I don't have anything written up, though maybe we'll address it in the next Enclosure. For Jeff's campaign so far, we've been using the powers of malign earth: infertility, impotence, sending spirits of the wild against the crops of one's foes (in a sort of "blast earth"), etc. We've used rituals, plant lore, and conventional spells to enact all these. Basically, I just think of the effect we want to achieve, find a myth that produces the effect, and reinact it. Of course, sometimes you get results you didn't expect...
> What is it that downgrades the shepherd vis a vis
> the ploughman?
Mostly, it's the age roles. In most agrarian societies that have cattle, farming, and sheep, ploughing requires a man's strength& weight, and cattle are high status and are targetted by enemy raiders, so watching them is considered an important and dangerous task. That leaves tending sheep for the boys. But in a clan where sheepherding is the main support, Voriof may receive more adult emphasis.
> Multiple levels of initiation may not be part of the RQ3 rules
> as written, but would seem to be most appropriate for the
> specialised functions,
Yep. The specialized functions are also easily explained by pantheon initiation, which has been bandied about on the digest and at cons for several years now. Basically, an adult Heortling initiates into the religion of Orlanth and Ernalda. Under this scheme, a man would worship Orlanth, but might sacrifice to Orlanth the Bull (Urox) if the clan maintained a shrine. And even if the clan didn't maintain a shrine, they would all know many of the Urox myths. If broos appeared, the clan could perform an Urox ritual, (with a chosen man taking the part of Urox), and gain some magic against the broo. The same works for Ernalda and BG. In our clan, we use an angry woman weilding an axe to play the part of BG during the female initiation rituals, but the last thing we want is a whole BG shrine and initiation system (shudder).
There are "professional" Uroxi, who know all the rituals and magics, but they would likely be huscarls in clans near infested areas.
> When you are no longer able to hack it in the
> heavy physical labour you cite above, and if you
> don't have immediate familty for support, you need
> to find some economic niche (if your clan can't
> support one person off the fields for ritual
> purposes, as you suggested above, they aren't
> going to be able to support granny).
I think we're talking past each other here. I had the impression that you were thinking that most of the teenagers would be at the shrines. Anyway, of course the clans will care for their elderly members. The magics they know and their experience would make up for any lack of labor, IMO. Heck, as good farmers we've evem explored the use of Warding as pest control around fields. Maintaining those wardsis a great job for Grandma!
> Follows all the stereotypes : the old woman
> is the scary witch, on the edge of society,
> disdained, and usually on the way to being
> outcast and neglected. Meanwhile the old
> greybeard is laying down the law.
That seems to me to be largely a western sterotype (in the RW), and one I reject as universal in Glorantha - particularly for the Heortlings. Sure - there are scary old women ans wise old men. There are also scary old men and wise old women.
> This take, predating
> as I noted in an adjacent post, as it did, _King
> of Sartar_ was working with very much less
> widely published data than that provided.
And it makes sense based on that. But we now know a heck of a lot more, after KOS and the Entekosiad (which deals with Peloria, but does show how important community magic is in Glorantha).
> Part of the crossword-puzzle-style fun of Glorantha
> theorising for me has been in the seeking of solutions
> constrained by such evidence as we already have : there's
> much more satisfaction in coming to something that
> pulls the disparate threads together
Very much agreed. But we do it with Greg's new material too, especially because it was written with Gloranthan cultures in mind.
>in a manner that seems coherent than simply ignoring bits that might
> be "inconvenient".
I view it like science. The old theory has been disproven. Get over it and get on with new theories.
But that's in our Glorantha. Do what you like with yours, but the times
they are a changin'.
Don't worry - I didn't like it at first, either. (Heck, years ago I played
a cheerfully deranged BG who challenged Humakti for fun!) But once I saw
how much more opportunity for campaign depth the new material offered, I
was hooked!
You will be assimilated...
Pam
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