Orlanthi Shamans, Wachaza from Joseph Troxell on 1997-04-18 (Glorantha Digest Vol 04)

From: Joseph Troxell <jmt107_at_psu.edu>
Date: Fri, 18 Apr 1997 15:20:06 -0400

This is my take on Orlanthi Shamans. There are none in the cult of Orlanth. There are shamans in the Orlanthi society. The shamans are pretty much outcasts. They live in a cave on the side of a hill. Periodically, their eyes will roll back into their heads, they start to droll (or droll more), and mutter and twitch. Then they snap out of it and say, "a spirit just attacked me." Let's face it, they're just plain weird. They do come in handy once in awhile though; like when someone accidently gets possessed by something that the Chalana Arroy can't send healing spirits against (which, probably isn't that much).

I think they exist in the culture, but by nessecity are outside the cult of Orlanth. First off, it totally goes against the mythic structure of Orlanth. He's a warrior, farmer, and king; he has better things to do than chase around spirits. Also, I don't see shamans fitting in with the culture. They don't farm; they spend 90% of their time chasing spirits. They survive by getting goods in barter for helping the locals.

Now, that doesn't mean the shaman may not also be the priest of a very local spirit cult.
In fact, I would think that all the shamans would be the head of a small
(like clan, maybe tribal) spirit cult.

I was wondering if anywhere there exists a long cult write up for Wachaza
(and/or any of the other sea gods). As usual, GoG does a less than
satisfactory job explaining a cult.

End of Glorantha Digest V4 #347

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