Thanks Pam. I'm amused by the need for a translator - although I wonder if my cryptic ramblings justify the effort.
>"Orlanth the Warrior aspect" - the traditions and magics of the Warriors
>of Orlanth. (Much like "Adventurer aspect" in the old write ups.) Yes,
>Jeff hates the "Adventurer" name, probably because we never heard of "Zeus
>the Adventurer", or "Jupiter the Multi-Talented Lay-About", or "Odin the
>Wandering Heroic Type". So OW = the Old OA.
Yep, that's my reasoning exactly. Burn all references to OA or if that sounds a bit too drastic, just develop a mental disorder that makes you read "Orlanth Adventurous" as though it was spelled "Orlanth the Warrior".
>O. Warrior's skills are the traditional "hitting people on the head" ones.
>Magic covers three areas:
>movement (great leaps, flying, that mythic leaping across mountain tops
>bit, etc.)
>personal fighting (sword or other weapon enhancing magics, vigor,
>protection, that sort of thing)
>wierd stolen magics (darkwalk, summoning mists, possibly ice stuff, etc).
Again, Pam summarizes this beautifully.
>Notably absent are thunder magics, sylphs, wards, and all those wiggy
>powers. Those skills and spells are the domain of priests - the Storm
>Voices.
Exactly. One caveat - things aren't quite as hermetically sealed as they might appear from the old RQ rules. The High King of the Heortlings (a more perfect example of Orlanth in his leadership role is hard to find) could and did incarnate the Thunderer. Folk other than a Storm Voice might have a magical storm affinity - but that is not part of the standard magical package of any aspect of Orlanth other than the Thunderer.
>Storm Voices likely draw on a much older Umathi tradition, but it's
>been susbsumed into the 1600's Theyalan cult.
I don't think so. I currently think the Storm Voices are the tradition established (or reestablished) by Harmast.
>Women can't be Storm Voices because they have no path to follow there.
I agree with this. Women are not even allowed to participate in the inner secrets of the Orlanth initiation - just as men are not allowed to participate in the inner secrets of Ernaldan initiation.
>Vinga is their path to the Orlanth the Warrior analog. One can initiate to
>Ernalda, follow Vinga's path to Orlanth's side, and voila, one get's
>Orlanth-like fighting skills and magics.
Yeah, I think this is right. Vingans are women - not men who happen to be biologically female (which is the case with Nandan).
>UNfortuately, we don't know of a storm loving daughter of Orlanth.
I certainly don't know of a daughter of Orlanth that can master the storms. All of his daughters are "storm loving", of course.
>Frankly, and here's my own and rather brutal opinion, I feel that Vinga was
>created as a way to justify female warriors in Thelayan society, in order
>to make players happy. Basically, Vinga is a game world construct. I came
>to this conclusion when I realized how little other dieties or myths depend
>on Vinga. If she were dropped from Glorantha, little would change. That
>doesn't mean that Vinga can't be fit in well, or be written about
>ingeniously, or even be an inspiration to great NPC's or PC's.
I think this is a bit too brutal. There are female warriors in Theyalan society - this is necessary for their own mythology and sagas. Vingans have important roles in the Sword and Helm Saga and in Harmastssaga - and could not easily be dropped from these stories. In terms of Orlanthi cosmology, I consider her easily to be on the same level as Hedkoranth and the Thunder Brothers.
Jeff
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