Well, this isn't quite what the Theyalans believe (they have to walk there, along the path of the dead), but more importantly, I suspect that shamanic types believe significantly differently.
> [1 &] 2. The dead have no choice but to go before Daka Fal, Humakt or
> whoever. There they may ask to be allowed to return as a ghost.
This seems to assume that spirits _want_ to remain as ghosts, whereas literary precedent surely indicates that it's often involuntary.
On Doraddi acolytes, elders, or wot?:
> How many ex-chiefs do you think an average tribe has?
Not many, which was rather my point.
> Is that the only way a male can become an elder?
I'm not sure "Elder", in the sense of many African tribal societies, is a big thing among the Doraddi. The advisory/non-executive function seems to fall to the council of women, so what exactly would an elder do, other than sit around looking ancestral? (I'm sure there's a Congress joke in here, someplace -- keep 'em strictly bipartisan, please.)
Sandy's indicated, after all, that there are lots of Old Woman cults among the Doraddi, and something of a lack of Old Man cults. I'm certainly not convinced that _Pamalt_ fills this niche.
> Seriously, the orrigins of humans are very confusing. We have prety
> clear myths of the orrigins of the elder races, but nobody realay
> knows where humans come from.
Or more precisely, everyone has their own ideas about where humans, or at least _their_ group of humans came from.
> Experiment - One elf humakti sets off on a heroquest and severs his
> connection to the plant rune. Result : one human.
I could believe this, actually, but I'd say this could be more down to the (general) humanocentricity of the Humakt cult, and the (presumed) intention of the HQer to get this result, rather than an Underlying Mythic Truth.
Alex.
Powered by hypermail