Does the ritual "gift spell" mean anything to you? An ancestor worshipper who brings in interesting magics - and is willing to give them up for the sake of his new family - should be welcome.
The ancestors work as a sort of communal magical memory. A family member who manages to steal, buy, or otherwise aquire a certain magic and who gives it to an ancestor sufficiently remote so that both his officiating shaman and the (majority of his) other family members can access this ancestor.
I'm not even sure that an "ancestor" has to have a direct line to a worshipper. It could as well be possible to access great-granduncle Toby who had the troll killing magic which cost him his offspring, without the need to go back until Toby's parents or further, who may have been gifted with that magic.
> Why would anyone worship someone who
> wasn't their ancestor?
Imagine the indirect ancestor was Sartar the Founder, and the prospective worshipper was looking forward to become Prince of Sartar?
If there is an adoption, who is it to, anyway? We know that Arkat was adopted into the Icy Eye clan of Dagori Inkarth, the clan of Garazaf Hyloric. Does this mean that he relates to his womb-mother like a son in genealogical matters?
Argrath Venharlsson's "adoption" into the Colymar tribe was through a long list of ancestors until a common ancestor present in other Colymar clans (Arnoring) was found. While this is not ancestor worship, it is an example for a proof that one's ancestor was one of the ancestors of the target group.
Such a proof usually is backed by great likelihood. One in three Germans will have Charlemagne among his ancestors - compared to Glorantha, name any hero of the Gbaji wars for such a likelihood. Now, how many nameless shared ancestors will have accumulated in the same time?
Of course, likelihood decreases when you cross cultural (or religious) borders, unless some of your ancestors did so.
In the case of Praxians, there is a fair likelihood for some Theyalan ancestry through abductions. And vice versa - IMO Argrath White Bull is descended from a lineage of Praxian Khans, i.e. from Waha. (I could elaborate, in case anyone wants to pick nits...)
> Perhaps if ancestral spirits can be traced back to
> Grandfather Mortal then a shared cult is possible.
If ancestor worship insists on direct descendance, this might be necessary, although a more recent kinship is not only more likely but also more useful. Otherwise you would have to gift Grandpa Mortal himself with your magics, and all your human (and possibly even non-human) rivals could access it as well...
> Bear in mind that (assuming you trace both male and female
> ancestors) after 10 generations you should have
> 2048 ancestors (ignoring the effects of inbreeding).
In caseof an Orlanthi, of these 2048 about 1800 could be out of the descendant's tribe, and the rest could be made up from "more interesting" characters bringing in "exotic" heritage.
> It seems the general opinion is in favour of adoption. I feel
> it should be a nasty thing to do to your ancestors; you are
> effectively betraying them.
Depends whether you make a full switch, or whether you prove there are shared ancestors in your own and your target kin-group's lineages.
I guess that a fair number of these proofs are fabricated and do mean a betrayal of a branch of ancestors. But how remote?
> It makes me think of Humakt cutting his family ties, and Daka Fal is
> not keen on Humakt.
I guess this has something to do with Humakt being the cause for Grandfather Mortal's transformation into Daka Fal. But don't the Daka Fali recognize Death as a necessety?
End of The Glorantha Digest V6 #377
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