>According to Peter Metcalfe, the priestly class is insignificant in
>population terms. This means to me that, at least in agrarian societies,
>the number of people devoted to full time religion will be small.
It actually straddles the governing and the retainer class (which did include 'religious leaders') as far as I could tell. For medieval Christaindom, one generally had 2% of the population in a relgious position and most of those were monks (who engaged in productive labour in their spare time). Glorantha Priests, frex, support themselves by performing duites that a valuable to the community. A Grey Sage survives on the research that he performs, hence he is a member of the retainer class. A City Priest would either be a member of the governing or retainer class.
>My thinking though is that RW figures may understate the number of people
>who can be devoted to religion full time. Take the example of a Chalana
>Arroy priestess. In economic terms, she can socially justify herself by the
>increased productivity of the clan she lives with due to fewer productive
>clan members dying or being disabled by illness and injury. (Think about
>it. Suppose she saves ten people a years from becoming too disabled (or
>dead) to work. Would a clan chief be willing to pay her room and board?
The question is not whether it will be beneficial but whether he has the surplus to pay for full-time healer (let alone a Priestess!). At a clan level, the chief is going to have to kick some people out of his household (an aged parent perhaps?). It would be more economical for a farmer to practice the healing arts part-time (Ye Olde Wise Women) at the clan level.
Think of a RW clan hiring a doctor. It would be beneficial but it would be costly. That is an analogus situation for the clan hiring a healer.
>Also, about these "expendables". Do they have a place in Orlanthi society?
>When I hear of them, I think of most of the population of late Rome. I
>just don't see many of them in Orlanthi clans. (And what few there would be
>would be, say, Eurmal initiates?)
The expendable equivalent would be outlaws and bandits. Eurmali would be untouchables but the analysis was really for developed agarian societies (ie Pelorians, Kralori, Malkioni and the Fonritans). It's iffy IMO whether Sartar during the Kingdom stage has the structure to support the same proportion of upper class within its society as the others.
Powered by hypermail