>She is, from what I've worked out, a goddess who is worshipped by wild
>beasts of the forest. Consciously so, in the case of awakened ones, and
>Beastmen. Her initiates, then, are mainly animals and she gives them
>protection against hunters, etc.. A hunted animal who was an initiate of
>Tara might know stealth magic, animal spirit spells, and, in dire
>straits, could DI out of the Hunt! Encroachment by civilisation into
>wilderness domains would be resisted by this cult. She also receives
>propitiatory worship from Hunters. Where she is powerful, hunters must
>sacrifice to her, or return empty-handed from the forest, or incur her
>Revenge. They must use the Peaceful Cut, to let the spirits of their
>prey return to Tara. This is an effect of the Compromise. There are
>RuneLords of Tara. Most, I think, are animals. When I say animals, I
>mean animals like wild boars, big cats, and other large carnivores. Tara
>is also a Hunter Cult for Beasts. RuneLords of Tara who are Men have
>become part of the Wild, and have left mankind behind, for ever.
>The Rune Lords of Tara are the Vengeance of the
>Beastworld, and can use strong animal magics.
I hadn't thought too much about how animals relate to her but this fits in
quite
closely with what I was thinking about in the case of the Balazarings. In
my
take on Balazaring belief I see The Lady of the Wild as being the mother
of Rigtaina who is in turn the mother of a whole group of wilderness spirits
called hunting nymphs. These hunting nymphs and their mother are something
like more mobile dryads who protect the wilderness and its plants and
creatures.
The Lady of the Wild resists agriculture/animal husbandry of any sort and
"helps" to keep Balazar the hunter's paradise it is. The Balazarings offer
her
propitiatory worship and make sure that every animal they slay is given
the Peaceful Cut so it can be reborn. (Except insects). They don't give
her a
name as she represents a primal force and they've only heard of this
Compromise as an outsider's myth of dubious veracity.
Oliver D. Bernuetz
www.geocities.com/Timessquare/realm/5545
bernuetz.oliver_at_cbsc.ic.gc.ca
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