I've always been uncertain when the storm worshippers arrived in Umathela. I assumed they were a First Age group - but I could certainly be wrong. If they came from Genertela in the First Age, they probably did learn how to worship the storm gods from the Heortlings.
> So after various God Learner outrages (such as perhaps suppressing
> Orlanth worship entirely), the Umathing people came up with their
own
> ways (perhaps partly remembered from way back, perhaps partly new)
to
> contact the Other Side. Same gods as before, but if say you don't
> realize that your storm god can teach kingship magic, you'll end
up
> with a different religion. Not misapplied, but different.
Sure. Although I suspect that the Umathelan religion has its origins in various God Learner outrages.:)
> Also, it's my understanding that travel between Ralios and Dragon
> Pass was somewhat easier during the Imperial Age. So with lots of
> contact between the two Orlanthi groups, I'd expect more common
> practices. (Alakoring is an obvious example of this.)
Absolutely. And remember, lots of Orlanthi are fliers - especially major religious figures. And the Ralians had extensive contact with Harmast for several years - he taught the Ralian godtalkers what he had learned in the LBQ long before he taught the Heortlings.
> Again, the Umathings were on their own since the Closing (and
likely
> before, given their use as God Learner test subjects), so they
would
> tend to diverge rather than converge from the Orlanthi norm.
I'm in total agreement with you.
> In the Barbarian Belt, I'd expect the areas adjoining Dragon Pass
to
> have Orlanth worship that's fairly close to the central
Heortlings.
> You could easily find a Ralian clan that's no stranger than the
> strangest Sartarite clan. More-distant Fronela would be less
similar.
You could probably find several Ralian clans that are less strange than the strangest Sartarite clan. Harmast appears to have done just that.:)
> Perhaps no Fronelan clan would fit into the realm of Sartarite
> variation, but many would be no stranger to a Ralian than the
> strangest Ralian clan.
FWIW, I think the Fronelan Orlanthi would be viewed as equally strange to both the Ralians and the Sartarites. They came into contact with the Council much later than the Ralians - the Theyalans may have had less to offer the Fronelan folk by then. Fronela also appears to have been pretty much cut off from contact with Kerofinela for most of the Second and Third Ages. I'm sure there are Orlanthi in Fronela, but it just does not seem to be as much of a cultural center as Ralios or Kerofinela.
> And Umathela's significantly more remote, and
> is likely to look the least similar to Thunder Rebels.
>
> (BTW, Ralios is a pretty large place, and there are two groups of
> Orlanthi that are probably as different as Heortland and Tarsh.)
Given that the Orlanthi of Heortland and Tarsh were both Heortlings in the First, Second and most of the Third Age, I'm not sure that says all that much.:) Personally, I think that the folk of Vestmonstran and the East Wilds have more cultural differences than the Sartarites and the Tarshites - even though they share the same Orlanth religion.
Jeff
Powered by hypermail