> I suppose the Malkioni doesn't use the Theyalan calendar and may =
> have a system based upon the Saints of the various Sects. Do they
> count years "After Hrestol's Ascension" instead of Solara Tempus?
> Do the Rokari use a more archaic, Brithini, calendar? =
Unfortunately, given the widespread nature of the Theyalan calendar, it's very likely to be that used by the God Learners. Of course, the modern Malkioni would celebrate Saints' Days instead of all those pagan Holy Days -- and there may well be some interesting correspondences there! Also, the seventh day of the week is surely understood to be God's Day (not Gods-day): "There is only One God, and He is the Invisible God, and Malkion is his Prophet."
I've always found it a wonderful "coincidence" that the origins of the Western Church (Hrestol's vision of the Great Prophet Malkion) coincide with the presumably God-Learner-determined date on which light returned to the world after a Great Darkness...
Do the Brithini have a calendar? Who knows? If it wasn't invented before Time, what are the odds of them adapting to use it now? We have Zzabur's turning the Red Sands of Time (or whatever)... but the Brithini should be among the least God-Learnt peoples in the world, unlikely to have fallen for such innovations.
> Anyone know what the customs are for mournng in Gloranthan cultures, =
> Sartarite in particular? =
Lots of keening, I'm sure. Running around and shouting is very much the Sartarite idiom. So is heavy drinking at the Wake, boastfully remembering the great times you had with the dear departed. Think of caricature Scots or Irish funerals -- forget the rune-carved logs, where's the whisky? Hold a big funeral feast (killing the fatted calf) and get ratted.
Lay the body out on display, dressed in his best. Gather his kin and comrades around. Get everyone to tell the story of his life -- explain how he got his scars, won his wife, raised his children. Vow to do horrible things to whoever killed him (if necessary). Drink to excess. Start fights and feuds, or maybe patch them up in a fit of maudlin drunkenness. Fall asleep under the funeral byre.
Next day, wake up with a stinking hangover and a miserable mood. Take the body up to the top of the hill and torch the pyre. Listen to the Storm Voice reciting interminable Orlanthi Poetry in Stormtongue as the smoke swirls up to the clouds. Look for omens (if you can be bothered). Then head back down to the chieftain's hall and start haggling over the inheritance with the Lawspeaker, scheming for any clan ring positions the dead man held, or chatting up his wife and daughters...
::::
Nick
::::
Powered by hypermail