Interesting view. I had thought that herding would have been an adult profession and that there would be adult herders in the clan along with adult farmers. This is the way I had always invisioned the world.
Having children do this kind of duty makes some sense. Having the young boys chase away or kill wild animals who try to attack the livestock would seem to be good practice for developing skills useful in warfare (courage, weapon skills, etc) surely important latter in life. The main problem, however, is entrusting the young boys with being the first line of defense against raiders from other clans. I assume in this case, the boys jobs would be to corral the herds into a safe area and call upon the men of the clan to counter-attack, and any spells gained through Voriof would reflect this.
Now, how does the worship of Voriof play into all of this? Can children be initiates of gods (in order to access the spirit and divine spells of Voriof), or are they more on the level of lay-members? The Runequest rules seem to indicate that someone becomes an initiate at adulthood. Perhaps Voria and Voriof are gods that children can become initiates of or are automatically initiates of after proper birth rituals? For now, I am assuming that Voriof is generally worshipped as a sub-cult of some larger religion, and access to spells gained from Voriof is by adult worship through this sub-cult. Any ideas on how children worship gods to gain access to spirit and divine spells (which in this case would be useful in tending/defending the herd animals)?
Finally, I am assuming that adult initiates of Voriof are rare, and rune lords are even rarer. My thinking is that an adult initiate of Voriof is either also an initiate of some larger cult (or worships Voriof as a sub-cult of a larger cult) or is someone who is immature and refuses to become part of the adult community (by becoming part of a more adult cult such as Orlanth). These type of initiates/rune lords would probably never get married (who would want to marry them) and may even be social outcasts from their own clans. Immaturity, practical jokes, frolicking, playfulness, and even a touch of innocence and naivety would mark such an individual.
End of The Glorantha Digest V5 #228
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