With cults being so central when roleplaying in Glorantha, we get many supplements devoted to them. But, no matter how much information on the myths, the place of cults in society, etc. they include, it is sometimes not enough. This is particularly true of fringe cults and cults whose place in society raises many questions, such as the cult of Uleria, goddess of love. In this case, the cult description in Cults of RuneQuest: The Earth Goddesses leaves lots of questions unanswered. For example: How does a cult focused on love survive in a world full of conflicts and brutality? What are its initiates motives to join the cult? What do they think like? What is their usual daily routine? Fortunately, imaginative, avid fans are willing to fill the gaps left by official publications, and that is exactly what Three Doors to Your Heart does with the cult of Uleria. I was immediately intrigued by this publication on the Jonstown Compendium, so I read it through, and below you can read my review. First, I will deal with the contents, and then briefly with the look of the book before wrapping up.
The content
Three Doors to Your Heart is an expansion of the cult of Uleria presented in Cults of RuneQuest: The Earth Goddesses. While the official cult writeup has 6 pages, the authors (JC Håkansson and Malin Rydén) of Three Doors to Your Heart have written 57. This means there is space to expand the cult itself, but also to offer a lot of detail on what its initiates do, what they think, and how to roleplay them. Although it includes some rules details in the shape of new spells for RuneQuest, the rest is all background, so it can be used for any roleplaying game. The title refers to the three ways of love that are practiced in the temples of Uleria: that of companionship, propagation, and the body, that are inspired by the Greek words for love.
The way of love that may be the most awkward to deal with is that of the body, because, among other things, it includes sex. In this, Three Doors to Your Heart does not shy away from dealing with thorny topics like sacred prostitution, already on page 8. The authors tackle it in a mature way and make it more palatable for GMs and players by introducing consent as a key part of the sexual encounters in Uleria temples. Read this excerpt:
"To the cult, the main concern is one of consent. Everything that they do is centered around this concept, and as soon as something enters the territory of non-consent, the cult takes a firm stand against it."
That means initiates working for the temple are not forced in any way into having sex. It makes sense because sex is one of the three ways of love practiced in Uleria temples, making it sacred. If you were forced to give love through your body, that would not really be love, and so it would disrespect the goddess. Although scholars point out sacred prostitution never happened in Antiquity, the concept is so entrenched in how I imagine the cult of the goddess of love in Glorantha and in classic publications such as Apple Lane, that I still include it in my games except if someone at the table dislikes having that in our shared fantasy. But even if we decide to expunge it from our Glorantha, there is still a lot of information in Three Doors to Your Heart to make it a worthy purchase. The book also deals with the matter of fidelity and marriage vows, which is interesting, because it highlights how different the fantasy world of Glorantha can be from our real world, and how hippy the Orlanthi are, at least by my standards! (BTW, there is some info about it by Jeff Richard).
Although the Uleria temple in Apple Lane may be the most well-known of all the ones dedicated to the goddess of love among fans of Glorantha, Three Doors to Your Heart also offers some titbits about the cult in other lands outside the kingdom of Sartar. For example, The Lunar Empire, Esrolia, and even the West! It also includes text boxes dedicated to the cities of Ulawar and Zoria. This is helpful if your campaign is set in those other regions, but also goes to show how the cult is very minor everywhere.
The book also offers a lot of detail on the songs, dances, and stories its initiates perform during ceremonies and festivals. Since one of the facets of the goddess is that of fostering community, it is only natural for her initiates to be good in the art of entertaining. Some of the titles of these songs and stories include naughty plays on words, such as the story of The Cunning Linguists and others. This sort of detail is useful for gamemasters when describing the festivals of Uleria, and it is perfect for the 200-page scenario the authors published alongside this supplement that deals precisely with a Ulerian festival in Apple Lane: Uleria Loves You.
Another useful part of the book describes what initiates do inside the temples, the three main tenets that rule their behaviour, as well as the expected etiquette of visitors, or "co-worshippers". This is obviously useful to run scenes inside the temples. There is even a first-hand account from Aileena, one of the NPCs from Apple Lane, describing her daily routine in the temple. This kind of narration is great to flesh out cults from a "street-level view". I wish there were more of them, as it helps to understand the initiates of Uleria way better, and therefore, to roleplay them better, either as PCs or NPCs.
In fact, there is a whole section dealing with how to play Uleria initiates as playing characters. First of all, it widens up the possibilities of creating initiates of this goddess in case you had not thought of them, which, let's face it, often start narrowed down to just sex workers. After reading this section, you will be thinking more broadly on other aspects, and therefore contemplate initiates who are masseurs, sex, marriage, or family counsellors, therapists, midwives, entertainers, and more. I particularly love the example of the Uleria initiate who is just a quiet man "content with sweeping the floors and playing board games with lonely visitors". However, if you decide to play the most mainstream Uleria initiate, the book offers practical advice on how to do that while avoiding awkward scenes at the table with your friends. It also offers advice on how to run flirting, and how to treat highly charismatic characters, which the book describes as "charisma monsters". Therefore, this section can be useful even if you do not include the cult of Uleria in your games or even if you play games in other fictional worlds.
Something I missed dearly in the official cult writeup are detailed myths of Uleria. Here you can read 2 by Greg Stafford that were already published in The Book of Heortling Mythology, but also 3 new ones: "Uleria bathes", "Uleria shares her pot", and "Uleria shows that love is blind". They are well made, as they each teach something important about love. They would have been even better if they had been paired to the Rune spell you can gain when you experience the myth in the heroplane. Or if they had included details on how to turn them into heroquests, although perhaps that is difficult to do. On top of that, you can find the narration of a Ulerian initiation rite, which could be turned into a heroquest with some imagination. The myths are arranged in sections dealing with Uleria festivals in every season of the year, with some details on festivals in cities such as Nochet, or Furthest. Like the details on songs and dances previously mentioned, this information will come in handy for enriching your description of these festivals in Apple Lane, Pavis, and other places where your adventurers happen to be.
Finally, the new Rune spells (around 16!) will be interesting for any player wishing to have more cult magic to cast. I confess this was the first section of the book I wanted to read, and it did not disappoint. Some of them just make sense for Uleria to offer, while others are wildly creative, and still totally fitting. For example, I love the Create Love-In spell, which can turn warmaking into lovemaking. The Explorer of the Further Interior gives Ulerian adventurers a great deal of much needed versatility. And the Your Other Mother spell is perfect for defence. But my favourite is the Crowd Pleaser spell. It reminds me of a certain scene in the Watchmen comic book, but I like it mostly because it is fun, and in the hands of a creative player it can have many different uses. One thing seems certain: Whatever happens when a PC casts it, it will be remembered!
Three Doors to Your Heart is a great expansion of the cult of Uleria, and there is little it does not cover. It even includes a section on mystic illumination! Even so, it would have been great to include a section about the cult spirits. The cult writeup in Cults of RuneQuest: The Earth Goddesses states the cult can command the tilntae spirits who serve the goddess, and there is some more information about them in The Prosopaedia, but I was expecting to find more about them here, as this is one piece of information that is underwritten in most official cult writeups. There are some details in the description of the new Rune spell Create Love-In though. Aside from that, it would also been great to include a couple descriptions of Uleria initiates. Yes, there are 3 in The Apple Lane Campaign (formerly included in The GM Screen Pack), but since the supplement expands the kinds of Uleria initiates you can find, it would have been great to include these less mainstream ones as fully statted examples or with detailed backgrounds, to have examples of fully fleshed-out, ready-to-use characters.
The look
This supplement is professionally laid-out, and it uses a font for the headers that reminds you of the 60s-70s groovy and hippy posters and LPs, which suits the topic well. Aside from that, the art throughout the book is from royalty-free sources like paintings, woodcarvings, and the posters by Alphonse Mucha, which I love. Although it is not strictly Gloranthan, I do not mind because after all this is a fan publication, so my expectations are way less than for an official book. There are many beautiful ladies, but it would have been great to also include some depictions of male Uleria initiates, just to break expectations a bit. Despite that, these pieces are used tastefully and help decorate the text columns nicely.
The only piece of art made ad-hoc is on the cover and it is amazing. This piece by Alex Wilson shows a close-up of a well-dressed, attractive woman with an elaborate hairstyle and lots of jewellery. She may be a high priestess of the goddess of love, or perhaps the goddess herself. But what really stands out is the way she is looking at you with a half-smile. Like she knows. ;-)
Wrapping up
What I love the most of this supplement is that it shows how you can expand and modify aspects of Glorantha to suit your vision of the world. Hence, it is a detailed example of an unofficial version of a Gloranthan cult, that I hope will be used as a template for expanding and modifying many other existing cults. You do not need to accept all of it, but there are plenty of good ideas, so I bet you will adopt at least some of them for your own roleplaying campaigns. On top of that, the cult of Uleria looks difficult to expand in a sensitive way, but the authors have managed to do so with finesse and a bit of humour. It is a good example of what the Jonstown Compendium is for!
The best
- It tackles thorny topics with maturity and sensitivity
- Ideal for roleplaying Uleria initiates in all their variety
- Creative and thematic new Rune spells for RuneQuest
- The myths
- The tips for running sex and flirting scenes
The nitpicking
- It could have included some example characters to include in your games
- Missed opportunity to detail the cult spirits serving the goddess Uleria
