Glorantha: Cult of Dorasta 
Cult of Dorasta
originally published in Dorastor: Land of Doom

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 
  Subservient Cults 
  Other Notes 
Mythos and History
Dorasta is the special goddess of the land of Dorastor, and is sometimes called 
the Grain Goddess of the land. Once she was powerful, but actions within Time 
have left her broken, worshiped only by a few loyal beings in a land of horror. 
Genert and Gata were children of the Primal Earth, and formed two corners of the 
Earth Rune. Genert fathered many goddesses upon his sister, and they are the 
land goddesses found everywhere. They gave their names to the regions of 
Genertela. Hence Ralia is the goddess of Ralios, Frona is the goddess of 
Fronela, and so forth. In Peloria, the daughter of Genert and Gata was called 
Pela or Pelora.
Pelora was one of the most generous and beautiful of the land goddesses, and 
Genert took her, his sister-daughter, to wife. The children of this union were 
the land goddesses of Peloria, including Oraya in the northeast, Erigia in the 
northwest, Rigtaina in the southeast, and Dorasta in the southwest. In the Green 
Age, Flamal found all the new grain goddesses and blessed them with his magic, 
so they produced many types of plants and covered the nakedness of the earth 
with greenery.
In times so remote they cannot be remembered, Dorasta took to husband a god 
whose name is lost. They created a race now unknown, but which were later called 
the Feldichi. They thrived for an age of peace and plenty, but during the Great 
Darkness both husband and race disappeared. Even the identity of their slayers 
has been lost.
When Flamal was slain in the Darkness, the grain goddesses all went into hiding 
for shame and woe. The monsters of chaos dropped from the sky, Genert was 
killed, and Gata was cracked. Pelora's children followed the Earth-Mother into 
sleep, and the land of Dorastor slept until the return of the Sun. Deep in a 
cave a sacred animal, the Wolfbear, hibernated as well.
With the end of the Darkness, a new world awoke. Dorastor was an empty 
wilderness until the coming of Kalasmas the Settler. One of his granddaughters, 
Vyrope, discovered the Cleft of Dorasta, and became the first priestess of the 
goddess. Thus was she awakened, and the land flourished for years. When the 
Second Council moved to Dorastor, and began the project of the Perfect One, she 
gained even greater respect and love for her ability to feed all of the people 
and gods there, and she was revered by all. One common myth of the period calls 
her Nysalor's wetnurse, though this may be interpreted allegorically, since 
Nysalor was never an infant.
With the razing of Dorastor by Arkat, Dorasta's preeminence came to an end. She 
was brutalized by the invaders; Arkat poisoned her waters and salted the land, 
leaving her at the edge of extinction. She survived when the land was cursed, 
for she slipped back into the Cleft of Dorasta, into the safe womb of her 
mother. After the Curse of Cleansing the land was lifeless, though the people of 
Skanthiland continued to speak to Dorasta through her shrine at the Cleft.
Dorasta is always pictured by her worshipers as a young woman holding a radiant 
baby or a basket of food. Her robes are dark green, edged in red, and her skin 
as brown as the soil. She is occasionally pictured as wounded or crippled, 
especially when depicted as the victim of Arkat's rape.
Dorasta's worshipers know that they will join her in Ty Kora Tek's Land of the 
Dead when they die. After a period of sleep and renewal, they will be reborn 
into the world, to live again. Funeral services are simple, with the priestesses 
saying words of comfort and hope as the deceased is laid to eternal rest in the 
earth.
As with other Grain Goddesses, Dorasta is associated with the runes of Earth, 
Plant, and Harmony.
Subservient Cults
Tobros
This child of Dorasta was born in the Golden Age. He rapidly grew to the size of 
a mountain. He was stung by Bagog, and laid to sleep beneath the peaks which 
bear his name until a cure could be found for him. The load of rock he was 
carrying fell, and formed the Seven Hills. He provides the spell of Earthmight 
to Dorasta's priestesses, who may only cast it on a worshiper of one of 
Dorasta's protectors.
Other Notes
The Cleft of Dorasta
The Dorasta Shrine was built within the Cleft of Dorasta, first discovered by 
Vyrope, who became the first priestess. It is from here that Dorasta's spirit 
rises during worship sevices, and where she is easiest to contact. Sacred vapors 
rise from the Cleft, and the priestess of the shrine is often an oracle as well. 
Her foretellings are usually limited to birth prophecies, and the priestess 
(assisted by an acolyte and the child's mother) will sometimes receive a short 
phrase or vision of the child's future. It is common for children to be brought 
to her prior to their first birthday, for no prophecy has ever been given to a 
child older than that.
The villagers speak of the legend of the Wolfbear, a sacred beast and great 
enemy of chaos, who it is prophesied shall wake from its ages of slumber and 
emerge, driving the curse of chaos from the land. This Wolfbear is said to 
hibernate deep in the Cleft of Dorasta, in the caverns behind the shrine in the 
mouth of the Cleft. The villagers never enter the caverns, and forbid visitors 
to do so. They do not know why, only that it has always been forbidden: "Heed 
Ancient Wisdoms -- Entrance is Forbidden."
The Priestess of Dorasta
Dorasta has only one priestess at a time. She always assumes the name of Vyrope, 
the first priestess. The current priestess is so old she has forgotten her 
original name, and she now believes she is the original Vyrope -- an implausible 
notion immediately dismissed privately by the other inhabitants of the Dorasta 
Shrine, though in public they humor this delusion.
Vyrope is currently training her replacement, a young acolyte named Keirna, who 
was selected because of the miraculous appearance at her birth of the Three 
Women, one of whom named her Vyrope. Keirna is honored to have been chosen, but 
since she has known about her future status since childhood, she is 
over-confident and arrogant.


See also:
Cult of Ernalda


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