Glorantha: Cult of Pavis 
Cult of Pavis
originally published in Cults of Prax
presented as an example of a City God

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.
Table of Contents
  Mythos and History 
  Other Notes 
Mythos and History
Pavis was a Hero who appeared approximately 800 years after Time Began, during 
the expansion of the Empire of the Wyrm's Friends. Half man and half elf, he 
grew up in his human father's family. As a man he moved from Shadows Dance to 
Dragon Pass, and studied under the tutoring dragons then present in the empire. 
There he met the Dwarf and gained a mastery of Stone.
By animating the great Faceless Statue of Shadows Dance and bringing it to Prax 
to defeat Waha in a wrestling match, he gained sovereignty over the area around 
the River of Cradles which took his name. Later, when Waha was grievously 
wounded during an invasion of Dragon Pass, Pavis taught Aldryami Healing to the 
Priestesses of the Paps, and the god was cured. This cemented bonds with the 
nomads of Prax and made the city of Pavis safe for the time.
Though it was considered strange for a half-breed elf, Pavis had many 
connections with the dwarves, particularly with one Mostali named Hardeye 
Flintnail. Records are unclear, but it is thought that Flintnail may be the 
famous "Dwarf" of Dragon Pass. Flintnail gave many gifts to Pavis, and 
constructed great works. One of the most permanent was the son he beget on one 
of Pavis's daughters. This son began the Flintnail cult, a cult of masons and 
metalworkers.
With the aid of Flintnail, Pavis created an immense city from the body of the 
Faceless Statue, then departed and never was seen again. His daughters began the 
cult of Pavis, and the rule of the city passed to the Arrowsmith dynasty, a 
noble family of the Pure Horse nomads.
After some battles with trolls and the Giants of Shadows Dance, the introduction 
of the Sun Dome Temple (see the Cult of Yelmalio) into the area provided a firm 
fighting force for the city. Pavis and its city cult flourished.
The prosperity did not last. In a hundred years the Empire of the Wyrm's Friends 
was destroyed, and Jaldon Toothmaker, the hero of Prax barbarians everywhere, 
had ravished the city. The Arrowsmith dynasty was wiped out and the city lived 
on among ruin. The cult suffered accordingly.
Finally, a great warrior Kahn of the Sable tribe managed to crack the 
crystalline walls of the Temple and the city was truly open for conquest.
Conquest came in the form of Gerak Kag, dark troll priest from Shadows Dance. 
The trolls and trollkin fought their way through the nomads of the plains and 
set up shop in the city, sealing it against intrusion. The last Rune Lord of 
Pavis, Balastor, died during the final defense of the city, as the last of the 
Pure Horse people abandoned the walls to dwell on the plains of Prax.
Troll magic closed the city for 400 years, and constant struggles occurred 
between the trolls and the last remnants of humans, elves, and dwarves. The 
Pavis cult held to its rituals, and their intimate knowledge of the city aided 
worshippers in every crisis. The cult kept non-troll dwellers alive in the ruins 
until the city was reopened during the time of strange magics and phantoms from 
the past known as the Dragonewt's Dream.
After the second procession of unborn dragonewts opened the gates to reopen 
their temple in the Rubble, the kingdom of Sartar sent colonists to start a city 
outside the old Truestone walls. New Pavis (or Pavis Outside the Walls, in the 
Sartar tongue) made a refuge for the Rubble survivors. Even the Pavis Survivors, 
the zebra-riding mercenary remainder of the old Pure Horse people of Prax, 
returned to their ancestral city.
With this resurgence of human society, the Pavis cult has come back from the 
basements and cellars of the Rubble and has set up in New Pavis. The High Priest 
of Pavis and the Sartar colonists' High Priest of Orlanth negotiated a 
settlement effectively giving ground and buildings to Pavis, and the air to 
Orlanth. An exchange was made, giving the Orlanth locals use of a Pavis special 
spell, and the Spirits of Pavis were joined by a Sylph (see Rune Magic 
descriptions).
Even under the Lunar occupation, the Pavis Cult grew, for the Goddess wanted to 
"marry" Pavis to add him to her ever-growing Pantheon, and he played very 
hard-to-get. With the support of the invaders, open worship of Pavis was 
increased, especially among those Orlanth worshippers needing somewhere to go 
after the closing of the Orlanth Temple by the Empire.
As of this writing, the Pavis Temple may even be accepting its first Rune Lord 
since the death of Balastor.
Pavis cannot guarantee his worshippers an existence after death, save those who 
become cult spirits.
Funeral customs for the cult are non-specific, and the priests will use whatever 
other religion they believe in when they determine funeral arrangements. For 
instance, the old Arrowsmith Dynasty cremated their dead atop the city gates, 
while during the closed period of the city the cult was run by a family who 
buried their dead in several plots about the Rubble. The Flintnail cult, which 
attracts many priests, believes in entombing their dead in stone. Some of this 
latter cult dead have been entombed in mortuaries cut into the True-stones slabs 
making up the old city walls.
Pavis had ties to both Aldryami and Mostali, and also had glory as a builder. 
The Runes most closely associated with him are Earth, Stasis, Harmony, and Man.
Other Notes
Lunar Friendship
At the time of the beginning of the Lunar Occupation, there were five priests 
priests of Pavis. All were old men. The High Priest was very leery of any 
connection with the Lunar Empire, but kept up a facade of cooperation for years.


See also:
The Travels of Biturian Varosh: Harmony in the City
Gods in Prax: Invader Deities


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