Steve writes:
>As for Tolat, if a pregnancy lasts a full Gloranthan year it would make
>sense for the sexual event to take place only once every two years, at
>least as far as an individual woman is concerned. Since outsiders
>presumably know of this event, it would make sense for half the women to
>_not_ participate each year. They would spend that night taking care of
>children and old people, and guarding the other women involved in The
>Rapture.
'The Rapture' - what a great term!
I have little understanding (or indeed interest) in Gloranthan celestiology, but I do think that The Rapture can take place every year on Tolat's HHD without every Amazon subsequently ending up the duff (and besides Steve, two years between bonks is cruel!)
Not all women choose to take part in the ritual, though they are free to. And participating does not necessarily result in pregnancy, even though each lusty amazon is supposedly visited by "Awesome Potency" of their god, Tolat.
Y'see, (as I wrote in an earlier Digest), I doubt if the "god" Tolat visits each Trowjang Amazon and that the real goings-on that one night a year are a heck of lot more prosaic than the legend.
Raiding Amazons sometimes take selected men captive instead of killing them out of hand, though such captives are *never heard of again*.
My take is that just as Santa can't really get round to all those chimneys in one Christmas Eve, I suspect that Tolat has a bit of a helping hand too. No doubt the hapless men (selected for their potential as good breeding stock) are suitably dressed up and drugged to help them successfully impersonate/embody Tolat in the ritual.
There are big parties across Trowjang the next morning and a, ahem, "special feast". The men are never seen again, which maintains the mystique.
Note that every year, one Amazon *is* visited by the *real* Tolat; the blessed child of this union grows up with abilities and powers beyond that of mere mortals (think "Wonder Woman").
For what it's worth, the reference and inspiration for much my theory is "The Queen from Outer Space", a Z-grade sci-fi schlockbuster from the 50's starring Zza-zza Gabor as the ruler of Venus, a planet which seems to be entirely populated by sex-starved women in silvery bathing costumes!
Given this tacky premise, I'm sure the following also goes on with alarming regularity on Trowjang:
*the young Amazon who falls in love with her lover, a hapless Kethalan sailor (who was taken as gallery slave by Vorumani pirates, who in turn strayed too close to the Trowjangi coast). After their night of passion, she saves him from the pot(!) and they flee the island for a New Life Together.
*the elderly matriarchs who keep secret harems of men for year-round pleasure (and the occasional amazon who gets pregnant at the wrong time!)
*amazons who secretly raise their boy children in the jungle.
*Amazons who want take part in The Rapture, but use various proscribed methods to avoid becoming pregnant (woe betide she who tries this and actually meets the *real* Tolat!)
*The shipwrecked sailor who has spent the last 14 years disguised as a woman, seeking to escape (but having quite a good time in the meantime).
*Rampant, though of course in the true tradition of B-grade shlock, *forbidden* Sapphism.
*etc. etc. just think 1950s-60s, low budget, exploitation, titillation, you get the picture...
Cheers
MOB
(XXIX.61-3-9899-8539) The chief scribe has piles. We all suffer. AP
Powered by hypermail