> Actually, one thing someone who has the book might answer. Do the
> Orlanthi view the lay initiation as wakening the runes/affinities or as
> connecting with the gods?
>From the book:
"Your rune affinities are a part of you, but you are awakened to them with your adulthood initiation to the gods and magic of the Orlanthi gods. At adulthood, your three most significant rune affinities are chosen. A child cannot do rune magic. Most Orlanthi men are associated with the [air] rune just as most Orlanthi women are with the [earth] rune; they are almost always one of your three most significant runes. Normally, you only have one elemental rune."
Looks like they are awakened and they see you as connecting to the runes not the gods. You are only initiated to the pantheon at that time and so have the freedom to explore which gods fit you best. There may be heavy advice as to which would suit you best or which the clan / bloodline need the most.
> Like if I'm Air, Movement, Plant am I viewed as "having those three
> runes" or "some weird plant-focused subcult of Orlanth" or something? Or
> am I viewed as being torn between two or three gods until I initiate to
> one of them?
I suspect that you would be viewed as being torn between two gods and at some point you would choose. So maybe you spend lots of time in the Elf woods, but how is that any more weird that the guys who spend most of the year living with bears!
As a side note it does seem to be much easier to be initiated to different gods in HQ2. If you have the necessary rune connections you can become an initiate. Though the cults all have to be mutually compatible, and I guess that time is a constraint too, though there is no formal quantification of that.
Gavain
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