11

Credits Contents

CULTS OF THE

YOUNG KINGDOMS

Introduction 2Law and Chaos 4The Elementals 9The Powers of Growth 13Cult Nomenclature 15Cults of Chaos 26Cults of Law 74Cults of the Elements 98 Ancestor and Personality Cults 117Societies and Secrets 137Grand Passions 150Index 153

Author

Lawrence Whitaker

Editor

Charlotte Law

Layout

Will Chapman

Cover Art

Pascal Quidault

Logo

Iordanis Lazaridis

Interior

Illustrations

Chad Sergesketter, Furman, Leonardo Borazio and Phil Renne

Special Thanks

Michael Moorcock & Richard Watts

Additional

Thanks

Ian Kaufman & John White

Copyright Information

Elric of Melnibone; Cults of the Young Kingdoms ©2008 Mongoose Publishing. All rights reserved. Reproduction of of this work by any means without the written permission of the publisher is expressly forbidden. All art and text herein are copyrighted by Mongoose Publishing. All signifi cant characters, names, places and items featured in Elric of Melnibone; Cults of the Young Kingdoms the distinctive likenesses thereof and related elements are trademarks of Michael Moorcock and Multiverse Inc.

This game product contains no Open Game Content. No portion of this work may be reproduced in any form without written permission. To learn more about the Open Game License, please go to www.mongoosepublishing.com. This material is protected under the copyright laws of the United Kingdom. This product is a work of fi ction. Any similarity to actual people, organisations, places or events is purely coincidental.

RuneQuest is a trademark (TM) of Issaries, Inc. Produced under license from Issaries. All rights reserved. Printed in the USA.

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‘Would that we’d never met, Shaarilla of the Dancing Mist. For a while, you gave me hope - I had thought to be at last at peace with myself. But, because of you. I am left more hopeless than before. There is no salvation in this world - only malevolent doom!’

While the Gods Laugh

Elric, most astute of the scholars of the Young Kingdoms, mires himself in hopelessness but shrieks the truth – perhaps to the mirth of the gods. There is no salvation in this world. Only malevolent doom. Aye, Elric understands the truth of it but his knowledge and understanding are unique. Around him, throughout the Young Kingdoms, humans search for what Elric knows can never exist: salvation; hope; a meaning for existence; a reason for why they struggle and toil.

To answer these questions, the most ardent searchers look to the higher powers; the Lords of Law and Entropy; the Elemental Lords and Lords of Beasts and Plants. Ancestors and demons are summoned from the abyss to offer hints and clues as to the meaning of existence. In his bid to understand – in his futile bid to gain some control – man places his faith in these higher powers believing that, through veneration, devotion and sacrifi ce, they will share some of their knowledge with his frail, mortal mind. In his folly man pledges his very soul to serve one Lord or another, attempting to surround their primeval, essential natures in ritual, oath and ceremony. The greater the mortal demonstration, it is hoped, then the greater the glory and recognition. The men of the Young Kingdoms continue to plough this futile furrow, blissfully ignorant of the fact that one man, Elric of Melniboné, has already deduced the answer – and it has driven him to despair.

This book expands upon the material found in the Lord of the Million Spheres chapter of the Elric of Melniboné rules. Herein you will fi nd more information concerning the natures of the Lords of the Higher Planes, new cults, new Gifts and Compulsions, new religious approaches and new professions related to them. Essentially, this book is for those Elric Games Masters and characters who wish to immerse themselves in the ways of Law, Chaos, Elements and other

INTRODUCTIONsupernatural forces abroad in the Young Kingdoms. It aims to extrapolate material from the Elric saga, adding depth to the intrigue Michael Moorcock has created, allowing Games Masters and Players to become greater exponents of the higher powers as they characters struggle to make sense of the world around them.

Contents

Chapter One – Law and

Chaos: The

Eternal Struggle

This important chapter outlines the nature of the Eternal Struggle between Law and Chaos. It lays the foundations for the way the cults of the Young Kingdoms work and provides context for the philosophies that they embody.

Chapter Two – The

Elemental Powers:

Battle for the

Form of the Earth

The role of the Elemental Lords in the formation of the Young Kingdoms and politics of the Higher Planes

Chapter Three –

The Powers of Growth;

Beast Lords

and Plant Lords

An overview of how the Lords of Nature are engaged in the Eternal Struggle.

Chapter Four – Cult

Nomenclature and

Structure

Presenting the format used for the cult descriptions, advice on what makes for a Player Character cultist and a complete listing of Gifts and Compulsions along with how these can be used as part of cult benefi ts.

Chapter Five –

Cults of Chaos

Expansions to the each of the cults of Chaos, with detailed myths, reasons for being and the agendas of the Lords of Chaos.

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Chapter Six –

Cults of Law

Expanded descriptions of the cults of Order, with detailed myths for the Lords of Law and the addition of Pozz-man-Llyr, Lord of the Sea.

Chapter Seven –

Cults of the Elements

Expanded treatments of the Elemental Cults, their interactions and detail on their views of each other.

Chapter Eight – Ancestor

and Personality Cults

Several new cults of both Law and Chaos: Aubec, Terhali and the Ancestor Worship of Oin and Yu.

Chapter Nine – Secret

and Esoteric Societies

Introducing the Mereghn – spies and assassins of Ilmiora; and the Sorcerer Adventurers of Quarzhasaat. Not cults per se but useful new societies to help and hinder adventuring characters.

Chapter Ten – Grand

Passions

Love and Hate and how to use them as part of the Elric of Melniboné game mechanics.

What Else Do I Need

to Use This Book?

Aside from the Elric of Melniboné rulebook, the most useful supplementary book is Magic of the Young Kingdoms. The Elric of Melniboné Companion may also prove to be of use but is by no means essential.

However the chief adjunct is your own imagination – and the willingness of the characters to risk their souls in the pursuit of the veneration of the Higher Powers.

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‘I seek in it the Truth,’ Elric said guardedly.

‘There is no Truth but that of Eternal struggle,’ the scarlet-fl amed giant said with conviction.

‘What rules above the forces of Law and Chaos?’ Elric asked. ‘What controls your destinies as it controls mine?’

The giant frowned. ‘That question, I cannot answer. I do not know, There is only the Balance.’

While the Gods Laugh

The Multiverse is the province of two, diametrically opposed powers: Law, which seeks stability and rational progression, ultimately to stagnation; and Chaos, which perpetuates continual, incessant, ungovernable change. These two forces, represented and personifi ed by the Lords of Law and Chaos, are locked in a perpetual battle for supremacy. The mortal worlds about them are the spoils; the ultimate prize the ability to manipulate, mould and assert their will over what has been and what can be, created.

Left unchecked, either of these powers results in destruction and doom. Chaos continually dissembles, mutates and corrupts. Law represses, codifi es, machinates and strangles. Singularly, neither force ultimately sustains life but when held in equilibrium, life fl ourishes and prospers. A stable universe requires balanced amounts of Law and Chaos if it is to function. So it is that the Cosmic Balance stands above Law and Chaos, checking the sway and list of each across a million spheres, attempting to ensure that neither side fatally overbalances the scales.

In some realms one of the forces dominates completely and in such realms, life is secondary to the whims and natures of the Lord or Lords who rule. However, in worlds such as the Young Kingdoms, neither Law nor Chaos has the upper hand; and in worlds such as the Young Kingdoms, where minds, souls and beliefs are malleable, the plane becomes a battleground – a cosmic chessboard – where the Lord of the Higher Powers joust for position, infl uence and control.

For the Eternal Struggle is little more than an Eternal Game. Mortals are playing pieces and the rules are both fi xed and uncertain. For most, the game is removed and remote from their lives. Things happen and people accept it. Across the Young Kingdoms countless individuals are born, live and die, completely ignorant of the cosmic game that goes on about them. However those who seek to understand the nature of the board, the pieces and the rules of the game mark themselves out as willing pawns to manipulated by the Higher Power they choose to favour. The Eternal Struggle is never to the advantage of the human condition. The Lords of Law and Chaos will argue passionately otherwise but they are lying (or merely playing the game). The Eternal Struggle serves only those supernatural entities that represent and personify the essential nature of the two forces. Human life – all life – is secondary, abstract and expendable.

The Chaos

Perspective:

Fighting, Not

Winning

‘I have been told that the knowledge contained in the Book could swing the balance on the side of the forces of Law. This disturbs me - but, it appears, there is another possibility which disturbs me even more.’

‘What is that?’ Elric said.‘It could create such a tremendous impact on the Multiverse that complete entropy would result. My Masters do not desire that, for it could mean the destruction of all matter in the end. We exist only to fi ght - not to win, but to preserve the eternal struggle.’

While the Gods Laugh

Orunlu the Keeper, the Guardian of a book that, so Elric is led to believe, defi nes the nature of the cosmic struggle, encapsulates the philosophy and game-plan of Chaos perfectly. Its true intention is not to defeat Law completely but to continue the game and preserve the

LAW AND CHAOS:

THE ETERNAL STRUGGLE

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competition between the two forces. Chaos knows that for either side to win spells complete doom and its strategy is to perpetuate struggle and confl ict, seeking its own advantage but never to advance to a stage where complete destruction is guaranteed.

Very, very few in the Young Kingdoms are party to such knowledge. For most followers of the Lords of Chaos – those in the rank and fi le - the express intention is to defeat Law. However, the few that reach the exalted levels of high priesthood learn, through grimoires and forbidden understanding, that the real aim of Chaos is to simply perpetuate the fi ght. It is for this reason that most cults of Chaos are relatively low-key, relying on disparate agents and isolated priests to maintain the profi le of Chaos, rather than engaging in outright warfare. Only one nation, Pan Tang, dares to go against this unwritten tenet and its actions inevitably cause the destruction Orunlu the Keeper warns Elric about. Paradoxically, Pan Tang’s goals in instigating the fi nal battle are not, principally, to vanquish Law and institute a realm of supreme Chaos but to emulate Melniboné’s Bright Empire. As Sepiriz tells Elric in Stormbringer: ‘He [Jagreen Lern] still refuses to realise that he is a puppet of Chaos and thinks he can rule over such supernatural might as the Dukes represent. But it is a certainty that with these friends Jagreen Lern can defeat the Southlands with a minimum of expenditure in arms and men. Without them he could do it, but it would take more time and effort…’

Thus, there are men, mostly in Pan Tang, who believe that the Lords of Chaos are guarantors of power and an elite weapon to be used in gaining it; a mistake that the Bright Emperors of Melniboné never made. For its part, the Lords of Chaos are delighted to indulge those foolish mortals who believe that the Eternal Struggle is purely of one doctrine over another because it allows the struggle to be perpetuated.

Only when the Cosmic Balance veers so decisively towards the skein of Chaos do the Lords of Chaos sense that, there is, perhaps, a case for achieving complete victory. Appearing with his brother dukes of Hell, Arioch himself wryly notes: ‘We have forgotten this [the Cosmic Balance ] for good reason, mortal. The balance has tipped to such an extent in our favour that it is no longer adjustable. We triumph!’ But, even in this moment of insane posturing, Arioch is prepared to make Elric a Lord of Chaos, seeking to perpetuate the battle against Law, rather than declare an ultimate triumph.

In the years before Pan Tang’s rise and Jagreen Lern’s machinations, then, Chaos’s infl uence in the Young Kingdoms is deliberately limited and inconspicuous. Only Pan Tang maintains insane temples, fi lled with howling, maddened priests; elsewhere Chaos goes about its work subtly and through a careful choice of agents. It does not preach outright warfare and nor does it seek to unleash the contents of the many hells to further its agenda. Instead, Chaos seeks to provoke, to thwart and to antagonise. Its human adherents, ignorant of its true agenda, may attempt to wreak havoc against the obstinate churches of Law and some of the Chaos-aligned sorcerers do, indeed, manage to yank open the gates of some hell or other but ultimately Chaos has no need for massed ranks of vociferous proselytizers. A few, well chosen agents, quite often oblivious to their manipulation, are what Chaos requires to maintain its struggle. Subtlety and imagination mean more to the plans of Chaos than raving insanity and the raising of demons.

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The Perspective

of Law:

Unconditional

Victory

‘This was not unlike the dead world Miggea of Law had created. I asked Lobkowitz if anything had caused the withering of these worlds we crossed, and he smiled wryly. “Only the usual righteous wars,” he said. “When all sides in the confl ict claimed to represent Law! This is characteristically a land which has died of discipline. But that is Chaos’s greatest trick, of course. It is how she weakens and confuses her rivals. Law will characteristically push forward in a predictable line and must always have a clear goal. Chaos knows how to circle and come from unexpected angles, take advantage of the moment, often avoiding direct confrontation altogether.’

The Skrayling Tree

Chaos seeks to sustain the fi ght; Law seeks to win it. Law cannot operate without a clear, unassailable goal. Its path is forthright and linear and all those who stand in its way are swept aside or crushed. It is Donblas, for instance, who tells Elric that the fate of the Young Kingdoms is to be destroyed when the Horn of Fate is blown for the third time. Such dissolution serves Law’s ends – whereas, had Chaos prevailed in the fi nal battle the Young Kingdoms, albeit damaged and warped, might still have continued to exist.

Naturally enough the Lords of Law do not reveal their ultimate intentions to their faithful. However they are overt in their desire: Chaos is to be crushed because it destroys sense and reason. Yet, whereas Chaos can contemplate some form of equilibrium between the two powers, Law is unable to do so. For all its tenets of progress, it is an intolerant, indivertible philosophy that is, ultimately, bent on achieving singular domination. If it cannot, then it destroys everything instead. As Lord Shoashooan remarks (in The Skrayling Tree): ‘Mortals and immortals both, you face your end without dignity or grace. Accept the fact that the Balance is fi nished. Its central staff has been lost, its scales discarded. …The regulator of the Multiverse has failed you. Law triumphs. The steady calm of complete stability awaits you. Time is abolished, and you can anticipate, as do I, a new order.’

For Law, even the Cosmic Balance is unacceptable – an impediment to a singular way of being that cannot permit

any diversion from a sole, immutable path. The goal of Law is to end Time itself; because Time can accommodate change – indeed is its instigator. Not the unfettered change and mutation of Chaos but the steady natural change of age, history and diverse thought.

The cults of Law, then, are far more strident and visible than their Chaotic counterparts. Adherents of Law in the Young Kingdoms, particular within Vilmir, Lormyr and Argimiliar, enjoy grand gestures and demonstrations of superiority. Part of this is still a reaction to Melniboné’s (now displaced) dominance and the Dragon Lords’ clear alliance with the Lords of Chaos but underlying the gloss is the unshakeable belief that a war is coming and it is a war Law must win. What remains veiled to the rank and fi le is the extremes to which Law is prepared to go to succeed. All but a miniscule few ever suspect that Law would tolerate or advocate the eradication of the Young Kingdoms to gain victory over Chaos. Symbols that clearly oppose Law – the Elemental Lords and even, Tanelorn – are viewed as enemies. Noisy proselytization is a legitimate and daily act in cities such as Vilmiro and Jadmar, Cadsandria and Dhakos, with eager zealots decrying anything that appears to reject Law’s perfect symmetry. For Law, the battle is clearly being fought on the streets. Not simply for hearts and minds but also for souls. Damnation awaits any who dare to worship anything but the golden arrow of Law and many of Law’s more forceful adherents take it upon themselves to administer to the damned – not through solace but through persecution, fear and spite. Chaos circles and plays the angles, as Lobkowitz observes; Law ploughs a straight, unremitting furrow, taking no prisoners and permitting no escape.

Those who adhere to Law’s precepts believe that the Lords of Law work through them, which contrasts with the view of those adhering to Chaos who believe that their Lords are essentially aloof and grant power in lieu of a direct channelling. Lawful agents thus believe in a more direct relationship, even though the Lords of Law are far less likely or inclined to manifest upon the Young Kingdoms. Lawful adherents therefore view themselves as tools and weapons in the Eternal Struggle rather than as adjuncts or accoutrements supporting it. This view allows the more extreme Lords of Law, such as Miggea, the insane Duchess of Dolwic, to recruit and indoctrinate fanatical supporters because a personal relationship is part of the reward.

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