Re.: women's initiation

From: Jane Williams <jane_at_williams.nildram.co.uk>
Date: Sat, 8 Aug 1998 17:16:30 +0100


Thanks, Pam, that helps a lot. More or less what I was heading towards, but with a lot of the hard work done for me.
>the notes should be on David Dunham's website, under the write up for that campaign.
Then I fumbled my Find Notes. Any more hints?

> I think the women's initation rites may also involve meeting many of the
clan's guardian spirits, the local earth spirits, and learning the rituals to commune with them all.

So to run this with your players, you need a really good map of the clan lands (which you probably want anyway) and a degree in geology. Hmm. Anyone got a quick & dirty (sorry!) "describe geological features of area" system?

> Jeff's three year figure comes from e-mail conversations w/ Greg & several
other folks.
Ah. So when he said something like "we all know", he was using the word "we" in an extremely limited sense.

> I can see there being a special rite for each season, exploring all aspects of the
goddess and emphasizing her cyclical nature. Yes, me too. Somehow. The three Fertile Earth ones are easy to assign to seasons, but I'm unsure how to handle the Malign Earth ladies. In any case, we have six goddesses and only five seasons, so one per season won't work.

> The three year initiation period occurs during the clan's regular
life. Youths undergoing the three year initiation still spend the vast majority of their time working at their daily tasks.

Ah, right! I was wondering how on earth the clan managed without their priests for three years, never mind the low-class labour being absent. Yes, makes sense. You don't make someone part of a group by taking them away from it.

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


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