>3) What about Keraun? She's mentioned in the GoG Prosopaedia and in the TotRM
>Pamaltelan Issue (#11 I think) where she is stated as being a foreigner
>because she was a part of Orlanth's tribe. In what way (daughter, sister,
>neice,e tc.) is she related to Orlanth?
She's not related to Orlanth IMO. She's a storm goddess that was conquered/converted by Pamalt during the Storm Invasion. The Doraddi think she is related to Orlanth because Orlanth is *now* the chief storm god of the people on the coast (he actually came later and displaced what local storm cult existed AFAIK).
Pam Carlson:
PM>>The chief problem I have here is that I don't know of any RW social
>>system which has a closed nobility which was defined by exclusive
>>worship of a ruling god and the masses worshipping a cluster of gods
>>who are subject to the ruling god.
>You have a point - but then, Nils' point in bringing up the relationship
>of humans to deities was to illustrate that Glorantha isn't the real
>world.
Perhaps a reading of the essay by William Dunn in the Glorantha Book of the Genertela Boxed Set would be helpful. Merely because a tribe of huns can cast Sunspear does not mean they have all social problems licked. There are no spells of Cancel Debt, Silence Baby Crying in the Middle of the Night, Solve Neighbour's Boundary Dispute, Eliminate Poverty, Pay Tax IMG or anybody else's game of glorantha that I know about.
>(But how about the Egyptians? Did the Emperor worship a special god?)
Akenaten. His cult of Aten, the Solar Disc, was worshipped by himself only and everybody worshipped him. It however did not last very long after his death.
>> The Nobles must have some *backup* to enforce
>>their will in case of a social crisis.
>Their backup are the Lodril priests, the Shargashi, and everybody else
>who benefits from society as is.
The Shargashites are only in Alkoth (and besides I don't want to bring them up!). The Lodrili Priesthood is *suppressed* (because anybody who knows or has access to Rebellion is a dire menace to society) save for a few priests who are closely guarded. They mostly have acolytes.
This leaves only 'everybody else who benefits from society'. However if the Nobles do not share a commonality of interest with at least some of the people who are socially lower than them, then there will be no-one to support them in a struggle to maintain their privileges when there is a crisis. The Nobles do not have access to the 'Govern Wisely and Well' spell. Thus they could become openly exploitive of those less-fortunate rather than say 'these people are Yelm Worshippers' and waste whatever social support they might have when the chips are down.
>But I don't see how opening the Yelm cult up is going to make the
>average mob any happier. Dara Happa is a model of Yelm's court,
>isn't it?
But it is not the mob they are trying to make happy, it is the extra social support from the non-mob citizenry (ie shopkeepers, crafters, merchants, scribes) that will give the nobles the backup to overcome whatever mob violence there is. The Mobs are only a vocal minority.
>But IMG, [urban commoners] take part in the Yelm cult through associate
>cults. sure, they can worship Yelm in the big ceremonies by donating MP,
>but they are _not_ initiates into the mysteries of "Yelm the Emperor of
>the Universe".
So most Medieval Christians worshipped only the Saints and not Jesus because he was the King and therefore only fit to be worshipped by the Nobility? Yelm is *more* *than* Emperor of the Universe. He is the Pyschopomp by which the Dead can tide away the long dark night to live once again in the Light of Day. He is also the Warrior and the Elder, Yelm can cure disease and many other things besides (read the GRAY for a mouthful!). To restrict all these mysteries to the nobility merely because a main aspect of him is rulership (which *is* a mystery restricted to the nobility) is absurd IMO.
>The way I see it, in Peloria, Yelm is a ruler diety [as 'he'] was
>chosen by the goddesses as the "best of the men's gods", and given
>the power of rulership over them.
Why was he chosen as the ruler? He didn't have the power of rulership before then. He had other qualities and still does.
>Peter might claim that Orlanth Rex is akin to Yelm Imperator, but in
>Peloria I think cultic initiation splits along classes more than in
>Orlanthi society.
I don't think it is possible to split cults across class lines and keep them there considering that many people have been trying to keep classes seperate and failing...
End of Glorantha Digest V3 #51
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