aunt. Pela has been recontextualized to be one of Ernalda's daughters, one of the grain goddesses. Other grain goddesses are Usara Oat, Fresala Wheat, and the Beezil Daughter. They all died around the same time that Ernalda did.

Rider and Wheel Gods

The gods of Riders and Wheels appear to be largely the same in Lights Going Out as they were in Ride Like the Wind, except many of theirs have died as well. One Rider clan—the only one that had a temple to Zarlen back in the Storm Age—has since taken up worship of Redalda, to compensate for his death.

Unlike the Rams, neither Riders or Wheels have had a god dedicated to the fighting of Chaos, a fact that is troublesome during the Chaos Age. Some Riders instead hire wandering Uroxi to handle anti-Chaos rites that they can't, but others have started venerating a less reliable solar counterpart to Urox, called Sun Bull.

Other Solar Gods

After the destruction of the dome protecting their empire, groups of Dara Happans started migrating through the valley. They may mention Antirius, which you deduce is the Dara Happan name for the deity you know as Yelmalio.

By contrast, you may encounter a people known as the Heliaki while exploring, whose main deity and namesake is a sun god named Heliakal, whose identity you can't pin down. They also worship an unknown earth deity named Negalla.

Miscellaneous Gods

There are yet more gods you may see or hear about.

From the Ergeshites, you may hear of Durbaddath, which is the true name of their lion warrior god. Also, you may encounter an Ergeshite off-shoot group calling themselves the Sidarsi. Just like their cousins, they worship Sidar the Horned Goat—their name for Sidar Goatfather—but they also worship a goddess called Miapora Mountain Goat instead of Uryarda Goat Mother.

Since the end of Ride Like the Wind, new peoples have migrated into and around the valley. One of these are the Jajalarings, a migratory and dog-keeping people. They worship their namesake deity, the canine death god Jajagappa, who protects them against the undead. Another of these peoples are the Balurgans, who worship the still living earth goddess Balurga as well as her son-husband, Verhil. You may encounter her inside the Gods War.

Another goddess you may see if you slip into the Otherworld is Cragspider, a troll deity that is half troll and half spider. You will also encounter another spider deity, Arachne Solara—the cosmic spider goddess of time.

You may also hear of Kargan Tor, the primal war god.

Some other obscure gods you may hear about are Daga—an enemy god of the Orlanthi who damaged the Three Hungers spirits—and White Princess—a goddess that can be found north of the valley around the old glacier.

Chaos Gods

Though the danger presented by Chaos back during the Storm Age, in Ride Like the Wind, was relatively mild, it has become the most present danger to the whole world during the Chaos Age, when Lights Going Out takes place. The most dangerous of these Chaos gods are the Unholy Trio—Ragnaglar, Thed, and Malia—as well as Wakboth, the Chaos god of destruction, also known as The Devil of the King of Chaos.

Over the course of Lights Going Out, you may encounter god-talkers devoted to the "Great Mistress of Equilibrium" or "Great Mistress of Rebirth", a foreign deity with many possible names, all of which are almost certainly aliases of Seseine, the Chaos goddess of temptation.

For a comprehensive list of the many Chaos gods mentioned in Lights Going Out, see the main article for Chaos here.

Other Stories

You may read more about the Gloranthan gods here, on the main wiki, or here, on the King of Dragon Pass wiki.