First up, a post I've just made to the HW rules list. Skip this section if you've already read it
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Yes, TR had to expanded into two books, and we won't have the complete picture or the true balance until we've read both. TR gives us daily life, clans, religion, fighting, and the two great deities that account for 85% and more of Orlanthi worship. That's a hefty first serving.
Now I haven't seen the printed final TR (tomorrow, I'm hoping) and I'm speaking strictly as an individual, but lets put this into perspective.
The Orlanthi 'all' is still very much in operation. TR builds on the descriptions and key words of HW:RIG and G:IHW. Female warrior keys are provided there. This is a society built on freedom and on the fact that no one can make you do anything! The opening chapter, (and the TR sample on the Issaries website) expresses the attitudes shared about the roles of men and women by Heortlings themselves.
"With courage, a man can do whatever a woman does; with heart and training, a woman can be the equal of any man...."
Now for a woman to join Vinga is like joining Orlanth Adventurous. Vinga is a Thunder Brother, and anyone who has undergone Vinga initiation can join *any* Orlanth subcult. For "men only" read "men and initiated Vingans only."
There are also gateways into Ernalda for men. The descriptions of Nanda expressed on various Gloranthan lists over the last twelve months are ain't necessarily Issaries view *or* the final version.
Perhaps there would have been room for Vinga in TR if Issaries had dropped that damned index. :)
Ok, some fresh stuff.
I personally believe that Heortling society is extremely egalitarian, and in my contributions to Thunder Rebels was very conscious of this.
I'm always intrigued to compare Heortling and Lunar egalitarianisms. Lunars have the theory, but in practice have to deal with the entrenched Solar foundations of their thought and a hierarchical wordview. Heortlings have a patriarchal base, but in practice women often transcend those limitations to (in my private view and in my campaigns) effectively run the whole show. No one - man or woman - is denied the chance to follow their wyrd, even if it means making mistakes.
For me, this dynamic, this struggle between theory and practice is what makes the Lunars and the Orlanthi both so interesting and so fun to play. It's *hard* to find the place you want in Heortling society, but its also possible to become *anything*. That marvellous dichotomy between 'Violence is always an option' and 'There is always another way' is roleplaying genius! The cooperation *and* the struggle between Orlanthi and Ernaldan ways of thinking creates an incredible dynamo of energy. (its perhaps because I haven't discovered the essential contradiction in other Gloranthan cultures that I don't yet find them as enticing).
I hope that in a few month's time, when we have Storm Tribe, any seeming imbalances will be seen purely as an artefact of publishing schedules.
Cheers
John
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