Praxian Marriage Customs, Elves

From: Stephen P Martin <ilium_at_juno.com>
Date: Thu, 12 Dec 1996 02:01:28 EST


Hi. This is my first time actually on the Digest, though MOB posted some bits for me a very long time ago. And yes, MOB and everyone, I swore I wouldn't because I didn't have time, but oh well.

So that everyone can breathe a sigh of relief, I promise not to post to often, go on at length, or be stubborn. Much.

Anyways, since I am working on a Praxian issue of The Book of Drastic Resolutions (for Gloranthacon British Columbia release), I thought I would chime in on this subject.

Notes from Chaosium/Sandy Petersen on Praxian marriage customs state the following (in my words):

In most cases, the herd beasts are individually owned by tribal women. When a woman marries, she receives a share of her mother's cows as if the cows were being divided equally among her mother and all her sisters; thus, if a mother had four daughters, each daughter would receive a fifth of the owned cows upon her marriage. When the mother dies, all her remaining cows are given to her eldest son's wife. Similarly, when a son marries, he often gains two of his mother's bulls to offer as a bride-price, in addition to any captured beasts he owns.

Now, I see this as the norm, each of the tribes, and possibly even different clans, might have variations on this.

Elf Adoption Rituals

Again, some old unpublished notes give details of how humans join the elves. It is as bad as Trollpak, I am afraid. As with everything old like this, it may no longer be true, or may not be true everywhere. I also think it is extremely rare that elves would allow a human to attempt to become an elf.

"Initiation into the cult of Aldrya is not a casual event for an outsider. All Aldryami are born into the cult. Something in their very makeup makes them acceptable to the Forest Mother. This is lacking in non-Aldryami, and must be corrected."

This goes back to the original write-up in Cults of Prax, which talked about the percent chance a person of given race and sex would be acceptable to the cult.

The paper goes on to describe the ritual and requirements. The human is forced to perform some act which is unspeakable for him to do, often including murder, incest, rape, cannibalism, or disfigurement. This is supposed to prove that he has "the will of an elf."

        He is then nailed to a large holy tree with copper stakes, one per limb. They cut ou7t his thigh and upper arm bones, and replace them with sticks. He is gutted and most of his organs removed, replaced with plants, seends, and soil. A hole is chopped in his forehead through the skull, and a dried root stuck into the brain. Genitals are amputated and seeds planted.

He is then stuck into the tree to metamorphise. Eventually, the tree grows a nut, out of which the new elf sprouts.

Back to more pleasant topics. Is anyone interested in seeing articles on The Night Sky in Prax, Praxian Seasons, or the Cult of Oakfed for comment? Anyone out there have any Praxian material which they would like me to include in this issue? Finally, can anyone design a "Praxian" rune to use as the title for this volume?

Stephen Martin
ilium_at_juno.com

The Book of Drastic Resolutions
drastic_at_juno.com


End of Glorantha Digest V4 #11


WWW material at http://hops.wharton.upenn.edu/~loren/rolegame.html

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