It's partially Jane's 'vingans as teenagers' trope - 'I can save the universe but I *won't* clean my room" and partially the basic vingan spirit that was forged in the Greater Darkness - the eternal struggle to survive/endure/protect the clan, think laterally to turn situations around, turn negatives into positives, liabilities into resources, to generate hope, make people laugh, help people discover their own gifts and use them to survive. In this it contrasts strongly with that other great hearthguard, Vinga's eternal friend and rival Elmal, whose devotees seem to have a more rigid and unchanging view of possibilities and solutions - 'Be quiet, listen to me, obey'.
There's an element of 'Only I can save the clan' (or at higher levels,
'Only I can persuade the clan to save themselves'), which often leads to an
eternal restlessness - Active - a driven sense of duty - Active - and a
indefatable (if sometimes forced) optimism for change and 'other ways' -
Active. It can also lead to defiance, and to crushing dissolution and guilt
when it becomes obvious you *can't* save the universe. Or to a total focus
on vengeance, as when the Laughing Daughter becomes the Red Woman.
It makes for interesting characters. And rowdy moots. :)
This doesn't preclude the more obvious physical reading of course: any woman who succeeds as a warrior in Heortling society is going to be both physically active and mentally driven.
'Solid as Earth, Restless as Storm.'
YGMV. Cheers
John
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