>Michael Raaterova
>> Small cults in general get by thanks to pantheon initiation, making
>> worshippers within the pantheon semi-initiates when they participate in the
>> small cult's ceremonies. The Craft Gods could well be something like the
>> above though, with their magic originating from acquired powers.
>Hm. I'm very dubious about pantheon initiation having THAT effect. It
>says in King of Sartar that most small cults (and Chalana Arroy is
>mentioned as an example) cannot get their best magic without the
>necessary number of participants. [...] For most places, the effect of
>>friendly people helping out would perhaps set up a shrine.
Yeah, i know. I made an over-simplistic blanket statement, because i didn't want details to screw up my line-of-thought when i wrote it. I agree that it is a thorny and frustrating problem.
>To further complicate it, I don't think that it's enough to have the
>faithful crowd to achieve the divine contact necessary for spell
>learning and recovery. You must also have someone who knows the Deep
>Secrets of that particular kind of magic.
Definitely.
>>I said that Master
>> Smiths were shacked up in _strange_ places, not necessarily isolated ones,
>> so they could belong to a clan or group of people that cared for them and
>> tended their worldy needs.
>Hm, you earlier said that smiths either were wanderers or worked for
>a chieftain.
Yes, the _ordinary_ smiths that is. _Master_ Smiths are usually neither. And no, i don't have any nice and easy categorization of Master Smiths vs. ordinary smiths.
>To continue being "boring", in the first case the
>trouble may be FINDING the guy at all "well, I've heard he USUALLY
>can be found around Wintertop in this season, but I'm not sure"
>rather than find strange materials for him to work with. In the other
>case, you must answer the question "Why should I do any work for you
>who are not my kin or allies of my kin?" to the smith's satisfaction.
>And his employer's satisfaction.
You'r'n't boring. These are very good examples of what problems face the wanna-be hero who decides he needs a fantabulous weapon. As it should be.
>Sidethought: If you have clans or kingroups with some mysterious
>wonder-worker living with them (Master Smith, Master Brewer etc)
>then it may well create certain weirdo effects in their local
>culture: The magic of the wonder-worker, often seen, might be seen
>as commonplace. "What, do wagons need HORSES where you live!!?"
In these localities the boundaries between the mundane and the other world are weaker, even non-existent. Which creates stories about fey castles and hidden valleys and whatnot.
>I have an ancient small cult for travelling
>butchers and castrators of horses (there's an English name for their
>occupation, but I've forgot it). It was related to Issaries someway.
I think the english name is <gelders>. I wonder what the swedish name is, though. I guess this cult belongs to both Issaries and Barntar or Odayla. Remember, with pantheon initiation you don't belong to a specific cult - you may have a patron deity but you revere the whole pantheon.
This doesn't really solve the problem with small cults even if all people initiated to the pantheon can function as full initiates in worship ceremonies to every specific deity in the pantheon, as most people would tend to only participate in the ceremonies they feel are important.
If all initiates would participate in all ceremonies they wouldn't have any time left for anything else, what with all the gods and goddesses and godlings and godettes in the pantheon. So socially marginalized deities are still stranded with the few people that show up for the ceremonies, which creates the situation we have with transtribal temples for these small cults.
Or something like that.
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