Old unpublished notes of Greg's give their population in c. 1613 at 11,600 people, divided among 23 clans! Their favored cult is listed as Orlanth, which presumably means that they don't have large numbers of people for whom the primary deity is other than Orlanth or Ernalda. Their primary weapons are listed as being Spear, Axe, and Javelin (in that order of primacy), and they have both matrilineal and patrilineal clans.
Take this info for what it's worth -- I don't know what Heroes of Wisdom has to say about them.
Ms. Jane Williams asks about Uleria :)
Uleria doesn't fit into the Orlanth pantheon very well, any more than she
fits into other central Genertelan pantheons. She is a relic of the
Golden Age. I imagine that she first was met by the Orlanthi in the First
Age: although Entekosiad gives an origin for her in Wendaria, Greg seems
to have later rejected this -- she shows up in Wendarian mythology, but
now not until much later.
I don't think she is seen as Orlanth's mistress - there is more to her than just sex, even to the Orlanthi. She is the Source of Life itself. I would imagine that she would be seen as an ancestress of Ernalda's, perhaps in some way seen to be the mother of Ga (and thus would be Ernalda's great great great grandmother). In this respect she is also an ancestress of Orlanth, since Kero Fin is also descended from Gata, the Primal Earth goddess. In fact, I think that most Orlanthi would see her as being the ancestress of just about all the gods and goddesses.
I don't know if she would be associated with midwifery -- I could see this being true in some areas, but I don't think it would be universal.
Passo
> Why there are no Elder Races that compete with humans of 'lebensraum'
> directly and in same environment, I wonder.. The beings of 'myth' are
> hidden from the Joe Everyman, sort of.
There used to be. However, at the end of the First Age they started a number of wars (dwarfs versus trolls, elves versus dwarfs, trolls versus everyone), and by the end of the Second Age the three greatest Elder Races were so reduced in population and strength that they were relegated to secondary roles in Glorantha.
Before this time, the great power and populations of the three main Elder Races were probably sufficient to keep down the populations of most or all of the other Elder Races. And by the end of the Second Age, the _humans_ were now powerful and populous enough to do this to the other Elder Races.
Jean Durupt
>Like Pole Star marshalled the sky armies, they marshall the magical
>energies. Each member links his casting to the leader, each follows a
>star path (ie a precise path) around the leader, and each member casts
>his spell simultaneously with the others.
Since the Kralorelans and Teshnans do not seem to be particularly stellar oriented, I would suggest that any such rituals they have work in a different manner. For example, the Kralorelan ritual might involve draconic formations, or a reconstruction of the Divine Court of whichever of their emperors first invented organized warfare. But I agree that this formation would be perfect for Dara Happa. In fact ...
Although I don't think this was Jean's intent, his posting explained to me one very practical reason why Pole Star is worshiped in Dara Happa as the god of generals. Could it be that the ritual formation of a Regimental Spirit was first discovered/taught by Pole Star? Units which don't worship Pole Star would then either not have a regimental spirit (and so would be inferior units), or would have to seek an alternate source for a similar ritual. In Dara Happa, most of these alternate rituals would be learned from Daxdarius, Urvairinus, Yanafal, etc., all of whom would have learned the ritual originally from Pole Star.
So, you DHers and Lunarites -- could this work?
Stephen Martin
ilium_at_juno.com
- -----------------------------------------------The Book of Drastic Resolutions
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