> How exactly do you define 'caste'? Do you change your caste when you
> get an elder and switch to Zitro Argon/ the 'priestly' caste? Or are
> you born into your caste and stay there? I understood the matter to
> be the former case.
I'd say it was exactly the reverse. But then, I have no desire to make Teshnos more "playable" than, say, Vedic India would be. If MGF leads you to create a fluid society for Teshnos, fair enough. But check out a couple of library books on Indian caste structures first. You'll probably find more scenario ideas from them than could emerge from your own head.
> Somash in my picture is the "executive branch" of the Teshnan hier-
> archy, but not the ruling deity. That's still Zitro Argon, IMO.
Agreed. But the extent of that "rule" is incredibly tenuous: less power than the Queen of England has today, I would imagine.
> I think that >Gorgoma< had/has some devouring aspect as well as being
> rebellious, preferring a beast of burden for a ritual snack perhaps.
Does this have something to do with being "hung like a donkey"? <g> C'mon, Ralf: no need to be shy. We *know* what Gorgorma likes to devour!
Anyway, the point about eating Horses is not that they're a beast of burden, but that they're the great and noble necessity of life, symbol of the health, wealth and virility possessed by the Manificent Men of Pent. If Teshnans have similar Elephant-fetishism (as seems likely for nobles and military chaps), then the killing or eating of Elephants would be similarly taboo/potent. But the Pentans, being Horse Nomads, are far more susceptible to this myth-function than the sedentary Teshnans.
> "And then he ate her. THE END"
> What implications do that give to the idea of RRH being the sun...?:-)
That the sun sets? ;-)
> Being a newbie, I am presumably allowed this question: What is DBHE?
Stands for the "Dara Happan Book of Emperors", another circulating draft manuscript by Greg Stafford (rather less finished than the "Glorious ReAscent of Yelm").
> (do you know what "kvinnohistoria" is in English, Jonas?)
Another Cabell link: "'It was Helmas the Deep-Minded who told me what was requisite. "'Queen' is the same as 'cwen', which means 'a woman,' no more nor less," said the wise King. "You have but to remember that."'" (FoE).
> Spirit combat as written is so dull, dull, dull, ghastly, boring, and
> awful.
Heartily concur.
> History before Gibbon's time was pure propaganda.
Read any Gibbon, lately? You may be drawing a false dichotomy between pro-paganda and "anti-paganda", I suppose. But the chronicler of "the triumph of Barbarism and Christianity" may have had a few axes to grind. Interestingly (though not Gloranthan at all), the modern sense of the perfectly good Latin word "propaganda" comes from its use by the Roman Catholic Church: as soon as the Congregation for the Propagation of the Faith started up, their middle name entered the English language as the word for distorted half-truths...
Sandy:
>> I don't think that such Malkioni believe that even they have the
>> "truth", only that they have much more of it than anyone else.
Martin:
> You think they're more sophisticated than I do. Anybody with a
> revealed truth from God is unlikely to have the humility or courage
> to see that we cannot be sure of anything.
They *could* arrive somewhere similar by playing on Divine omniscience as opposed to mortal limitations; ineffability; mystery; and the like. But generally I would side with Martin on this one. As usual with the West, grandiose philosophical theories matter less than what the common folk (us) can make of them.
PS: My modem has been having trouble with the letter between 'f' and 'h', so if this mail seems artlessly casual, it's not intended. (Anyway, I'd have used apostrophes...).
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