Everyone can (and probably has to) show up at a Yelm holy day, and basks in Yelm's good rule. But only initiates experience the complete ceremony (which for higher initiates even involves them becoming Yelm). For them, the worship affirms their own right to rule.
I imagine in theory, a Yelm initiate could turn around and attend a Lodril worship as a non-initiate (though it would be a horrible breach of protocol).
And I'll bet the non-initiates can even ask for Yelm's blessings. The head of the household could pray for a sunny day for his daughter's wedding. The mother could pray for Yelm's Justice so her falsely-accused son is set free. There's no guarantee these prayers are granted, but having worshipped Yelm, even peripherally, you've got a better chance.
It's pretty much the same for any pantheon. If there's a Minlinster holy day, everyone will show up and watch the guy in the Minlinster mask offering hops to the guy in the bee mask (or whatever). The few Minlinster initiates are Minlinster or the Bee, or at the very least know the true significance of the story being enacted. Everyone in the pantheon can participate and have a good time, but only initiates get any sort of magical benefit.
Note that though there is pantheon worship, I think you *are* initiated to a single god, who you probably choose during your adulthood initiation. Most people become initiates of a religion at the same time they become adults -- the "automatic initiation" if your parents were initiates from the RQ rules.
> I assume this means that initiates to gods in the pantheon participate in
> worship services to the others, and thus count towards the number of
> initiates needed to maintain temple size.
If so, then if there's a Great Temple to Orlanth, there's a Great Temple to all his associates. Or did you mean the lay members (i.e. pantheon initiates) count as 1/20 an initiate or something?
End of Glorantha Digest V3 #53
WWW material at http://hops.wharton.upenn.edu/~loren/rolegame.html
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