me:
> Chalana Arroy is a little weird and disturbing to them,
>> although useful. "Well, they saved Bernan's leg that's true, but no way is
>> my son running off to become some pacifist White Healer."
>
>Point of order... while not disputing or touching upon the Uleria point,
I'm beginning to wish I hadn't....
>Chalana Arroy is as basic to Heortling mythology as Ernalda, perhaps even
>more so, if that can be believed.
I didn't mean to suggest that CA is not important to Heortling life. Obviously, that would be a big mistake. However, I do think CA worshippers are a much smaller percentage of the community than Runequest led us to believe, partly becasue Ernalda the Healer takes up some of the slack, and partly becasue CA is at odds with Orlanthi society in a way that other gods are not. Issaries and Lhankor Mhy, although a little weird, do not dispute "Viloence Is Always an Option." Now, I think that all Heortlings give honor to the White Lady and her followers, and they are certainly glad to have Her around when Broo come calling, there is a natural plague, a serious disaster, or Ernaldan magics fail. If your clan has a shrine, it is well tended; if the clan has no shrine, the ring sends regular gifts to the nearest temple. She is important and valued, but I also think she makes people, especially men, a little nervous. In her way, CA is as extreme as Humakt.
>If a son is called to her, who can deny the will of the gods?
>Obviously, to serve the White Lady is his Wyrd.
Yes, but I can see a proud Heortling dad being torn because his son has been called to such an "unmanly" deity. Kind of like having your boyfriend decide to become a priest....
>[examples removed] I personally would not find it
>unusual if out of a clan of 1200, at least a dozen people were initiated to
>Lightbringer cults, as opposed to the equivalent subcults in the
>Ernalda/Orlanth structure.
Good points all, and, I think, true. It is important to remember that those worshippers will be absent from some important rituals of the clan, worshipping neither Orlanth nor Ernalda. On other days, when everyone else is working, they will be performing their own duties to the gods. This has to have some effect on the way they are viewed by th community.
>I wouldn't find worship of Arroy or Lhankor Mhy any more unusual than, say,
>worship of Elmal or Humakt, who are certainly not foreign gods. The
>Lightbringers are family, even if they were adopted family.
Exactly. All the gods not clearly part of the Orlanth/Ernalda structure are going to be "somewhat" outside the central life of the clan. Imagine you are a steelworker from a long line of physical workers and your daughter turns out to be a genius physicist. You may be proud of her, you may be happy if she finds a high-paying job, but there will be some sort of class disjunction there (oh my god, I'm in a Master's program, and I'm using "disjunction" in a conversation...). This is how I imagine worship of Heler (nice guy, don't leave your kids near him), Humakt (nice guy, but quiet, don't invite him home for dinner), Issaries (nice gal, aren't some of them thieves? That guy in the core rules was...), and so on. Welcome, especially in their area of expertise, but....
The point of this is not to demonize other Heortling cults (I'll save that for non-Heortling cults), but to try to set them into a community framework. Surely this gives more hooks to hang stories and characters on than ignoring the gap between the lives of the 85% (is that a "Heortling 85%?") of Heortlings who follow the "default" ways. It's not like children will be out throwing stones at the Elmali, but when crises arise, the Elmali might feel that they were getting less support from the clan than "regular" folk. This casues trouble in KoDP now and again, and I think it's a good idea.
>Lightbringer aside... I'm hoping that ST has more on specific Lightbringer
>magic and rituals, and the mystical/chaos fighting role that the
>Lightbringers have.
Yes, please!
Peter Larsen
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