From: Peter Metcalfe <P.Metcalfe_at_student.canterbury.ac.nz> Date: Wed, 29 Jan 1997 13:15:20 +1300 Subject: a lenghty post
The argument originally was Yelm is a noble's only cult. I disputed this by saying the Yelm was an Urban Cult and cited evidence.
Peter argued in V4 #131 that the existence of emperors who were originally from non-Dara Happan nobility invalidates the claim that Yelm is a nobles-only cult. (It took me a while to dig the posting up. It doesn't hurt to restate your arguments as the thread grows long.) From this argument, it does not follow that there are commoners initiated into the cult of Yelm. Rather, I see Yelm initiation as a sufficient condition for noble status: Getting into Yelm makes you a noble. That just isn't going to happen for Joe Lodrilite. Carpetbaggers and other Carmanians who weasel their way into high society are the exceptions that prove the existence of this rule.
As for direct evidence of a nobles-only Yelm cult, I can only appeal to MGF. The half-, quarter, and eighth-citizens of the old days, the plethora of functionally diverse deities in the pantheon, and the big interest in ancestry, and the survival of Dara Happan culture in the face of frequent conquest also indicate a rather stratified society in which this kind of club makes sense.
End of Glorantha Digest V4 #135
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