From musings heard over tankards of ale, shortly after the liberation of Pavis by Argrath Dragonspear, 1621 S.T.
"Let me tell you, now that we can freely worship again, my prissy
little Yelornan, what the story is about my worship of Orlanth and
Vinga. Unlike you uptight Sun worshippers, our great King Orlanth isn't
sexist... He never set aside seperate worship for women. All that talk
of Orlanth Worship being only for women is just the cranky opinion of
some greybeards at the Lhankor Mhy temples and Lunar Propagandists. All
this talk about Orlanthi peoples subjugating women is a pack of
dishonorable lies, that I'm willing to take anyone into the Dueling
Circle into. As as a Wind Lord, I'm more than capable of handling smart
mouths and women-haters."
"You see, like all good Orlanthi, from Pavis all the way out to Ralios
and as far north as Pent, we all know who commanded and protected the
great Stead of Orlanth while he and the Lightbringers quested to save
the world... His Elder Sister, Vinga. Now, while Vinga was not the
Chieftain of the Storm Tribe, and had to prove herself, once proven
equal to any of the other Air Gods Orlanth did not hesitate to put here
in charge. You don't see Heler or Elmal mentioned as commanding the
stead, right? Or, shut your hole about Yelmalio. We all know that
Yelmalio is just a Dara Happa interpretation of Elmal's true worship,
and he has to give them spells and such because it's required by the
compromise. Besides, Elmal still retains some loyalty to his senile
father Yelm, which is only honorable and proper, as sons should always
honor their fathers. Orlanth would insist upon it, anyway! Ah, yes,
another round, my prissy little Unicorn Rider. Ah, much better.
Anyway, on with the story."
"The way it works for Women who wish to enter into the Hero Path of
Orlanth Adventurous is that they test and join the Cult like any one
else... Unlike you and that Star Goddess of yours, any who hold the
man-rune and has air in his lungs is welcome to Orlanth. One of the
reasons why Orlanth won the God's War and saved the world... He was as
good at making friends as enemies! Trolls, Newtlings, loads of Ducks,
have all been in the Cult, such as Shortzag Lightning Beak and Kolarg
the Fat. Ducks are most common, and the Newtlings usually are very,
very few in number. The same goes for women, of any race which holds
the man-rune and is not touched by Chaos. The rules are just a little
different for us, you see, because Orlanth in his wisdom recognizes the
differences between men and women, and does understand that women and
men have their special secrets. he just bends those rules, and has them
make sense. Another reason why Orlanth is better than Yelm... He has
common sense, and makes laws work for people, instead of making people
work for laws,like Yelm. Hah! How's that for a smart one?"
"When a woman initiates into Orlanth, she also is automatically brought
into Vinga's mysteries. Any woman can join any of the various cults of
Orlanth... The great Hero, Kallyr Starbrow, is proof, and was supposedly
an Acolyte of Yelorna as well! Her heroism and patriotic tragedy is an
inspiration to all good Sartarites everywhere. Kallyr was definitely a
Thane of Orlanth Rex as well. She was just brought down by the
treachery of the Lunars (spits to the left.) A pox on all the Pelorian
bastards! Anyway, Vinga teaches women how to be like Orlanth, since she
and him were so much alike. Hell, according to some stories, they were
twins. Supposedly, the only reason Vinga didn't take Orlanth's roll
during the Lesser Darkness is because she was having too god of a time
running around with Eurmal. Oh, get that look off of your face, I know
this Male Ulerian who has a really good technique and could loosen you
up. Hey, don't get that look, or I'll have to beat your prissy butt in
a duel again, this time *with* a sword. There, that's better. Have
some more of that white wine you like, I'll have some more of that
Jonstown Whiskey!"
"Vinga gives us Orlanth Women some magics that aren't usually part of
the spells that Orlanth gives to men. However, we usually can't go
right into the Orlanth Thunderous subcult, directly, and have to get the
real hard-hitting storm magic as Storm Voices or Adventurous or Rex."
"On the upshot, any Storm Voice can usually join any of the other
subcults as Associate. And, usually Vinga and her cult are closed to
men. But even Vinga's cult can be joined by men as Associates. But, in
doing that, a male priest has to learn some of a women's mysteries,
like the rare men who join Ernalda's cult do. It balances out, you
see."
"So, before I'm done draining your purse of Guilders, I'd like to
finish this off by stating that Orlanth and the Storm Clan, unlike your
mamby-pamby Sun Gods, have enough courage and guts to allow us to choose
our own paths, as unusual as they may be to what most folk do. Orlanth
trusts us to make the right decisions, as all free beings have rights,
so long as breath fills our lungs. All he asks is that we be decent and
honorable in our dealings, and to respect the rights of others, so long
as they pay us our honorable due. Hm, don't want to convert? Ah, well,
Starflame, your loss."
In that little peice, please be warned that I have yet to read all of the Myths of Vinga, as presented in King of Sartar. However, from the excellent information about Vinga found on the Web Pages of Brian Mulroney, Jane Williams, and David Dunham, I was able to form opinions and come to some conclusions about Vinga.
As I'm of the RQ2/Cults of Prax school, my feeling is that a looser, somewhat more democratic society like that of the Orlanthi of Dragon Pass would not have as hard of a time with women leaders as would the patriarchal societies of Peloria, as Solar and Storm worship seem to represent differing social models, with the new social changes brought forth due to the 400 year old Lunar Empire being only a recent phenomenom. I proffer the opinion that Starbrow was actually a Wind Lord or Storm Voice who also held Associate or Initiate status in Yelorna, for example. In my 'Liberation of Sartar' setting, which I'm developing, I'm setting up things so that while men hold most of the leading social roles, women who wish take up a male role can do so. through Orlanth. Humakt also accepts female initiates and Rune Masters, and according to the writeup in the RQ3 deluxe book on Ernalda, men are accepted as Initiates and Priests.
Primarily, the reason why I favor Vinga as a subcult similar to the 4 magic weapons is because I feel that (a) It's somewhat sexist to force women into a subservient 'women's version' of a cult, and to do so for Sartarite society in particular, and Storm-worshipping Theyalan society in general, is against the democratic spirit of Orlanthi Culture in general (Where supposedly, women has as much of a vote in elections of Thanes as men... From what I remember reading in an Issue of Hero's Magazine (I forget which), in Dragon Pass a man needs a sword, a good stout shield and 3 days rations to vote, where all a woman needs is a sowing needle and a cooking pot) and (b) Vinga does not rate enough of her own mythology to justify her getting a Cult writeup that is as powerful as Orlanth's. Thus, in my game, I make Vinga a special subcult available only to women, and make them unable to access some of the intensely male aspects of Orlanth's persona, such as Thunderous. I can even see a woman as an initiate or Thane of Rex, although quite rarely.
**Preapares Asbestos Rune-Armor for Flaming** Comments? ;)
End of Glorantha Digest V4 #384
Powered by hypermail