Where I Read HârnWorld, Part VI: By The Gods!

Religion

We start with a brief summary of Hârnic cosmology. We're advised that the gamemaster can decide whether or not the gods are real or are "only the figments of the imaginations of men", but either way, the gods should be presented as real, because most Hârnians and Lythians believe they're real.

We're given a diagram of the "Kethrian Family of Worlds", including Kethira (where Hârn is located), Terra/Earth, and Midgaad/Middle-Earth. Kethira is a "nexus" world (connected to six other worlds) and as such is kind of a dimensional crossroads. Technology, gods, and magic differ widely amongst the worlds. One of the worlds, Yashain, is believed to be where the gods of Hârn reside, and where Hârnic residents spend their afterlives.

We get a bit more blending of fantasy and sci-fi in a couple of paragraphs on Kelestia, which is "everything that exists, the sum total of all realities". Each universe/reality within Kelestia has its own laws, but there are overarching laws that govern Kelestia itself. It is possible to travel through the "Nth Dimension" or "higher dimensional paths" to travel to new realities and worlds (even some planets that can't be reached within their own reality can be reached from other realities - perhaps allowing for Hârnians to reach Tekumel?). Travel between a "nexus" world (like Kethira") to
others in its family of worlds is easiest - travel between the family members except through the nexus can be difficult or impossible.

(The diagram shows three types of links between the various worlds - "moderate", "intermediate", and "hard" links - but doesn't fully explain what those mean, though I assume "moderate" are the easiest links to travel and "hard" are the, erm, hardest.)

"Incoming Gargun, sir."

We now move on to religion. About 600 years ago, the Libram of the Pantheon was compiled. Most churches within the Hârnic pantheon accept the Libram as truth. And, basically, it says this:

We start with Primal Chaos. Then we have the First Gods, who war amongst themselves and create the Lesser Gods as servants (and who are the gods worshipped today) as well as the sapient mortal races. The First Gods make peace so as not to destroy the cosmos. Each First God kept its own realm and (apparently) the First Gods seem to retain a governing role over Kelestia. The Lesser Gods then started wars amongst themselves (...because why wouldn't they?) and finally, after many Lesser gods had been slain, they agreed to the "Concordat of the Illimitable Tome" which defined the laws governing the gods, including how the gods could intervene in the mortal world. (And, conveniently enough,why churches and priesthoods become necessary, as well as a reason for Why Bad Things Happen to Good People.)

Hârnians (and Lythians) tend to believe in ten major gods (and, apparently, hundreds of minor ones). The major gods are:

• Agrik, God of Fire and War;
• Halea, Goddess of Wealth and Pleasure;
• Ilvir, creator of the Ivashu;
• Larani, Goddess of chivalry and battle;
• Morgath, God of chaos and the undead;
• Naveh, God of darkness and nightmares, thieves and assassins;
• Peoni, Goddess of agriculture and healing;
• Sarajin, God of battle, the sea, storms, and honour;
• Save-K'nor, God of knowledge and riddles;
• Siem, God of dreams and mysteries.

The pantheon feels very reaction-to-D&D-ish. It's a decent range of portfolios for a game world, for a start. I've often thought that the ten gods are more-or-less tailor-made for the AD&D alignments, as follows:

• Larani - Lawful Good
• Peoni - Neutral Good
• Siem - Chaotic Good
• Agrik - Lawful Evil
• Naveh - Neutral Evil
• Morgath - Chaotic Evil
• Save-K'nor - Lawful Neutral
• Ilvir - Neutral
• Halea - Neutral
• Sarajin - Chaotic Neutral

Now, yes, the gods are given more personality and detail than that. You could characterize Peoni as Lawful Good, or Agrik as Chaotic Evil. Gods are kind of like Batman.

...Or is it that Batman is kind of like a god?

But they still fit very easily into the D&D alignment structure. That's not necessarily a criticism, by the way; but a reflection rather of when the setting was created. They were clearly made for gaming, which is, in my view, a good thing. They certainly feel dated, though.

 The Gods

Agrik is a god for evil warriors. His church practices human sacrifice. He's depicted as a giant demonic figure, missing two claws (cut from his hand by Larani). He's mostly worshipped in Rethem and Tharda, with a few worshippers in Orbaal. His Church is forbidden in the other feudal kingdoms. His "fighting orders" (which we'll learn about later) and those of Larani hate each other. In Rethem, though we're not told this here, he's the god of the aristocracy, just as Larani is in the other feudal kingdoms. His emphasis on fire, human sacrifice, and appeasement is reminiscent of portrayals of Moloch, I think.

Halea, meanwhile, is a goddess of wealth and pleasure. Her church is strongest in Tharda. She's beautiful, amoral, and seductive. She has only priestesses (no priests) and her afterlife is filled with sensual pleasures.She's a goddess of hedonism, which, frankly, doesn't exactly fit with Hârnic society, though it works reasonably well if you can accept the quasi-Roman Tharda. She's predominantly an urban goddess, it seems, probably popular with merchants, and with rituals and a cult reminiscent of aspects of Cybele, or perhaps Aphrodite or Inanna.

Ilvir is the only god to actually live on Hârn. He dwells in the great pit Araka-Kalai. He's mostly worshipped by the Jarin people (...about which, more later). Other than that, we're told his religion is mystical and difficult to understand.

Larani is an Athena-figure, patron of chivalry. She's the goddess of honourable warriors, and is worshipped by knights and the nobility. We get a bit more about her, but not much. Her description's quite dull, actually. She's basically the chivalric ideal given form.

Morgath (resemblance to Tolkien's Morgoth is, I'm sure, coincidental...) is, well, evil. He's the master of the undead, and his church preaches that the afterlife is full of torment. But, that just means it's important to acquire power and worldly excess while you're alive. Morgath is worshipped mostly in Rethem and Tharda.

(Real world events inspired a reconsideration of Morgath, by the way. I thought such an apocalyptic death-cult was ridiculous, and then I thought about ISIS/ISIL, and, well...maybe it's not so  far-fetched.)

Naveh is your typical thief/assassin deity. His churches and priesthood are secretive. Crossby seemed to draw inspiration from the myths about the Assassins, with reference to absolute discipline within Naveh's priesthood, raising kidnapped children to become priests and servants, and drug-induced trances.

Peoni is a pacifist fertility goddess. She's worshipped by the peasantry across Hârn. Her priesthood has a male and a female order, and emphasizes poverty, healing, and good works. It's very much the medieval monk ideal, except that Peonian monasteries are broke.

Sarajin is a Viking god. Needless to say, he's mostly worshipped in Orbaal. Courage and strength are his virtues. All told, that makes three war-gods on Hârn, each dominant in different areas.

Save-K'nor is the god of knowledge. He has few followers and he demands high intelligence of his adherents.

Siem is a benevolent god of dreams and mystery. He was/is the god of the Sindarin and the Khuzdul. He tends to speak in dreams. He has very few priests.

Pontiffs & Polytheism

The description for some of the gods (like Morgath, Peoni, Agrik, and Halea) mention the pontiffs of their churches. One thing I always found annoying was that Crossby insisted on having different terms for the priests and pontiffs in each church, so Agrik's Pontiff is an "Amanasurif" while Halea's is the "Hilena" and Morgath's, the "Vinkhadur". I suppose it's not entirely unrealistic to have different terms (since all of these churches have their origins in different regions on the continent), but it's still a bit off-putting. As I mentioned, I prefer gameability over realism.

It does seem a bit odd to have these connections with the mainland. Sure, Britain had an Archbishop answerable to the Pope in Rome, but much of Europe followed the same faith at that point. Here, we have ten different faiths on this isolated, sparsely populated island, many of them answerable to a foreign pontiff. Much like Tharda's Senate and the cult of Halea, it feels a bit too organized for the Misty Isle.

It's clear that not all gods are worshipped widely in all places by all people. But for all that the deities get a bit more flavour in HârnMaster Religion, they're still pretty one-note. Larani is the chivalric ideal. Sarajin is the fury of the Northmen. Peoni is the pacifistic humility thread within Christianity. Halea is a a sex-goddess with money. Agrik is a dick.

Furthermore, they're all kind of operating in splendid isolation rather than as a true pantheon. The polytheism itself feels a bit strained. I don't mind it too much, and I can even accept that the Larani/Peoni combination (or for that matter the Agrik/Peoni combination, in Rethem) can produce a society that greatly resembles monotheistic Europe. But at the end of the day a polytheistic approach was what was "in" in gaming in 1983, so that's what we got, and it hasn't changed much since then.

But with the exception of Larani and Sarajin - who I think are perhaps the dullest of the deities we're given - all of them have some unrealized potential that could be realized with some imagination. (And of course there are other articles that expand upon them, though frankly I haven't found either HârnMaster Religion or most of the religious articles to really explore anything beyond the existing, basic conceptions of the deities.)

Next: We'll finish up religion and start in on history. Woo!