Pretty much my impression as well.
> I've become cautious of the plethora of hero bands we had within HQ1. I'm
> beginning to feel that a hero band is a proper community founded outside
> of culturally non-traditional (usually kinship) structures. So whilst once
> I saw 'societies' within the Red Cow such as the Auroch Bringers or the
> Wolkfskinners as hero bands, now I don't the are. Now I think they are
> 'just what it says on the tin': societies within the larger operative
> community of the clan.
I think the "Hero Band" terminology covers a wide range of cases - from a bunch of guys who adventure together (the typical RPG group) to mostly-autonomous groups (Like, say, Harrek and his buddies). What sets a "Hero Band" apart from "just a bunch of guys" is having a Guardian.
I don't believe that being part of a "Hero Band" cuts you off from other communities, Just as one can be a member of a number of local groups and clubs in the real world. A hero band in the context of Orlanthi Society will be part of their community (unless it's some sort of outlaw or extra-communal band, of course - like Gagarthi Bandit Bands or Frothing Uroxi Berserkers bands).
Getting back to the Praxian societies, while said they were "more like" herobands (as opposed to entire Practices), they are even "more like" the Boy Scouts. Each group of Society members will be semi-autonomous from the rest of the Society. But there are occasions when the whole soceity gets together for a Jamboree (or a battle against the End of the Universe). All the groups follow the same guidelines, but there are local variations.
RR
He was born with the gift of laughter and the sense that the world was mad
R. Sabatini, Scaramouche
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