Re: Re: Western Reaching

From: Peter Metcalfe <metcalph_at_...>
Date: Mon, 02 Oct 2000 13:13:10 +1300


Kevin McDonald:

>Me> Etyries already is a trade deity so I don't see why the
> > Carmanians need a specialized subcult.

>In all honesty, they don't. I just don't feel comfortable with
>Carmanian men worshipping a female deity.

Conservative Carmanians perhaps, but when one is worshipping a Lunar Deity, they've already shed some inhibitions.

>Plus, I felt that the Carmanians would favor a less individualistic
>god in favor of something leaning a bit more towards institutional
>trade.

There is nothing in the Etyries cult that mandates her worshippers from being institutionalized shoptraders or individual wheeler-dealers.

> > That's because Lodril and Turos are the same deities at some level
> > just like Entekos and Dendara are.

>At some level, yes. Not so much as Entekos/Dendara, though.

Yes, at the level of Entekos/Dendara.

> > He is not _the_ Great God of Pelanda

>Perhaps not as such, but TOTRM 16 reported Turos and Oria as
>"the two greatest gods of Pelanda".

But that's solely in terms of worshipper numbers, _not_ whether Turos dominates the Pelandan Pantheon to the same extent as Orlanth does.

>He plays a central role in many of the myths in Entekosaid, and
>Greg's Gods and Goddesses of the Lunar Empire stated "Turos was
>the Great God of Pre-Carmanian Pelanda,..."

He is still only one of the High Gods and no more powerful than any of them. I can't see the point of further exegesis of the sources to prove that Turos is somehow greater than other High Gods or that he is not in any shape or form a farming deity.

> > Lodril is also a Great God in Dara Happa, but the Dara Happans
> > still put his worshippers at the low end of the social spectrum.

>But the Dara Happans have Yelm as the Great Emperor, and the Pelandans
>do not. Having reduced the sun to basically the tip of Idovanus' ersoon,
>who else would they choose as their male role-model?

This is getting extremely confusing. I had the impression that you are talking about the Western Reaches, but in your attempts to make Turos a respected deity, you seem to be talking about the Heartland Pelandans. I shall spell matters out and hope that the answer you desire lies therein.

Pelanda is divided into two parts: one dominated by the Carmanians and one that is not.

In Free Pelanda, Turos is a respected deity, being one of the High Gods. In Carmania, he is a Serf's God and Idovanus is supreme.

In Free Pelanda, Turos is the male role-model. Only the downtrodden serfs of Carmania treat him as such. The Carmanians have no need of a male role-model because they have the benefit of Caste Laws.

> > >This would answer a question one of my players asked: "Since
> > >their cults are so fragmented, shouldn't the Carmanians suck
> > >at magic?"

> > If the Orlanthi people are so fragmented, shouldn't they suck
> > at fighting?

>IMO, yep. After all, the well organized Lunars pretty much have
>their wicked way with the Heortlings until Argrath gets them working
>together rather than as unruly individuals.

But the average Orlanthi is a much better fighter than the average Pelorian. Whether the cult is large or small doesn't effect the magical ability that a worshipper can attain.

>Exactly how I should relate this to the Carmanians I am unsure.
>The Carmanians are neither as organized as the Lunars or as
>individualistic as the Orlanthi.

The Lunars are not more organized than the Carmanians AFAIK.

--Peter Metcalfe

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