Cult specialisation

From: s.lucek_at_ic.ac.uk
Date: Wed, 19 Mar 97 18:02:27 +0000


 Cult specialisation

Jeff Richard mentions that the Orlanthi of ToDP don't have enough surplus wealth to support much full-time specialisation. This is certainly true for rural Orlanthi even later than the ToDP campaign. I assume that there are few rune levels in each clan (I favour a very small number, up to 3 or so, which I discussed in an earlier digest) which would therefore usually be Orlanth and Ernalda, so an individual who wants a blessing from a specific god cannot expect to find a local clan priest to that god hanging around. However I do not think the worship being restricted to one general god as the only solution to this problem. Listed below are various options, though I do not necessarily agree with all the points below, they are just possible ways of running cults.

i) every one worships one general purpose god (Orlanth / Ernalda), calling on the appropriate aspect of the god for the matter in hand. This is what I imagine to be the Jeff Richard model.

ii) typical clan members worship the pantheon as a whole, without the close, and often exclusive, ties to ONE god as in the RQiii rules for initiates. This might work like the Alex Ferguson model, which emphasises the worship of associate gods in the pantheon, though the individual still maintains a special link to one god. A more extreme version of this is if the typical clan member has no special link with any one god, but just worships the god appropriate to the task in hand, though of course you get the (rather rare, unless they are PCs) fanatic who ties themselves to one god. This form of pantheon worship is very much the way I think that many real world multi-deity religions might have worked.

iii) perhaps priests / rune levels are not so important for worship, the individual can worship any god in the pantheon and receive a blessing, perhaps with less oomph than if a rune level leads it.

iv) perhaps priests / rune levels also are not tied to one god, and the holy person of the clan can lead worship for any god in the pantheon.

v) close tribal links or links with cities. Tribes are large enough that there may be a few rune levels of other cults. Or there may be links with the cult centres in cities. These might serve the cult members in the whole tribe (or area). Perhaps they would wander around the various clans in the tribe performing the sacred rites amongst the followers and leading the cult worship at gatherings on holy days at a sacred spot. This could work with cults run very much as is described in RQiii, a very rigid corps of initiates who worship the one god almost exclusively.

I quite like a combination of ii iii and v (with a bit of iv). I like less close ties with any one god for the average person, who worships the pantheon as a whole. I call these lay members (though I know others hate this term!). Then you have a few rare folk who dedicate themselves wholly to one god, whom I call initiates. In general, this restricts them to the magic of their chosen god (I do not like iv in general), though Orlanth and Ernalda have power over the other gods of the pantheon, and so perhaps initiates and rune levels following these two are not so restricted.

I think the structure of the cults should reflect how people worship. As I see it The gods are worshipped in many different ways, and on different levels.

Individual level: The individual prays to the god appropriate to the matter in hand.

Household level : The family prays to the gods (and also family and local spirits), again praying to whomever is appropriate. This might be led by someone like a wise woman.

Few households : Neighbouring households might meet. Perhaps lead by a 'real' initiate, a strange person who has dedicated themselves wholly to one god. On this level you might get a very primitive version of a RQiii cult, a few people led in worship by the initiate.

clan : the clan holy person leads in the worship of the whole clan, gathered together at some sacred spot on the clan holy days (King of Sartar has four clan meetings a year). The holy person is perhaps aided by any initiates in the clan, performing roles appropriate to their gods.

Tribal : the tribe worships together at the great tribal moot / thing lead by the rune levels of the tribe, each 'co-operating' in (or fighting over) leading the worship. Depending on your idea of tribal ties, the priests might form a loose tribal network, perhaps more a confederation, with lots of politics and feuding going on. Or if the tribe is closely bound then you might get inter clan cults organised on the tribal level that might work more along the lines of RQiii cults.

I think that on the individual and household level, worship will include a lot of propitiating local spirits and ancestors, whilst the larger clan and tribal meetings are going to be far more oriented to worship of the important gods of the pantheon, though powerful local spirits and founding spirits are going to be important to the clan.

Now all I need is a magic system to reflect this structure.

Stephen Lucek.


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