> An Orlanthi would be able to worship the Goddess but one cannot
> worship Orlanth at the same time. A Tarshite could worship Ernalda
> or Barntar as well as the Goddess but Orlanth himself is an implaccable
> foe. Within the Empire, there are plenty of storm deities and sons
Well, you can't worship Orlanth and the Red Goddess at the same time any more than you can worship Orlanth and Yelmalio at the same time. But you can worship both gods, within the space of a few hours.
But, Orlanth is not an implacable foe. Orlanth is a political foe.
There is nothing in the core myths of Orlanth that says "hate the Red Goddess." (Nobody was waiting for her arrival for 1200 years, ready to stomp her back to the Storm Age.) The Orlanthi are at heart tolerant folk, able to cooperate with Uz (Darkness), Dara Happans (Dawn Age), and even their supposed mortal enemies, dragons (Imperial Age).
I concede she is known to have consorted with Chaos on occasion, but then Orlanth granted boons to Mallia, and is known to have Chaos among his own close kin.
I concede there are storm deities besides Orlanth in the Empire (not even counting Invisible Orlanth), but Orlanth is the god of Aggar, which is part of the Empire last I checked. And of Tarsh. I'm sorry, but I can't envision Rascius being crowned with the rites of Entekos. A Sylilan king, sure. Oh, and Talastar and Brolia are part of the Empire too. Surely all Talastari didn't convert overnight (that's not what White Shirt Day was, despite the Lunar propaganda). Thus, Orlanth is a deity in the Empire.
And I concede that Lunar Orlanthi will be different from non-Lunar Orlanthi - -- the Slaying of the Evil Emperor quest is going to be downplayed considerably.
The Lunar-Orlanth antagonism is a relatively recent thing. It seems a reasonable guess that it furthers Tarshite (or perhaps Lunar) political ambition.
And now I yield the floor to the Orlanthi Expert... Jeff?
Nick Brooke wrote
> I misread your initial position
What a refreshing admission of error! All too rare these days (and I'm not singling out you, Nick).
David Dunham <mailto:dunham_at_pensee.com> Glorantha/RQ page: <http://www.pensee.com/dunham/glorantha.html> Imagination is more important than knowledge. -- Albert Einstein
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