>The thought
>that Monrogh handed out manuscripts of Teshnan religious writings fills me
>with amusement -- the ones with pictures of Solf-cult sacred rituals might
>be popular, but I doubt Monrogh himself could read them, let alone the
>parochial xenophobes of Sun County.
Um, good point. Drastically improvising, I think that the Teshnans have a divination ritual which involves staring hard at holy scriptures while under the influence and then looking at the Sun. The diviner should then find the answers to his questions in the fiery script. Monrogh simply repeated the method without bothering to learn the Teshnan script. In fact, I don't think he or anybody else in Sun County realised that the markings on the page were actually writing and so simply they simply upped the dosage until the vision became meaningful.
Nils Weinander:
Me>>The Morning (Solf) Caste do generally worship Somash on public
>>occasions as well as Solf worship i
n the aforementioned temples.
>I also think that the Morning caste is pretty miffed about having to
>worship Solf which is seen as a spent force, so in my Teshnos they
>primarily worship Calyz, which is available to all castes (I think
>some radical Calyz priests even want to include teh Night caste).
I don't believe that in a land renowed for its lethargy, the entire morning caste are capable of being miffed. Rather I think that a small group of Morning Caste seek to make Calyz their new caste patron. Most of the Morning Caste simply don't care - life is good enough as it is.
Discontent about Solf being spent is too simplistic to be the primary reason behind the movement IMO. The Teshnans are not puritanical and internal social disturbances (Harstar was infected by the Opening) are unknown in Teshnos. Instead I think the reasons would be something like:
MYSTIC: If Calyz was our patron, then the Life-Flames of the Morning would burn with such vigour that I would be able to see the Way to Heaven and not rely on the fires of Solf.
POLITICAL: I hate this. Whenever one of us petitions the Furalor Temple to give us our land back, the Priests there conspire to name the petitioner to be the annual Solfic Suicidal Sacrifice. Thus he's forced to kill himself before the Somashi have a chance to hear our suit. If only Calyz was our patron, we could never be silenced this way.
CRASS: If Calyz is my Caste Patron instead of Solf then I, as village headman, will be the ranking Calyz Holyman in the village instead of Gushtasp. Thus I will get to sleep with nulible young virgins every year and not a zebu....
The movement has got sod-all chance of success given Teshnos's sonambulistic social climate and the sheer antiquity of its traditions IMO. The RW Caste system is still around in India despite it being invaded by numerous casteless foreigners and exposed to religions that sought to abolish the Caste
Lastly I'm a bit leery about statements like the Morning Caste primarily worships Calyz. Calyz and all the other four gods are not favoured by the average Teshnan in the same way as an Orlanthi would favour Humakt. They form a Sacred Pentad and all members of each caste have ritual obligations that must be met to each god (Today is Fireday so we shall say prayers to Zitro-Argon today) although the exact duties varies due to caste and other factors. Thus everybody will offer prayers to Calyz before jumping into bed or cooking dinner.
Some people may choose to become close to a particular god (whether it be one of the Gang of Five or one of the Thousand Points of Light) by excessive devotions even to the point of becoming a Priest, but I do not think that most Teshnans could display this level of piety even if their lives depended upon it.
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