>IMG, you can't live between Seshnela and the Holy Country without being
affected by what the God
>Learners did (and is difficult even outside those regions). In
particular, Elmal was a GL invention, >intended to give the Orlanth
pantheon some fire/light powers. The interesting question for me (IMG) is
>whether they intended to subsume the Yelmalio cult entirely.
In Kethaela the GLers may have dinked around with the Six (Four?) Earth's but their Zistor project didn't seem to be too culturally significant. Certainly the GLers didn't create Elmal, that cult definitely pre-dates the Second Age. GRoY refers to one of Shargash's titles as Crippler of Elemalus, and Broken Council has Elemalus as a Heortling Sun God during the Council of World Friends. Face it - Elmal is older than the God Learners.
In fact, IMO Elmal (or Elemalus) is considerably older than Khordavu's Yelm cult, and I suspect it may predate Heort's cult of Orlanth. It is entirely possible that during the Darkness, the Winter Tribes of the Vingkotlings actually worshipped Elemalus - guardian of the flickering embers and last light (sound familiar?). Orlanatus, Erlandus, Walindum, Umatum, Rebellus Terminus, Lanatum and the Thunderer were all Dara Happan names for the host of Vingkotling storm and war gods. Not until Heort brought back to his folk the secrets of the Second Son, I Fought We Won, the Law Staff and his victory over the evil of the world, did the Vingkotlings "realize" that their chief god, Orlanth (who I suspect they had no idea he was their chief god) was busy saving the world and needed their support. Hence the myth that Elmal guards Orlanth's stead while he is undergoing the LBQ.
Jeff
End of Glorantha Digest V4 #287
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