Well, the rest of the PNW/Seattle Farmers collective left for Choigago today so I suppose it's left for me to hold the fort.
Firstly:
Chris asked about Shargash.
The Alkothi campaign that you referred to is run by Pam Carlson and
features the young scions of a noble house descended from Eusibis. No
doubt Pam will expand on this more when she returns, but.
Essnetially Shargash fills the role of the city father/culture god in Alkoth as well as his more general role as destroyer. Even my Buserian (Dayzatar-wannabe) character is also initiated into Shargash. This makes Alkoth a rather unsettling place as you might imagine... What you have to remember is that Shargash remains chained underneath the city and his slumbering influence is felt constantly as a brooding presence that can be oppressive to outsiders. People growing up in this influence are bound to be a tad warped, particularly viewed by outsiders. This is only exacerbated by their rituals and customs such as the enclosures.
The highest representaives of Shargash in the city are the Red and Green Kings. The Red King embodies the martial/destroyer aspect of Shargash while the Greeen King embodies the social/city father aspect. The nobles also worship Yelm of course and the Red Goddess is making (slowish) inroads - mainly in the newer families.
The other aspects of Shargash are also recognised as well. One of the tasks of our characters was to take gifts to the Bis-Ensilib priestess out in the swamps as Shargash was once married to her.
Have you looked at David Dunham's Pendragon Pass rules. I think they are exactly what you are looking for and are available on his web page (along with a large number of Orlanth cult/sub-cult write-ups). Both Jeff Richards Taming of Dragon Pass campaign and David Dumham's Ralios Campaigns are run under Pendragon Pass rules and mcuh work has been done on the cults/religion etc.
What Jeff has done (and he will no doubt expand on this) is use the clan cult as the most common denominator. Thus most clan members are initiated into the clan cult of Orlanth (& Ernalda) and there are numerous additional sub-cults that many people can also join. Thus most men also join the Barntar sub-cult fo rexample. The minor gods are worshiped as part of the pantheon and their places (in ceremonies and in Clan rings) are generally filled by those who seem best suited to the role. Thus my lawspeaker is primarily a Orlanth initiate and has indeed recently been accepted as a clan godi, but fills the Knowing companion role in ceremonies and on the clan ring.
What think has lead to some confusion is that initiate in Glorantha does not have the same meaning as it does in the real world. As I see it the initiates in Glorantha are the equivalents of what are called lay members in the Catholic church. For example here the comnifmation ceremony might be viewed as analogous to the initiation into the cult of Orlanth( & Ernalda) the clan. Real-world initiates would be so-called high-initiates and acolytes in the Gloranthan sense.
Please no flames - I realise the above is vague, but I think it gets the main points that I'm trying to get across.
Yours, from the land of rain, Lattes and Orcas.
Yak
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Dave Pearton
pearton_at_u.washington.edu
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They sought it with thimbles, they sought it with care; +
They pursued it with forks and hope; +
They threatened its life with a railway-share; +
They charmed it with smiles and soap. +
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"The Hunting of the Snark" Lewis Carroll +
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