>I think that many Eurmali chose their position as much as Humakti,
>Healers, Sages and Traders chose their position, to mention four
>other cases in Orlanthi where people do not follow the normal way,
Uh, yeah. Which is to say, adventurers may choose, but 95% of teenagers do what their same-gender parent did. 4% join cults that are deemed necessary by the clan or family leaders. That leaves 1% (I'm making these numbers up, BTW) who join cults for other reasons. Major modifiers to these numbers include areas with proselytizing religions (Lunars, Malkioni), where some impressionable youngsters are overwhelmed by the foreign worldview and join it against their parents' will. Is that choice? I submit it is not. A religious conversion was never felt to be an act of conscious will or preference until very recently in our world; it would be intolerably anachronistic in Glorantha. A religious conversion _happens_ to a person, like a disease or a stroke of luck. Although psychological conditions may make it more likely, to the convertee it feels like something from the outside.
Now, an adult may join Eurmal to gain some benefit, but only if he felt that going that route was inevitable. It's not like joining the Episcopalians to increase your odds of getting into Who's Who. There is, in fact, no earthly equivalent. (OTOH, joining Orlanth Rex or Moonson IS exactly like joining the Episcopalians for social advancement. Thus, one finds more people in high-ranking cults who lack, shall we say, true zeal.)
<rant mode off>
--Martin
------------------------------
End of Glorantha Digest V2 #199
WWW material at http://hops.wharton.upenn.edu/~loren/rolegame.html
Powered by hypermail