These will already specialize, and worship some sub-pantheon more intensely than others. They will be _initiated_ into the mysteries of their religion, which is where the term comes from. A lay member has no insight whatsoever in the mysteries, while an initiate will know what it is about, if only on a very basic level.
In RQ/HeroQuest terms, initiates will be able to catch a glimpse of the Godplane during the services, while lay members just will see some sort of mummery.
This is where the term "associate initiate" comes to get a meaning: these individuals will be able to get the meaning from the ceremonies, at least that relevant to their own religion.
>Then you have a few rare folk who dedicate themselves wholly to one god,
whom I
>call initiates.
There must be a better term. In Elric!, this status would be called Agent, IMO.
And how would you fit the million or so Seven Mothers initiates from the border regions of the Lunar Empire into this picture? I really don't see why it has to be one god only. The devout barbarian will have one stronger patron deity, ok, but he will swear by whatever deity is culturally appropriate in the context.
>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.
Remember that each god has a household of heroes and associates or subservients. Even Humakt has... I don't want to see a Wind Lord with three uses of Heal Body running around, either. But if a devotee to one specific deity has been initiated to other deities mysteries, he will be able to use some of the magic derived from those mysteries (aka HQs in gamespeak).
Levels of worship:
>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.
Hmm. This works only in an environment which has all of these groupings, and in this hierarchical importance, which is in no way granted. The model you cite above works for "tribal organized Orlanthi" per Genertela Players Book, but where would this leave a Vendref clan? Or a tribe only partially Lunarized, like backhill Tarshites following largely the Orlanthi model, or 1624 Colymar?
The important gods of the pantheon will be worshipped at any level, IMO. If this wasn't the case, then what makes them important?
Powerful local deities (or spirits) will only be worshipped by those who have a relation to them, of whatever kind (and be it along the lines of the famous annual Rainbow Mound pilgrimage of David Hall's Lismelder campaign to worship mother newt, with no benefit gained except a nice outing).
A lot of gods and heroes will be worshipped by occupation. Barntar will have the most attention during the plowing time, while crafters in Sartar often will invoke Wilms or other spirits to guide them through their work. The resulting benefits are - so far, in RQ3 - called "spirit magic", a term I find most misleading. I liked the suggestion that some of this is sort of divine magic using the same rules as shamanistically gained spells (although there were suggestions for spirit helpers for shamanistically gained spirit magic which I liked a lot better - which could also be used in certain divine cults). And I believe that where the craft guilds come into play, both in urban Maniria and urban Peloria, there is a continuum towards the "scientific" approach to magic the Western wizardry uses.
>Now all I need is a magic system to reflect this structure.
What you need is to interprete the magical effects known in theist Glorantha according to this structure. After over ten years of role-playing I am no longer convinced that the game system can convey these structures - a useful game system won't hinder the explanation, but that's the best one can get, IMO.
End of Glorantha Digest V4 #291
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