Prince of Sartar

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 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 the 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, 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.

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 edge 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 an 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. The 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.