On to your specific quibbles:
I said that the Somashi could easily give up their funny clothes and hazia. You replied "So funny garb and wine in communion are mere 'cultural practices' and not 'integral parts' of the medieval catholic church, say? I don't think so."
Now really, Peter, you know better than that.
Funny clothes are just a cultural practice in the Catholic church. They never had to change from their late Roman traditions, but if they had to then it would not have made any difference to Catholicism.
As for the wine, you have to acknowledge communion wine that is not a good analogy for hazia in an ecstatic cult of Somash. Wine is not used as an intoxicant in Christian worship. Wine is not even essential, many churches use other beverages for the communion, the ritual is what matters not the material. I'm not Catholic myself, but I believe that even they will use alternative beverages if wine is unavailable.
You say that hazia is used for ecstatic communion with Somash. Okay, that is possible. However, Somash is the Teshnan analog of Yelm. I don't associate drugged ecstatic trances with Yelm. You have to make clear how Somash differs so that this different form of communion makes sense for the Teshnans. Just saying it is so is not convincing.
As for botanical matters, I don't see why you dragged hemp into it except as another bad analogy intended to confuse the issue. The issue is where does hazia grow. We know that it is native to boreal forests. It has managed to be cultivated in irrigated desert land. Now you are saying that it also grows natively in hot humid jungles. That makes it one of the most adaptable plants on the continent. It will be growing freely everywhere in Genertela. That makes the whole plot idea of hazia being illegal and smuggled anywhere into complete nonsense. Given the stuffs' wide distribution, powerful narcotic effects, and extreme addiction potential, it will be the most widely spread mind-altering substance on the continent and possibly the world. The whole plot idea of bans and smuggling only works if the stuff is not common everywhere. So I suggested that the native Teshnan ritual uses something else that produces similar effects. Consider it a friendly ammendment.
And finally, you completely over-reacted when you said "And as for the fear of gregging about speculations of Teshnos, I suppose we should all pack up and go home?"
You can't possibly write up the cult of Somash without having a big influence on the eventual write-up of Teshnos. We don't have enough official information about Teshnos. So I appealled for anybody who may know if there is any unpublished material out there that may eventually be coming out. This just seems like a good idea before we paint ourselves into a corner. If there is nothing written yet, and no plans for anything, then sure we can go ahead and write our own. It just so happens that I have already been gregged on that corner of the map. I had a good start at writing up Teshnos and the islands when Genertela came out and I had to scrap everything. Once burned, twice shy.
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