>I'm interested in how Jeff puts this view into practice in ToDP. Do the
>resettlers have two separate cults, or the already "merged" cult, or
>some other arrangement? For myself, I would think that in an existence
>as marginal as his campaign reports indicate, that the Adventurous
>aspect would simply not be present yet; it'd be either be a later
>import, or a internal (re?)evolution of some sort.
In ToDP, there are three "cults of Orlanth" - the individual clan cults (run by the local clan godi's); the tribal war-cult (which is also found in the handful of war clans); and the Thunderous cult with its Storm Voices. There is no cult of Orlanth Adventurous yet in Quiviniland (I view it as a modified version of the tribal war-cult).
There are four Thunderer cults north of the Stream: one centered at Clearwine (or technically in the hills above Clearwine); one at Runegate, another at Two-Ridge and a final one in the Lorthing Vale. Each of these have their own sacred site and local traditions.
As for the Orlanth the Warrior cults (Vingkot, Regal Varnorl or Jandan the Adventurous), the Vingkot cult is generally found in clans with a War Clan tradition, while Regal Varnorl (a Heortlending hero who fought against the God Learners) and Jandan the Adventurous are tribal cults. The Malani and the Lismelder don't have an Orlanth the Warrior tribal cult - Humakt fulfills that role, and the Hyalorings have a Elmal war-cult.
>Do (m)any other of you good people think the separate priesthoods of
>Orlanth are traceable back to actual separate cults (of actual separate
>gods?), all the way to the Dawn?
I think so. In a tremendously oversimplified manner, I view the Orlanth cult as going through three stages - first a composite cult of a Vingkotling storm-god, war-god, and ruling god, which was given a mystery aspect from Heort relating to the ongoing Lightbringer's Quest and IFWW. I actually find Heort to be one of the most fascinating figures in Glorantha history - he manages to introduce the cult of Orlanth, while proclaiming that this god is questing in hell to save the world. When the sun does return, the priests of Heort's cult were expecting it and no doubt rejoiced in the "return" of their god.
Later, during the First Age, the Orlanth cult picked up Dara Happan influences (and vice versa), which reached its pinnacle under Lokamayadon, who managed to simultaneously appear in all the main Orlanth tribal temples. "With great pomp and power he instituted new prayers, rituals, and ceremonies, which substituted him for Orlanth. . . Yet for all this, Lokamayadon could not conquer Orlanth completely. First, he could not thunder. No one knows why this was so."
Harmast most definitely thunder. He ushered in the dominance of the Storm Voices and the use of the LBQ by mere mortals. Since Harmast, the biggest developments in the cult have been the introduction of the Rex cult to give tribal kings control of the Storm Voices (ending what I suspect was an intra-tribal Thunderer cult during the EWF) and the Dragonkill.
>Inparticular, did anyone run a Sartarite game where limited "cult
>compatibility" between the assorted Orlanths was the order of the day,
>and if so, to what degree? I'll try not to sound off too vociferously
>on this subject myself, not least becuase my "reference copy" of CoP is
>about 500 miles away, and I'm not sure I want to tempt fate based on my
>recollections of its contents.
I require initiation tests to enter a different Orlanth "cult", without the POW loss. Maybe David Dunham or Dave Pearton can give some examples from ToDP.
Jeff
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