Not that anyone is asking, but I haven't written or used a scenario in years. Pretty much all of the Taming of Dragon Pass I & II campaigns are player driven. I provide the NPCs, the politics and whatever, kick things into action with a stolen cow or something and off it goes. Just ask MOB or Andrew Bean about my minimalist session I ran in Australia. I think my scenario note consisted of, "somebody's cow wanders away."
Peter Metcalf writes about the Lunarized Orlanthi -
>My guess is that Lunar Orlanthi rationalize it by saying that since
>the Red Goddess won at Castle Blue, her existance in glorantha is
>normal.
I think that many (but not most) Orlanthi in the provinces - particularly the wealthier and more ambitious folk, no longer give sacrifice or perform the sacred rites of Orlanth, having relegated him to the background. At Castle Blue, the Red Goddess proved her power and her permanence, and ambitious Orlanthi have always had a rather pragmatic side. Her armies are victorious over all foes, her magicians can silence the storms - why not worship the Goddess and the Seven Mothers?
>The recently mentioned Secret of the Second Son (with
>dire warnings about its dramatic insight) may impact on this
I suspect that in the more urbane provincial lands, the old Heortling initiation rites have been abandoned. Not forgotten however - if a heroquesting Lunarized Orlanthi saw a "lone, huge naked guy covered with the sacred tattoos of the Vingkotlings and carrying no weapons or tools" he'd probably know what he was seeing. And probably get real scared.
>since Christians, Jews and Manicheans were able to live under the
>aegis of the Roman Empire despite holding incompatible tenets of
>faith, I still think a modus vivendi is possible for the Orlanthi
>in such a case. Naturally the more conservative Orlanthi mistake
>this for illumination.
OK, I'm going to divide the Provincial Orlanthi into three loose groups
(like Gaul):
First, are the rural Orlanthi of the provinces who still actively worship
Orlanthi and perform his sacred rites. They probably still initiate their
adults according to the rites of Heort, although maybe not (I don't know
yet for certain). They certainly acknowledge the Seven Mothers and the Red
Goddess as powerful gods but do not actively worship them and many of their
elders and priests fear that they may be evil.
Second, are the Lunarized Orlanthi of the lowlands. They tend to not actively worship Orlanth in his thunderer aspects or as king of the gods, but instead worship the Red Goddess and the Seven Mothers - since they have proven to be more useful and more powerful gods. They still worship the sons of Orlanth - Barntar, Hantrafal, Odayla and probably some of his warrior sons, the Lightbringers - Lhankhor Mhy, Issaries, and Chalana Arroy (note Eurmali are probably killed on site by the Lunarized Orlanthi) and the other big Orlanthi dieties - Elmal, Humakt, Heler, Mastakos, Chalana Arroy, Ernalda, Asrelia the Earth Witch, Esra the Grain Goddess, Uralda the Cow Mother and many more. In Tarsh, their principle of kingship comes from Vingkot - not Heort! In addition, they probably worship a storm aspect of Orlanth imported from Syllila and identified as the great Sky Bear that the Goddess rode out of Hell (Orlanth has long been associated with the Sky Bear).
Third, the Lunarized Sylillans. Although I don't know the Syllilan Orlanthi pantheon, I do know that their Orlanth has long been identified as the great Sky Bear and is now associated with the Red Goddess. Syllila may actually be the birthplace of the Seven Mothers Cult as we know it in the Post-Sheng period.
>DW#28 gives population breakdowns of two Lunar Provinces. There
>it is stated that 'Lunars' compose 50% of the population in Aggar
>and 80% of the population in Tarsh. The remants are composed of
>'Orlanthi'.
I view those numbers as the breakdown between the rural Orlanthi and Lunarized Orlanthi that I just described.
>It is my belief that most of the people included in the group 'Lunar'
>are Orlanthi who have been partially lunarized. They would partake
>in state ceremonies under the aegis of the Provincial Church but still
>pray to Orlanth and Ernalda.
True enough - but they don't participate in the sacred rites of Orlanth anymore. They don't summon their foes and initiate their boys according to Orlanth's Rites. They might pray to Orlanth but they don't experience his mysteries or wield his magic.
>Only a staunch few (like Fazzur Wideread,
>Prince Orontes and other Tarshite characters in 'Tarsh War') appear to
>be thoroughly lunarized and even then clan loyalties are very
>influential. IMO most of the soldiers of the Bagnot Militia would
>worship Orlanth or have been initiated into him. A good RW parallel
>would be the rank-and-file of the Warsaw Pact forces. They are
>officially atheist but still have some links with their native church.
I think this is mostly right, although it is possible that most of the soldiers of the Bagnot militia are not initiated by Orlanth's rites. They know of Orlanth, they might even worship Orlanth, but their primary devotion is elsewhere. Does this make any sense?
Jeff
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