Description
The Holy Country is a theocracy in the magical world of Glorantha.
It occupies the eastern part of the Region of Maniria, on the southern
coast of Glorantha's northern continent Genertela.
The Holy Country has always been a crossroads with many different cultures
interacting and meeting. To its north the Dragon Pass region forms the
only major entry into the central part of Genertela from the south, to
its east the magical land of Prax dominates the tribes of the vast Wastes
further east, and to its west the great Malkioni countries can be reached
via trade routes both overland and along the shore. To its south lies the
great Homeward Ocean in the centre of Glorantha.
The Holy Country has a long history of different cultures cooperating
and fighting, reaching back even before Time.
Inhabitants
The population of the Holy Country varies from its subkingdoms. Most of
the inhabitants are humans, but there are sizeable troll and merman cultures
as well as minor other nonhuman populations.
The human cultures differ strongly from subkingdom to subkingdom, but
they share a common urban culture in the major cities. In addition to the
native cultures members of several external cultures have settled in the
larger cities, making them extremely cosmopolitan.
Population of the Holy Country
| Humans |
|
| Caladraland |
450,000 |
| Esrolia |
1,800,000 |
| God Forgot |
50,000 |
| Heortland |
500,000 |
| Rightarm Isles |
30,000 |
| Shadow Plateau |
2,000 |
| Total: |
2,832,000 |
| Nonhumans |
|
| Pygmies (Wasp Riders) |
5,000 |
| Wind Children |
8,000 |
| Trolls, Shadow Plateau |
90,000 |
| Trolls, Troll Woods |
30,000 |
| Ludoch, Rightarm Isles |
35,000 |
| Newtlings, Mirrorsea Bay |
25,000 |
| Ducks |
10,000 |
| Scorpionmen |
15,000 |
| Total: |
218,000 |
Culture:
Mostly Theyalan culture, but with heavy modifications. Apart from religious
differences, the six major subkingdoms underlie outside influences. One
of the strongest influences is the unification of the Sixths, embodied
in the person of the Pharaoh or Godking. Other strong influences are Malkionism
and the encroaching Lunar Way. The larger cities have a more or less cosmopolitan
culture with lots of foreign influences, often just superficially following
the culture of the surrounding lands.
Languages:
Theyalan and nonhuman languages. Heortlander is a Manirian dialect of the
Theyalan language with a few Western and Stormspeech influences, Esrolian
has Aldryami, Darktongue and Earthspeech influences, Caladrian has strong
Firespeech influences, and Kitori is a creole of Darktongue and Theyalan.
The Islander dialect of Boatspeech has Ludoch and a few Waertagi elements,
and the God Forgot language is a creole of Theyalan and Brithini. The newtlings,
Ludoch, trolls, wind children and other non-humans speak dialects of their
racial languages. The large cities speak a creole of all the surrounding
languages, which amounts to a Theyalan dialect with Western influences
and numerous non-human loan-words.
Gouvernment:
The Holy Country as a whole is a theocracy with a living demigod - known
as the Pharaoh or the Godking - as its ruler. The six greater subkingdoms
all have a mundane leader taking a seat on the council of the Six, as the
Pharaoh's Full Council is called which assembles each Sacred Time in the
City of Wonders. These are the High Admiral of the Boats for the Rightarm
Isles, the Ruling Talar of Talar Hold for God Forgot, an elected Matriarch
out of the queens of Esrolia, the President of Caladraland and the King
of Heortland.
Apart from the larger kingdoms, there are several smaller regions, often
of mixed population, which are directly subject to the Pharaoh. These include
the Barony of Karse, the city-state of Rhigos, the Kitori Tribe, and the
land of Porthomeka.
Religion:
Five of the Sixths are elementally oriented: Heortland follows the Orlanthi
Storm pantheon, Esrolia the Earth pantheon, Caladraland the Fire pantheon
(Lodril, Caladra and Aurelion), the Rightarm Islands the Sea pantheon,
and the Shadow Plateau the Darkness pantheon. The People of God Forgot
on the Leftarm Isles follow no theist religion, but have embraced a variant
of the Brithini Way.
Of course this is a gross over-simplification. There are several religions
not directly associated to various of these pantheons which still receive
worship almost throughout the Holy Country, like the cults of Humakt, Lhankor
Mhy and Chalana Arroy. In the cities there is often a city cult with a
minor city deity but a whole bunch of associate deities, usually taken
from the surrounding pantheons. And there is the state-bearing worship
of the Pharaoh/Godking, which provides magical tribute as well as physical
tithes.