>>However, Somash is likely as stuck-up and stiff as is Praxian Yelmalio, if
>>the reaction of Garusharp at Gio is any measure. (It does remind me of
>>Biturian's mishap in Sun County...) If it were Solf, or possibly even
>>Calyz, who inspired the Praxian Sun Domer cult, there might be use of
>>Hazia in the rituals. With Somash, the repressive attitude seems correct
>>to me.
>You're confusing your own ideas of what is considered conservative
>moral behaviour with that of a radically different culture.
Cheap, Peter, and wrong. We have sufficient knowledge on Sun Domer morals, and I was arguing from their POV. And we do have so much information on Somash and his high priest that to assume he takes a dim view on anything improper seems quite ok to me.
>We
>could say that all conservative cultures ban homosexuality and then
>look stupid when someone brings up Sparta.
Which I didn't (especially with Sun County in mind), so I return your
>It's a faulty argument.
>You're also muddling the waters between the conservatism of the
>Somash cult in Teshnos and Varthanis's morals in Prax.
I _am_ making a connection. If there are any Teshnan solar priest converts within the Sun County hierarchy, they will have had some influence. The lords (Light Sons) are responsible for the morale of the troopers, but the priests tend to the farmers' cares, and that's where the hazia is grown.
>The way
>the cult is run in Teshnos had only a minor influence with how
>Varthanis decreed that the cult should be run.
One important question to me is when did Varthanis change the Sun Dome cult of unknown name to Monrogh's version?
IMO initial contact between the Tarkalor band and Sun County would have been made around 1537, i.e. during the late rule of Count Poskuturri or the early rule of Count Zentakos (the Blind). After all, how else did they ever reach Teshnos if not by going through Prax?
When did the Somashi (and their servants) sift into Sun County? Was Monrogh part of this cultural transfer? Or is the late date for contact with the original Sun Dome cult due to their unacceptance of Elmal as a related deity (upon earlier contact with Sartarites, even Solar worshipping ones)?
BTW: We know that the Torkani are a Darkness tribe. Is there an Elmal tribe among the modern (Manirian-descended) Sartarites? Was there earlier? Was there among the post-Grizzley Peak immigrants?
>And Solf can't be transmitted because he is not the Sun. Monrogh
>had the Vision of the Many Suns, remember?
Wrong. The unnamed skald and Arkati in Greg's tale on why he "screwed up your Glorantha" did have this vision. I doubt very much that Monrogh had that vision - in fact, his kind of faith points to a less open POV.
>>If I look at the likely relation between Somash and Solf, then the
>>Somashi will likely try to outlaw the cultic practices of Solf. In
>>Teshnos, they might just not have found the time to actually do it,
>>yet...
>Merely because they see it as repugnant does not mean that it will
>be banned. Who has managed to ban prostitution?
Outlawing (or taxing) unwanted practices hasn't ever stopped a praxis, but the leaders felt better about it.
Peter's description of Solf public houses in Teshnos is quite nice, but still doesn't convince me that the Somash folk will not regard the Solf rites as unhealthy, and ban them among _their_ worshippers.
>>Since Yelmalio has no history as plow god to speak of, who takes that role
>>in Sun County? Could this be where Solf crept in?
>Whatever happened to Barntar, Son of Yelmalio and Ernalda?
You mean the guy who killed Daga with Heler's rain? Doesn't sound like Mr. Cloudclear's or "you let it rain, we irrigate" offspring.
In fact, I don't believe that Barntar plowing methods go well with irrigation farming. You need the heavier (Pelorian) lod-plow for that kind of soil, not the light hill-soil plow. (But does barley agree with irrigation?)
Also: The original (2nd Age) Sun Dome farmer/mercenaries came from Peloria (although via Dragon Pass). Their farming methods would have followed, as would the plow god. Heck, even the proto-Tarshite Vendref have Lodril as their plow-god.
So, if the Sun Domer farmers had a plow god during the Solitude of Testing, it would likely have been similar to Lodril. Now this strange chief Sun God comes in, and with him the disrespectable Solf. We know there is a lot of God Learning (in the original sense of the word: learning about the own god) going on, so why just restrict it to the chief god?
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