> Peter wrote:
>> There are no shamans of Foundchild, only Master Hunters. A >> Shaman or assistant can be an initiate or Master Hunter of >> the cult. However his spiritual duties take priority and a >> Master Hunter is usually a normal member of the shaman's >> ethnic group.
> Slightly confused here. I thought all the spirits described
> in TOTRM and BoDR could be worshipped by shamen? Is it just
> that they can be only worshipped by independant shamen?
First up, the plural of "shaman" is "shamans". Common mistake, easily remedied. (The "-man" bit has nothing to do with "men"; it's part of a Siberian or Tunguskan or something else word).
I see the problem, too. We're at cross-purposes, because you've been asking questions about the Spirit Cult worship of Foundchild (presented in Tales #15), and we've been answering questions about the Hunter God cult of Foundchild (shortform in GoG, long form in Questlines #1 or Griffin Mountain; v. similar to the troll cult of Zong from "Troll Gods").
If you're treating Foundchild as a Spirit Cult in your game, then of course his worship is led by Shamans -- you can't have a spirit cult without them! And of course it's not "exclusive" -- those poor spirits are glad of any worship they can get. (See last Glorantha Weakly [Monthly?] for my revised Spirit Cult rules).
But if you're treating it as a full-blown Hunter Cult, then I'd suggest you follow the rules given there. The cult is led by the Master Hunters, and doesn't require a shaman for worship services.
So: write the starting scene for the Hunt, and see if it's the Great Hunter or the skinny spirit-dancer who gives everyone a send-off. (No reason it couldn't be both, of course! Shamans are exhibitionist scene-stealers at the best of times; naturally they'll want to take part in the blessings at the start of a great tribal ceremony!).
I don't think this suggestion about "independent shamans" is worth developing too far. Other than the obvious (Troll shamans work best with Darkness spirits; Praxian shamans shouldn't truck with Chaos), I can't imagine there are too many restrictions on what a shaman of any tradition can get up to, given sufficient time, inclination and opportunity. Certainly, it was not my intention that Spirit Cults only be worshipped by shamans who "don't have a proper cult". The more, the merrier!
> Are there any areas on Glorantha where the culture would have
> analogies with the Arabian Night Culture (Aladdin, Sinbad, ...)?
The ones that spring to mind are: the Lunar Empire, Carmania, the West (in some ways), and especially the Pamaltelan land of Fonrit.
The Empire has scimitars and minarets and sultans and viziers and bazaars and sprawling cities and a desert frontier with nomads and clever slave-girls marrying dim rich kids who've been disinherited by their pious fathers and adventurous exploring merchants and all that jazz.
Carmania has wicked viziers and strange customs and traditions of demon-summoning and a weird dualistic religion that's "not quite dead, yet" but which is being absorbed into the Lunar Way.
The West "has only One God, and He is the Invisible God, and Malkion is his Prophet!" And they get to do most of the Sindbad-ish stuff, because they have the ships. (Though the best weird islands are in the East Isles, also good for Sindbadding around).
And Fonrit was written as an analogue of the Barbary Coast, with veiled women and jungle cities and bright-feathered birds and an evil Caliph (OK, he's called the Jann), and so on and so forth. (And see "The Fortunate Strangulatios" in Questlines #2).
Aladdin, of course, should be set in Kralorela, in a laundry.
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Nick
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End of The Glorantha Digest V5 #508
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