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Mythos and History
Chalana Arroy is the daughter of Glorantha. It is not known who her father was. Even in the earliest myths she is always the same, already showing the depths of her character. Noted for her kindness and purity, she aided Orlanth, Issaries, Yelm, Humakt, Ernalda, Hykim, and others in several tales. Her son, Arroin, beloved by all the world, was beget by one or all of these gods.
In the War of the Gods, Chalana Arroy made many efforts to heal the wounded, and learned the secrets of many gods' innards and powers. Everyone wished her to their sides, especially as things grew worse and worse, but she never committed herself and she never took an active side in any fight.
When the Darkness came and the Celestial Court was thrown down by Chaos then Chalana Arroy met with her son in the center of the world. They found a being they could not heal, for it was a dead god. Chalana Arroy decided that her passivity no longer worked, though her son urged her to stay and keep her purity for the sake of the cosmos. While they debated they were met by Flesh Man, who was witless from seeing the death of the whole world even before it was over.
Arroin used his powers and almost healed the fugitive with healthy magic. But Flesh Man still fled. Chalana Arroy chose to lay aside her passivity and act.
She left behind her son and followed the Flesh Man to search for the Wound in the Cosmos to heal it. She later met with others and she became one of the Lightbringers.
The tale of the Lightbringers is told elsewhere, but the tale of Arroin needs telling. During the Darkness, he was loved by all, and protected by every living thing which could help him. In return, he helped everyone whenever he could. Even so, his fate was wretched, for he attracted the emptiness of Chaos to him, and each time he tried to heal Chaos his magic powers broke. He was wounded several times, and at the end lay near to death himself.
Finally, he hid in the physical plane, and so survived long enough to see the Dawning, and to greet his mother back to the world. But his powers were never the same.
In the world which was reborn many things were changed. The secret of Chalana Arroy's success was her decision to act, but once her decision was made she always fell back upon her inner nature to find victory through her magics. On the Lightbringers quest she raised no arms nor made decisions, and in the new world she was again passive, though she controlled great magics and the secrets of resurrection.
He son, though, no longer had the power of mastery of the magic world. Instead, he was bound to do the things which had survived his woundings and had not been damaged. Therefore he formed the Arroin sub cult of his Mother's Cult, whose skills lie in abilities rather than powers.
The worship of the goddess Chalana Arroy is an extremely harsh and prohibitive one in many respects, and especially in the nature of their self-defense. In fact, the cult expressly prohibits the use of any weapons or magic which may damage a part of the world. The worship of a passive deity is a luxury which few can afford. Not many wish to throw them-selves at the mercy of the world when times are troubled. Thus worship of her has been restricted to the most devout individuals or the most advanced civilizations. One surviving manifestation of a historical cult is the Sisters of Mercy, worshipped by all natives of Dragon Pass, which is the remnants of an Empire of the Wyrms Friends subcult.
Worship of her has, thus, been differentiated as being of two types since the Dawning. Many cults generally include her as an associated cult. Every cult which survived the Darkness without Chalana Arroy's magic was aided by some of Arroin's arts.
Those truly dedicated to the worship of this Cult know they will return to the world as healing spirits, continuing to aid and comfort the torn and battered of the world.
These cultists are buried after death. It is usual for Priests and Lords of the cult to have some type of healing plant grow over their gravesite, and so they are often buried in the cult gardens.
The primary associations of this Cult are Life and Harmony.