David, this is yet another one of my irrational hatreds - I despise the term "lay member" as an awkward artificial term. In common use, the laity is the overwhelming majority of the population which has not taken clerical or monastic vows - I can see how that was analogized to the "initiated" v. the "uninitiated" but it is a clumsy analogy at best.
If I recollect, the difference between a lay member and an initiate is that a lay member cannot "experience" the mysteries of the ceremony, but simply sees folk dressed up in cult garb dancing around.
>A lay member is not necessarily the same as someone who's an initiate of
>Orlanth but whose main religious emphasis is on someone else. I think my
>character Kerenath, who worships Issaries, would be considered an initiate
>of Orlanth. He's a man of the clan, and as such is quite capable of
filling
>in for Orlanth in most ceremonies.
The important point here is that Kerennath, like pretty much any normal Sartarite adult male, has been initiated according to Orlanth's rites. After the initial initiation, which confers status as an Orlanthi and a Heortling (or other Orlanthi group), the initiate may have specialities further quantified by subsequent initiation. As you well know, the full Orlanthi initiation requires several years - I believe at least 3 - to finish.
>If he shows up at one of Elena's worship
>ceremonies, trying to get political brownie points, he's a lay member of
>Chalana Arroy.
I don't believe this is true. Having been subsequently initiated into the mysteries of the Lightbringer Issaries, Kerennath would be able to "experience" the mysteries of Chalana Arroy ceremony - worship of Chalana Arroy is "associated" and "compatible" with Issaries. As such, he wouldn't be a "lay member" by even the artificial terminology imposed by the RQ system.
Jeff
End of The Glorantha Digest V6 #48
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