Re: Memories of Arkat in DP/Pantheon Initiation

From: David Weihe <weihe_at_gsidanet.danetinc.com>
Date: Mon, 17 Mar 97 22:57:10 EST


> From: David Scott <d.scott_at_ic.ac.uk>
> >>Today's myths of Humakt meet the needs of today's
> >>Orlanthi and Humakti - and today's myths don't mention Arkat!
> >Well, the Dragon Pass Orlanthi remember Arkat. But he was a traitor so
> >he can't have been responsible for anything important in their eyes.
> Some clans remember Arkat as a Hero, some as a traitor, some were
> indifferent. The clan stories are important here.

Not only clan, but cult stories. What the Orlanth stories are will be quite different from those of the Humakti, in the case of Arkat. And different temples may keep hidden records (favored acolyte and priest access only) with something that the general populace would label heresy.

As illustration, at the site of the Battle of Saratoga, there is a statue of a boot. That statue is to honor Benedict Arnold, who was the hero of the battle for the American side and our best battlefield commander, but later become the byword for traitor when he switched to the British. The unlabeled boot (which filled to overflowing from wounds suffered while rallying troups and leading numerous attacks, after he had been removed from his original command) was the only way that he could be honored, without causing problems, due to his later behavior.

> From: CNU!AUSTIN3!lemens_at_cnucorp.attmail.com (Lemens, Chris)
> Pantheon Initiation:
> I seem to recall from my economic history classes that, up until say 1600
> (RW) or so, upwards of 95% (and usually more like 99%) of humanity were
> scratch-the-earth peasant types of varying degrees of sophistication. The
> other 1-5% were composed of people like city folks, merchants, landowners,
> and, last and least, priestly types. Can anyone confirm this from a
> reliable source?
>
> The Gloranthan content is that many of the estimates of how many people
> could be devoted to religion seem high to me.

Only full priests are "devoted" to religion, and even then their role is the same as their profession. Thus, the priest of Barntar will just be one of the best farmers, except during holy days. Also, among other societies the "scratch-the-earth peasant types" can be pretty darned sophisticated.

The problem with these direct comparisons is that they take their numbers from the places that keep good records. Among the "civilized" societies like the Malkioni and Pelorians these numbers may be accurate. They are obviously wrong for the Hsunchen societies, where no one scratches the earth except to gather nuts and roots. And I expect that they are also wrong among the RW Vikings or the less civilized Orlanthi (unless anyone who plows a furrow is classed as a peasant, rather than the normal definition of slave, thrall, serf, or sharecropper).


End of Glorantha Digest V4 #284


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