There are three levels of people who might fill the role: the godi (and priests) -- "professional god-talkers," devotees (and maybe passionate initiates) -- "involved amateurs," and office holders -- patriarch, matriarch, "stead champion," head bee keeper, whatever (they probably fall into the second category. I suspect there are not that many of category 1, but lots of 2.
>As for shrines I believe that every stead, has its houshold or stead
>shrines, the little statuettes, carvings or even places that are accepted as
>being more holy to your god -The small rapids when on Poverris' holy day
>Brother Salmon literally jumps into your hands. The high meadow where the
>deer always come to graze as long as Odaylas portion is left by the Bear
>rock. The small statue of Mahome which stands by the Hearth fire. These are
>shrines that do affect your magic and abilities, but they probably dont
>provide any major magic.
Definitely, except these aren't shrines, which have some sort of wider acknowledgement. A stead probably has a lot of holy places, places where special magic can be done (or regular actions are easier), etc, but it needs to have clan-wide (or wider) use and usefulness to be a shrine. Shrines also require tending, upkeep, etc, which I don't think is necessary for "special places."
For the rest of it, I imagine that Heortling steads are lousy with images of gods, heroes, daimones, etc. From the dragons carved in the roof-tree to keep dragons away to the faces of Orlanth and Ernalda carved above every lintel, I think carved images are everywhere. Imagine -- Heortling men are restless and need to be kept busy. They are trapped indoors for a season and a half every year. I bet they whittle like crazy.
Peter Larsen
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