I am inclined to agree with Stephen Martin in his conclusions about the Orlanth cult in Fonrit. I really don't beleive that it could survive in it's Genertelan form when brought to Pamaltela. The Fonritan Orlanthi, just like the Ralian and Dragon Pass ones have influenced the make up of their cult to match the environment and culture. I do not really beleive that Orlanth can be perceived as a rigid and religion that is not reactive to local requirements. Why else would the religion have so many subcults in Dragon Pass alone? Warrior, Thunderer, King, Farmer, Dragon Slayer, Lightbringer etc. I would expect to find Orlanth the Masarin, Orlanth Slave Liberator, Orlanth Sea Storm in Fonrit or somthing like that. I also think that in Fonrit only Orlanth may have survivied the test of time and not his pantheon, Ernalda is replaced by Ernamorla, Lhankor Mhy by Karkisso the Wazir, Humakt bu Enkidu etc. The final factor is that it is really only the city state of Sarro that worship Orlanth in this way. In my belief the rest of Afadjann/Kareeshtu etc. see this deity as being weird, disruptive and probably associated with a lot of bad things. To elaborate this point, having a storm god who goes around killing rulers, freeing people and summoning storms inside of a predominatly solar culture sound like a source of disruptive influence. All IMHO
Sandy said that Fonrit had never really been a united political entity.
This is undiniable, in the main. However the country does seem to unify as
a whole against external enemies on occasions. This may be done when the
spirit of Garangordos is summoned by some powerful shaman or priest. I
think that the Fonritans believe in;
"Me versus my brother, me and my brother versus our neighbour, us and our
neighbour versus the city, our city versus the country, our country versus
the world. Unity, centalisation, I am the centre, as are we."
Cheers Simon.
End of The Glorantha Digest V5 #283
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