Shargash

From: Peter Metcalfe <metcalph_at_bigfoot.com>
Date: Thu, 13 Sep 2001 20:05:14 +1200


>From: Carl Fink <carlf_at_panix.com>

> > In any case, Tolat only does this once a year and considering
> > the full importance of his destructive nature, I'll hazard the
> > guess that the night of Uxorial Ecstasy is the _only_ time that
> > he's capable of doing so. Hence I'll have to disagree with the
> > "fairly considerable" fertility aspect.

>Peter, do you really want to defend the position that fathering all
>the children (and thus, all the *people*) of an entire nation is
>*not* a considerable fertility aspect?

_of_ the total god, yes. That the amazons worship him with a fertility association that is necessary for their culture is a given. But since his other worshippers (the Gachi of nearby Melib and Shargashites of Alkoth) don't, the impression that I get is that it's a very minor part of the overall god himself.

A more familiar parallel might be: Ernalda has many aspects and a very minor myth in which she's the wife of a darkness deity (Argan Argar/Dojor the Black). To a darkness-orientated Orlanthi clan (such as the Torkani or the Kitori), this myth might be of critical importance, yet other Orlanthi have barely heard of it and care even less. So does Ernalda have a considerable wife of the dark aspect? IMO no. That she does have such a nature is not in doubt but in terms of her overall nature, it is not considerable.

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