Prosopaedia

Who's Who Among Gloranthan Gods and Goddesses

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.

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Table of Contents

Talor Teelo Norri Telask Thalurzni Thanatar
Thed Thief Gods Tholaina Tien Time
Trickster Triolina Tsankth Turtle Two-Headed Dragon and Kindly Swan
Ty Kora Tek Tylenea

Talor [TAHL-oar]

Malkioni pantheon -- the laughing warrior

This hero of Fronela gained his fame and power during the Chaos Wars, in a battle against Gbaji the Deceiver whose worshipers had infiltrated Talor's native land of Akem. Aided by a band of heroes from other lands, Talor commanded armies, led secret plots, plundered ancient secrets, and slaughtered all foes who dared defy him. Throughout it all he maintained a wry (some say mad) sense of grim humor which failed him only twice. This secret humor is the soul of his cult.

His device consists of a black dog's head on a gold background, with a thin horizontal red bar behind the dog's head.

Teelo Norri [TEE-loh NOR-ee]

Lunar pantheon -- Young Life, one of the Seven Mothers

The ritual through which the Red Goddess was restored apparently required a participant who was ignorant of the ritual's intent. Teelo Norri was chosen at random from the streets of Torang for that purpose. She is cupbearer to the Red Goddess and also is the source of the Poor Fund movement. There is little real development of her cult, save for people interested in simple protection and innocence. She is revered as the Lunar goddess of youth.

She is always portrayed as a barely pubescent maid, sometimes bearing a cup and dagger.

For more information on Teelo Norri, see the Cult of the Seven Mothers.

Telask [TEHL-ask]

Eastern pantheon -- Vormain god, the warrior, source of cerulean magic

Telask is the Arm of the Emperor. When the Evil Ones came to destroy and enslave the beautiful islands of Vormain, Telask met them in war and slew all but the poets.

Telask wears blue-lacquered armor and stands upon a red and a blue eagle. His weapons are a mirror and magic lightning whip.

Thalurzni [thal-URZ-nee]

Eastern pantheon -- Balancer of the Elements

Thalurzni is one of the early rulers of Kralorela. He created the Kralori afterlife, where the souls of common people go to await the death of the Dragon Emperor, at which time these souls will accompany him into the next world. He also extended the boundaries of Kralorela by battling hostile elemental beings. His most powerful enemies were the Shadow Cancer, the Earth Eater, the Star Permutator, and the Secret Waters, all of which were driven away into the Kingdom of Ignorance.

He is usually rendered as a dark brown man with long hair and beard, wearing a yellow robe with black stars, and holding a candle, a beggar's bowl, a cube, and an iron fan. A rainbow arches over his head and shoulders.

Thanatar [THAN-ah-tahr]

Chaos pantheon -- chaos god, the Severed God

see also
Atyar, Tien

In the Gods War, a chaos god named Tien commanded a colossal chaos swarm. He was captured by Storm Bull and broken into two pieces. Each of these two pieces survived and became the center of a small cult -- Tien, god of headhunters; and Atyar, god of knowledge-thieves. In historical times the worship of these two small cults was combined into one cult worshiping one god, called Thanatar.

Thanatar is usually shown as a gaunt figure with many heads hanging from his belt. He often carries his own head under one arm.

Thed [THED]

Chaos pantheon -- chaos source of the broos, goddess of rape, one of the Unholy Trio

Prior to the Lesser Darkness Thed was an important goddess. She was the wife of Ragnaglar and, with her husband and Malia, schemed to introduce chaos into the world. By Ragnaglar Thed had many children -- the broos, scourges of the world.

The Praxians know Thed as a gigantic, slim figure with a long, tufted tail and two deformed clawed arms. Her head has four curved horns, ropy hair, and five antennae or tentacles arrayed about her mouth.

Thief Gods

Eastern, Lunar, Orlanth, Pamalt, Troll, and Yelm pantheons

see
the Black Fang Brotherhood, the Lamsabi, Lanbril, Selarn

Many gods, such as Orlanth, the Red Goddess, and the Trickster, have thief aspects. Many thieves worship no gods at all, depending instead on their own skills and wit to evade detection. But there are a few small cults wholly devoted to robbery and thievery. These cults are always local and illegal, but they have proven their value to their worshipers time and again.

For an example of a Thief God, see the Cult of Lanbril.

Tholaina [THOH-lay-nah]

Merman pantheon -- queen of sea beasts

Tholaina is, by several mates, mother of all of the animals of the waters. By a darkness spirit she begat invertebrate things like worms, sea beetles, squid, or lobsters. With a lover from the earth she begat water lizards, sea snakes and lake snappers, and their more fearsome cousins such as Elasmosaurus and Mosasaurus. Through a captured sky being she bore a flock of sea birds, such as the ever-swimming boatbird and wingless giant sea cranes, or those which oft frequent the watery domains such as gulls, terns, ducks, and the blue-feathered sea eagles which can swim. With an arrogant air god she begat those sea creatures which breathe air, like dolphins and whales and seals. But most of all she loved Golod, who is Fish Father. Together they populated the depths and shallows, the cold and warm waters, the places where men frequent and those which they will never see. Thus is the cause of the profusion of fish.

By humans she is often shown in sailor and fisherman temples as a merwoman, arms held out to offer her wealth to their service. She is not depicted by mer-cultures.

Tien [tee-YEHN]

Chaos pantheon -- chaos god, the headhunter

see also
Atyar, Thanatar

Tien was a headless corpse worshiped by monsters during the Great Darkness. He gives the ability to steal knowledge and magic from the heads of properly sacrificed victims. During the Gbaji Wars his cult merged with that of Atyar to recreate the dead god Thanatar. Tien is still worshiped separately.

Images of him are made by piling up the rotten heads and skulls of victims.

Time

Universal -- the measurer and measurement

Time is nowhere worshiped as a deity, but almost everyone acknowledges its omnipotence. Before the advent of Time the divinities were free of constraints and acted as they wished. These actions destroyed the world, which was saved only when Arachne Solara arranged the Great Compromise, devoured chaos, and gave birth to Time. The Red Goddess, reborn within recent history, sometimes claims to have special powers of Time but such boasts have never been backed by action.

Trickster

Universal

see also
Bolongo, Eurmal

Trickster has many names, shapes, and forms. If a man ever learned and understood all the stories about Trickster he would be either the wisest man in the world or the most foolish.

For more information on the Trickster, see The Trickster.

Triolina [TREE-oh-LEE-nah]

Merman pantheon -- mother of life

Triolina is called Mother Ocean, and mother she is. All of the beings which live in the sea and know mortal life can trace their ancestry to her. For this reason she is one of the greatest deities of the sea. Most sea temples have at least a shrine to Triolina.

Mermen religion does not portray her. In Waertagi idols she is shown as a breastless, fish-scaled woman with two tails instead of legs -- one is a fish tail and one a cetacean tail. Her hair is composed of trailing kelp and her many fins are drawn from several kinds of fish.

Tsankth [SANK-th]

Eastern pantheon -- Vormain god, deity of rapacity and piracy

Tsankth strides across the water, leading bloodthirsty buccaneers to plunder and slay innocent travelers on the seas. His shoes are ships, his sword a flash of blinding light, and his greed eternal and insatiable.

He is shown as a barracuda.

Turtle

Hsunchen pantheon -- help from the south

see
the First Four Companions

Two-Headed Dragon and Kindly Swan

Eastern pantheon -- East Isles king and queen of Porthramentos

These gods are found on a very large, flat island. Their seven children are worshiped by the seven clans of the island, who hold the dragon and swan in respect but do not worship them.

They are pictured in statues as a two-headed dragon and a swan, side by side. Their children are not portrayed.

Ty Kora Tek [TIGH KOH-rah TEK]

Orlanth and Pamalt pantheons -- goddess of the dead

Ty Kora Tek is sister to Asrelia, but is neither so beautiful nor so friendly. Within a vast grey cavern she rules over the dead who, forever gibbering in the darkness, are subject to her laws of Silence and Subservience and are enfolded in her mindless comfort.

Her priests prepare the dead for burial, and frequently inhabit crypts. They occasionally wield the sacrificial knives when earth-rituals require it, especially when humans are the offering. They are also privy to terrible secrets of the afterlife.

She is usually shown as a gaunt old woman, wrapped close with a shroud. She often is given a skull's face.

Tylenea [TIGH-len-EE-ah]

Yelm pantheon -- Celestial Court goddess of illusion

As one of the members of the Celestial Court, Tylenea is most noted for the creation of the Illusion rune. However, her powers and her reputation among the other gods were forever tainted by disorder after her failed attempt to tame, through flattery and false promises, the boggles -- those cosmic mice extruded by Ratslaff from cosmic dung.

As with the other members of the Court, Tylenea now knows no active worship for she died with the explosion of the Spike.


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