still more YT

From: Andrew Joelson <joelsona_at_cpdmfg.cig.mot.com>
Date: Thu, 1 May 1997 12:24:56 -0500

> Anyway, while I applaud your motivations, this does seem to divide
> those who revere Yanafals Tarnils into three separate categories
> worshippers of Yanafals Tarnils, who are virtually synonymous with 'Lunar
> Army Officers', and have a cult rather like Humakts but not quite.
> worshippers of Yanafals Tarnils of the Seven Mothers, who are pretty much
> like Humakti with curved swords, with local variations and worshipers of
> the Yanafals Tarnils subcult of the Seven Mothers, who have a
> wide variety of magic.

> This does seem a bit excessive.....

        Sorry about the long quote, but....
David, you seem to be missing something here. The second and third variation you show above are one and the same. I will try to Illuminate you concerning the differences between Heartland and Provincial Yanfal worship.

        Yanafal Tar'nils is a god of War, but War hads many faces. In the Heartlands, where one very seldom encounters ravenous beasts, YT is revered for his abilities as a leader, a commander of men. There doesn't seem to be a great need for him as a god of warriors/soldiers. There already are Lodril, Shargash and a Carmanian version of Humakt floating about, not to mention the regimental wyters of the Red Army. So you get a lot of officer types as YT followers. (I suppose some Dart Competitors might chose YT as a patron, but Danfive Xaron seems like a better choice; instead of sword, shield and ride of 90%, a DX 'Lord' would have backstab, sneak, and brew poison.)

        In the Provinces, the missionary cult is the Seven Mothers (described by Sandy P as 'Lunar Religeon Lite'). Here the YT sub-cult emphasizes the individual combat skills a good deal more. Red Army commanders are going to be sent out from Glamour, or Furthest. But who is going to go beat up all those broo and whatnot hiding in the hills?

        Please note that I do not view the 7M sub-cult of YT so much as a sub-cult as a specialization. First you join the Seven Mothers. Then you gravitate towards the area that interests you. If you want to heal people, you end up spending a lot of time with the Deezola Priestess. If you want to learn, you end up spending most of your time with the Irrippi Ontor guys. If you want to be a leader, you split your time between Deezola & Yanafal. If you straight up want to bash monsters, you spend all your time with the YT staff.

        I said in a past post that the YT segment provides most of the 7M 'Lords', what this really means is that the type of guy who wants to acheive the RQ2 Lord rank, is probably going to do it via YT specialization.

        The ability of Seven Mothers initiates to move between the seven divine patrons (and possibly Etyries & Young Elementals), mirrors the deeper Lunar philosphy of following many paths to the Goddess.

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Andrew Joelson				    joelsona_at_cpdmfg.cig.mot.com  -|-

aka Rupert von Harl; Cults of Seven Mothers, Yanifal Tarnils and Humakt |  "Contradiction? No, I always did tend to kill chaos creatures anyway" /

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