Ernalda, childbirth

From: Jane Williams <jane_at_williams.nildram.co.uk>
Date: Mon, 5 Jan 1998 23:29:47 +0000

Last post on this for a bit: I'm off on holiday.

Jon Thorvaldson said:
> I was more after things like:

- - -What sort of rituals or suchlike does a woman do when she wants a child?
- - -What is done to ensure a healthy child? - - -What is done to ensure that she/they survives the birth? I like to think that in Glorantha the ritual and the mundane go very closely together. So, for Sartarite Orlanthi and similar:

1. Reenact the mating of Orlanth and Ernalda. Or at least, someone and Ernalda.
2. Rituals carried out each day of the pregnancy to ensure the child is associated with Ernalda's bounty: the right foods, that sort of thing. Which foods are the right ones is determined by the mother, in prayer to Ernalda. And no arguments with whatever she and Ernalda decide, no matter how odd it may be: perhaps the stranger requirements are seen as a test of the man's ability to provide. Do they determine the child's geases at all? Lee, in a private email, suggested that my "healing of defects" should be the result of care throughout the pregnancy. This would fit in at this point, though I'm not too sure of the rituals required. Something to say "look, kid, this is what you should be like", effectively.
3. As with any other HQ being undertaken by an initiate, the presence of a priestess to guide and support the quester, especially at critical points. Quite what form this takes I'm not sure, apart from the obvious medical precautions. Some sort of warding against malign influences, of course. RW practices have included making sure nothing in the same room as the mother is knotted or held together: all laces undone, all belts undone, hair unbraided. Apparently knots make labour last longer.

Any more use?

On trollkin, TRotsky said:
> Trollkin are IMO handicapped trolls (premature births, actually) so far as
Uz are concerned.
Premature births? That could explain a lot. So the problem isn't the form of the child at all but its state of development: it might be fine if it could just stay put a bit longer. Is this the case, though? I thought trollkin were more likely to be multiple births than trolls, as well as being smaller? That would seem to indicate something more seriously wrong than an inability to carry to term.
A thought: that sounds rather similiar to the effects of modern fertility drugs. Sextuplets, all undersized, that sort of thing. Has KL been cursed with too much fertility, rather than too little?

James Frusetta said:
> If Gloranthans see birth defects as the result of Bad Doings on the
> spirit plane, then Ernaldan Eugenics would work fine -- as long as the
> spirits responsible aren't too tough.
Thanks: of course that's where the problem comes from! What else could it be? Yet another reason to ensure proper spiritual care during pregnancy. (You know those female PCs who run around dungeons until about 10 min. before giving birth? They're really asking for trouble!)

Now, why in that case should a handicapped child be regarded as "special"? Perhaps if it actually beat a spirit by itself and captured the spirit's "gift"? So the kid may have a club foot, but he also has high POW, and, should he choose to develop it, the ability to make other people lame. Special, but slightly feared, too. And the first scapegoat if things go wrong.

Again, this takes things away from the RW: perhaps this is merely what some Gloranthans believe rather than what really happens. Depends on how magical/mythical you want your Glorantha, really.

Danny Bourne:
> .. the three owners of Gimpy's are all missing parts of their legs,
> okay so it's not a birth defect, but it's still a handicap.
But a tad difficult to cure at birth, which is what we were discussing.

> There's also an NPC in the Grazepak ....
What is a "Grazepak"? Where do I get one?

> ... an 85 year old NPC with alzheimers & senile dementia borders on the
> tasteless.

Does it? It sounds merely realistic to me: well, if you think Gloranthans living to 85 in any state of health is realistic. You don't have to go into details about their personal hygiene problems, after all. Now, that *would* be tasteless.

Jane Williams jane_at_williams.nildram.co.uk http://homepages.nildram.co.uk/~janewill/gloranth/

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