First, "Orlanth" as he appears now is the latest development of a
Godlearner "Work in Progress" that got away from them. However, he was
originally extremely important to the ultimate Godlearner goals for
taming the mythic landscape. Ultimately, Orlanth was to be used as the
"control the ignorant barbarians" god. Dendara was to be incorporated
into Ernalda. Babeester Gor and Maran Gor were actually just the first
steps towards incorporating these goddesses into Gorgorma and then
Gorgorma into the planned New World Religion. Yelm was to become another
_deus otiosus_, possibly incorporated with Dayzatar.
Of course, the Godlearners were stopped dead before they could even really seriously begin on their plans to take out the Solars, but they had gotten some of the groundwork laid (adding similarities between a central Orlanth rebellion/redemption myth and the crime of Orlanatus, the corruption of sweet Maran into Maran Gor, etc.)
Anyway, Orlanth was originally meant to become the "everyman's god", somebody to whom any of the common folk could turn. The fact that the process was inturrupted allows us to speculate to some extent on what the Godlearners started with.
I would say that they began with some kind of handle on Primal Storm--the
"Ur-math", one might say. However, while this would make for a great
power source, it was too raw and elemental for common folk to safely
worship. Thus, the great fecundity of Storm Gods was taken advantage
of. It is telling the Orlanth is the *youngest* son of Umath. The GL
might have eventually moved his generation up to eldest, when the time
was right for it, but introducing a godling as a youngest son, one who
had been overlooked by the local Godi due to his youth, was probably the
easiest way to sneak the proto-Orlanth into the hill tribes' mythologies.
Once this was done, perhaps by using a "Hero Orlanth" as Loren described him, it was time to start enlarging upon the model. In this, I potentially see three other "Urlanths" (Ur-Orlanth) that were introduced in. The most important required that Urlanth usurp the primal storm connection held by Umath. This probably took a lot of "behind the scenes" Heroquesting, not readily visible in Orlanthi myth.
The next piece of Urlanth was most likely a hero-god of a "Gaelic-like"
culture. This figure was the original model of the Lightbringers'
leader. In all possibility, he may have been the personal totem of the
"Hero Orlanth". In any case, he was most likely the patron of tribes
whose descendents tended to use Lightbringers' Councils in the 16th
Century ST. This figure's cult survived as the "Wind Lords".
The third major piece of Urlanth was probably also a Storm God in his own right, but more indirectly. More of an Odinic figure. This Urlanth was a judge, a shaman, a lawgiver and finder of secret lore. His shamanic elements were downplayed and the rest was grafted onto Orlanth, along with his tribes. I would say that clans that use the "Traditional" councils descended from his worshippers. His cult is seen partly in the cult of Orlanth Rex, and partly in the office of the Storm Voice. Alternatively, this Urlanth might have actually been Kolat at one time(!), but Kolat was stripped of many abilities and functions, and these were instead given to Orlanth, leaving Kolat as a father of spirits and patron of shamans.
Of course, several other deities were welded on as the Godlearners progressed. Unfortunately for them, Orlanth ended up better integrated into the fabric of Myth than even his creators had envisioned.
Anyway, that's some of my musings on the origins of Orlanth.
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