DC>>Likewise the initiates in the City God sacrifice POW but are virtually
>>lay members.
>Well, I believe that City Gods do provide lots of associate divine magic for
>the point of POW sacrificed. A bit like the Seven Mothers (a cult with
>_only_ associate or common divine spells from the single Mothers).
This seems redundant to me as most people are members of another god as well as the City God and get their magic from the other cult. Let us say that Jonstown is associated with Orlanth. Most people who belong to the City God will belong to Orlanth and can get his spells from his Priests. Pavis is exceptional as the City God is a fusion of different cultures.
>Yelm the Youth is different from City God initiation (which, upon
>reflection, sounds like the most common cult membership for Dara Happan
>urbanites). No benefits in the form of associate or common divine magic.
>Maybe it is a special case of Ancestor Worship?
As written, it is different* but I think that given the Dara Happan City Focus and the requirements of birth, making membership of Yelm the Youth equivalent to citizenship is a good idea. It is *also* a form of ancestor worship as the citizens are the descendants of the City Founder. All the citizens who live in Raibanth claim to be descended from Raiba and so forth.
For historical justification, I note that Raiba and the other city gods have existed before the Yelm Cult was started. Later in Ordanestyu's time, several pre-existing cults were incorporated into the Yelm Cult. Given that the Commoners destroyed their own homes to make way for a Temple of Yelm inside Raibanth, it seems likely to me that the City Gods were also being incorporated into the Yelm Cult. The Nobles had already been made Yelmics since the Cult of Yelm Imperator was established by Khorzanelm.
If you really want to indulge in God Learner comparisons, then the Children of the Forest deserves a look at. Who BTW would the equivalent of Shamans be?
*I blame the lack of such mention in the WW cult writeup to be the results of an attempt to describe the Yelm Cult as it is for both the Dara Happans and the Pentans (who lack cities).
DC>>>But I think the commoners probably worship the city god as well -
Me>>Not everybody who lives in Pavis is a member of the City God.
>No, but every _citizen_ of Pavis is.
Yes and how many citizens are there in Pavis as a percentage of the total population? I would expect the franchise to be smaller in Dara Happan Cities. Yet the City Gods are quite influential in the City. Citizenship is a privilege that is not widely available to all in most cities (the Orlanthi would be the most generous methinks). I do not believe that mere initiates of associate gods get the benefits of attending a City God service or even show up (Rune levels of associate gods would however get an invitation).
>All commoner Dara Happan city gods are subservient to some greater deity
>- Raiba to Antirius and ultimately Yelm, "Yuthu" to Dayzatar and Yelm.
Which is why I placed some of those cults in the Yelm the Teacher station implying an even more select status.
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