> Yelm the Youth is a mark of urban adulthood. In practice, think of the
> fee as a coming of age tax. Look at the benefits - he's officially a
> citizen.
This argument would seem to depend on citizenship in Dara Happan cities being widely available, which doesn't really feel appropriate for the social systems under study IMG.
> If Yelm was worshipped by only a small minority, then some other god will
> displace him and _be_ the definer of the social order.
Not necessarily. The social order is adequately defined by having all the other gods acknowledge their willing or unwilling subjection to Yelm. The argument is tantamount to saying that the nobility cannot define the shape of society because they are outnumbered by the other social classes. But in terms of wealth and power, they do: because they receive (willy-nilly) the support of the whole of society.
Read that piece by Greg on how old Dara Happa used to make war (in one of the RQCon Compendia), if you want to see how a minority sect can direct the magical resources of an Empire. Even Mudders and Padders can usefully pray for the vile Sairdites to be stricken with thunderbolts and sore boils, if that's what the Yelm priests tell them to do.
> ... Magnificus coming to Raibanth and find several noble families
> beginning to contest the Ten Tests. IMO these 'nobles' were in fact
> Sheng _quislings_ rather than being allowed to rule because of their
> (assumed) Yelmic Status.
IMG they would be like those Senators agitating for a return to the Old Republic after the assassination of Caligula; see Graves' "Claudius the God". NB: I often use "chrome" from the changes between the Roman Republic and Empire to get extra colour for the transition between the Dara Happan and Lunar Empires. There is *NOT* an exact parallel, but the moral transition from stern patriarchal authority, ancestral mores, rule by grave senators, Cato, etc. to the influx of Hellenism, individualism, low-born men running the state, philosophy, luxury, orgies, madmen, etc. works for me. Then again, I'm an ancient historian by training. Peter's view is fairly compatible with my own.
On the Time Travel front, can I recommend Mircea Eliade's "Myth of the Eternal Return" (aka "Cosmos and History") for anyone wanting a non-science-fictional paradigm (which, I believe, is far closer in spirit to the real distinction between Gloranthan Godtime and History).
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